While Newtown and the region dodged a recent threat as Hurricane Joaquin banked away instead of toward the East Coast a few weeks ago, local emergency management officials are remaining vigilant about possible future storms and other concerns that could threaten public health.

With that in mind, Deputy Emergency Management and Health District Director Donna Culbert took the opportunity to remind residents that other serious storms may still plague the region as they did a few years ago around Halloween, touting the need to be prepared.

She also warned of the ongoing threat of mosquito-borne West Nile Virus (WNV), which is infecting residents of local communities, including a few in proximity to Newtown. And she is reminding Newtown residents of the need to conserve water, since the state has been subject to lower than average rainfall in recent months.

According to Ms Culbert, Newtown’s Emergency Management Team provides a broad set of knowledge and skills to protect the town’s interests. The team consists of four people wearing many hats: Fire Marshal, Fire Chief, and Emergency Management Director William Halstead; Emergency Communications Director and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Coordinator Maureen Will; Ms Culbert, who also serves as recovery coordinator; and Rob Sibley, deputy director of Planning and Land Use, and the town’s other deputy emergency management director.

“So we have a wide perspective,” Ms Culbert told The Newtown Bee.

“We know we are lucky we were spared the wrath of Joaquin,” she said. “However, now that the sun is shining there are three things we want residents to do.”

Those three things are: be prepared, dump any standing water, and conserve water.

“Regardless of the season, there is always a risk of a storm or event that requires you to evacuate or shelter in place, under adverse conditions and without electricity,” Ms Culbert said. “So residents need to ask themselves, are you ready?”

The town has created a document called Be Ready Newtown, available through the town website.

“That document details important steps to make a plan, make a kit, and the necessary steps to ensure your and your family’s safety during an emergency,” Ms Culbert said.

She also noted that while Connecticut and the immediate area are at the end of the West Nile season, until there is an extended period of hard frost, mosquitoes are still present and biting, so the threat of West Nile and other mosquito-borne diseases are still high.

As of October 21 the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) confirmed that mosquito viability is still very much present, especially on warmer days.

“The hard freeze we experienced definitely reduced numbers, but we’ve had lots of up and down temps,” Ms Culbert said. “On warmer days, like today, mosquito activity is likely later in the day and through dusk.”

While the health district director remains primarily concerned about tickborne disease posing a bigger threat to a larger number of people in Newtown, a mosquito bite can happen to anyone regardless of whether they are participating in a “risky” activity.

“You can be sitting on the deck or the front porch and get bit by a mosquito,” she said. “Ticks require a bit more interaction with you in their preferred habitat to get attached and feed.”

There have been eight cases of West Nile Virus in Connecticut this year, most concentrated in Bridgeport and Shelton. And according to the state Department of Health, this season, WNV-positive mosquitoes have been identified in 23 towns, including Norwalk, Stamford, Stratford, Westport, and Wilton.

Ms Culbert recommends residents continue to be mindful of mosquitoes and to wear protective clothing, use repellent responsibly, and avoid the outdoors at dusk and dawn (when mosquito feeding is most active) without protection.

Finally, while summer is over, Ms Culbert reports that the region is still behind in rainfall.

“We recommend that residents be conscientious about their water use, regardless of whether they connected to public water or have their own well,” she said. “Be mindful of the running tap when brushing teeth, bathing, shaving, washing dishes, doing laundry, watering — and also check and fix leaky fixtures.”

Ms Culbert believes that water conservation is a good idea all year round.

“Our clean, reliable water supply is a precious commodity and we should always respect it,” she added.

For those looking to make the most out of the limited rainfall, while promoting water conservation, one of the easiest ways of achieving both goals is to create a simple rainwater collection system under one or more household downspouts.

Harvesting so-called “gray water” is becoming very popular for irrigation, plant and lawn watering — and in water emergency areas like California, many homes are adapting rainwater catchment systems for nonpotable uses like flushing toilets and doing laundry.

There are countless sources available online with instructions about how to create a rain collection system, including the federal EPA site, which references several CT DEEP documents.