Preparedness
Are you ready?
• Our Family in July, 2005
• Hurricane Katrina – August 29, 2005
Be Prepared
Personal & Family
Professional & Corporate
Ward & Stake
Personal Preparation
• First evacuated in July 2002 to Mississippi
• Kept flood insurance on the home
• Identified key documents (home deed,
passports, etc.) and centralized
• Cut boards for windows
• Built up our food and water storage
• Paid our tithing
Professional Preparation
• Company had a corporate disaster
recovery team with executive participation
• Updated hotsite and coldsite recovery
plans every year
• Emergency plan in place with clear lines of
authority, contact information and
responsibilities for each leader
Ward Preparation
• Ward Emergency Plan
– Assignment and reporting directions
– Evacuation locations
– Families most at Risk
• Home Teaching assignments
– All families assigned to a priesthood quorum for
shepherding– High Priests or Elders
• Gathering of contingency information
– Contact info: Email address, cell phone
– Likely evacuation destination
• Know Your Sheep
Evacuation
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Saturday, August 27 – Got call at 11:00 AM
Packed bags, documents, food for car
Put upstairs: computers, photos, treasures
Cleared lawn of loose toys/furniture
Put Cabrio in the garage
Boarded windows
• Saturday, August 27 – Left at 8:00 PM
• Arrived in San Antonio Sunday at 8:00 AM
• 8:30 AM Monday, August 29, Katrina
impacts New Orleans area
• Our house in St. Bernard Parish floods
around 9:30 AM
• Came to my parents house in Utah the
day after Memorial Day, enrolled kids in
school
• Got job in Logan and moved to Cliffside
2nd Ward in November 2005
Katrina Aftermath
• Thousands left homeless
• Major traffic arterial crippled (I-10 East
Bridge)
• No cell phone connectivity
• Every home in the ward underwater
• Family trapped in the Chalmette ward
building
• Sister left in the building alone for 12 days
June or July, 2005
November, 2005
Nov. 2005
Water line
picture
Nov. 2005
Clock stopped
at 9:38 (AM)
*Note how high on the
wall the clock is
Front Room Before Storm
Front Room After Storm
Garage after storm
St. Bernard Parish Recovery Timeline
• No one was allowed into the parish for
about 1 month.
• No one was allowed to stay overnight in
the parish for about 2 ½ months.
• Water and sewer service didn’t return until
the middle of November (over 2 months)
• Electric and Gas service was even slower.
About 5-6 months?
Steps We Took
• Secured physical safety of our family
• Gathered information about scope of
disaster and decided on a family plan
• Moved to Utah and found new schools,
doctors, lessons, etc.
• Filed claims with insurance, researched
and applied for available aid
• Closed accounts in New Orleans and paid
final bills
Worked Well - Personal
• We Listened to our local leaders, both religious
and civic!
– Found out ward and community disaster plans
– Followed local recommendations for preparation
– Paid attention to the news.
• Had insurance/documentation in place
• Prior experience evacuating
– We knew what to take/protect and where it was.
– We had boards cut and ready to put over windows.
– We knew how to secure house and what to leave
on/off (but it didn’t really matter)
Worked Well - Professional
• Company up and servicing accounts within
48 hours
• Organized ramp-up at the hot-site in
Dallas
• Weekly all-employee call hosted by CEO
addressing plans and needs
• Transitioned back to New Orleans in
November
Worked Well - Ward
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Emergency Plan
Rides for members wanting to leave
Email communication
Ham radio setup
Bishop’s storehouse had food, water,
blankets, etc. and began handing out to all
affected community members
• Regular calls with Stake Leadership
Challenges - Personal
• Newborn Jason was not thriving after the
storm. Needed doctor’s help.
• Julia frightened of natural disasters. Took
over a year to dissipate.
• Mike commuted to Dallas, TX for 2 weeks
at a time then had a weekend home
Challenges - Professional
• Coordinating back-to-work schedule for
600 employees
• Employee attrition to Dallas-based
businesses
• Temporary housing for 600 employees
• Integrated work with home-based and
alternative work location employees
Challenges - Ward
• Members spread from coast to coast
(Maryland to California)
• No cell phone service for 2 weeks
• Family sheltered in the church
• Rescue of the sister from the church
“Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and
rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster,
famine, and earth quake cannot happen here. Those
who believe this are either not acquainted with the
revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them.
Those who smugly think these calamities will not
happen, that they will somehow be set aside because of
the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will
rue the day they harbored such a delusion.”
(October Conference, 1980 Ensign, Nov 1980:32-33)
Learnings
Preparedness is almost as much a frame of
mind as it is physical exertion. If we think
ahead as we live our lives we will be more
likely to have the skills to survive, even if
our physical preparations fall short.
Do something, even if it’s small!
“Organize yourselves;
prepare every needful thing;
and establish a house … of God.”
- D&C 88:119
“If ye are prepared
ye shall not fear.”
- D&C 38:30