Communication and Notification During Emergencies for Orient Residents

The first line of defense against the effects of an emergency or disaster is personal preparedness. With the elevated Atlantic Ocean water temperatures, affecting yearly hurricane seasons and winter storms, the Orient Emergency Management Committee would like to keep the residents of Orient informed about the different methods of communication and notifications during emergency events used by Southold Township and Suffolk County as well as programs offered to our special needs residents. It is important for all residents to make their own Emergency Plans and provide for their own care and safety in an emergency.

Please review the following and keep the information handy for future reference.

Town of Southold Emergency Notifications

Town of Southold’s Office of Emergency Management uses several different modes of communication to connect with the public during emergency events including the local media, local radio and television channels and the Town’s website to keep the public informed. Please see below:

Town of Southold’s Emergency Preparedness website: https://southoldtownny.gov/104/Emergency-Preparedness—Southold-OEM

Town of Southold’s Facebook page at:  https://www.facebook.com/southoldtown/

Town of Southold Important Numbers

OPTIMUM CHANNELS

• Town of Southold’s Government Access CHANNEL 22
• NEWS 12 – Long Island
• NEWS 12 Long Island Traffic and Weather 61

Suffolk County Emergency Notifications

SuffolkAlert is the official emergency notification system used by the Suffolk County Emergency Managers and Public Safety Officials to communicate with community residents during emergencies.

Sign up for SuffolkAlert by texting SuffolkAlerts to 67283 to receive free alerts via text message and/or voice message. You will  then be directed to Smart911 to complete a Safety Alert Profile or you can go online to register at:  https://www.smart911.com/

Having a Safety Profile allows you to:

• Stay informed of weather, traffic, and other emergencies in your community
• Add your address to receive geo-targeted alerts
• Indicate what types of alerts you want to receive including weather, traffic, emergency, and more.
• Indicate how you want to be notified by text, email, and/or voice message.

Suffolk County Emergency Preparedness Registry powered by Smart911

Suffolk County’s Smart911 also acts as an Emergency Preparedness Registry to gather information from Suffolk County’s Vulnerable Population for use during emergencies, evacuations and sheltering operations and is designed to provide:

• Valuable lifesaving information to Emergency Responders during their response to a registered address.
• Identification of specific needs of residents requiring assistance during evacuations.
• Prioritize resources required to accommodate individuals during or after emergency operations.

If you foresee any difficulty in getting to safety with family or friends, or to a Public Shelter during an Emergency Evacuation register on the Emergency Preparedness Registry at Smart911.

Town Of Southold Special Needs Evacuation Program

Town of Southold also has a Special Needs Evacuation Program for individuals who require transportation assistance during an emergency evacuation including homebound patients who are on advanced technical equipment and must have a caretaker. Those individuals meeting program criteria are provided shelter and/or transportation assistance within the available resources of the Town of Southold. These individuals should also register with Suffolk County’s Emergency Preparedness Registry Smart911.

The Town of Southold Special Needs Evacuation Program is a voluntary confidential program that should be considered by individuals who have no alternative other than a public shelter and if they need transportation to a shelter. The Southold Emergency Management Office recommends using this program only as a last resort and individuals with special evacuation needs should consider sheltering with relatives or friends prior to the use of this program.

When it appears likely that our area will be impacted by the event, individuals requiring assistance will receive a call, updating them on the situation, advising them what actions should be taken, approximate time when transportation will arrive, and what shelter the individual will be taken to.

The information provided on the registration will remain confidential. It will be given to first response agencies (fire, police, health, etc.) at the time of an emergency and only to those who are directly involved with insuring your well-being. This form also authorizes these same emergency response agencies to enter onto your property during post-disaster search and rescue activities.

Online instructions and forms:

• Overview and Registration Instructions
• Special Needs Form (Mail-in)
• Special Needs Form (On-line)

PSE&G

Download the PSEG Long Island mobile app to report outages and get updates with our Outage Tracker. You can also report outages and receive status updates by text message. Text OUT to PSEGLI (773454). Follow PSEG Long Island on social media –Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram.

For many more tips and emergency preparedness resources, visit BeReadyLI.org,

If you have additional questions, please send them to: [email protected]

Please prepare now and stay safe!

WEATHER LINKS

National Weather Service

To get an overview of the country: https://www.weather.gov/

To see Orient weather on NWS: https://www.weather.gov/okx/

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

To follow the hurricane potential https.//www.nhc.noaa.gov/