Did you know that there are two types of evacuation orders?  The first evacuation recommendation (usually issued by government officials) is the ‘recommended evacuation’ order.  The second evacuation recommendation is the mandated evacuation, which is a civil order from emergency management officials.  In either case, your family should be prepared for either scenario.  Here’s an example of why your family needs to be prepared.

In the 1990s my young family lived several miles from the Red River of the North, which separated North Dakota from Minnesota.  As winter was ending and spring weather melted the snow around the river, the Red River kept rising (almost to the top of the man made dikes on both sides of the river).  Despite our two mile distance from the river, the street we lived on started to fill with rushing water from a nearby tributary of the river.   A knock on our door (it was 10 o’clock at night) discovered three National Guardsmen and a National Guard truck parked on our street.  ‘”You’ve got ten minutes to evacuate and we have to turn off the power to your home.  We are taking your family to a nearby shelter where you will spend the night.  This is an official order and you do not have a choice but to come with us, so gather your things because we leave in ten minutes!”

Here’s the dilemma!  Only ten minutes to figure out the answers to these questions:

• What should we take with us?
• What do we leave behind as potential victims of the flooding waters?
• Which valuables and critical documents do we have time (in 10 minutes) to gather and take with us?
• What options do we have if we can’t return to our home for days or weeks or months?