This article originally appeared in the September 10, 2021 edition of This Week in Renton.
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Ready in Renton – Together!
In conjunction with National Preparedness Month, September is "Ready in Renton" Month. We've certainly had a lot to prepare for and respond to over this past year as the ongoing pandemic has kept everyone adjusting almost nonstop.
Severe weather is another event where the community needs to be prepared. The June heat wave shattered high-temperature records, putting residents' health and lives at risk for an area unaccustomed to such extremes. Many of our most at-risk residents—seniors, medically compromised, or unsheltered—suffered from our region’s lack of air conditioning.
During these recent events, many things went well. The city opened cooling shelters and provided clean drinking water to homeless people, and many community members shared their air-conditioned homes or loaned portable air conditioners to those especially vulnerable to heat stress.
However, whether it’s severe weather in summer or winter, there is always more we can do more to help our community.
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Get personally prepared, particularly for power outages, which can be deadly in any temperature extreme. PSE has excellent ideas.
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Look out for neighbors who might need help or who might be able to help you. True community resilience comes from neighbors helping neighbors. But you need to build that network now, before an emergency.
Here’s the September Ready in Renton Challenge: Build your resilience network. Think of the neighbors you do know and what their needs are. For neighbors you don’t know, make the first move. Identify skills, knowledge, and resources you can contribute during an emergency. Prepare together with your neighbors to build that network and be ready together.
For ideas and resources to help you prepare and get connected, check out rentonwa.gov/emergencies, rentonwa.gov/cert, and readytogether.net/.
Author Deborah Needham has served as the city’s emergency management director since 2007.