Remember December 2007? It was a time when our community faced disaster as hurricane force winds hit the coast. While Grays Habor PUD worked to restore power to the thousands left in the dark by the December 2007 storm, we were all reminded of the importance of disaster preparedness.  September is Disaster Preparedness and Weather Radio Awareness Month in Washington State. Saturday, September 26, 2009 Disaster Preparedness events will be held in Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties to help residents prepare for disasters. The special events will be held at the following locations:

Grays Harbor County-Event held 10am-3pm

Aberdeen Wal-Mart store, 909 East Wishkah

Ocean Shores, WA - Power was restored to about 2,100 customers in Ocean Shores at 4:38pm. No damage was found and the circuit was re-energized. The outage occurred just before 4pm Monday, September 21. It impacted customers located south of Ocean Lake Way and West of Point Brown Avenue.

Raymond, WA - Second grade students at Raymond Elementary School enjoy a reading lesson using books from a library purchased through a grant from the Raymond Schools Foundation. Thanks to the generosity of the foundation, several new titles were added to the second grade library.

Olympia, WA  - The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Eyes in the Woods, a non-profit volunteer organization, have joined forces with approximately 25 members of a newly formed citizen’s group to improve public safety and reduce vandalism at the American Lake public boat launch.

Managed by WDFW, the American Lake boat launch and public recreation site in Pierce County is used by thousands of boaters and anglers each year, but vandalism and other illegal activities present ongoing challenges, said Steve Sherlock, WDFW statewide access site coordinator.

"At the American Lake access site we constantly deal with vandalism, gang activities, illegal dumping and criminal activities of all kinds," said Sherlock, who oversees more than 700 outdoor access sites - mostly boat launches - around the state. "We’re concerned that these activities could put visitors using the site for fishing and enjoying the outdoors at risk."