The following are my experiences learned the hard way following Andrew in 1992. Fortunately for myself I lived in Broward at the time and was able to learn from the misfortune of those south of me in Dade, specifically my uncle who lived in Homestead. Because we were basically OK, myself and a small crew went down to Homestead to help my uncle. We took him supplies and groceries and helped him with security until the National Guard was up and running.

Preparations: There are simply some things which you absolutely must have. Now most of us don't have $3-500 to blow on supplies so the thing to do is buy something every week. Whenever you go shopping buy about $10 worth of supplied for your hurricane kit:

Candles
Batteries
First Aid Kit
Canned food
MREs
Radio
Mosquito repellent

and most importantly WATER.

Skip the gallon jugs, the leak. Rinse out 2 liter soda bottles and fill them with water. The are more portable and durable. You should have a min. 7 days of supplies for each person.

If you don't ahve hurricane shutters, save up for them. Plywood just won't save you in a big storm and shutters are a hell of a lot cheaper than rebuilding your house. In Homestead the ONLY houses that didn't lose the roof had quality shutters.

In addition you should grab all the camping comforts you can afford. Plan on roughing it for a week. When people who got hit by Charley are finally back on line they will tell you just how nice something like a cot to sleep on is when they don't have a roof or a bed. Even if you DO have a roof, you will probably sleep on a porch because it gets hot and humid at night with no AC.

Get at least one big ass cooler for storing food. Won't be the same as a fridge but it works for storing food.

If you can get a generator to run the fridge. having a working refrigerator is like winning the lottery after a storm. If you think generators are expensive now, wait till you try and buy one after you get hit. Save up, it will be worth every penny.

One you have the basic supplies covered ORGANIZE.

Organize a basic crew of neighbors, shooting buddies, etc. Work with the understanding that as soon as they have gotten their house squared away they will band together and check on everyone involved. These people will come see if you are ok a lot sooner than any government employee.

Agree that you will help the guy(s) most in need. Go from house to house and help with basic repairs and assitance then decide who is most vulnerable and camp there.

Pull security for those homes if not the entire block. We actually created a map of a 4 block area and noted which houses were occupied, vacant, etc. We told neighbors we would be operating at night and requested permission to be on their property during patrols. We also invited them to join our patrols. We noted houses that we KNEW should be empty and were inviting targets, better to get them robbing the place next door before they get to your house.

We all had firearms and carried openly. Mostly AR15s, shotguns and I had a HK91. We all wore camo as we were trying not to be seen by those who would be robbing houses and didn't want to attract deliberate attention to ourselves. Make sure you don't have trigger happy idiots in your ranks. This isn't "shoot a looter" night.

I cannot stress how valuable night vision was, both weapon sights and monoculars. Only mosquito repellent was more appreciated than even Gen 1 stuff. Second to NV is communications. Basic Motorola radios are absolutely needed. Some quick ties for flex cuffs are also nice but make sure you know who you are taking into custody. Don't ID yourself as "police" unless you actually are. Simply refuse to identify yourself to those you detain, question or take for the NG. Simply stating that "nobody belongs in this house" is usually enough. Protect ONLY your homes and neighborhood, do not go on a "looter hunt" at the local strip malls. Homeowners protecting their property is one thing but grabbing people robbing discount records and tapes is another unless you actually own discount records and tapes.

During the week we took about a dozen people out of several homes that we KNEW should be empty. These individuals who didn't know who the gusy with camo and guns were, were only too happy to be turned over to local NG posts. We also advised the NG who we were, where we lived and where and when we would be operating. Make sure they know what house you are basing from and that free coffee will be available at that home every night. Work with them, not against them. Our patrols ran into their patrols on more than one occassion.

This is also why you stagger out your patrol. We usually ran a 8 person team with one point man, 3 guys on one side of the street (in the yards) 50m back and 3 guys on the other side of the street with one guy 50m to the rear. Better to have your point man go talk to the NG patrol with the other 7 guys with guns remaining unobserved. They NG guys were pretty savy and knew what was going on. When we finally ran into them continuously we discontinued our patrols.

Be prepared to fend for yourself (food, clothing, shelter and security) for a week. In Homestead people were on their own for a month or more. And the only thing worse than losing everything, is losing everything and not having any kind of plan or supplies.

So start now.

Note to self: move to Florida and set up a business selling the above items - AFTER the hurricane goes through

Quoted: Note to self: move to Florida and set up a business selling the above items - AFTER the hurricane goes through

Cool another place to buy ammo.

Here's another one, when the NG was sent out Lawton Chiles ordered them to NOT have ammo. The Miami Herald then reported this and immediately local gangs robbed NG members at gunpoint for their M16s.

When we heard of this we dropped off battlepacks to every NG member we saw and at every post in the area.

Only one member declined the ammo saying "Son I'm from Texas, do you really think this weapon is empty?"

Quoted: Thanks, very informative thread. Excellent even for those who aren't really under the hurricanes, as a general survival guide.

Yup, people also get tornadoes, earthquakes and fires.

Quoted: Good post. I lived in Broward at the time of Andrew, and helped out quite a bit down in Homestead.  Water, food, camping gear...in that order. Fill up the car with gas too.

How did I forget the fill up? Thanks.


Also, CASH on hand. No ATMs or credit cards to pay for that $8.00 bag of ice.

Note to self, if I ever move to florida.  Get excellent insurance, make copies of all treasured family photos and documents and keep them in condo in Cleveland.  When storm is coming, get on airliner and return to afformentioned condo in Cleveland.  Let State Farm deal with the rest.

Quoted:   I agree, Thank's SteyrAUG....      Boring maybe, but I have what I think is an average story:       When those Bastards attacked our Country, I was compelled to arm myself and my Home with MORE than the average hunting rifles I had owned, for years and years....and I HAVE using my given rights.!!      When the Blackout, (this time last year) killed power to 60,000,000 people last year in the NE USA/Can for days just pissed me off and I swore I'd never get caught with my pants down again...... Terrorists, Fucksticks, nor Natural events will ever do that to me/My Family again...         I'm am sure I'm not 100% prepared, but much more so than I was........               Hell, it can't hurt.....

Best story I have is this one.

While rolling through the block we noticed flashlights on a second floor room of a house we knew was empty because the owner evacuated.

Dropped 2 guys in the back yard, two in the front, one on each side of the house and I and another guy went inside. We got to the top floor and heard 2 guys talking in the bedroom as they were going through drawers. We were running NV at the time and I slid past the door and down the opposite hallway. I gave my buddy the thumbsup and we switched off the NV and he yelled "Come out with your hands above your head right now."

2 black males emerged from the room mumbling some bullshit story about this being their "aunties house" and they were checking on it and getting some things for her.

My buddy told them to "Shut up and turn around and put your hands on the wall."

They continued with their BS story until my buddy told them "If you don't stop talking I am going to shoot you, turn around and put your hands on the wall right now." It began to dawn on them they may not be dealing with local cops.

Idiot #1 turned around and began to start his BS story again. I clicked on my streamlight (they had no idea I was to their right at all up to this point) and said "Do it now or you will be shot." The surpise of a second person and the shock of the streamlight made them shut up and put their hands on the wall.

We checked them for weapons (took a screwdriver and a couple knives off them), flex cuffed them and led them downstairs out the back door. We radioed our status to the guys outside and advised them we were coming out with 2 guests. Our 2 rear shooters who had been prone got up and walked over to us which very much surprised the 2 idiots in custody. We walked them around to the front picking up the side man and as we got to the front our 2 front yard shooters stood up.

To this the two idiots commented, "Shit there's white boys all over this motherfucker."

We parked them on the front porch and asked idiot #1 what they were doing inside since he seemed the most scared.

Idiot #1 - This is my aunties house and we was just checking on it and getting some things for her.

Us - This house belongs to Dr. Lowenstein who evacuated to Kendall.

Idiot #1 - Yeah, Dr. Lowensen, that is my auntie.

Us - Dr. Lowenstein is white and not married.

Idiot #1 - Yeah but my auntie knows him and he asked her to get some stuff for him.

Us - You wanna keep pissing us off by lying till we get sick of your shit and deal with you or you want to tell us the truth?

Idiot #1 - OK man I'm sorry we was in there taking shit.

Us - You want to deal with us or would you prefer we turn you over to the National Guard?

Idiot #2 (who suddenly felt the urge to speak) - Uh you can just be turning us over to the National Guards.

We left the property they had in their pockets in the house on a table and dropped the 2 idiots off at the NG post along with their weapons. They were only too happy to be taken into custody, I think we made them nervous.

Great stuff as usual, SteyrAUG. Read and heed.

Quoted: Having a CHAINSAW wouldn't be a bad idea too....

Another one I missed.

Here's a tip, keep the limbs, branches, etc. for firewood.

Bonfires illuminate the area at night and smoke keeps mosquitos away. You can also cook with most woods so a wood burning grill comes in handy.

Quoted: You're Batman! Way to go mon!

You can be too. You just need 7 more guys to form a team.

Quoted: I don't suppose you have a pic of your hurricane shutters?

I can get one.

Quoted: Basically, the strategy is run the generator at near-maximum load for as little time as possible, and rely on battery power the rest of the time.

Speaking as someone who has built power systems for RBOC switchrooms, it doesn't seem very practical to me to set up and maintain a rack of lead-acid batteries in the house.

Bumped cause someone could get nailed next week.

Looks like we might take this one right in the face.

Pretty scary looking. Unlike Charley which blew through at a quick pace this thing is only going 17 mph. That is what Andrew did, slow moving powerful storm.

Take this one serious.

Quoted: Quoted: Looks like we might take this one right in the face. Pretty scary looking. Unlike Charley which blew through at a quick pace this thing is only going 17 mph. That is what Andrew did, slow moving powerful storm. Take this one serious. I am in Orlando.  I feel that we are going to get screwed by this one... SteyrAUG, this post has been outstanding!!  Thanks for the information... Bigfeet BTW:  Local Home Depot is out of lumber this evening...  Water is gone from most stores as well as most food now.  People are left to buying canned goods...

If you don't have water and can't buy water put WATER in everything you have.

Buy a rubbermaid ginat garbage can and wipe it out with a cloth with a little bleach then fill it with the hose. Wipe a bathtub with the same bleach cloth and fill the tub with water.

Basically bleach in small quantites purifies water. I think it is one drop per glass but not positive. Might want to google that.

Also buy stuff like Gatoraid and juices which will also supply you with needed water intake and some nutrients.

Quoted: Quoted: BTW, anyone feel like selling their NVG's??? Bigfeet Wow - good thinking!  Have you checked your WalMart for the ones supposedly on clearance?  I haven't found them cheap at any of mine.

Get them if you can. These things are gold in a post hurricane environment. Second ONLY to deet.