Neighbor stories

National Preparedness Month Spotlight: Prepare for Power Outages

Written by ndmulti

In honor of National Preparedness Month, we’re sharing stories every week related to FEMA’s themes of preparing for emergencies, including floods, wildfires, hurricanes, power outages, and more.

To find out how you can best prepare for emergencies, visit www.ready.gov/septemberResearch shows that connected communities are the most resilient in the face of disaster. To join your Nextdoor neighborhood and connect with your community, visit www.nextdoor.com and enter your email and home address.

When a neighborhood in Wichita, Kansas unexpectedly lost power, neighbors knew to turn to Nextdoor for iPhone and Android to stay connected. Della Lickteig, a member of Nextdoor Forest Hills, sent out an Urgent Alert warning neighbors of the power outage – and that Urgent Alert may have saved a woman’s life.

Della’s neighbor received the Urgent Alert on his phone while he was at work. His mother lived in the same community and relied on an electric oxygen machine; without it, she was in serious danger. Immediately, the neighbor rushed home and hooked up his mother’s oxygen machine to a back-up generator.

Thanks to Della’s quick thinking, her neighbor was able to stay connected to his neighborhood while he was at work – and save his mother from a potentially deadly situation.

To make sure you are signed up for Urgent Alerts in your neighborhood, check your settings. If you haven’t done so already, add your mobile phone number to receive Urgent Alerts via text message (SMS).

Have your own story about how you’ve used Nextdoor? Tell us about it.

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