Health & Fitness
Ice Cubes, Storm Drains and Everbridge...
This morning, my husband, the always prepared engineer, started making ice cubes. Uh oh.
It has been a bit over a year since Irene swept into town, leaving many of us with memories of days without power. I was a harsh critic of the way Ledyard kept residents informed of important information like road closures, location of a shelter and where to find water. Although Town Hall was closed for several days, social media took over and much of the information that was shared came from friends of the Facebook Ledyard Community Forum. This online community came together as neighbors helped neighbors.
Being a weather weenie, I’ve been watching Sandy now for a few days. I have plotted and analyzed the potential track. This morning, my husband, the always prepared engineer, started making ice cubes. Uh oh. After Irene I was blessed to have the use of my generator, a couple inverters and a good cell phone connection. Reluctant to keep the generator running 24 hours, what I missed most was ice. We will be better prepared this time.
Ledyard will be better prepared too. Learning a valuable communications lesson, Ledyard has since instituted an opt-in notification system known as Everbridge. Residents can stay informed by email, text or phone by signing up online. We may get a real test of the system sooner than we hoped. Please sign up today and ask your neighbors to sign up as well.
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What else can you do to be prepared? Mark Bancroft, assistant to the mayor, told me this morning that Ledyard has 18,000 storm drains. There is probably one somewhere near your home. I really hate to ask, but would you mind adopting one? With every gust of wind, storm drains will quickly clog up with leaves, and there is just no way our small public works department will be able to keep up with them. It is only going to get worse if the wind starts howling.
Please add "Sign up for Everbridge" and "Adopt a storm drain" to you check list. Let's hope for the best and be prepared for the worst. Stay Safe.
Find out what's happening in Ledyardwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
About this column: Linda Davis, a broker associate for RE/MAX Realty Group has been selling real estate in Ledyard for more than 35years. She currently serves as chairman of the Ledyard Town Council.