If you live in NYC, it’s hard to avoid the bus stop ads telling us all that “call grandma” is NOT an emergency plan.  And if you’ve lived here for any length of time, you’ve lived through enough disasters — both man-made and natural – that you know you really do need a plan.  Really.

Well, I’m here to tell you it’s time you got off your butt, and did something about it.  After all, it is Hurricane Preparedness week.   Start with Knowing Your Zone.  What zone, you ask? Your flood zone.  Hurricane Sandy proved that flooding and NYC can go hand in hand – with devastating consequences.  And those consequences would be even worse if you didn’t know how to protect yourself.

So how do you protect yourself?  Simple.  Three easy steps.

1.  Use NYC’s Hurricane Evacuation Zone Finder or call 311 to find out whether your home or business is located in a hurricane evacuation zone.

2.  Sign up for Notify NYC  to make sure you get the latest emergency information via text, phone, email, fax,   Twitter (@NotifyNYC), and more – should there be an emergency, or should one be imminent, you’ll be aware.

3. Take a look at the Ready New York Hurricane Guide. Its got  instructions on how to develop a hurricane disaster plan and secure your home  before a storm hits.

Once you’ve done all of that, take the  Know Your Zone Thunderclap Challenge, it’s kind of like a little test — to make sure you zone savvy and Hurricane prepared!