Disaster Planning for the Public Health

Disaster Planning for the Public
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* Flooding
According to the Dallas County Hazard Mitigation Action Plan (2015), one of the most probable natural hazards that have the potential to create massive casualties and damage to public property is flooding. Unlike other high occurrence natural disasters, such as Tornadoes, the Dallas County website (n.d.) only specified limited information on how the public should respond to flooding. The tornado response includes a minute specific timeframe about the important measures and extra measures to take when the tornado alarms went off (Tornadoes, n.d.), but the flooding response specified limited response protocol and asks the public to listen for further announcements from the radio or television for further information and instructions (Flooding, n.d.). Added by the Dallas County Website (n.d.), overland flooding and flash flooding are the most common type of flooding in Dallas County. This type of flooding occurs when the water level in the bodies of water rises because of heavy rains or dam overflow. The excess water then flows into the residential areas and enters houses (Anthea, 2018). The Dallas County Website (n.d.) specified two kinds of flood watch warnings to the public: the flood warning and the flash flood warning. The flood warning is when a flood is likely to occur soon while a flash flood warning is when a flash flood is currently occurring so that the public should seek higher ground immediately (Flooding, n.d.). These flash floods are the result of a few-minutes or sustained high-intensity rainstorms that move over an area. Because of the short response time in assessing the flash flood situation, this kind of flood has a high potential to damage communities (Penna, Borga, & Zoccatelli, 2013). Additionally, floods have additional hazards, which include electrocution from downed electrical equipment and electric power lines and chemical or disease contaminants from sewage or other pollution (Flooding, n.d.).
* The Nursing Response
During a flash flood, the response will be initiated by the mayors that will base their emergency coordination from the advice of the meteorologist about the possibility of floods in the area. Depending on the intensity profile of the flashflood, the meteorologist can advise the mayor about risk and potential damage to property. The mayor will declare a local state of calamity and coordinate with the different city utilities to establish a governing body of emergency management. The mayor will coordinate the fire-rescue department, the police department, and the medical health services about the impending dangers of the flashflood. It is supposed to be noted that these institutions had proper training before going into flash flood-affected areas. They will be responsible for evacuation and injury management if ever the meteorologists confirmed that the flash floods will worsen. They will transfer the citizens into safer locations on higher grounds.