Contributed by Debra McGhan
In mid-September 2012, Pat Wake bolted upright in bed at the sound of gurgling water. Thinking it part of his dream, it didn’t take but an instant to realize… this was no dream.
His wife Judy, still in bed, suddenly heard him shouting, “Get up! We have to go. Now!”
The Matanuska River had broken through a mud dike and rushed down the road in a flash flood.
“I was still half asleep when I got downstairs and opened the front door to find our porch floating,” said Judy. “There was no time to think, plan or prepare. We just had to grab what we could and go.”
Judy said they had been warned the river could flood. “It was far enough away at the time we never thought it would actually affect us,” she said, “And certainly not so suddenly. Thankfully we had a bag packed which really helped, but still, as you’re closing the front door you think of all you are leaving behind.”
Judy and Pat had several things going for them; An emergency go bag, a positive attitude and good friends who quickly responded to help.
“My friend Vicki Geronimi was amazing. I called her and said we have to get out of our house immediately and need help, can you come? Not only did she show up, but she brought her husband, waders and a truck to help. It was wonderful and something I’ll never forget.”
Geronimi, who admits she is really not prepared herself should an emergency strike, said the water was up to their knees when she and her husband waded up to the neighbor’s house to give a hand.
“The funniest part was their chickens,” she recalled. “I’d never held one in my life and I was terrified. But my friend needed me so here I was helping to put more than a dozen birds in a canoe and then paddling over and putting them in the back of a car. I realized that in an emergency, you become stronger than you might have thought and just do what you have to do.”
It’s the little things in an emergency that can make a big difference. “I was grateful to have a pair of underwear, change of clothes and my toothbrush,” said July. “It’s amazing how just that helped make it all easier.
This fall, as part of National Emergency Preparedness Month, I’m once again reflecting on all that has changed in the past two years with the pandemic. I’ve been around for more than 65 years, and while I’ve lived through catastrophic emergencies like the 1964 Alaska earthquake, I’ve never lived through a full blown global pandemic before. It’s something we often talked about while I was volunteering for the Mat-Su Emergency Preparedness Expo Planning Committee. We always knew that it was likely this could happen. We tried to train and prepare for it. But the reality has proven to be much harder than any table top lesson we practiced.
For some this past two years has been horrific and left them relying on services they never expected to need. Or sick and dying.
For others, they didn’t lose their jobs, had plenty of supplies on hand to sustain them for a long period, and have employed all the tactics advised to avoid getting exposed or sick. This group has stayed healthy, productive and most have thrived.
Thoughtful planning and preparedness practices, whether by intention or happenstance, have made this pandemic a learning opportunity, not a disaster.
If you want to learn new ways to prepare for all types of emergencies and disasters, you’ll have an opportunity on September 25th from 10am to 3pm when the Mat-Su Emergency Preparedness Expo returns live to the Menard Sports Center.
There will be more than 50 exhibitors on hand providing demonstrations, access to resources, the children’s poster contest and much more. You can get all the information about this free community safety event at https//:www.matsugov.org
Let’s face it, disasters and emergencies are becoming more a way of life every year with wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and now this global health pandemic. September is the perfect time of year to reflect on our preparedness plan with our family and friends. No matter what happens, it’s good to know we have a chance to affect the outcome through our choices and actions. What we do today will have a direct impact on how we face emergencies and disaster challenges in the future. National Emergency Preparedness Month is our opportunity to plan for success.
