App can help you prepare for severe weather

NEW ORLEANS, Texas – Wednesday's focus at the National Hurricane Conference was mitigation – things we can do to reduce the losses when storms hit. 

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I had the privilege of talking about mitigation ideas with colleagues from the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes – FLASH.  Pictured with me are FLASH CEO Leslie Chapman Henderson and DIY expert Ed Del Grande.  We were launching a new feature with FLASH called Mitigation 2.0, an online app that provides what we believe will provide relatively simple and easy to understand steps and guidelines to help homeowners prepare their homes to better resist the impacts of adverse weather.  The idea came about after results from a Harris Survey following last hurricane season showed relatively few people intended to do the things we know work in mitigation – like having flood insurance, building or purchasing window covering or adding water barriers to the roof.

Included in the launch was a really cool mobile app, FLASH WX Alerts, which provides a sophisticated platform for receiving weather alerts issued by the National Weather Service, radar images, and access to things you can do to remain safe and prepare for adverse weather.  The app is GPS-oriented, thus you can get warning wherever you travel, plus you can customize the setting to the information you want.  To find out more or get the app, go here:

http://www.flash.org/weather-alerts/.

Now is the time to begin preparing for hurricane season. At this time of year, I like to review my plans, make a shopping list of food and medications I want to have on hand and make sure my cars are in good working order.  Just common sense stuff! 

Hurricane season starts in 65 days.