Meeting Notes
The following details are an accumulation of years of coalition meetings, updated with the latest information. New additions to plans this year include:
- Use of Sandless Sandbags
- Implementing Tornado drills
- Portable chargers for cell phones in case of power outage
- Make sure you have your passwords when you evacuate or have to work from a different location. Encourage customers to know their passwords as well
- Documenting current physical status of facility prior to emergency event (GoPro, Realwear HMT)
- Add generator maintenance kits to preparedness list
- Satellite phones with Starlink
- Fully test generators – Turn off building electricity and turn generator on to ensure the generator is functioning properly
The coalition is comprised of financial institutions, regulators, emergency personnel, law enforcement, weather service personnel and armored carriers.
Natural emergencies begin and end locally. In the event of an emergency, decisions are made at the local level; therefore, it is vital that the financial institutions build strong working relationships with their local law enforcement and emergency personnel. The way the system is designed is that the local and parish emergency personnel make decisions and take charge of an emergency event in their particular area until their resources are depleted then they call the state in for assistance. By building relationships on the local level, the bankers will be more on top of any given situation than if they wait for news from the state level.
The first 72 is on you which means that you, personally and your business need to be able to take care of yourself for the first 72 hours after a natural emergency event. After that, assistance should be available.
The Louisiana Business Emergency Operations Center is a collaboration among the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Louisiana Department of Economic Development, LSU’s Stephenson’s Disaster Management Institution and UL Lafayette’s National Incident Management Systems and Advanced Technologies Institute. The Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Coalition represents the financial sector with the LABEOC. The goal of the BEOC is for private industries to come together to form a partnership with government to be better prepared for an emergency event and to be able to respond to and recover more effectively from an emergency event. The physical BEOC facility is housed at ULL’s NIMSAT headquarters in Abdalla Hall in Lafayette. Financial institutions should register on the LABEOC website, www.labeoc.org, to view situational analysis throughout an emergency event. Banks may want to register a contact person from each branch and let customers know that they can register, also. The benefits of registering: (1) situational awareness, (2) ability to request goods and services, (3) ability to provide goods and services, (4) assist GOHSEP when contracts are exhausted. I think the biggest benefit to the financial institution is the ability to have ongoing situational awareness updates. In addition, for the financial institution’s customers, this connection may give them the opportunity for work during an emergency event when they may otherwise be without work.
Financial Institutions are encouraged to talk with their customers about emergency preparedness.
FDIC
Emergency Preparedness PowerPoint
Emergency Preparedness FDIC Contact Information
Federal Reserve
2023 Hurricane Season Preparation and Contact Information
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Business Operations Continuity
Louisiana Department of Insurance
LDI’s Catastrophe Claims Process Disclosure Guide gives policyholders a detailed overview of the claims process whenever the Governor declares a state of emergency in accordance with La. R.S. 29:724. Bulletin 2022-09 also provides guidance to insurers regarding the proper procedures for issuance of the guide and a certificate of hand-delivery in accordance with La. R.S. 22:1898. Click here to access copies of the Catastrophe Claims Process Disclosure Guide and Certificate of Hand Delivery of the Guide on the LDI’s website, along with other industry resources.
Miscellaneous Resources
2023 Baton Rouge MOHSEP Presentation
2023 National Weather Service Hurricane Hazards and Communications Slide
2023 Re-Entry Credentialing Requirements Per Parish
Loomis Specific Contacts by Area 2023
StormTec USA Sandbags
Importance of Compound Flooding: We have a better understanding of surges from the ocean, but when a hurricane makes landfalls, floods are incurred by both surge and flash flood—the compound effect could be significant. Click here to listen to Interview with WWNO/WRKF and LSU Professor Z. George Xue on Compound Flooding Research.
Compound Flood PowerPoint Slides
Louisiana/GOHSEP Emergency Preparedness Guides and Re-Entry Credentialing Program
Get a Game Plan has a lot of good information dealing with planning for an emergency. There is also a free app that can be downloaded with a lot of good information. Enter Get a Game Plan in the search bar on the app store you use and it will come up as an option to download. Click here to visit the Get a Game Plan website.
The Emergency.la.gov website is useful after an incident as it will have a lot of information dealing with recovery assistance from FEMA and SBA that can be useful for businesses and individual residents. Click here to visit.
Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Guides
Postlethwaite & Netterville—Is Your Financial Institution Disaster Ready?
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
2023 Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Contact Information
Office of Financial Institutions Resources
OFI Emergency Preparedness Guide
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Active Shooter Plan Template
Active Shooter—Pocket Card Information