Emergencies can happen at any time, often without warning. They can disrupt your entire life for hours, days, or weeks. Their effects may be confined to a small physical area or spread over an entire region. They can affect you, your children, your neighbors, your pets and your community in a myriad of ways.

Through planning and preparation, you can help to lessen the effects of an emergency and shorten the time it takes to recover. The time to prepare is NOW, before the emergency happens. It's hard to think about things like hurricanes or floods when all you see is blue sky and sunshine - but it's even harder to prepare when the storm is threatening!

The City of Chesapeake is committed to doing all it can to help residents prepare for emergencies. We can't stop mother nature, but we can soften the blow.