Emergency Management

November Emergency Preparedness: Fall Leaves & Storm Drains

It’s that time of year when the final leaves fall from trees, which also means it’s a good time to check the storm drains near your home to ensure they are not covered with leaves. When fallen leaves cover storm drains, they may affect how well water drains from the street, which can cause flooding when it rains. Checking nearby drains and removing any leaves that might be covering them can help prevent flooding in your neighborhood.

In addition to clearing leaves in the fall, it’s also helpful year-round to clear storm drains of leaves, twigs, snow, trash, or other debris ahead of a heavy rainstorm or after heavy snowfall to help reduce storm- or melting-related street flooding. If you want to help prevent blockages and keep our waterways clean by caring for a local storm drain, you can join Somerville’s Adopt-a-Drain program.

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The City of Somerville organizes response and recovery activities into Community Lifelines, which enable continuous operation of critical functions that are essential to human health and economic security. Learn more about these Lifelines and the departments they are made up of below.

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Safety and Security

The Safety and Security Community Lifeline encompasses public safety and departmental operations that allow for incident stabilization and continuous delivery of government services. This lifeline consists of five components:

• Law enforcement
  • Somerville Police Department
• Fire service
  • Somerville Fire Department
• Search and rescue
  • Somerville Fire Department
• Government services
  • Mayor's Office
  • Office of Emergency Management
  • Historic Preservation
  • Schools
  • City Clerk
• Community safety
  • Department of Public Works
  • Somerville Fire Department
  • Somerville Police Department
  • Office of Emergency Management

Food, Hydration, and Shelter

The Food, Hydration, and Shelter Community Lifeline encompasses infrastructure that allows for continuous food, hydration, and housing services as well as the provision of emergency support in the event of a disruption to any of those services. This lifeline is segmented into four components:

• Food
  • Health and Human Services
• Hydration
  • Water and Sewer
• Shelter
  • Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development
• Agriculture
  • Health and Human Services (HHS) - Food Access and Health Communities

Health and Medical

The Health and Medical Community Lifeline covers all aspect of medical services required during an emergency incident to include the medical chain. This lifeline is segmented into five components:

• Medical care
  • Somerville Fire Department
  • Health and Human Services (HHS)
  • Cataldo Ambulance
• Patient movement
  • Somerville Fire Department
  • Cataldo Ambulance
• Fatality management
  • Health and Human Services (HHS)
  • State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
• Public health
  • Health and Human Services (HHS)
• Medical supply chain
  • Health and Human Services (HHS)

Energy

The Energy Community Lifeline is focused on only electricity and fuel, both of which are essential to a successful response operation. The City of Somerville utilizes Eversource as its supplier of electricity and National Grid and Eversource as its suppliers of natural gas. Although the City relies on private entities for the maintenance and management of these services, departments in the City are responsible for coordinating on those efforts in support. The lifeline consists of two components:

• Power grid
  • Department of PUblic Works - Electric Lights and Lines
  • Office of Emergency Management
  • Eversource
• Fuel
  • Office of Emergency Management
  • National Grid

Communications

The Communications Community Lifeline encompasses the telecommunications infrastructure and operations that allow for residents, visitors, public agencies, and private organizations to communicate efficiently and effectively using 21st century technology. The various telecommunications networks, equipment, and operations are provided, managed, and supported by a variety of public and private partners, including the City of Somerville and various municipal partners and telecommunication providers. This lifeline is segmented into five components:

• Infrastructure
  • Infrastructure and Asset Management
• Alerts, warnings, and notifications
  • Communications and Community Engagement
  • Office of Emergency Management
  • Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA)
• 911 and dispatch
  • Somerville Police Department
  • Somerville Fire Department
• Responder communications
  • Information Technology
  • Somerville Police Department
  • Somerville Fire Department
• Finance

Transportation

The Transportation Community Lifeline covers all forms of transportation of people and resources to and from an incident. This lifeline consists of four components:

• Highway/road/motor vehicle
  • Department of Public Works
• Mass transit
  • Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development - Mobility
  • Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority
• Railway
  • Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development - Mobility
  • Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
• Aviation
  • Office of Emergency Management
  • Massachusetts Port Authority (MassPort)

Hazardous Materials

The Hazardous Material Community Lifeline covers the management (including container and removal) of all hazardous materials. This lifeline consists of two components:

• Facilities
  • Fire Department
  • Office of Emergency Management
  • Local Emergency Management Planning Committee
• Hazardous materials, pollutants, and contaminants
  • Fire Department
  • Office of Emergency Management
  • Massachusetts Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Division
  • Local Emergency Management Planning Committee
  • Mystic Regional Emergency Planning Committee

Water Systems

The Water Systems Community Lifeline encompasses water infrastructure and wastewater management. Water supply and sewage-disposal services are provided by the Somerville Water and Sewer Department. The City of Somerville's water supply comes from the Quabbin Reservoir, about 65 miles west of Boston, and the Wachusett Reservoir, about 35 miles west of Boston. This lifeline consists of two components:

• Potable water infrastructure
  • Intake
  • Treatment
  • Storage
  • Distribution
• Wastewater management
  • Collection
  • Storage
  • Treatment
  • Discharge

Join the conversation about important topics involving emergency preparedness and safety at an upcoming event or discussion.

PARTNER Program Sessions

Join Somerville Emergency Management for a Preparedness and Resiliency through Neighborhood Engagement and Readiness (PARTNER) Program session! These free, one-hour sessions are open to all community members and focus on important topics related to individual and community emergency preparedness, helping you build skills and confidence to prepare for emergencies. See the remaining session dates and topics for 2026 below. 

Note: Events taking place at the Council on Aging are open to seniors. 

Have a topic you’d like to learn about? You can email OEM@somervillema.gov with your suggestion.

Until Help Arrives Training

Date: Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2026
Time: 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Location: Central Library Auditorium (79 Highland Ave.)

This workshop is designed to prepare people without professional medical training to take lifesaving action during the critical minutes before first responders arrive. No prior training or experience is required. The series is presented by Somerville Emergency Management, and is an initiative supported by FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency).

Participants will learn how to:

• stay safe in dangerous situations,
• stop life-threatening bleeding,
• provide comfort and support, 
• safely position an injured person, and 
• call 911 effectively.

The workshop complements the City’s “Be a Good Neighbor: Calling Is Caring” campaign, which helps community members understand who to contact when they see someone experiencing a medical emergency, mental health crisis, or possible overdose—or when they need to report another community concern. Learn more at somervillema.gov/howtohelp. 

Winter Warming Center 2026-27

The City of Somerville Emergency Overnight Warming Center will reopen in December 2026 for the winter season. The Warming Center operates seven nights a week from 5 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. from December to April at the former Cummings School (42 Prescott Street). Clients will have access to hot meals, safe sleeping spaces, and on-site housing navigation and case management services. For more information, click the button below.

Warming Center Information

Join City staff on Tuesday, October 27, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Central Library Auditorium (79 Highland Ave.) for an informational meeting to learn about plans for the 2026-27 Emergency Overnight Warming Center.

• The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) has created a list of tips for how to prepare for emergencies. This list can be found here.
• Sign up for alerts in your neighborhood and the entire city using Somerville City Alerts. You can choose to receive alerts either by email, phone, text, or all three in multiple languages. 
• In the event of an emergency, dial 911. If you have a non-emergency question about city services or processes, you can call or message 311.
• Follow the Office of Emergency Management on Facebook for news and updates.
• You can find a list of emergency hotlines here.
• A list of emergency services, including information about food, housing, and shelter, can be found here.

• Hurricane Safety Tips from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). Atlantic Hurricane Season runs June 1 - November 30. 
• A list of safety preparedness tips from Ready.gov
• Learn about Somerville's Hazard Mitigation Plan
• Get details about the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA)
• Understand the types of hazardous weather that affects you and your family where you live
• Weather safety tips from the National Weather Service