Protect People From the Hazard

Flood Preparedness

Recognizing an impending hazard and knowing what to do to protect yourself and your family will help you take effective steps to prepare beforehand and aid recovery after the event.

Some of the things you can do to prepare for the unexpected, such as assembling a supply kit and developing a family emergency plan, are the same for all types of hazards. However each emergency is unique and knowing the actions to take for each threat will impact the specific decisions and preparations you make. By learning about these specific threats, you are preparing yourself to react in an emergency.

The Flood Smart website also provides additional information on the importance of flood preparedness and protection. The website includes links to fact sheets and brochures on these topics. This information will help to educate residents about their flood risk, how they can protect their property and how to get flood insurance. 

The following link to the Flood Smart website provides some interesting facts about flooding in general. Click on the following to access this information: Flood Facts.

Protect Your Family

Your family may not be together when a disaster strikes so it is important to plan in advance: how you will get to a safe place; how you will contact one another; how you will get back together; and what you will do in different situations. Recognizing an impending hazard and knowing what to do to protect yourself and your family will help you take effective steps to prepare beforehand and aid recovery after the event.

Some of the things you can do to prepare for the unexpected, such as assembling a supply kit and developing a family emergency plan, are the same for all types of hazards. However each emergency is unique and knowing the actions to take for each threat will impact the specific decisions and preparations you make. By learning about these specific threats, you are preparing yourself to react in an emergency.

In addition, know where your evacuation routes area. The following link will direct you to the evacuation map for North Kingstown: North Kingstown Evacuation Map.

Code Red

The CodeRED Emergency Telephone Calling System is an extremely high-speed telephone communication service available for emergency notifications. CodeRED employs a one-of-a-kind Internet mapping capability for geographic targeting of calls, coupled with a high-speed telephone calling system capable of delivering customized pre-recorded emergency messages directly to homes and businesses at the rate of up to 60,000 calls per hour. CodeRED subscribers control their emergency broadcasts from anywhere in the world via a secure Internet Portal.

It's that easy to deliver critical emergency messages in lightning fast time.

Much of the database has been supplied to Emergency Communications Network, but no one should automatically assume his or her telephone number is included. All businesses should register, as well as all individuals who have unlisted phone numbers, those who have changed their phone number or address within the last year, those who use a cellular phone as their home phone.

You can sign up for CodeRed on the Police Department's web page here: CodeRed

Details

The CodeRED system is a geographical based notification system, which means street addresses are needed to select which telephone numbers will receive emergency notification calls in any given situation. The system works fine for cellular phones too but requires a street address. People who have recently moved to the town but kept the same listed or unlisted number also need to change their addresses in the database.

Tide Gauges

Another good action for being prepared is to monitor the local tide gauge information. Tide gauges provide critical water level information to help emergency responders and managers, weather forecasters, coastal planners and others prepare and respond to the impacts of coastal storms and rising sea levels. Tide gauge information for the local area can be accessed on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Assocation (NOAA) at the following: Newport Tide Gauge and Providence Tide Gauge.The Newport and Providence gauges are utilized for this area.

Tide gauges have been utilized to estimate sea level change from data collected over the last century. Tide gauges measure the sea level relative to a nearby geodetic benchmark. The figure below is the most commonly used tide gauge measurement system. Tide gauges also monitor meteorological factors that affect sea levels, such as barometric pressure and wind speed, so that these variable factors can be eliminated from long-term assessments of sea level change. Tide gauges offer the only source of historical, precise, long-term sea level data.