The weather in California, always known for extreme events, seems to be set to outdo its own impressive track record. In just a few months, the Golden State has gone from extreme drought to extreme flooding. Fierce rainfall had 20 million people under flood alerts, mudslides took at least 13 lives in Montecito, and other storm damage has left hundreds of thousands of people without power. And that’s just in a two-week period.
Preparing for Huge, Cascading Events
The statistics boggle the mind: rainfall at 400-600 percent above average, 32 reports of mudslides in 28 hours, multiple rounds of heavy snow with 3 to 6 feet of accumulation, and tens of thousands of people evacuating. These kinds of conditions and the accompanying damage, outages, and rescue efforts pose outsized challenges for emergency management teams. In preparing systems and citizens for massive weather events, there are many ways that real-time information could be your biggest ally.
When disaster strikes on a moment’s notice, there’s rarely time for critical intelligence gathering in emergency operations centers as teams are forced to act quickly.
In San Mateo County alone, recent storm preparedness involved distributing 500 tons of sand, 35,000 sandbags and 15,000 feet of twine to tie the bags. After the storm, in addition to extensive cleanup, the county housed displaced persons in shelters and hotels, provided 2,000 meals, and dispatched generators to critical locations. The scope of the storm damage necessitated a coordinated response among cities and organizations, including deploying 40 Red Cross volunteers.
When it comes to preparing a targeted response to storms and other threats, the DataCapable Platform helps emergency management professionals respond quickly and confidently.
The Best Preparation Uses Technology
As the events in California have shown, escalating fallout from extreme weather dictates a massive, multi-pronged effort across many disparate agencies and organizations. Being truly prepared means arming yourself with tools that provide actionable intelligence. Prompt response to trapped citizens, downed wires, submerged houses, or blocked roads will not only save lives and property, it goes a long way in reducing the anxiety and confusion among the population. Keeping track of all of the moving parts and up-to-the-minute changes is impossible without technology that provides relevant, situational awareness and accurate, two-way communication.
DataCapable Has the Tools You Need
With Community Portal and the Outage and Event Map, first responders can confidently prepare to detect and respond to any scenario at anytime. Reach out to our team today to schedule a demo and learn more about how you can increase safety while reducing costs through situational awareness delivered by the DataCapable platform.