Posted: 8/28/2006 7:02:46 PM EDT
|
Okay folks, I’ve got a couple of Cat III hurricanes under my belt and have learned a couple of things along the way. I’d like to go ahead and take a minute or two and jot down some things that you might find helpful. 1. To This is always the million dollar question that a person has to ask themselves. Undoubtedly, you will run into folks who will say “I was here during Hurricane Norman and we were just fine.” Many of the folks in Mississippi did not leave before Katrina (Cat IV) because their homes had survived Hurricane Camille (Cat V). Some of those people are dead right now. My personal view is that I leave town for anything Cat III or larger. My neighbor didn’t and was just fine. However, my wife teaches Kindergarten and in her class is a little boy who doesn’t have a sister anymore because a falling limb came through her room and crushed her. Ultimately, of course, it’s your choice. If you decide to leave, make your hotel reservations early before they all fill up. If the hurricane veers off and takes a different course, simply cancel your reservations. Most hotels have a 24 hour / no charge cancellation policy. You will know much sooner if the hurricane is still headed your direction.  2. Types of hurricane damage: 2a. Water Damage: First of all, the ones who are most at risk are those residents near the coast line. The majority of the damage sustained by hurricanes is in the storm surge. Generally, the bigger the storm, the higher the storm surge that will be pushed up onto and over the shore. A moving wall of water will win every time. A gallon of water weighs several pounds. If you combine several thousand gallons of water moving against your home at a semi-rapid pace, your home is going to lose - plain and simple.  2b. Wind damage: In my neck of the woods, most of the wind damage took form in the shape of falling tree limbs. If the limb has any amount of size to it and it falls on your house, your house will lose again. If you are in the losing part of the house, you might lose too. If the ground becomes saturated enough, the winds can also push the entire tree over by uprooting the tree. For some reason, pine trees seem to snap off about twenty feet off the ground.  3. Preparations 3a. Windows: To protect your home against wind damage, the most expedient method is plywood. Undoubtedly, you have seen news footage of homes in Florida preparing in this manner. The plywood is there to serve as a means of protecting your windows against flying debris. Obviously, this has limits. Hurricane Dennis picked up an eight-foot section of my six-foot high wooden privacy fence and it was airborne for over 100 feet. The plywood is there to keep smaller branches and other household debris from smashing through your windows. This is very important. Firstly, because it keeps the wind out of your house. If a 100+ mph wind enters your home with no place to exit, it will find a place to exit. Often times, it will blow your roof off. Secondly, the plywood is there to keep the rain out of your house. Hurricane-driven rain travels horizontally. If your window is smashed, your house will have water damage. You can minimize the damage after the storm by tearing out soaked carpeting and such. Dry things out as best as you can to prevent mold. Once mold gets in your home, it a REAL pain. If you decide to board up your windows with plywood, you need to get to your local store and get it now. It will sell out much sooner than you think. It did for me and I spent six hours waiting in line for the next shipment to arrive. I would have liked to have had those six hours for doing other preps. If you have a brick home, you will want to get Tapcon screws immediately. They will sell out just as quickly as the plywood. Hurricane shutters are a more expensive alternative, but they provide better protection for what is, most likely, your biggest investment. If you have the funds available it may be a good choice to look at this option.  3b. Important Documents Locate these now. You will want a copy of your insurance papers / IDs / Birth certificates / Photo albums, etc. For myself, I have most of my photos on my computer, so I take the CPU when I leave. If you decide not to leave, put these documents in a room without a window so as to lessen the likelihood of damage. 4. Supplies 4a. Water. Obviously, you need water to survive. After the storm, it will be likely that city supplied water may be cut off or contaminated. You will need to have an adequate supply to last you until you can obtain clean water. The easiest route is to purchase bottled water while supplies last. The least expensive route is to purchase water containers and simply fill them with tap water. Note: DO NOT use non food-grade containers for water storage. You MAY use non non-food grade containers for storing of non-potable water. They will leach chemicals into your water supply. Non-potable water is very important for washing your post-hurricane, nasty bodies and for washing clothes. Most importantly though, is that it can be used for flushing toilets. My in-laws spent several days conserving their non-potable water for flushing. They will tell you that a flushing toilet is the first convenience that they wanted restored, including electricity. A good container to purchase for potable water requirements are the Reliance Aquatainers (blue cubes). They hold seven gallons and cost roughly seven dollars. It is recommended that you have at least one gallon of water per person, per day. However, I can tell you from personal experience that if you are working out in the sun doing heavy labor (cutting limbs, etc) you will drink more than one gallon of water.  If you have questionable water that needs to be purified, the two most easy methods are boiling and by using bleach. Bring the water to a rolling boil for several minutes and this will kill any of the bio-nasties inhabiting it previously. You can also use bleach to purify suspect water. Make sure that you are using the regular non-scented bleach. Do not use the “lemony fresh” as your body will react badly to it. 4b. Food. If you don’t have a ready supply of canned food. Get it now. Oddly enough, I found the most useful food for me was canned ravioli. It has a pull-top lid and I had no problem with eating it cold. Those things are loaded with calories as well (over 500 per can). Do not buy food that will require refrigeration. Buy foods that your kids are familiar with and enjoy as it will make it easier to deal with the post hurricane situation. Boxes of macaroni and cheese are big hits and are easy to prepare requiring only the ability to boil water. When you pick up your food supplies, it isn’t a bad idea to purchase paper plate and plastic silverware. This will eliminate the requirement of washing your dishes after you eat, thereby conserving your non-potable water supply. Oh yeah - make sure you have a can opener. 4c. Grills / Campstoves. If you have a gas grill, make sure you have an ample supply of gas. If you have a charcoal grill, pick yourself up several bags of briquettes. If you don’t have a grill, you can purchase a propane campstove that will function using the one pound gas cylinders. I have a grill but preferred to use the campstove for most of my heating requirements. Do not use your gas grill or campstove indoors, unless you have a desire to see the inside of your county morgue.  4d. Information Get a battery powered radio. If your community loses power, they will make radio stations a priority to restore. It will be your lifeline to useful information regarding water, electricity and the other things that we prefer to have around. 4e. Generators. This is a pricey item and you may decide that you don’t need one or can’t afford one. You can survive without one, but they do make things easier if you have one. My neighbor didn’t have one for the first hurricane, but after seeing mine in use, he made sure to have one for the next hurricane. Honda is at the top of the food chain when it comes to generators, but they are also the most expensive. You can find a lot of info about generators in the Survival Forum. If you decide to get a generator, make sure that you have heavy-duty extension cords. I use 12 gauge cords as I alternate my power between my refrigerator and freezer. If you go cheap and use a light weight cord, you can kill your high-powered appliance. I would recommend that you purchase a length of chain and a lock to secure your generator. It is not unheard of for some generators to walk off and find themselves in the homes of ne’er-do-wells. Obviously, if your generator cuts out on you - investigate the problem. Most likely, you will find that you have run out of gas. However, you just might find somebody trying to haul it off. In that case, these things are heavy and not easily moved. A prominent display of a firearm should convince the bad guys to leave the stash and find easier pickings. Do not use your generator inside your home or outside near open windows. Unless of course, you want to meet your local coroner. After each hurricane I experienced, there were entire families that were found dead in their homes because of the built up fumes from a generator. I found that it was the best use of electricity to only power my freezer and move my refrigerator items to a cooler. The freezer would produce the ice and I then didn’t have to put the load on my generator for keeping the refrigerator running. 4f. Gasoline Get some. Now. If the hurricane knocks out the power to your community, you won’t be pumping gas. You will need to have enough on-hand to keep your vehicle running as well as your generator if you are using one. My Coleman Powermate (6250 watts) will drink five gallons of gasoline every twelve hours. Needless to say, I have a collection of gas containers. Storing your gas cans is tricky as well. I have a gas water heater in my garage that would react negatively to collected gas fumes. Find a storage location that will not expose them to a lit flame or energized electrical circuitry. 4g. Cash If the phones and electricity are out, you won’t be using your credit cards. Cash is king and the ATMs won’t be working. Get cash prior to the storm. 4h. Lights I have a propane lantern that I love. It lights up very brightly and is the cat’s ass when my neighborhood is electrically deficient. Do not use indoors unless you like hanging out at your local funeral parlor. I use candles very sparingly. Keep in mind that without phones, there isn’t 911. Without 911, the fire department will only realize that your home is ablaze when they see the smoke plume. By that time, it’s too late. When I use candles, I use my wife’s Yankee Candles because the flame is semi-shielded. I put them up high where a child cannot reach them or knock them over. My fireplace mantle is excellent for this. I do not use them when I move from room-to-room as it is easy to trip over poorly lit extension cords and like items. Instead, I only use battery powered lights when moving around the house after dark.  4i. Chain saw. You may want one of these to clear any downed limbs after the storm. For myself, I didn’t get one because my father-in-law has one and I knew that I could borrow it when he was finished. If you decide to use one, I would recommend limiting it to only clearing limbs that have to be cleared. Remember, without phone lines, you do not have 911 ambulance service if you confuse your leg with a limb. Keep in mind that you will be very tired dealing with the aftermath of the storm and you are more prone to accidents when you are tired. 4j. Medications. Know what you need to have and have some extra on hand. Now is also a good time to have a good supply of over-the-counter meds on hand. If the power is out, your local pharmacy is going to be closed. 5. We at Arfcom love to prepare for looters. This may or may not be an important part of your preparations. You know your community the best. I live in a redneck suburbia and the looting was almost an unheard of event. I still kept my black rifle and revolver on hand, but in my experience were never required. If you live next to the projects or a neighborhood with less than savory characters, you may find a need to protect your belongings. Word to the wise however, make sure that you know what your target is before you engage. One of our local townsfolk heard some noises coming down the road and decided to take action based on some not so well thought out ideas. He discharged a shotgun in the direction of the approaching individuals only to later discover that he was shooting at our local Sheriff Deputies who were on patrol looking for bad-guys. Always identify your target! Needless to say, the deputies were less than impressed with his decision making processes and introduced him to the judicial system. My impression of looters is that 9 times out of 10, they will bolt when they see an armed homeowner. In the other cases, I would be very surprised to find any Arfcom member to be outgunned by any “Two-Bit Tommy.” Nighttime without electricity is difficult. Your normal street lights will not be functioning as well as your security lights. My propane lantern will burn over 10 hours on a one pound cylinder of gas. Placing one of these out by my generator kept my yard illuminated quite well. I would imagine that looters prefer to operate in the cover of darkness and would avoid a well-lit home. Of course, we have all seen the “You loot, I shoot” signs and I would imagine that these will dissuade others as well. Weapon lights are very handy to have and are now on my shopping list. If you have a dog, use them. My dog is a over-the-hill terrier, but she knew to put herself on-duty at night. She would growl whenever a neighbor walked down the street and served as an efficient alarm system. 6. The Police. These folks are going to be overworked and very tired. Our community had a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed immediately following the storm. Anyone found off their property during these hours could be arrested and held. Now - a lot of you are going to bristle at that. But, here’s how the curfew was used - If you were found walking your dog in your neighborhood after curfew, the police would check and see if you indeed actually belonged there. If so, no problem. If you were in your car and driving to the hospital to pull your shift, the police would wave at you and wish you a “travel safely and good night”. If they found “Two-Bit Tommy” in your neighborhood (not his) after dark and he had burglary tools in his pockets, and it was obvious that he was up to no good, the police could arrest him for a curfew violation instead of having to catch him going through somebodies window. Of course, those that were arrested for curfew violations were held in the county jail until the courts could open. As I recall, that wasn’t until after electricity had been restored to the community. Your police and milage may vary. Hope this may be helpful to those that are in the need for info. JR |
|
Whew I am not completely ready, just storing all my documents, pulled a couple hundred ATM for pocket change, got about 300 bottles of liter size water, canned foods, about 300 rounds of Q3131, 3 Surefires with plenty of 123's, got a little burner to make instant coffee, filled up my tanks at an all night gas station in my truck and car. ETA this storm reminds me of Floyd and the "no name" storm they came from due south. Not much on wind but they sure caused some floods. |
entrepreneurs I live on the coast. I bug out based upon size of storm OR storm surge. I have a 5 year old and a wife. I am not going to place them in danger for my vanity or stuff. Money can replace stuff. Nothing can replace my family. |
|
Food- Check (Plenty of canned goods) Gas Check (Cars will be full tongiht 10 extra gallons in 2 5 gallon cans) Gas Grill/ Camp Stove - Check Water - 6 gallons check (I will be filling several 2-liter bottles tonight) LBV (AR15, Glock, Surefire) - Check (Will be filled tonight) Cash - Check Generator - No check ( Need to get a small unit until I can afford a larger unit) Chainsaw - No Check |
Get some home depot 5 gallon buckets and some of these lids: https://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=179349 Put you papers along with other thing that can't get wet like medicine. Have copies of your: insurance papers tax info wills legal papers perscriptions photos/video of your house and belongings for insurance purposes Buy headlamp long burn candles matches uno cards "comfort food" ie. chips and poptarts |
|
We live on Galveston Bay, 20 miles off Galveston Island, Texas. Last year when Rita hit I had made NO evacuation preparations. I made the decision to bug-out at 8 a.m. and we got on the road at 2 p.m. (Thats right, only six hours total prep time). My wife was 7 months pregnant with our first so I had to prep the house and pack up the Explorer. The best prep you can do, BAR NONE is to burn all important data to cd's. Fully 2/3 of everything we brought was pictures/photo albums. 100 pounds of photos could have been stored on a handful of cds. After you get your photos on cd, write up a WORD doc with all your account numbers, credit cards, passwords and billing addresses for your creditors. Its great peace of mind to know that if you evacuate 300 miles away all you need is access to a PC to pay bills, check account balances, even change billing addresses. Buy a couple of gallons of water to throw in your trunk. You can easily live a couple of weeks just on water. Food won't be a problem, potable water will. When we bugged out and sat in 10 hours of evacuation traffic to travel 275 miles, I felt fully protected with my Beretta 92 and 7 loaded mags. |
|
I post this in all these threads: Buy (at least) a gallon of 2-cycle oil, a gallon of bar and chain oil and a spare chain for your chainsaw. Buy a really good pair of leather gloves and some goggles while you're at it. Everybody runs out and gets a chainsaw but never remember the oils. If you get a real storm you and your neighbors could be cutting trees for a day of so. |
You need a lot more water. What if your water is out for two weeks (like my in-laws)? |
|
FEMA Register immediately after the storm even if you don't have damage to your home. I am not condoning fraud. However, damage is not always immediately visible. There are a lot of unknows when it comes to the damages from a hurricance. There are just as many types of damage. You could receive financial damage by spending your rent money to evacuate, loss of a job, or even worse loss of a family member. You could find that upon returning home your dwelling is so severely damaged that you require assistance in locating a new home. Here are just a few things FEMA may be able to assist you with. I have worked 4 major hurricanes with FEMA, Ivan, Dennis, Katrina, and Wilma. Every disaster is different as is the level of federal support. Individual Assistance Once a disaster is declared there are two options for federal assistance: Public Assistance (PA) and Individual Assistance (IA). PA is federal funding for debris removal, repair of infrastructure, and reimbursement for government related hurricane preparedness/response spending. IA is for the individual. It can some in the form of money or even a temporary housing unit; travel trailer (TT) or mobile home (MH). You may be eligible to be reimbursed for a generator and/or chainsaw. You may also be reimbursed for evacuation expenses and temporary housing espenses. Generators and chainsaws? The amount of money a disaster victim will receive varies just as much as the disaster itself. No one knows how much FEMA will reimburse for a chainsaw or generator until after it is declared. By all means get a generator and chainsaw if you feel like you need one. The key to reimbursement is the incident period and the cost of the equipment purchased. FEMA declares an incident period where elgible purchases can be made for reimbursement. In my past experience the incident period can be a few days prior to a disaster and 30 days after the period. The key with generator reimbursement is power outages. FEMA will not reimburse you if your power didn't go out, or if you bought the generator after the power came back on. FEMA will not reimburse the price you pay, insread they will have a set amount. If you paid less then you get what you paid. If you paid more than their limit, then you get the max FEMA will pay. I have seen around $400 for generators and $125-250 for chainsaws. Keep receipts. Good receipts. No handwritten receipts on notebook paper from your next door neighbor ho is selling his old stuff. Also, the equipment and receipt will very likely be verified by inspectors. They must visually verify you own the equipment and have the receipt. Evacuation expenses This is a gray area. You may be eligible for reimbursement of evacuation expenses. I have heard and experienced conflicting thought on this from disaster to disaster. When in doubt keep every receipt for every disaster related expense. Don't count on being reimbursed, but keep docuentation just in case. Such factors as evacuation zones and dwelling type may be determining factors. Temporary housing FEMA does not always provide temporary housing to disaster victims. A lot depends on available rental resources in the affected area. If there are available resources, FEMA may provide money in the form of rental assistance, money to pay rent on a new place. Rental asistance is figured by the fair market value for the affected area. If resources are not available, FEMA may implement a Mobile Home Operations (MHOPS) or Disaster Housing Operations (DHOPS) program. This is the trailer program. FEMA lumps victis into two groups, home owners and renters. If you are a home owner FEMA may be able to place a TT or MH on your property depending if your site is feasible and the local government permits it. You would be surprosed by how many temporary housing placement delays are caused by the local government and not FEMA. If you are a renter, FEMA may have Emergency Group Sites (EGS) for temporary housing and later on in the response mobile home group sites. These units are usually provided free for a period of time but rent may be charged. If you are a home owner with insurance you should have Additional Living Expenses (ALE) or Loss of Use built into your policy. FEMA asks that you use this money for temporary housing. If no non-FEMA housing is available, you still may be eligible for a TT or MH. I don't have any damage and I don't need to register There is a set amount of time after a storm where disaster assistance applications are accepted. After this period closes, no more applications will be considered. I met with numerous families after Hurricane Dennis that did not register because they thought they did not have damage. However, 30-60 days after the storm, mold started to show up. Drywall, carpet, roofs, and insulation had to be replaced and a temporary place to lived had to be found. If you don't have insurance then FEMA could provide repair money for your home. Insured or not, FEMA could provide temp housing. In order to be eligible for disaster unemployment benefits, you will need to apply with FEMA. It is to your benefit to apply ASAP, no matter what. Useful tips: |
Dont forget the 40 or so gallons in your hot water heater. 
|
True. I have 6 gallons in 1-gallon jugs. I will fill 8 or 10 2-liters tonight. I also have a small water filter, purification tab, and a 5-gallon turkey fryer to boil water. Prior to the storm I will fill both bath tubs with water. |
| I discovered this common sense remedy for ice during Hurricane Dennis. Buy a case of bottled water and place as many bottles as you can in your freezer well before the storm. This way you get all the ice you need to keep the contents of the fridge and freezer cool. As it melts you have no mess and a cool drink which is greatly appreciated when everything is hot. |
You should have at least one of these: 
|
|
I would update your "Lights" section to include battery powered LED Lanterns and Flashlights. The newer ones are very bright and have incredibly long runtimes. Here's what I use: - StreamLight 4AA LED flashight - 150 hours on one set of batteries. - EssentialGear 4D cell 12 LED Lantern - 40 hours to 10 days runtime, depending upon brightness setting. |
|
Fill your tubs tonight and check them again in the morning. My in-laws did the tub trick only to find that the tubs slowly leaked their water down the drain. If you find that yours do leak, you can solve that with an old fashioned rubber stopper or some plumber's putty. Tubs are very good for non-potable water. Rubbermaid totes are good too. Just remember that you can't use them for drinking water - no matter how much you boil or bleach them. |
Good point. LED lanterns are the best. I'll have to update this for the next hurricane. 
|