Easton Prepares For Irene

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Easton city officials were scheduled to meet this morning to plan for this weekend's arrival of .

"Obviously we're expecting a heavy rain event," said Glenn Steckman, the city administrator.

It's just a question of how heavy. Steckman said the city won't know until closer to the storm's arrival what action it will take, but said officials will look at what needs to move from the public works garage at 500 Bushkill Drive, "because that area tends to flood."

The city -- along with many other communities up and down the Delaware River -- has been hit with three major floods in the last decade. The first of them, in 2004, was the result of heavy rains from Hurricane Ivan.

In all three floods, property owners along the river put part of the blame on three reservoirs at the base of the Delaware in New York, saying that they were too full.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that New York would lower the water levels in anticipation of the storm.

According to the National Weather Service, a flood watch is in effect for the whole region from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening.

In advance of the storm, Northampton County Emergency Services is ramping up plans to activate its Emergency Operations Center – which is kind of Disaster Central for coordinating the response to potential emergencies.

Angel Gillette, the county’s hazard mitigation and disaster recovery manager, said staff were going through the agency checklist, making sure emergency generators for key sites such as transmitters and hospitals are ready in case of a power outage.

The agency planned a conference call today with area hospitals to discuss preparation and have been in touch with the American Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley, which would help with any evacuations. Key responders have been placed on standby.

"The concern right now is flash flooding and that can be risky," she said. Municipalities can report problems to the county agency, which will be coordinating efforts with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

County residents or those outside the county can sign up for emergency alerts online by going to NotifyNC.org, Gillette said. It’s free and allows people to receive alerts through e-mail, texting or other communication in case of a neighborhood evacuation, road closures or other emergencies.

To prepare for the storm, residents are advised to lay in a supply of food, jugs of water, flashlights with batteries, medication, manual can opener, battery-powered radio and anything else they might need during a long power outage or other disaster.

"We ask residents to plan for 72 hours or longer to be able to sustain themselves without assistance," Gillette said.

For a good checklist of necessary items, go to www.readypa.org