Why New Yorkers (and everyone) Need a GO-bag

Not to be fear mongers (though sometimes we need to do that to get people to take action) but the below events can, and have, happened. They all lead to the need to evacuate immediately and they can happen anywhere, anytime.

• Hurricane
• Apartment or house fire
• Crane accident
• Terrorist incident
• Chemical spill
• Infrastructure failure
• Natural disaster
• Blackouts
• Black swans

This week also marks the seventh anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, the deadly storm that hit the Caribbean, New York and New Jersey. Some facts:

1. Hurricane Sandy was a post-tropical cyclone that swept through the Caribbean and up the East Coast of the United States in October of 2012.
2. The hurricane began as a tropical wave in the Caribbean and quickly turned into a tropical storm in just 6 hours. It was upgraded to a hurricane on Oct. 24 when it reached 74 mph winds.
3. The National Hurricane Center says that the tropical force winds extended 820 miles at their widest.
4. Sandy’s pure kinetic energy for storm surge and wave destruction potential reached a 5.8 out of 6 on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s scale.
5. The total death toll reached 285, including at least 125 deaths in the United States.
6. The hurricane caused close to $62 billion in damage in the United States and at least $315 million in the Caribbean.
7. Hurricane Sandy is the nation’s most expensive storm since Hurricane Katrina, which caused $128 billion in damage.
8. New York was most severely impacted due to damage to subways and roadway tunnels.
9. In New York and New Jersey, storm surges were 14 ft above the average low tide.
10. At the height of the storm, over 7.5 million people were without power.*

This anniversary, though not a joyous occasion, is a reminder that disasters can happen anywhere, anytime. Being ready for emergencies is a necessity. New Yorkers (and everyone) need to Plan (download our Readiness Playbook here), Prepare (put together a GO-bag or order a fully-stocked one here), and Practice (make sure you, your friends and family know where you'll be meeting and where you will be going in case of an emergency). 

*https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-hurricane-sandy