September marks Preparedness Month which serves as a reminder to stay prepared for natural disasters and emergencies. This is especially fitting here in North Carolina as September is the month we typically experience the highest level of hurricane activity in our state.
To celebrate Preparedness Month, let’s take a closer look at how cooperatives work together to help each other out in the wake of a natural disaster.
This is set up through a mutual-aid agreement which is an agreement among cooperatives in our state that we all offer assistance to each other when needed. For example, when Hurricane Matthew left the Carolina coast damaged and millions without power, we traveled to cooperatives on the coast that needed help recovering.
By working together, we were able to restore power to their members quickly and safely. Likewise, when our service area was damaged by Hurricane Michael, other electric cooperatives came to our aid.
As cooperatives, we have each other’s backs no matter what time of year and this helps us better serve our members. It also helps protect our linemen who would otherwise have to take care of all the restoration efforts after a large storm by themselves.
We truly are stronger together and we’ll get through the worst of hurricane season each year thanks to our preparedness and the helping hands of our fellow co-ops.
Make sure you’re prepared for hurricane season
Have you updated your emergency kit recently? During the COVID-19 health crisis, many of us had to borrow supplies from our kits when items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer were hard to find in stores.
Take some time to go through your emergency kit and replace any items you have used. You will also want to keep extra hand sanitizer, masks and bottled water in your kit along with other basic supplies like batteries, medicine and nonperishable foods.
