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There is no such thing as a shielded community. That’s right – no one is 100% protected from Mother Nature. Period.

So be aware and be in the know of the dangers / hazards in your area. And tell other people about it too!

#NatlPrep #Ready #NaperReady Americans Stand Ready!

Just because you don’t live in tornado alley, does NOT mean you are absolved / excluded from a tornado…in fact, many tornadoes occur outside of tornado alley too!

At this time, Illinois leads the country in tornado so yeah. Wait, how do I know that? Well, lemme tell you….

Evelyn and I on the interview ready

Sooooooooooo, to better prepare you for common and uncommon disasters in your community, reference your community’s biggest threats/hazards here.

For Illinois, you’ll find that Flooding, Severe weather, Cold/Hot temperatures, tornado/high winds are the biggest threats to our area.

But for more of Illinois’ history on disasters: https://publish.illinois.edu/ihlc-blog/exhibits/i-shall-never-be-able-to-forget-what-i-saw-a-brief-history-of-illinois-disasters/

Reporting live from the files of history…

@rusnivek

Fireside family updates…with beverages!

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After you update your family emergency plan, share it with other family members and consider sharing it with friends too.

So take a few moments to burn the midnight oil and share those plans with the most important people in your life. Don’t forget to hydrate as you share your detailed plans of safety too.

We want to make sure our friends and family are safe during emergencies or disasters.

#NatlPrep #Ready Americans Stand Ready!

I can think of many things to drink as we talk about preparedness right?!?

Reporting live from my Sunday fireside briefing with family…

@rusnivek

Volumes of plans and preparedness stuff

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Without a plan, we have no coordination right?!?!?

Make sure your family emergency plan is updated with the current family information. This will ensure everyone will be in communications with each other until help arrives.

#NatlPrep #Ready Americans Stand Ready!

Once you get your plans straight and organized, don’t forget to put it in a place that is easily accessible. This way, your family can reference before, during, and after a disaster!

Who doesn’t love a good detailed plan huh?

@rusnivek

Kids need stuff…I mean stuffies too!

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Kids always need lots of stuff…so don’t forget to pack their emergency preparedness kits with food, water, medications, snacks, toys, games, and their favorite stuffed animal…or their favorite 2 stuffed animals…or their favorite three stuffed animals. 

#NatlPrep #Ready Americans Stand Ready!

Whatever you choose, make sure to pack a few as kids are prone to misplacing things.

Reporting live from stuffy central….

@rusnivek

Don’t gatekeep these tips

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Don’t gatekeep our best safety tips – share them with your whole family! All month long, we hope you share these preparedness tips with everyone! #NatlPrep #Ready Americans Stand Ready!

We hope you are widely sharing all these preparedness/safety tips. In fact, not only sharing, but also ASKING your communities to share within their communities too.

Our collective information is bee-hiving it a collaborating with way that is beneficial for all. Abd sharing information is good for any audience that we regularly engage with and perhaps reach a few that we don’t engage regularly with.

Additionally, weird that people think that a big city will thwart a tornado.

Truth be told, Mother Nature doesn’t care about size as she will send a tornado anywhere.

So keep this in mind as you educate others on the possible hazards.

Although they hear it from me all the time, my family gets regular weather updates from me all the time that I share from the NWS-Chicago and NWS-Honolulu teams. This way, they know they are getting the info from the foremost authority, not some self-proclaimed “expert/guru”.

So be consistent in sharing sourced information and regularly address concerns when there is severe weather inbound to your area.

Keep them informed and be one of the trusted sources of information for your family and friends.

@rusnivek

Being informed on the sich #NatlPrep

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Day-2 of National preparedness month!

Being informed of the dangers and knowing what to do in an emergency is critical to the safety for you and your family. #NatlPrep #Ready Americans Stand Ready!

The hardest part of any emergency or disaster…is actually knowing what to do.

The theme of knowing the dangers and being informed is always an easy sell because the nature of our business is always changing. Compounding the problem even more is that every disaster/emergency is NOT the same.

One more time for the people in the back – no two disasters are alike.

This makes it challenging for Emergency Managers to urgently inform and educate their communities because the variability of preparedness will always be changing.

So take a few minutes more to appropriately educate your audiences on how to find the right info. I would suggest you start with severe weather in your locality…this way, you have a wide dearth of topics to cover.

Then, as they get more comfortable with the weather preparedness, then move them on to bigger sandwiches (like cyber threats, HAZMAT, or even active shooters etc…)

I see bright things for your preparedness efforts this year.

Go forth and do good stuff.

@rusnivek

Welcome to 2026 National Preparedness Month!

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Kicking off an entire month of preparedness as we join partners from across the U.S. as we enhance your preparedness level for any emergency or disaster. #NatlPrep #Ready

September is always National Preparedness Month and it’s a great time to better your preparedness efforts.

This year’s theme is Americans Stand Ready so follow along all month long on social media.

BTW-Did you know that September is also:

  • National Recovery Month
  • Hispanic Heritage Month
  • Suicide Prevention Month
  • National Coupon Month
  • National Library Card Sign-up Month
  • National Potato Month
  • National Classical Music Month
  • National Chicken Month
  • National Service Dog Month
  • National Honey Month
  • National Rice Month
  • National Pain Awareness Month
  • National Mushroom Month
  • National Americana Month
  • National Sewing Month
  • National Mortgage Professional Month
  • National Piano Month

The more you know, the better you’ll be prepared right?!?

Esp in case of a hot potato or real chicken emergency. Boom!

And thank goodness it’s not Monday #NPM

IYKYK

Glad you are along for the ride. Let’s goooooooooooooooooooooo!

@rusnivek

Catastrophic flooding/avalanche in Nepal/Tibet

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After closely following the avalanche in Nepal/Tibet that just occurred, I feel the worse is yet to come. By now, you’ve seen the videos of several areas being demolished and obliterated.

For the sake of trauma, I will NOT repost all these images or videos.

I am NOT on standby to go or deploy out to this area. And for those wondering, all of my current work is relegated to domestic assignments (within the US).

But let’s start thinking about the hazards and ramifications.

The ice shelf/avalanche seemly started this causing a debris flow to go down the side of the mountain. Many of these small towns line the river.

Well above the small towns, there appear to be a few tributaries and lakes that hold back the flow. But with all the debris coming down, the river and outlets gets blocked from the debris causing more challenges with flow control.

But when it finally gives from the pressure and the clogging of debris, the dams breach causing huge flash flooding to occur.

These cascading effects are common in disasters and rarely is it only one type of disaster responsible for immeasurable damages/loss of life.

Ostensibly, I’d like to think the local officials were aware of these issues prior and readied emergency messaging for all mobile devices in the area. This way, in case of catastrophic issue, they could be ready to send the evac notice to everyone.

As you know, most of that part of the world operates solely off mobile devices (not laptops, desktop computers) so I hope local officials were able to send out information early to those in affected areas.

IMHO, I think we will see thousands of causalities including many who will never be found.

It’s waaaay to early to tell how many teams will be needed to rescue or extricate/recover bodies but I hope many agencies are providing aide to those primary agencies.

Now might be a good time for your agencies to engage with your local emergency management agency to see how they can better position themselves and enhance their preparedness efforts with all other public safety partners.

@rusnivek

Midweek grooming!

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Middle of the week pick me up as we round the corner to the 2026 National Preparedness Month!

Since we all know the star of the pet preparedness posts, we know KacyTheDog has to be fresh for all her glamour shots.

Just shy of her kabillionth birthday, I believe her adorable posts on pet preparedness has helped many be better prepared and ready for any emergency or disaster.

@rusnivek