Red Crossers Preparing #1: Getting out of DC
I told you a while back that we wanted to document on Red Cross Chat our own real life experiences with getting ourselves prepared.
This is the first in a long series of posts that will do just that. We hope you’ll share with us some of your personal preparedness stories in the comments or on your own blogs.
My colleague at national headquarters, Jennifer Lubrani, prepared this note:
This past week, I’ve been glued to the T.V., checking my RSS feeds, calling the many friends and family members that live out west to get updates on the fires that have hit my hometown of Los Angeles. While not a native to California, I’ve spent a majority of my life there. I went through almost all my rites of passage next to the Pacific Ocean. So it goes without saying that I still have close friends and family spread out through the various counties that are currently being devastated by wildfires.
As I watch an estimated 320,000 people being evacuated from their homes, often with just seconds to spare before they have to get out, it got me thinking about all the other types of disasters that California is known for: earthquakes, mudslides, traffic… Seriously, when will this place ever catch a break?
And although I now live 3,000 miles away from California (in the Washington Metro area in case you wanted to know), certainly my new place of residence is not exempt from its own share of possible disasters, and this got me thinking even more: What if disaster struck here, would I be ready? Do I have a plan in place should I be forced to evacuate the premises?
Well what does being “ready” really mean? What type of disaster do I prepare for? Where do I start? These are all questions that initially swarmed in my head when I decided to do something to get prepared for a disaster like a fire or a hurricane or even another terrorist attack.
The first thing I thought I should learn was, HOW DO I GET OUT OF DC? Well, only in the case of a large-scale disaster would this be the course I might need to take, however, I think it is vital to know where to go if I ever did have to evacuate the city.
I moved to the area a little after September 11th and the office I was working at the time decided that as part of its own emergency preparedness drill, management would teach its employees the 19 ways to get out of DC should we be told to evacuate the city.
Do you know what those 19 primary corridors are? Lucky for you, I’ve learned them and am here to share them with you:
1. 16th St. NW
2. Georgia Ave (7th St) NW
3. Rhode Island Ave. NE
4. New York Ave, NW
5. Benning Rd, NW (via H St NW and E. Capital St SE)
6. Pennsylvania Ave SE
7. Branch Ave SE
8. 9th St, NW
9. 14th St, NW
10. Interstate 395/295
11. Constitution Ave, NW
12. E St. Expressway
13. K St, NW
14. Pennsylvania Ave, NW / M St, NW
15. MacArthur Blvd, NW
16. Canal Rd, NW
17. Wisconsin Ave, NW
18. Connecticut Ave, NW
19. Pennsylvania Ave, NW / 3rd
What steps are you taking to get prepared?
Filed under: Preparedness
By the way, I also found out: when evacuation is ordered, motorists north of Pennsylvania Avenue will be directed North, East, and West on radial evacuation routes; motorists south of Pennsylvania Avenue will be directed South, East, and West on radial evacuation routes. None of the evacuation routes cross and no vehicles will be permitted to cross Pennsylvania Avenue during an emergency evacuation.**
It is for times like this that a vehicle like the Segway becomes infinitely more valuable. While 320,000 people will be trapped in their cars for hours on end, attempting to flee the city, those with Segways will make a speedy and efficient getaway.