September is Preparedness Month

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.

For the first time ever, this past January, parts of Louisiana faced blizzard warnings as an Arctic Blast froze parts of the South.

That same month, in another part of the country, wildfires fueled by severe drought and strong Santa Ana winds torched whole neighborhoods of Los Angeles County.

Then in April, a line of devastating thunderstorms called a "derecho" moved east from Indiana to Pennsylvania, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power.

In July, a river in central Texas rose 26 feet in just 45 minutes. A "100 year flood" that killed at least 135 people, including dozens of innocent children who were swept away in the middle of the night without any warning.

Last year, the United States experienced 27 separate weather and climate disasters, causing at least $1 billion in damage and taking the lives of nearly 600 people.

Well, Maine has had our share of disasters as well.

In previous decades, our state averaged only one disaster or emergency declaration per year. But between March 2022 and May 2024, we confronted nine natural disasters, each devastating enough to merit Presidential Major Disaster, or emergency declarations.

We all remember the extreme weather that made our rivers overflow their banks and ocean tides surge to record highs. Following those horrible storms, I knew we had to do more. Hannah Pingree, who was then director of my Policy and Innovation Office, led my Administration's work with the legislature to deliver a historic $60 million dollars in storm relief to rebuild working waterfronts, to help damaged inland businesses, and to build stronger infrastructure to withstand extreme weather.

We also passed the largest storm preparedness bill in Maine history, L.D. 1, which I signed into law earlier this year, which enhances emergency planning at all levels and prepares communities for severe weather, and reduces storm related risks for Maine homeowners and businesses.

We all have a responsibility to be prepared. That's why I've declared September to be Preparedness Month, and I call on everyone in our state -- families, businesses, communities -- to plan for emergencies of all kinds.

Here's what you can do: create an emergency plan for your family. Find out about the emergencies that might happen in your area, and talk with your family about what you could do to stay safe.

What would you need, for instance, if a road washed out and you couldn't get to the grocery store for some days?

Or if your home was flooded and you had to leave, where would you go and what would you need to take with you?

If the power went out, what would you do?

We should all have an emergency kit, including food, water, and medicine and whatnot. Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) has a list of items to consider on their website at maine.gov/mema. On that website, you can also sign up for emergency alerts to keep informed.

In addition to taking care of our own families, we should all also look out for neighbors, especially older people, people with disabilities, and people who live alone. Checking on your neighbor during a power outage, offering them a ride to a cooling center on a hot day, or just sharing information with them can make all the difference.

When disasters strike in Maine, our first responders do everything they can to keep us safe and to save lives, but we bear a responsibility to be prepared as well. By being ready for the unexpected, we can ease the burden on our first responders and make sure that help goes first to those who need it most.

Together, we can make sure our families, our communities, and our state are all safer, stronger, and ready for whatever storms lie ahead.

Make a plan, build a kit, stay informed and look out for one another during Preparedness Month in Maine.

This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.