by Brandi Richard Thompson | Sep 9, 2026 | Preparedness Basics
Open the bag. Not later. Not this weekend. Go find it, wherever it is, in the hall closet or the garage shelf or the back of the coat closet behind the winter things, and unzip it on the kitchen table. I already know what is in there. A flashlight with batteries that...
by Brandi Richard Thompson | Aug 27, 2026 | From Brandi, Hazard-Specific Planning
By Brandi Richard Thompson Former Federal Emergency Management Official On August 11, a derecho crossed into northwest Indiana with a 99 mph gust recorded at the Gary/Chicago International Airport. It took down roughly 300,000 NIPSCO customers, about sixty percent of...
by Brandi Richard Thompson | Aug 26, 2026 | Hazard-Specific Planning, Storm Preparedness
When a derecho tore through northwest Indiana on August 11 and left Gary and Lake County dark for fourteen days, the loss did not end when the power came back. Neither did the deadlines. We published a free recovery guide for residents, and it is still available. If...
by Brandi Richard Thompson | Aug 26, 2026 | Hazard-Specific Planning
When the Spokane wildfires forced families out of their homes, we published a free one-page recovery guide. It is still available, and it still works — because the order of operations after a disaster does not change from one hazard to the next. The instinct...
