Next time, be ready

As if to test our preparedness, less than a week after we wrote an editorial encouraging Valley residents to put together a few emergency supplies such as water, candles, a battery-powered radio, batteries, blankets and so on, the wind picked up in the Valley.

Gusts topping 112 mph tore through the Mat-Su, toppling trees and tearing down power lines.

Thousands of Matanuska Electric Association customers — about 85 percent — were left in the dark for hours and some for as long as two or three days.

We’ve heard a lot by phone, e-mail and on our Facebook page from readers frustrated because they couldn’t reach anyone at MEA or the Mat-Su Borough.

“There’s nobody to ask,” one caller lamented in a voicemail she left for the newsroom.

More than the chill in their dark homes, people voiced anger and frustration because the moose, halibut and salmon and other foods they’d spent months harvesting and preserving was thawing and rotting while they waited for more information.

Electricity is ubiquitous. We’ve grown to depend on it for lights, heat, to run our water heaters, stoves, Internet routers and phones. And when the power goes out, we want to know why and how quickly it will be restored.

The storm did highlight some shortcomings.

In light of what the utility learned, it has planned a series of meetings with the City of Palmer Department of Public Safety and the Mat-Su Borough Department of Emergency Services to establish a “wind event response plan” for the utility.

We applaud MEA for using this as an opportunity to better prepare for the next windstorm. We also applaud them for the four straight days of effort to get each Mat-Su resident up and running with power so we can be warm and comfortable again.

The public has the same opportunity to use its experience over the weekend to better prepare for the next emergency.

At the 2010 Mat-Su Safe and Sound Preparedness Fair at Mat-Su College Sept. 18, Tim Grady talked people though a list of suggestions for creating a “Bug Out Bag.” He suggests packing the bag and storing it at the ready for when the next emergency occurs.

He recommends essentials like flashlights, candles, sleeping bags, a Swiss Army knife, zip ties, duct tape, tarps, water filter, hand warmers, camp stove with fuel, easy-to-prepare foods and two-way radios.

Fresh on the heels of this emergency, our Facebook fan page readers added a few suggestions of their own, including a generator, if you can afford it, bottled water, big ice chest, water to flush toliets, quilts to cover doorways, baby wipes and entertainment items for small children.

Grady also recommended making sure friends and family are prepared, too.

It’s worth the small amount of time and effort required to be ready for the next emergency, whether it’s an earthquake, snowstorm, forest fire, volcano eruption or power outage.

Take a few moments and get prepared.