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Volume 20, Issue 6, June 2018
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State Farm's R. K. Mehrotra and FEMA Administrator Brock Long - USAA's Eagle One alongside WC-130J
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Takes Flight During Annual Tour
Beginning on May 7, FLASH and #HurricaneStrong National Sponsors Cummins Generators and Legacy Partners State Farm, and USAA joined the
NOAA Hurricane Awareness Tour
(HAT) to deliver safety and home protection information to more than 6,500 attendees along the Gulf Coast in McAllen, Beaumont, Baton Rouge, Montgomery, and Lakeland.
Each day brought partners and team members together with governors, mayors, officials, and leaders, including FEMA Administrator Brock Long, NHC Director Ken Graham, and National Weather Service Southern Region Director Steven Cooper, for the five-day, whistlestop event.
Read More >
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South Carolina Training Partnership Tradition Continues
SVP Mike Rimoldi joined the South Carolina Department of Insurance in Charleston to conduct
SC Safe Home Program training for new contractors and inspectors in Charleston on May 22 - 23, continuing more than a decade of collaboration between the organizations.
The program detailed how retrofits apply to the building code and included information on how homeowners along the coast of South Carolina can apply for matching grants to strengthen their home against hurricane and high-wind damage.
Read More >
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FEMA Mission Makes a Difference
in USVI
FLASH continues to support recovery efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) as part of the team formed and led by FEMA through STARR II to provide assistance and support to the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR). The team assembled in the wake of 2017 Hurricane Irma devastation.
The multi-faceted Resilient Building Codes Mission is a critical component of the ongoing disaster recovery in the USVI. FEMA's assistance, working with the territory, includes updating building codes, staffing, and training, using EMAC Building Inspectors, launching a modern permitting system, and a prescriptive residential construction guide designed to the latest 2018 International Codes.
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Leslie Chapman-Henderson, Local Government Officials and Leaders
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FLASH Joins Leon County Leaders to Mark June 1 and
"Build Buckets"
Leslie Chapman-Henderson joined Leon County and City of Tallahassee leaders on June 1 for a news conference (see video) as hurricane season began. The event showcased the county's
2018 Hurricane Survival Guide
with new #HurricaneStrong program content, promotion of the June 2 "Build Your Bucket" event, and more.
According to Leon County Director of Emergency Management Kevin Peters, "Tropical storms do not look at calendars before they spin up in the Gulf of Mexico. You can never be too prepared and you can never be prepared too early. We know that this hurricane season may be near normal, but it only takes one to ruin your community."
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John Zarrella and Cheryl Nelson
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New Video Features Power Outage Safety
A new video featuring the importance of having power during an outage is the latest addition to the "
Protect Your Home in a FLASH" series.
The latest video features John Zarrella and new #HurricaneStrong partner Cummins Generators and its
Weather Preparedness Advisor and meteorologist Cheryl Nelson.
The video discusses the far-reaching consequences of prolonged, wide spread power outages caused by hurricanes, snowstorms, heat waves, and other natural disasters. It looks at the safety advantages of having a standby generator that turns on automatically when power is interrupted.
You can view the new video
here
,
and the entire Protect Your Home in a FLASH series
here.
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WDT Partnership Offers Updated Weather App
"We are proud to partner with WDT, the country's premier weather data provider, to reintroduce this powerful, easy-to-use app combining technology with real-time severe weather information," said FLASH President and CEO Leslie Chapman-Henderson. "Often, our smartphones and tablets serve as lifelines in a disaster, so we are offering this app and the speed it delivers to maximize the short window of time available to make life or death decisions in a disaster. The added everyday benefits of reliable weather forecasts make it a must-have."
Read More >
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Michael Lingerfelt
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In Remembrance - Michael Lingerfelt
Last month the FLASH Partnership was deeply saddened by the sudden loss of Michael Lingerfelt, one of our most talented, sincere, and generous board members and partners.
The Board of Directors released this statement upon learning of Michael's loss, "Michael was as giving in spirit as he was talented in art, architecture, and life. He was a dedicated family man and will be missed by all who had the good fortune to experience the sparkle of his kindness and breadth of his skills. His passing is a profound loss to the disaster safety and resilience movement." Read Michael's story here.
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FEMA Building Science Releases Recovery Advisories After 2017 Season
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) caused severe flooding and high winds, resulting in tragic loss of life as well as damage to houses, critical facilities, schools, and other buildings. The advisories below provide information to assist with rebuilding decisions in the aftermath of the 2017 hurricanes as well as any future flooding or high wind events.
This guidance is intended for homeowners, designers, building owners and officials, architects, engineers, and contractors; however, can provide helpful information for other stakeholders as well.
These recovery advisories are newly released and available on the
FEMA Library
.
Texas
Florida
U.S. Virgin Islands
Puerto Rico
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FEMA to Host Webinars on Groundbreaking Report
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will host a limited number of webinars to show how mitigation does pay. In January 2018, the National Institute of Building Sciences released an update and expansion to the Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves Study. The new report, Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2017 Interim Report, found that mitigation grants save society $6 for every $1 spent, while exceeding select provisions of the 2015 model building codes saves $4 for every $1 spent.
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Collaboration Opportunities and Upcoming Events
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Ray Magallanes |
QuakeSmart Workshop Held in Southern CA, Six More Set for 2018
Business, nonprofit, and emergency management organizations came together on May 30 in Santa Clarita, CA, for a QuakeSmart Preparedness Workshop sponsored by Legacy Partner FEMA, FLASH, and the City of Santa Clarita.
Mike Rimoldi presented an overview of the QuakeSmart Toolkit while speakers from One Concern, City of Santa Clarita, LA County Fire Department, Pearce Global Partners, Safe-T-Proof Earthquake Fasteners, and Legacy Partner Simpson Strong-Tie offered protocols that can reduce damage costs, save lives, and help communities recover more quickly following seismic disasters.
"The QuakeSmart program is such a valuable resource to business owners to help set them on the path of being prepared to minimize disruptions to their business after the next big earthquake," said Annie Kao, P.E.,
Senior Field Engineer Simpson Strong-Tie. "Simpson Strong-Tie is proud to support the great education and outreach being done to help folks build safer and stronger communities."
Read More >
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NDRC Sponsorship Opportunities and Early Registration Available
Early bird registration and sponsorship opportunities are now available for the
2018 National Disaster Resilience Conference
(NDRC) November 7-9 in Clearwater Beach, FL. The NDRC is the premier leadership conference on disaster resilience bringing together the nation's foremost voices in the disaster safety and resilience movement.
NDRC sponsorship will build your brand, create new business opportunities, reinforce relationships with existing customers, and get your company name in front of design professionals, emergency managers, financial services experts, futurists, housing experts, insurers, journalists, meteorologists, product manufacturers, risk communicators, scientists, social psychologists, and many others in the disaster safety and resilience movement.
Attendees will enjoy keynote presentations, discussion panels, and spotlight topics that focus on the latest in science, policy, and practice to create more resilient buildings and disaster-resilient communities in the face of earthquakes, floods, hail, hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes, and wildfires, as well as human-caused disasters.
When you sponsor, you will join Gold Sponsors BASF and USAA, Silver Sponsors, ISO and Portland Cement Association, Bronze Sponsor Smart Vent, and General Sponsor Enterprise Community Partners to help underwrite this important gathering.
Past presenters have included Director of Public Policy for The Economist Intelligence Unit, Leo Abruzzese; The Weather Channel's Dave Shull, Jim Cantore, and Dr. Rick Knabb; Lt. General Russel L. Honoré; Hurricane Hunters Lt. Col. Jon Talbot and Dr. Jim McFadden; and leaders from the American Institute of Architects, FEMA, the International Code Council, State Farm Insurance, USAA, and many more.
Click
here
to take advantage of early bird registration and sponsorship opportunities today.
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© 2018
Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) | (850) 385-7233 |
www.flash.org
All Rights Reserved
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