Posted: 8/4/2026 6:44:37 PM EDT
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It’s been a while since these have been posted here. I was here on this site in 2005 during Katrina and we learned a lot from it. We also learned quite a bit from a member named FerFal (2001) and a guy in Bosnia. The stuff they experienced was pretty interesting and thought I would repost them here in three parts, for the newer members who were not here. First one is: Notes from an LEO in Katrina (2005) First, the smell. It will make you physically ill. EVERYTHING will taste like it. The floodwaters are a mixture of sewage, oil and gasoline from cars and storage tanks, animal and people carcasses, rotten vegetation, various construction debris, and so many unknown chemicals that it ate the paint off their boat. My buddy wore his gas mask so he could keep his lunch down. A GPS is mandatory. There are no more street signs, few if any remaining landmarks, even no STREETS in places. The old saying about "can't get there from here" will be heard a lot.?? Pioneering gear Axe, hatchet, a good stout utility knife, metal pole for a probe, (propellers and submerged cars don't mix) a hand come-along, a good length of heavy rope, as well as waders. You will do a lot of detouring around obstacles.??BUG SPRAY! The 100% DEET stuff you treat your clothes with is better than the weaker stuff you put on your skin. Bring a balaclava to keep the flies out of your face and mouth. Gloves are a must. Cut yourself and an infection is guaranteed. One of the guys had to be evac'ed because of a MAJOR infection on his shin, he stuck himself on a nail thru his waders. Safety goggles to keep water out of your eyes. Bleach for a disinfectant, hand sanitizer in squeeze bottles.?? Lights Several flashlights along with LOTS of batteries. LED lights are a big plus. Batteries are also good trading material. (a 4-pack of "D" cells is apparently good enough to rate a kiss and squeeze from an ER nurse) Please note that “’lights at night” draws fire every time. NVD's are a life saver, even the cheap Russian types you can buy at Academy. It get's REALLY dark. Those little family radios are good for commo, although they eat batteries. Keep in mind the bad guys looted those too. ??Ammo Take more ammo than you can carry. Lots of folks to give it to. 9mm and .40 predominate in the pistol calibers. 12 Gauge in shotgun. Rifles are all over the map, most popular hunting calibers. Very few black rifles. (Most EMS/medical staff have at least a pistol/shotgun) Pack it in a WP bag.?(I know this will send the Pro-NRA nutcases thru the roof, You will confiscate a lot of guns. If it's a decent piece with enough ammo, try and give it to one of the rescue workers. If not, don't bother lugging it around, disassemble it and throw the pieces into the water. A lot of the long guns are Wal-mart types, 30-30 Winchesters, Ruger 10-22's, Mossberg turkey guns, etc. You can tell because they smashed up the trigger guard to get the trigger lock off. Ammo is still usually in the store box. Most proud owners of those brand new guns were shooting at you last night. ANY official looking vehicle/group draws fire. ?? Clothes Consider EVERY piece of clothing as disposable. From socks on up, throw them away when you leave. Have one set of "get home" clothes. ??Water Camelback. Biggest one you can find. Take extra care not to contaminate the mouthpiece. Throw it away too. ?? Drugs Immodium AD is your friend. Everyone in his team had diarrhea by day 3. Sinus pills and Ibuprofen are very popular, as are anti-acids. Something to flavor the bottled water is good. Eye drops for the chemical effects.?? Animals Shoot them. Rats, possums, raccoons, nutria, dogs. They are terrified of a possible Rabies outbreak. The dogs form packs, eat the corpses, and will show no hesitation in coming after you. All the small dogs have been eaten already. ??Observations As for the situation, at the time there was NO command or control in place. The team was fortunate to find a local officer to act as a guide, he had not heard or seen any superiors since BEFORE the hurricane made landfall. The looting was well underway by then. After losing all the windows in his patrol car the guy took refuge in a hospital with another officer and defended it. He was eventually joined by 4 others. When our people arrived he was down to 4 rounds of ammo in his pistol, carrying a shovel as a primary weapon, and had not slept or eaten. General opinion is that a fair number of the officer's that "Quit" are actually dead. (There was no way to leave if they ?HAD quit) When the team left the poor guy STILL had not heard from anyone higher than a Sgt, was getting dept info from reporters, and was wearing the clothes the team left behind. ??Don't assume that someone that looks like a police officer is a police officer. Lots of "Mall Ninja" types are showing up for various security companies, and some just on their own. A good idea not to turn your back on these. You'll come to HATE reporters even more than you do now. My buddy watched one arrange a body for better photographic effect. ??Don't leave anything ANYWHERE unless it's a secure locked area. It won't be there after a few minutes. It's my friend's opinion that a goodly amount of the "hurricane deaths" are actually murders. Our team was divided. Those officers with EMS certification were split from the main group, and ended up working refugees with unarmed rescue workers. Essentially, medical search teams. We took them to what was acting as a triage station. If anyone ended up in your local hospital, they more than likely were found by us or another group like us. Several of them died. Diabetics without insulin, heart patients, etc. Lots of elderly and kids. I did not enter the nursing homes in the news, but that situation was not uncommon. (As an aside, if they died after we found them, I don't think they are counted in the Katrina death toll)??I never saw a gun confiscated except from looters. No one I talked to confiscated a gun from anyone other than a criminal. I personally did not confiscate anything other than Injectable Valium from a looter. (He had over a hundred vials)?? Now, they DID confiscate guns. If it was worth keeping, had ammo, etc, it was given to whatever NON-CRIMINAL wanted it. If not, it was rendered inoperable. The obvious question, where did the guns come from? Looters were certainly not the original owners. Especially the guy that didn't realize Remington .270's have a magazine. (He was treating it as a single shot. His pockets full of ammo)??A few of them still had dealer tags or damage from busted gun locks on them, meaning these came from retail dealers or pawn shops. But the majority of them came from the looted homes of gun owners. It's a pretty obvious tip-off when a crack-head has an over/under and a Buckmark target pistol.??Think about that for a sec. You have a gun collection. Say, 30 or so long guns. Like most owners, you keep them in a closet Homak safe or similar (If even that. Most store under the bed.) What happens when you evacuate? ??You take 3 or 4 with you, and leave the rest at home. Congratulations, you just armed the looters. The police then have to take them back, and get shot at in the process. From now on, I've decided that my collection is going to be stored without bolts, even in the safes. Let 'em use them as a club. ??The desperate need for firearms there is kind of hard to describe. I firmly believe I could have sold mine for thousands of dollars or gotten laid for them. As it was, I gave away my backup and two shotguns. (To women. I always had a weak spot there)?? I asked for them back, and just might have them returned someday, but if not they were well spent.?? Even gun owners who already had them were lacking. Ammo especially. I gave away two ammo cans of buckshot and 9mm Gold Dot. 10-15 rounds at a time. ( I Had a guy ask me if my AR fired .243) ??I left all my ammo / mags for the AR and all but one of the Beretta mags, (had to have SOMETHING to get home on) as well as my cleaning kit. I even gave away my cheapie Tasco binoculars.?? Just a note, EVERYONE that went got sick. I overdosed like heck on Immodium AD I probably won't be regular until December. One of the guys may lose use of his leg due to a knee infection. He stuck himself on debris. |
Palestine never was, and will never be, from any river or from any sea.
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There’s a thread on another forum you can still find, by searching, “An Emergency Water epiphany”, about what a guy learned about staying (hiding) in place with his wife, for weeks after Katrina. He mentioned numerous things I’d never considered wrt prepping. RIP Sub Umbra (the guy who made the thread passed away some years back). |
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Originally Posted By bluemax_1: There’s a thread on another forum you can still find, by searching, “An Emergency Water epiphany”, about what a guy learned about staying (hiding) in place with his wife, for weeks after Katrina. He mentioned numerous things I’d never considered wrt prepping. RIP Sub Umbra (the guy who made the thread passed away some years back). The term “two is one, and one is none” comes from member DocGP during hurricane Rita, if memory serves. He had a new generator and an older generator, and the new one conked out so he used his older one. Hence two is one, and one is none. |
Palestine never was, and will never be, from any river or from any sea.
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Originally Posted By Taft: The term “two is one, and one is none” comes from member DocGP during hurricane Rita, if memory serves. He had a new generator and an older generator, and the new one conked out so he used his older one. Hence two is one, and one is none. Originally Posted By Taft: Originally Posted By bluemax_1: There’s a thread on another forum you can still find, by searching, “An Emergency Water epiphany”, about what a guy learned about staying (hiding) in place with his wife, for weeks after Katrina. He mentioned numerous things I’d never considered wrt prepping. RIP Sub Umbra (the guy who made the thread passed away some years back). The term “two is one, and one is none” comes from member DocGP during hurricane Rita, if memory serves. He had a new generator and an older generator, and the new one conked out so he used his older one. Hence two is one, and one is none. Yup. Have two gennies AND solar, with the ability to use the gennies to charge the solar battery bank. The things I hadn’t considered prior to reading Sub Umbra’s thread, was about sanitation, insects and garbage disposal, (and I also got ideas about things like light discipline/concealment from that thread, as they had to hide from the forced evac AND looters). |
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Originally Posted By Taft: The term “two is one, and one is none” comes from member DocGP during hurricane Rita, if memory serves. He had a new generator and an older generator, and the new one conked out so he used his older one. Hence two is one, and one is none. Been a survivalist since 1986, definitely heard that saying a time or 17... long before Katrina, long before Y2K, long before Gulf War 1 and Anthrax scares... |
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In business since 1992- Over 30 Years in business- Thank you for your business!
Quickest ways to contact us-
912.375.1480
[email protected]
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Originally Posted By Lowdown3: Been a survivalist since 1986, definitely heard that saying a time or 17... long before Katrina, long before Y2K, long before Gulf War 1 and Anthrax scares... Nice, I only remember it from 2005. Not surprising the saying has been around a long time. |
Palestine never was, and will never be, from any river or from any sea.
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Originally Posted By Lowdown3: Been a survivalist since 1986, definitely heard that saying a time or 17... long before Katrina, long before Y2K, long before Gulf War 1 and Anthrax scares... Originally Posted By Lowdown3: Originally Posted By Taft: The term “two is one, and one is none” comes from member DocGP during hurricane Rita, if memory serves. He had a new generator and an older generator, and the new one conked out so he used his older one. Hence two is one, and one is none. Been a survivalist since 1986, definitely heard that saying a time or 17... long before Katrina, long before Y2K, long before Gulf War 1 and Anthrax scares... Yep. That line was in GI Jane in 1997... and Hollyweird certainly didn't invent it. |
per aspera ad astra
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Regarding Katina, The great New Orleans gun grab: descent into anarchy was absolutely eye opening to me. Law Enforcement was just as big of a threat as street criminals and the weather. Even if you are prepared for the weather, even if you are prepared for the criminals... it may not be enough |
per aspera ad astra
