Hurricane season can be stressful for anyone near the potential path of a storm, as powerful winds and heavy rain can cause widespread damage, cut power for days or weeks and otherwise upend people’s lives. Smart preparation ahead of time can reduce that stress and keep you safer. Emergency management officials say good practices include looking around your home for potential hazards, considering how you might handle evacuation, and putting together a kit of essential supplies. Experts say every family should have an emergency kit with supplies to meet its basic needs.

More evacuees from coastal Alaska villages inundated by high surf last weekend are arriving in Anchorage. Officials say one of the “most significant” airlifts in Alaska history is underway following a devastating typhoon. Hundreds of people are being flown to the state's largest city by military transport jet, and they are being put up in an arena at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Officials announced the airlifts Wednesday. Some villages on the state’s southwest coast were inundated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong last weekend. Dozens of homes were swept away, some with people still inside. At one point, the storm left about 1,500 residents in makeshift shelters. One person died and two are still missing.

Democratic governors from 14 states and Guam have launched a new public health alliance. They say the group will coordinate issues across state lines and share data and information about threats, guidelines and emergency preparedness. Those are typically roles of the federal government. But the governors in the group say President Donald Trump's administration hasn't been filling them. States also formed regional groups with similar aims to confront aspects of the coronavirus pandemic during Trump's first term. The new alliance has the help of a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A firefighter has rescued a stranded pup from rising floodwaters in Southern California. Video captured the Ventura County firefighter climbing down a ladder to reach the dog during Tuesday's rare October storm. The pup was stuck on reeds on the edge of a flood channel northwest of Los Angeles. Officials said the 19-pound female pug or French bulldog mix was cold but otherwise unharmed. She did not have a tag or microchip. According to the Ventura County Animal Services' website, the dog is staying at the Camarillo Animal Shelter. She could be adopted as soon as Saturday if her owners are not identified.

A California fire department captain says he yelled for bystanders on a California highway to help lift the wreckage of a downed medical helicopter off a paramedic pinned underneath after determining additional rescue crews would take too long to get to the scene. Capt. Peter Vandersluis of the Sacramento Fire Department told The Associated Press he asked motorists for help after hearing the paramedic groan. The team raised the aircraft in about 30 seconds. By the time the firefighter extracted the paramedic, less than a minute had passed. A pilot, nurse and paramedic were taken to hospitals in critical condition after Monday’s crash in California’s capital.