- After a Disaster Guide Book
- To report a missing child, contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at (866) 908-9570
- To talk to a professional who can help you cope with emotional distress from the storm, call the @disasterdistressline at (800) 985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746
Extensive rainfall has resulted in flooding in many parts of Texas:
- Never drive into flooded roadways. Half of all flood-related deaths are caused when people drive into flooded roadways. Check road conditions before driving.
- Avoid contact with floodwater. It may contain bacteria, hazardous chemicals and dangerous debris.
- Never eat foods that have touched flood water. Even canned goods could become contaminated. Drinking water may not be available or safe to drink. Learn more about food and water safety during floods.
Many Texans do not have electricity or running water:
- Do not run electrical generators inside your home. Carbon monoxide can build up and kill. Read more about carbon monoxide and generators.
- Listen for announcements about the safety of public drinking water. Follow "boil water" alerts that may be issued.
- If electricity has been off, refrigerated food may have spoiled. Discard any food that has been at room temperature for more than two hours or that has an unusual odor or color.
- Babies on formula should be given ready-to-feed formula or powdered formula prepared with bottled water.
- Learn more about food and water safety during power outages.
It is normal to experience different and strong emotions during and after a disaster:
Source: Texas Department of State Health Services: http://www.dshs.texas.gov
Healthcare Ready Disaster Response Support
Healthcare Ready is a 501c(3) non-profit disaster response organization dedicated to protecting patient access to medicines and healthcare during an emergency.
- Rx Open – free map that displays the operating status of pharmacies during a disaster. The map is completely free and publically accessible.
- Donation coordination – Work with the private sector to route donations (medical and health related) to areas of greatest need (example: helped coordinate mobile pharmacies and mobile vision unit for shelters during Harvey).
- Public-private information sharing – Coordinate and liaise between Federal (FEMA, HHS, etc.) and local officials and private sector companies.
- Facilitate access to healthcare facilities – Coordinate with local authorities and law enforcement to ensure deliveries of critical healthcare supplies and personnel to impacted facilities and/or facilities treating survivors.
- Promote medicine assistance program – Both advocate for activation of programs and share program information broadly within our network and impacted areas.
- Patient assistance – Help patients find nearby open healthcare facilities, community health centers, pharmacies or non-profit relief organization that can provide them with the medicines or supplies they need (e.g. oxygen, wheelchairs, etc.)
Contact and Additional Information
- Contact information: Alerts@healthcareready.org and our toll-free number (866) 247-2694
- Private sector and patient requests for assistance or information may be sent to this account or by calling this number
- Additional information is available on healthcareready.org/harvey
- Our latest situation reports (Sit-Reps) are available here and the site contains resources and additional detail on what we have been doing for Harvey (and what we are positioned to do for Hurricane Irma).