It’s December and it’s raining cats and dogs and a few large farm animals as well. So what are you going to do to prepare for emergencies at such a time? Stay inside and look around! This is a good time to review everything you’ve done on this 12-month journey to prepare—and feel good about all that hard work. It’s also the time to make sure you haven’t missed anything.

If you live or spend time on the beaches or low-lying areas, be aware of high King Tides Tuesday and Wednesday mornings this week (11/28 and 29).

Looking for ways to store water for emergencies? Local feed store Bay Hay and Feed now offers two excellent items to help you: water storage tanks and water stabilizer treatment.

John Fossett, the adult services librarian at the Bainbridge Public Library, once attended a virtual preparedness summit at which a woman said, “If you can’t grow food in your community, you are not prepared.”

Sheltering in place is not something we have much reason to do in western Washington. But when we do, it is of utmost importance to do it right. Almost always, the occasion will be a chemical, biological, or radiological event.

The fall time change, which, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, happened last night, is a great reminder to take care of some semiannual home preparation tasks.

More than 5,000 kids attend school, day care, or other programs on Bainbridge. On any given day, a good percentage of the parents/caretakers of those children may be working off island. What happens if on a school day a disaster occurs that shuts down the bridge and ferry system?

Getting prepared for disaster should not be an activity possible only for people with financial means. A community is not truly prepared unless everyone in it is prepared. There is no equity unless everyone is able to feel relatively safe.

Earthquake preparation involves knowing what to do when an earthquake starts and what to do when the shaking stops.