What Would Happen If A Harvey-Like Storm Hit Philly?
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Thousands are being rescued and countless people are displaced in Texas because of Tropical Storm Harvey, and it has many people in the Philly region asking, "What would I do in an emergency?"
"I never gave it too much thought," said one man near City Hall.
"I don't even know what I would do," said one woman nearby.
"We probably should be a little more prepared," admitted another man.
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Philadelphia has a big advantage over Houston in that it has a lot of high ground.
Dan Bradley, director of the Office of Emergency Management, says the city identifies which of its shelters are above the flood plain and which are not.
"You've seen in Irene and Sandy, we've activated shelters that are far removed from those areas and we also have hydrological modeling that we can do in advance of these storms to see where the statistical probabilities are of where flooding's going to come from," said Bradley.
"As the (hypothetical) storm approaches Philadelphia and we have high confidence we're going to be impacted by it, the city begins a massive public awareness campaign to get information about evacuation shelters are, where the modeling predicts we're going to see the inland flooding," he continued.
Philadelphia would not have to be evacuated but people in low-lying areas such as Germantown or Eastwick might have to leave their homes.
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"We've got plans for neighborhood based evacuations, to move folks out of harm's way," said Bradley.
Bradley says the preparation begins at home. He recommends all families have a Go Bag packed with important documents, food, water and clothing.
He also recommends families sign up for OEM emergency alerts. You can do that by CLICKING HERE.
