New perspective about hurricane preparedness

[Tradd]

I have a hand crank radio, but I also have a little radio I got from Amazon for about $15 that takes 2 AA batteries, which I use daily. Why not have one of each?

[flowerseverywhere]

A single friend told me this morning she often makes soups or pizza roll type dishes. She freezes them in meal size containers and usually has about twelve small containers in her fridge. Her plan during the storm was to pack them frozen in a cooler which she planned to open once a day to take out a container or two that she could heat up on her little Coleman stove.

another good idea if a really big storm is about to hit. Gather you whatever you have left of you freezer items into a big heavy duty plastic bag and put back in the freezer. Then place some bowls of ice in there as well. If you lose power you can see if the ice has melted And freezer is warm. If so you can just grab the plastic bag and throw the whole thing out. The last thing you need is to eat unsafe food.

[flowerseverywhere]

I have a hand crank radio, but I also have a little radio I got from Amazon for about $15 that takes 2 AA batteries, which I use daily. Why not have one of each?

great idea. Plus it is easily portable with a small flashlight if you need to evacuate

[happystuff]

These are all great ideas/suggestions for in-place preparedness, but what if you have to evacuate? While I have grab 'n go bags, I don't think they are as good as they can be and there are a lot of other things I would like to evacuate with, but just am not prepared. I think I need to at least start with a list of what I would need/want to take. And I guess a lot has to do with how much time I would have.

[Tradd]

Do you have your photos scanned and backed up somewhere online as well as a hard drive or physical albums? All important papers together? Cash, ID, phones, chargers, other small valuables such as jewelry?

[bae]

I live in a place where wildfire is a real danger. During fire season, I am prepared to leave the house with 5-10 mins warning.

So, most of my "go bag" is not on-site. Documents and devices are backed up in the Cloud, financial resources are available remotely, and so on.

My plan, if forced to evacuate on sudden notice, is to grab the pets and a few other things, and hit the road. Most physical items here can be replaced, and aren't necessary for my immediate survival, so those get left behind, I will repurchase as-necessary.

I'm cheating a little bit, there are bags of specific gear/clothing already in my vehicle:

- structural firefighting bag
- wildland firefighting bag
- 72 hour wilderness search/rescue pack
- medical bag
- marine search/rescue bag

With the contents of those, training, and experience I should be able to muddle through most local disasters.

[flowerseverywhere]

We actually have a small bag in each car with a change of clothes. Important papers on the cloud plus copies in local safe deposit box. thumb drive also. I just got the small radio Tradd mentioned. We really can’t keep much in the car as it’s too hot here. But after discussion we are going to pack go bags this week.

contents to be small weather am fm radio. Flashlight with extra set of batteries. Charging cords. Plastic bags to put wallet and so on in. Contact info of kids. Not sure yet what else would go in there. Need to do research.

we scanned all our old pictures of both sides of the family and made discs up for all the kids, nieces and nephews and siblings. Originals went (out of the albums) to a son who lives in the house least likely to suffer a disaster.

I’m going to find a copy of Zeitoun and read it again. Written by Dave Eggers it is about hurricane Katrina and lots of stories of what people did right and wrong. I believe Bae recommended it originally.

by the way the Cajun Navy was here. These volunteers rescued many people during Katrina and some drove here to help.

you hear about looting but disasters also bring out tremendous generosity, bravery and compassion in most people

[Tradd]

The Listening to Katrina blog has a lot of good stuff. Some is rather dated now, but it’s a good place to start.

[happystuff]

Do you have your photos scanned and backed up somewhere online as well as a hard drive or physical albums? All important papers together? Cash, ID, phones, chargers, other small valuables such as jewelry?

I do have most (but not all) photos scanned along with many of our documents. They are on an external hard drive, not in the "cloud". Most of the important papers are all in one place. I think I need to remind other family members what file boxes to grab in an emergency departure. Jewelry... never even thought about that or other small-but-valuable mementos. Thanks for that reminder.

[flowerseverywhere]

The Listening to Katrina blog has a lot of good stuff. Some is rather dated now, but it’s a good place to start.

thanks. I forgot about that site. Some of the links are to extreme prepper sites which involve stockpiles of guns. But many tips on preparedness.