GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) – September is National Preparedness Month. Greenville County first responders collaborated to get the word out on how residents can prepare for a natural disaster.
“One of the things harder than preparing for a disaster is explaining why you did not,” Jessica Stumpf, Director of Greenville County Emergency Management, said.
Field Street transformed into a sea of first responders Sunday.
“You’ll see first responders’ vehicles, fire trucks and police cars,” Stumpf added. “All here to get a very specific message out.”
“We have created an event called “Get Ready Greenville County” and what it does is encourage people to be prepared for emergencies and disasters.”
Natural disasters can take many different forms in the Upstate.
“We can get a lot of rain, so we deal with a lot of flooding in this area. We also had a tornado outbreak; we had a tornado outbreak back in 2020… where we saw over 25 tornadoes within about 6 hours.”
Those things are not always on the forefront of our minds until it’s too late. So Stumpf said Sunday is all about making sure folks are prepared.
“If we know what our hazards are and how we can prepare for them we will be able to bounce back a lot quicker once the event has passed,” Stumpf said.
“You can take simple steps every month to build your kit. Stuff like when you go to the grocery store, pick up an extra case of water, easy to have on hand. Maybe the next time you go you pick up some canned food and make sure you have a non-electric can opener to open that food. Each month you can add to your kit little by little.”
Stumpf said if you missed Sunday’s event, you can download the SC Emergency Management app for free. The app will teach you how to build an emergency plan and kit.
