Emergency preparedness

Hurricane Sandy got me thinking. Obviously depending on where you live the occurring natural disasters differ, so preparation differs some what. So what are the trends in your area.

In areas I have lived Michigan and illinois you have to prep for snowstorms or a tornado. It's kind of hard to prep for the tornado, since you don't get much warning, and then its pretty much stay inside till its over and hope for the best. So that leaves me with the snowstorm. You usually know its coming, so that means stock up on food, firewood/fuel (if you have a generator) and any other essential objects possibly a snow shovel. The great thing is that if you get to the store late the items most likely to will be sold out will be: Steaks, beer, liquor, bread, TP, and water. Now I understand the first 5 items, but apparently people in my area don't realize that snow is a form of water, and can easily be turned into water by letting it warm up.

So what happens in your neck of the woods?

Buy ALL the bread and milk in the stores!

Since we live on a small dead end street with only 6 houses, all of us great friends we generally have no need to prep for storms as between the 6 families we could usually feed an army on any given day of the week. Our usual concern is a snowstorm and so we generally make sure we have fuel for the snow blowers and generators, between us all we have 7 so we can power the neighborhood with no problem.

In all honesty, if there is a pending storm we all actually get together and have "storm Parties". Gather up the kids, put together pot lucks, break out the beer and hunker down.

Here in the Arkansas River Valley we see a lot of tornadoes and flash floods. I always keep some water around and I have a mobile scanner with good batteries in it so that I can listen to NWS and everything else. Oh yeah, and I have guns and ammo....LOTS OF E'M. hahaha

In FL obviously we have to be prepared for hurricanes. I have a storage unit that I keep our plywood hurricane shutters in, they are all pre-cut and labeled so I know which windows they are for. Thankfully I've not had to hang them yet (we've only lived here for 2 years). I also keep about 6-8 cases of bottled water in there, as well as several large packs of AA, C, and D batteries.

When there is actually the treat of a storm I make sure both of my propane tanks are full so I can use the grill to cook on when the electricity goes out. Also make sure we have plenty of diapers for the kiddo and plenty of food, TP, etc.

We were in DC during the winter of 2009 when they had 3 huge snow storms. I lived in FL the 5 years prior to that and NEVER saw people freak out the way they did in DC for those storms.

Up north, we never get tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, or anything like that.

We get snow, and lots of it, but we're prepared for it so it doesn't really stop much in life- except maybe school for a day. It's most common for the schools to have a "two hour delay" for super cold temperatures (under 20 below I think) or for snow, that way they don't miss a day of school. But we almost never lose electricity or anything like that.

So, not much in the way of preparation for anything here really.

We usually have enough non perishable food in the basement pantry to get through a week or so. Snow is our main emergency and i keep a small shovel and a bag with blankets, food, and a small pot for melting snow in both of our vehicles. I am lucky in that I still have an old gas stove with standing pilots and also have a fireplace in the living room. I can still cook and keep everyone warm when the power is out.

There is an episode of Basic Brewing Radio from around Katrina talking about how handy some homebrew gear can be in an emergency. Propane burner, carboys or kegs of water, etc.

When I moved to TN from Idaho, I thought the whole 'buy bread and milk' thing was a myth. Nope. First time it snowed here, I had to send friends back home pictures of the empty shelves at the grocery. Wtf are people planning on doing with just bread and milk?

Biggest concern in a storm is that my wife gets stuck at work when her relief never shows.

I've never figured out the bread and milk thing either. I go to the store once each week and buy what we need for the week, so unless the storm is going to keep me inside for more than a couple days, I'm good to go. Sometimes it happens that my shopping day falls when there is a blizzard warning out and the people in the store act like they are going to be stranded for weeks! I also get a huge charge out of the people buying up bottled water- most people have 40 gallons of water on hand in their water heater, just tap the drain valve.

Here in CENPA, we usually have to deal with snow, flooding in the valleys, and some possible tornadoes...I made up a kit for my car consisting of a blanket, flashlights, an e-tool, and some tools. I usually have a couple coats and jackets with me and I carry about 3 or 4 lighters because I smoke and a knife or two. The only things I have been considering adding to my kit are one of those folding saws and a mess kit...

I also wondered about the bread and milk thing.

Lower Michigan. No worries. Yeah, sometimes there is a tornado. But what can you do? Your stash of food or water is probably on the other side of town anyway...

As for snow, we very rarely get anything that shuts stuff down. There are some snow days for school, but in about 25 years of working I think I've seen work close 2-3 times total. Plus I live a few blocks from work and drive a Jeep, so....

I suppose the right storm could knock out power for a few days. I live in town, so it would probably get repaired pretty quick compared to the people out on the side roads. Some of them own generators.

I just never felt that my life was in danger if we lost power and there is virtually zero chance of flooding or earthquake.

We don't have too much to worry about in the PNW. We get a few snow storms every now and then that turns everyone into idiots. The good thing is that most people know they are complete snow wusses and just stay home from work (including my wife). I don't get that luxury and still have to show up to work so I have my trusty 4x4 hunting truck that I load up with some weight, throw a pack filled with emergency supplies into, and slowly make my way to work.

As well, we have a lot of rivers and valleys that tend to flood; but, we are generally pretty prepared for that, most live up on hills and main roads are generally elevated so that doesn't impact things too badly.

Finally, we have an ever present earthquake threat which calls for being prepared to take care of yourself for a good week. For that food and water are your friends. We have a nearby retention bond so I have a really high quality water filter JIC so I don't have to deal with rotating water.

We live in a rural area in southwestern AZ prone to power outages and flooding when the monsoons hit. The flooding of the (dirt) roads can make access in and out impossible.

We keep a decent supply of food for the animals and ourselves, a weeks worth or so.

We are on a well, so when the power goes out, the water is gone soon after. For that we have a secondary water system, a 350 gallon tank that supplies water to our house through a 12 volt marine pump if the power goes out.

We have a small 900 watt generator for charging cell phones...etc. At some point we will look at something bigger, but so far we have yet to lose power form more than a day and a half.

In winter, we keep a bag of coats, blankets, pantry items (crackers, etc..), and water in our trunks in case we have a vehicle breakdown.

In tornado "season", we keep a bag with clothes for everyone, addresses, personal information, and water. No way in hades I am staying put in a wood framed house if a tornado is coming. Of course, I live a few blocks away from a major east/west turnpike.

Hey Wolf; if you are looking for a generator (or an Army truck!), this is the place to go: http://www.govliquidation.com/.
They auction off all the military surplus and always have tons of low hour generators available. You can also buy all sorts of other "interesting" things...I once saw a destroyer for sale, but you had to cut it up first...that's no fun.

California Bay Area so it's all about earthquakes. Of course no warning and can be devistating. Building up my bug out bags for me and the Mrs. Water and non perishable food of course. Tent, first aid kits and general tools, saws, lighters and matches, knives, mess kit. Clothes and blankets. Lastly, the 12 gauge, .45, and a hunting rifle.

We really only get tornadoes and there's no preparing for that.

It doesn't flood in my neighborhood and our cold weather attacks are usually bad for 1-2 days so no need to prepare for anything else.

Camping57 said:

Hey Wolf; if you are looking for a generator (or an Army truck!), this is the place to go: http://www.govliquidation.com/.
They auction off all the military surplus and always have tons of low hour generators available. You can also buy all sorts of other "interesting" things...I once saw a destroyer for sale, but you had to cut it up first...that's no fun.

Click to expand...

Excellent site, thank you!...

They had a few generators at Davis Monthan AFB!

Northwest Iowa. Tornadoes and snowstorms are the major threats. Tornado - not much you can do to prepare for that; have a sturdy place in the house to shelter. Snowstorm; during the winter I have a duffel bag I keep my insulated bib coveralls, a sweatshirt, carhardt coat, pair of knit gloves, pair of insulated leather gloves, stocking cap, balaclava, wool socks, and a scarf in, and the older of my two pair of winter boots stays with it. That gets moved to whatever car I'm driving that day in case things go pear shaped on my 30-mile commute to work. Home, I've got a 1500 watt inverter I can hook to the truck battery, and a 50,000 BTU forced air propane torpedo heater that I can use to heat my house if needed. Between the pantry and the freezer, I've got dehydrated foods to last plenty long; my gas water heater is a standing pilot light so I never lose hot water, and I keep a couple oil "hurricane" lanterns at the ready.

The area I live is f-l-a-t (on a clear day, I can see the wind turbine farm 30 miles to the east, and on my drive home, I can pick out my towns water tower around 15 miles away), so in the middle of winter, if the wind picks up, visibility can get bad in a real hurry. I've been caught in storms where I couldn't see the end of my hood. However, just 15-20 miles to the west of me starts getting into foothills of the loess hills, and that same wind will pile snow up in drifts 10-15 ft high across the road. I would say 4 of the last 6 years, there has been at least one storm that has completely shut this corner of the state down. The worst one, it was four days before you could leave town -- and then the 30 mile drive to the next town took an hour and a half, and it was a week before they got one stretch of highway opened up again.

I think the milk and bread thing has at least something to do with the delivery schedules; I don't know what the schedule is for sure, but I want to say the local grocery store gets dairy deliveries a couple times a week, and probably the same with bread. If one of those heavy storms hit the night before a scheduled delivery, it could be 4-5 days before the trucks can make it to us again. Milk & bread are probably the two most "perishable" things in your house that either get used up quickly or have a short shelf life; if you run out at home and the delivery truck didn't make it that week, you're SOL. So, when a storm is moving in, the mindset of "Better get to the store and get groceries while they're still here" (Also, milk & bread are probably two of the most commonly purchased items, so it is noticed more with them?) Just my random thoughts.

Hurricane country. Water, a few days worth of non-perishable food, a generator and 20 gallons of gas during hurricane season.

Central California, so longshot for anything devastating, but we can lose power for up to a day or two at least once a year. A strong rain stops all the lowered vehicles form accessing certain areas. If anything serious happened, it would be looting and other crime with a quickness. I keep my camping gear in the car with 3 days of food and a personal water filter. In the house I've got 3 days food, propane stove, plenty of bottled water and theft deterrent. Money permitting, I'd like to stock up more camp-ready food in the house since it doubles as emergency supplies. Worst emergency I've see to date here is the power going out when it was 115 outside. I just went camping.