Zombie Fest gets you prepared for any emergency

NORMANDY PARK, Wash. – Much of the Houston area and the state of Florida remains in recovery mode trying to get cleaned up after hurricane damage.  That has emergency responders in our area thinking about how you can get ready for whatever may come our way.

“If you’re ready and prepared for zombies, you’re prepared for anything,” said Normandy Park Police Chief Dan Yourkoski.

Saturday marked the sixth annual Zombie Fest.  If zombies were to walk the Earth, would you be ready?

“If you wait for after the incident happens, it’s too late to be prepared then,” said Chief Yourkoski.

It’s a gimmicky push to get people thinking about how they would react to an emergency.

“We could have earthquakes or power outages things like that,” said Stephanie Habben who attended the Zombie Fest.

Strong winds like what we saw with Hurricane Irma toppled power lines and that massive earthquake we keep getting warned about is bound to tear up our area.

“It’s just a matter of time before something like that happens here.  People need to be prepared for it,” said Yourkoski.

So Chief Yourkoski says everyone should have a go bag ready.  Fill it with all of your important items and documents.  The vendors at the Zombie Fest offered checklists and supplies for go kits.  The Zombie Fest organizers did it in a fun, family-friendly way.

“The scavenger hunt involves you basically putting your own emergency kit together,” said Yourkoski.

“I just got some Band-Aids, but you know that’s an important thing to have in your kit,” said Habben.

Another tip is to keep a stockpile ready in case you can’t leave your house and get assistance.

“We’ve got to shelter in place. We really can’t depend on the local authorities to bail us out. It’s going to be too much for them to handle,” said Brent Allan who attended the Zombie Fest.  “We store foods we like to eat that we know will save well like cans and when we go to Costco we replace those things in our pantry.”

Yourkoski says water is the number one thing to have on deck.

“We used to say a three day supply, but a three day supply just isn’t realistic. More about a week supply is what they’ve gone to now,” said Yourkoski.