Hi, just found this forum, and as I'm here in Sunny Florida, survival of Hurricanes and Tropical Storms is of very great interest. Luckily, my AO is less prone to the really bad storms than other areas, but we do get some damage now & then. So, my preps tend to angle towards storm preparation and protection.
I keep a checklist iaw the government Hurricane Condition (HurCon I, II, III, IV, & V)system: HurCon V: Automatically set at the beginning of hurricane season (June 1st) and secured at the end of the season (Dec 1st) - among other things; Change out fresh water supplies, top off and stabilize gas supplies, review the complete hurricane preparation checklist & update as needed. Increase the amount of cash kept on hand at home. HurCon IV: set when landfall is 72 hours away - among other things; Top off all vehicle gas tanks, Top off groceries and other supplies as needed, Check out & test run generator, Update/refill all prescriptions as needed, Check flashlights, battery supplies, & FAK's (human's & pet's), Start monitoring the storm more closely. HurCon III: set when landfall is 48 hours away - among other things; "Decision Time" concerning whether to leave or to stay, board the windows/doors. Secure all "missile hazards" in the yard, inventory all BoB's and load the BoB's with special need items: meds, important papers, etc. Insure an appropriate amount of cash is on hand. Depart if EVACUATION is deemed required!!! Hurcon II: set when landfall is 24 hours away - among other things; When the decision has been made to Bug In: Monitor storm's progress and strength very closely. Start small projects to keep everybody busy, plan a "Morale Night" so everyone can relax and enjoy the "Family Time" that the storm is providing. HurCon I: set when landfall is 12 hours away and maintained until the storm system has cleared the area - among other things; Damage Control if/when needed, Keeping everyone busy/distracted w/cards, board games, small in-house projects. HurCon V is reset when the system has cleared the area. Now the cleanup fun begins!!! My current Readiness Conditions are: HurCon V: See above DefCon I: Same scale as above but this is my Defense Condition ThreatCon Charlie: Threat Conditions pertains to civil unrest, domestic or foreign terrorism. MarSec 1: Maritime Security Condition per DHS & USCG policies - correlates to the current Terror Alert Status
I won't include all of what wildman said cause its been said. I will stress a couple of points to make your experience positively wonderful... I watch the storm track closely leading up to the storm. ================================================ 3 days out: if it looks like it is going to hit close 1) I fill up 10 - five gallon gas cans of gas and check the generator for operation. need to get about 7 days worth of fuel for the generator. After 7 days you should be able to buy more locally or take a ride and get some. Don't tell your neighbors you have gas - 9 out of ten of them are not prepared and will ask to "borrow" yours. When will they pay you back? After the gas stations open of course. Sorry, I hate to be this way but damn, didn't they know the storm was coming or were they in a coma? Throw your neighbor an extension cord for his icebox and let him drive 2 hrs to get gas. Go back inside and watch Wow Wow Wubbzy for the 100th time. 2) Also fill up all vehicles since you can siphon the gas out if needed. Yes you could always drive the first day to get some but you are not always allowed back to your house once you leave. 3) Have a way to cook. A large part of your entertainment will be eating and cooking. We have these ways to cook... a. We have an outdoor kitchen with a natural gas grill that we use as an oven and a two burner cooktop for pots. NG may go off. b. charcoal grill - get charcoal c. propane crawfish burner - get propane d. propane turkey fryer e. coleman camping stove - get coleman fuel f. electric woks - generator g. fireplace (and campfires outside if necessary AND if we want the fire truck to show up) 4) Also get some food that is easy to prepare like canned stuff, grillable meat, BBQ stuff, sandwich stuff. And don't forget, bread, milk, drinks, water for your whole family for at least a week. Day or two before the storm these things disappear from the stores. 5) Get a small A/C window unit for about $140. Hurricanes always come in hot weather. Make sure you have screens on your windows - mosquitos inside will make you shoot yourself when trying to sleep. ============================================== Now you can relax cause everyone else is running around like chickens with their heads cut off and you are more prepared. It is really important to get everything you need from the stores that will be hard to get and get it EARLY. I can't say this enough if I filled this page up with it a thousand times. Gas, food, water, batteries EARLY. =============================================== 1 day before - pick up and tie down. At this point there are cars 100 deep at the gas station so don't bother. Food? Anything you would want is gone - may get some saurkraut tho. =============================================== A cat 2 (Ike)had us out of electric for 12 days. I wouldn't thought this since I have been living with hurricanes for 45 years. They can surprise you. Don't use a microwave on the generator unless you need a new one. Don't use LCDs on a generator (we use an older tube type) Cable tv stuff and game stations seem to do well on generator. Some iceboxes do well - my old one does great but the new SS side-by-side will not start the compressor on a gen. AT&T Uverse tv was good for all but one or two days during the 12 out of electric. Satellite tv is good to go always.
Hi Guys, This is a good and timely thread for me, as we are getting close to our cyclone season. I’ve lived in Darwin, Northern Australia for over forty years and every year we get the instruction on TV, do this, do that. Do we ever do it? Well…….. sometimes I guess. Human nature makes us either lazy or optimists taking the attitude It’ll miss us. There’s a couple of good lists in the previous posts, and the authorities always have lists in the media etc of what to do, so here’s a couple points from my experience. Check your insurance, don’t laugh, just make sure that it’s enough. What it cost you to build is not really relevant, it is what it will cost to rebuild when it’s all over. Get your kit together at the beginning of the season. Don’t do your shopping for batteries, food etc along with 95% of the population, after a warning has been issued and most of the shelves are already empty. Fill up containers of water, or at least fill the bath with fresh water. Uprooted trees etc can mean that the water gets turned off for days. Canned food, plenty of it. Anything else that can be eaten without cooking, and kept without refrigeration. Insecticide spray and cream, mossie repellant. You need to make a decision beforehand about where you are going to stay in the event of a bad one. There are a lot of factors in this, how strong is your house, it’s location, what the emergency shelters are like and where they are. etc etc. If you are going to move then do it in time. Personally I stay at home, I get ready and we just sweat it out. The last place I want to be is in a government shelter along with a few hundred strangers. I delivered supplies to one of these places once, they had continued sh**ting in the toilets for days after the water was cut off, living in filth and squalor, and yet there was a few dozen able bodied men that could have dug latrines on day one. When things start to get a bit grim, retire to the smallest rooms in the house. They have small windows, and if the house starts breaking up the walls tend to jam together in bathrooms rather than fall flat. If you are lucky (unlucky) enough to have the eye pass over you, recognise the eye for what it is, by all means if possible render assistance to neighbours, but be aware that the storm will be back, with a vengeance, no building up for a few hours this time. Remember when the wind does come back it will be from the opposite direction. Cheers Bill.
