Community preparedness — Pennsylvania
Flooding along the Susquehanna, Delaware, and Schuylkill rivers. Nor'easters and blizzards. Tornadoes. Ice storms across the mountain ridges. Penn State Extension in all 67 counties. 60+ ham radio clubs. CERT teams from Philadelphia to Erie. Pennsylvania's community preparedness runs from the mountains to the cities.
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Community calendar
67
County extension offices
4
NWS forecast offices
60+
Amateur radio clubs
15
Community colleges
Where to plug in
Pennsylvania's 67 counties span Philadelphia's dense urban neighborhoods, Appalachian mountain ridges, the broad Susquehanna Valley, and Lake Erie's shoreline. Flooding is the state's most costly recurrent disaster. Nor'easters, blizzards, tornadoes, ice storms, and severe thunderstorms add to the hazard profile. Penn State Extension in every county is the starting point.
Penn State Extension operates offices in all 67 Pennsylvania counties. Programming spans agriculture (mushrooms, dairy, nursery, grain, fruits and vegetables), horticulture, food safety, nutrition, financial literacy, 4-H youth development, and community development. PA agriculture is diverse and regionally distinct, and extension serves it all.
The Master Gardener program is among the most active in the Mid-Atlantic. Extension runs food preservation workshops, flood preparedness education, farm resilience programs, and community development. After Tropical Storm Lee's flooding devastated the Susquehanna Valley in 2011, extension agents were the primary resource helping agricultural producers navigate disaster recovery.
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) coordinates the state's all-hazards emergency program through county emergency management agencies across all 67 counties. PEMA is especially experienced with flood response along the Susquehanna, Delaware, and Ohio river systems, which rank among the most flood-prone in the Northeast.
CERT programs are active across Pennsylvania. Allegheny (Pittsburgh), Philadelphia, Dauphin (Harrisburg), Luzerne (Wilkes-Barre), Lackawanna (Scranton), Chester, and Montgomery counties run established programs. After the 2011 Tropical Storm Lee flooding devastated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area, CERT enrollment grew significantly in the Wyoming Valley region. Training is free.
American Red Cross chapters serve all of Pennsylvania through the Pennsylvania Region. First aid, CPR, AED, and water safety classes are offered in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Allentown, Scranton, Erie, and other communities year-round.
During the September 2011 flooding from Tropical Storm Lee, Red Cross deployed across Luzerne, Lycoming, Northumberland, and other counties along the Susquehanna as record crests flooded communities from Wilkes-Barre to Sunbury. Pennsylvania Red Cross deploys for flooding, nor'easters, and home fires statewide. Volunteer entry points include shelter operations, disaster assessment, and feeding.
Pennsylvania has over 60 amateur radio clubs across the ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania and Western Pennsylvania sections, part of the Atlantic Division. ARES teams are activated during flooding, nor'easters, and tornadoes. Ham operators in the Wyoming Valley were critical communicators during the 2011 Tropical Storm Lee flooding.
Getting licensed costs $15 for the exam and about $35 for a basic handheld radio. Study at hamstudy.org. Clubs in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Scranton, Allentown, Erie, and throughout the state host exams regularly.
Four NWS offices serve Pennsylvania: State College (central PA), Pittsburgh (western PA), Philadelphia/Mt Holly (eastern PA), and Binghamton NY (northern PA). Each runs SKYWARN spotter training before severe weather season.
Pennsylvania faces flooding from tropical remnants (Agnes in 1972, Lee in 2011, and others), nor'easters with heavy snow, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, ice storms across the mountain ridges, and lake-effect snow near Erie. Training is free.
Pennsylvania has over 450 public library locations overseen by the State Library of Pennsylvania. Free Library of Philadelphia, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Dauphin County Library System, and Luzerne County Library System run extensive community programming. PA libraries serve enormously diverse communities.
Pennsylvania has 15 community colleges including Community College of Philadelphia, Community College of Allegheny County, Harrisburg Area CC, Luzerne County CC, and Northampton CC. They offer EMT certification, fire science, welding, electrical work, nursing, and criminal justice programs.
Why this matters
In September 2011, just days after Hurricane Irene had already flooded much of Pennsylvania, Tropical Storm Lee stalled over the state and dumped catastrophic rainfall. The Susquehanna River crested at near-record levels from Binghamton to Harrisburg. In Luzerne County, the dikes protecting Wilkes-Barre — built after Hurricane Agnes devastated the city in 1972 — held, but the mandatory evacuation of over 100,000 people in the Wyoming Valley was one of the largest flood evacuations in Pennsylvania history.
Communities downstream from Wilkes-Barre that lacked the dike system weren't as fortunate. Communities along Lycoming, Northumberland, Columbia, and other river counties experienced catastrophic flooding. Volunteer fire companies ran boat rescues. Ham radio operators provided emergency communications for flood-affected emergency management offices. CERT volunteers assisted with shelter operations and welfare checks.
Red Cross opened dozens of shelters across the flooded river valleys. Extension agents helped agricultural producers document losses along the flooded bottomlands. Neighbors with boats helped elderly residents evacuate. The communities that evacuated most efficiently were those with organized neighborhood communication networks.
Pennsylvania floods again and again — Agnes, Lee, Irene, Sandy. The organizations on this page exist so that each time, the response is better organized than the last.
The foundation
Community resilience begins with a household that can take care of itself. Cover the first 72 hours, then extend outward to your street, your neighborhood, your town.
Start with the first 72 hours