I'm a survivor of Hurricanes Betsy (1964), Camille (1969), Katrina (2005), and several other lesser 'canes.

So I think I might have a few suggestions for you.


First of all, lighten up on the alcohol if a storm is coming. Yeah, I think you were being a bit "light hearted" when you listed your long list of alcoholic preps. I caught that. But honestly, it is best not to drink anything at all in the day before the storm if it is headed right at you, because if worse comes to worse and you get caught up in a really bad situation (roof torn off the house you are in, or a tornado hits your home, or the place begins to flood, etc), you will need a clear head and a strong body to survive. My family's home flooded during Hurricane Betsy in 64, and my dad got us up into the attic, and then took an axe and busted a hole in the roof to get us out. Then he had to swim to a neighbors house and "borrow" their boat to get us to safety. (They had sense enough to move to higher ground before the storm.)


BTW, I didn't stick around for Katrina (I learned from my family's mistake during Betsy), but it turned out that over in New Orleans, alot of people climbed into the attic like that to get away from the flood waters, but they didn't have an axe up there or another way to cut a hole in the roof.


Their only hope was if they had their cell phones with them. You couldn't call out on the voice lines with the cell phones, but text messages were able to get through.


Those who sent a text message to somebody out of the 504 area code (the New Orleans area code) telling them they were in the attic, and giving the address where they were at, were able to be rescued, provided that person had sense enough to contact the authorities and pass on the message.


Those who tried to use the voice calling option on their phone, or did not have either a phone nor an axe up in that attic, DIED.


So I think I'd add a cell phone with texting ability to your list of things to have, as well as an axe in that ceiling.


I'll post more below, rather than let this message get unweildingly long.

Hurricane Betsy taught me that it is best to leave if a hurricane is headed directly at you.


But leaving presents its on set of problems.


Unless you are retired and do not work, you can't leave early enough to escape the traffic.


A serious hurricane heading your way can turn a major interstate into a smog filled, horn honking parking lot in notime flat. The trip that normally takes three hours and just a few gallons of gas to drive suddenly takes anywhere from 12 to 24 hours to drive, and can take as much as two tanks of gas to reach the destination.


An extra gas can is essential, but a big problem you will face is how do you get it into your tank without somebody trying to steal it from you while you stop to pour it in?


During the Katrina evac, I saw several people with shotguns standing over the person pouring the gas in as I was driving down the road. No cops hassled them. Of course, we were in the south, where people still understand that sometimes, a gun is really needed to keep the peace. I sure wouldn't do that in New York.


Others had their gas stolen from them.


One person I know puts his emergency fuel in a yellow Diesel can. Yeah, I know, it's probably illegal. But it kept others from stealing their fuel as they stopped to refuel on their way north.


Plan on pulling into a filling station along the way?


Well, the good news is that they generally crack down pretty hard on any station that price gouges. So that is not really a big problem during evacs, even the scale of Katrina.


But what IS a problem is that the stations run out of fuel.


And even if they do not run out of fuel, once the storm passes through, they may be out of power.


And if they don't have power to pump the gas, they might as well be out of fuel, because you won't be getting any gas out of their pumps.


Moral of this story: A full tank is not enough. Have some extra to put in the trunk (KEEP SAFETY IN MIND AS YOU DO THIS), and know ahead of time where you will go if a storm heads your way.

I don't think I'd put gasoline in any closed space. No matter how careful you are, vapor always gets out.

Gasoline will vaporize really quickly in your trunk at 90 degrees, (it will, in fact, vaporize at -45). Once it reaches an appropriate fuel/air mixture you are, essentially, talking about a bomb.

One cup of gasoline, with the right fuel/air mixture will explode with the same degree of energy release as FIVE POUNDS OF DYNAMITE. These explosions are not survivable.

A cigarette burns around 500 degrees, the autoignition point of gasoline. You may not smoke, but they guy walking by your car, might.

I am so glad this was continued! I wanted to reply to this so bad that I even logged in....

We were in Hurricane Ike in 08. Afterwards we were without power for TEN days and Houston is very hot. I would advise you to get a bucket and fill up the tub with water so you can use the toliet. [our water was only a tiny trickle for a few days after] I would fill up more than 3 jugs. Stores opened here after a few days and then we could buy food and water. But I still think you should fill up more than 3.

My best friend was a radio that used batteries. And button lights that use batteries, or battery powered lamps. Our house was LIKE A HOT TOMB. Some friends got power

before us and we stayed with them when it got really hot, like near 100.

We used a big ice chest so the food we bought at the store was kept cold. Oh! And unplug your refrigerator before the storm. The power going on and off over and over [which ours did before going off for good] can damage it.

Get missels[spelling?] out of your yard! A missle is anything in your yard that can get whipped up by the extreme winds and fly into your or your neighbors window or roof or whatever. Lawn furniture, a fallen tree branch, big toys.

Good luck! Kiss your ass goodbye!! [no not really, just a joke]

Some supplies that I consider ESSENTIAL in my hurricane preparedness kit:


Flashlights with plenty of extra batteries
Portable AM/FM radio with plenty of extra batteries
NOAA Weather Radio with plenty of extra batteries

At least one battery powered lantern - I just recently bought one at Costco for about $20. It is an LED light with three different light settings. It takes either 4 or 8 D cells (I can't remember which), but since LED lights burn less power overall, I figure the batts will work for a long time. Nonetheless, I have plenty of extra alkaline D cells, plus rechargeable D cell batteries for it.

At least one SOLAR battery recharger, and plenty of AA, AAA, C and D size rechargeable batteries to put in it. Since solar battery rechargers take longer than the kind you plug into the wall, I have several. If you are out of power for several weeks -- like we were during Katrina -- you will be glad you got a SOLAR battery recharger. Your supply of alkaline batteries will be depleated way too soon.


Plastic ziploc bags with copies of important documents:

a copy of your driver's license,

auto, home and other insurance policies and insurance cards,

a copy of each credit card,

copy of your W-2 or other income papers,

a copy of any important professional licenses you might have,

a copy of immunization records and other important medical records for each person in your family,

a listing of each of your family doctors, dentists, and veternarians

and any other documents that are important to you or some member of your family.

Also, bring with you any family photos that you consider irreplaceable -- or at least a DVD that has your family photos scanned onto it.

Keep this bag VERY SECURE (identity thieves would LOVE to find this bag and steal it from you). But make sure you bring it with you, whereever you go.


A backpack with at least one complete change of clean clothes for every member of the family, at least one extra pair of good walking shoes for every member of the family, and many extra pairs of clean socks. It is NOT possible to have too many extra pairs of clean socks. When you are doing hard labor trying to clean up your place after a storm, you will go through alot of socks. And remember, if you have no power, then you have no washing machine to wash your socks. You have No Idea how comforting a clean pair of socks can be, when working hard in the heat with no washing machine or end of work in sight.



Now, an important word about the above:


IF you are forced to make a choice between carrying extra clothes and flashlights or carrying your important papers and photos -- which FEMA forced many New Orleanians to do in the days after Katrina when they were loading up military transport planes and flying civilians out of New Orleans -- carry your papers and photos, not the clothes.


Why?


Because clothes can be replaced really easily.


In many cases, the Red Cross or else FEMA will give you a voucher to get a new set of clothes or two from WalMart after a storm, if you must evacuate suddenly and can't go home quickly.


Or locals in the area you evack to will provide gently used clothing for you.


Or you can pop out your credit card and buy an new set of clothes.


But how do you replace one of a kind family photos?


And as for the documents I listed, if you need to apply for Red Cross or FEMA assistance, you will need some of those items. If you need to deal with insurance companies, you will obviously need your insurance cards and a copy of the policy.


And what about listing the doctors and dentists?


Well, the doctor list is so that if you are hurt somebody can contact your family doctor for pertinent medical information.


And as for the dentist, well, maybe you don't want the answer to that question.


Dentists are good for helping to identify bodies after the fact.

I notice that JBug is joining in this thread with good advice.


Adding to the good advice JBug gave -- about that refrigerator -- please EMPTY the box out before you evack!


I remember driving through suburban New Orleans a couple of weeks after Katrina went through. Jefferson Parish authorities were allowing residents to come in for the day to try and clean up their places, but they were told to leave by night fall and go back to where they were evacked to.


So here I am driving down the streets, and almost every house whose residents had come back to clean up had a refrigerator sitting on the curb.


Nobody thought to clean out the fridge, and so the fridges were ruined!


So Jbug is right about unplugging the ice box before you leave, but for heavens sakes, EMPTY it first!

OK, another topic that folks don't think about much, but can be important if you have to get on the highway to evack.


That (normal) three hour trip will be a 9, 12, 15 or even (in a worst case scenerio) 24 hour drive.


At some point, even if you do not drink water or anything else while on the road, you will have need to go to the bathroom.


Forget stopping at a service station or a McDonalds to do your thing -- these places will be so covered over, that will be hopeless.


Men don't have it so bad. Just bring an empty 2 liter soda bottle with a good cap on it, and a blanket to cover you while you do it if you have kids or neighbors in the car.


But women have a difficult problem to deal with, if that car trip is long enough.


Same with the kids.


There is no good answer to this problem, but two things can help:


1, don't drink -- not water, not coca-cola, not any of that alcohol you have stored, up, ForbiddenCokeDrinker. Suck ice as a way to try and handle the thirst and the heat.


and


2, get some Depends for your hurricane evack kit, for every woman and child in your family. (For adult men, it is optional -- my husband prefers a two liter soda bottle.)

Pets can be a big problem.


Health department regs forbid the housing of pets with humans in most Red Cross and FEMA shelters. If you can find a hotel or motel room to stay in, they often overlook their own no-pet regs in a mass evacuation. But the problem there is that the hotel and motel rooms book up quickly all along the hurrican evack routes, and most people who want a room cannot get one, unless they go as far north as Tennessee (or a comperable distance inland if you are out on the east coast).


Make sure to bring all your pet's vaccination papers if you are going to bring your pet with you.


Some communities are now trying to address the pet problem, setting up special shelters for evacuating pets, or else special shelters where humans and pets can shelter together.


These are still hard to find, but if you can find one, you will have to prove that the pet has had all shots legally required in the area you evack to.


If you put your pet in a private vet's kennel in the evack zone, they will also require those papers.


I've known alot of folks who sleep in their cars because they cannot find shelter for their pets.


Others face the difficult decision of leaving their pets in the hurricane zone, because so few pet shelters will be available in the evack zone.

If you can fit your emergency supplies and your family (and your pets, if applicable) in one car, it is probably best to evack out of their in one vehicle. It requires less gasoline at a time when buying gas will be difficult or even impossible, and you are more secure as a group than as a bunch of scattered individuals in different cars.


However, sometimes families need two or more vehicles to evack out of. Or neighbors might decided to caravan together.


So I always include in my hurricane supplies FRS radios -- at least two of them -- with plenty of extra batteries.


Make sure each driver has an FRS radio and extra batts.


Choose a channel you will all get on to start the trip, and agree on the front end what channel you will go to if the channel you are on gets crowded up with other traffic at some point or another.


For example, I always start on channel 15.


If channel 15 gets covered over with other users, me and the folks in the other car agree ahead of time to just say 14 Johnny Mac (no other message, just 14 Johnny Mac), and when one party says that, everybody moves to channel 14. Johnny Mac is the code word for "Let's move over to channel 14, its too crowded on this channel."

If 14 gets too crowded somebody says 13 Johnny Mac, and we all move to channel 13.


If we can't even get that much of a message through, eventually we'll all move down to the next lower channel anyway, though there may be a lag while the last driver finally figures out it is time to move down.


And so on.


I start high, and move low. It's just a personal choice. You can do different, as long as all the drivers are on board before you hit the road.

Obviously you will want some emergency food you can take with you if you have to evack, or even stored up if you stay at home and shelter in place.


Let me share some things I have learned (often times, the hard way):


First and formost, HAVE A MANUAL CAN OPENER ON HAND to open cans with!


What good is a can of food if you only have an electric can opener, but you have no power?


Second, if you are on the road evacking, it is best not to drink much for reasons discussed above.


But also, if you live along the gulf coast and you are staying in place and run the risk of loosing power, it is going to get HOT! But if you loose power, you can loose your water too, and if that happens, you loose normal toilet flushing capabilities (unless you have stored up enough "gray water" to cover as much as several weeks worth of flushing).


And on top of that, fresh clean water might be scarce after a storm.


For all of those reasons, you may want to restrict your fluid intake some


If that is the case, avoid salty foods. Salty food will make you thirsty.


So avoid the chips, the saltine crackers, and the tuna.


Eat unsalted crackers, or other quick snacks or meals with low sodium.



Thirdly, store foods that your family eats right now. Don't store some kind of expensive emergency ration stuff that nobody in their right mind eats on a normal basis. Buy and store stuff that your family likes, and is used to eating.

And one other thing.


Kids get cranky in these situations. Well, adults do too, for that matter.


Have a few small games or other entertainment to keep kids busy on the road trips. Have a few family board games for if you shelter in place.


And for the adults who like to read for relaxation -- nothing beats a fully charged Kindle or Nook or Ipad or Iphone, set to "wireless off" so you can conserve on battery power.


I wish I had had a kindle when I was on the road for Hurricane Katrina.

Thank you for mentioning pets!

I was going to say pet food, but your experience is much more helpful than what I was going to suggest.

But where do we all meet up in case of a zombie outbreak?

goddammint, and how do we protect our pets?!?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2012 02:40AM by Itzpapalotl.

Living in the UK, I have never had to worry much about hurricanes.
But, Zombies.... they are constantly on my mind
after putting a lot of research into this matter, I have an infallible strategy. So, in preperation, I have stockpiled 8 of these http://images.jayisgames.com/plants-vs-zombies/Plant_Sunflower.png
aint no zombies coming near me

Get lot's of Hornady's Zombie Max ammunition. (Yes, they really do make this stuff.)

http://www.hornady.com/ammunition/zombiemax

Guaranteed to stop Zombies in their tracks. I'd stick with the 12 ga. shotgun shells.

Watch Zombieland. Write down the leading character's rules for surviving a Zombie apocalypse...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2012 03:22PM by John_Lyle.

I never had an issue with zombies until I started watching The Walking Dead.

Maybe it's time to see a shrink about this issue, lol.

"You ever see a lion limber up before it takes down a gazelle?"

Thank you, I appreciate your concern. You will be happy to know that I may have exaggerated the amount of alcohol I have on hand. Also, the booze is not for the storm itself, but for the period after, when the power is out for three days, and the only thing left to do is enjoy the beautiful Florida weather with a couple of cold ones. Being sure there are no down power lines outside of course.

Yeah, ForbiddenCokeDrinker, I figured you were exaggerating on the alcohol stash.


But you did open up the opportunity for me to remind anybody in Isaac's way -- or any other future 'cane, for that matter -- of the importance of NOT drinking before the storm.


Back in 1969 here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, some group of guys decided that rather than evacuate, they'd stay put and throw a Hurricane Party. There was lots of booze, and I think a few girls too, and everybody was set to have a good ole' time.


They threw the party at a coastal hotel -- or maybe it was a stout old home -- but anyway, it was a structure that had a longstanding history of standing up to the worst hurricanes that had hit coastal Mississippi to date. As a result, they were pretty confident that they would be safe in that building, and they partied and drank heartily.


Then Hurricane Camille barreled in at full force with her Category 5 hurricane winds and 15 to 20 feet of storm surge. They were sitting not too far from the exact point where the storm hit landfall.


There were no survivors from that party.

If a hurricane is headed your way, how do you protect your home?


Well, somebody already mentioned picking up anything that can be picked up by the wind (even lawn furniture) and storing it away in a storage shed or something. You would be surprised the damage a child's toy can do when it is picked up by 100+ mile an hour winds!


Most people don't have storm shutters.


If you don't, but you have a wooden fence, you can protect both your wooden fence AND your windows at the same time by getting out there and pulling every third or fourth wooden plank down. You can then use some of those wooden fence planks to protect your windows, without joining the long lines at Home Depot to buy the last sheets of plywood.


Alot of folks here in the south just buy some plywood in the hurricane OFF SEASON and then size them up for their windows. Then they store them in a shed or under plastic tarp in the back yard.


When the hurricane warnings sound, they quickly pull out the precut plywood and the power drill, and screw those babies into their respective windows.


But you don't even need to do that if you have a wooden fence, because you will have to pull down some of the planks to save the fence anyway, so you might as well put those planks to a good use while they are off the fence line.


If you do not have either plywood nor wooden fence planks, you can try to protect your windows with duct tape. Alot of times, it will work, though if things get really bad (or a flying projectile slams into your window) the will not hold up as well as plywood or wooden planks will.

Right now, while the storm is still a ways off, do all your laundry and clean your house.


If you loose power for any length of time, you will be glad you did. The only thing worse than having hard labor clean up to do and no power to run that washing machine, is to have come into the storm with a pile of dirty clothes -- and discover only after the fact that you NEED the clothes that are in that pile.


Clothes get dirtier much quicker in heat even if you don't have to do heavy labor cleanup. And if you do have to do heavy labor to clean up your property, you will be surprised how quick your clothes will get sweaty and smelly.


You will want to change into clean clothes at the end of the day.


So, for heavens sakes, go into the storm with all your clothes clean!


And if you have a baby, I don't need to remind you to have plenty of extra Pampers and baby wipes, now do I?

About lack of power:


Alot of people feel that portable generators are the answer to that problem.


And they can be -- IF your power outage will be one of short duration (a week to 10 days max), IF you live in a low crime area, IF you know how to use them safely, and IF you can get fuel for them.


That is alot of IFs.


First of all, do NOT plug that generator into the house's electrical wiring system. If anything happened to the wiring system during the storm, you can cause a fire that way.


But even if your wiring system is completely intact, power company linemen can be KILLED by your generator if you plug that generator into wiring that is connected to the grid! It has actually happened before.


I'm not an electrician -- maybe somebody that is can chime in here and explain it better. But your generator can feed power back into the power company's lines, and if a lineman is nearby working on the system, he can get electrocuted by power you are generating.


So what you do is plug what you need to power directly into the generator, and bypass the house's wiring system completely.


Also, make sure the generator is outside. Those things put out carbon monoxide just like a car engine. Chain it down to keep thieves from getting it.


What thieves do alot of times after disasters, is they go around and steal any generator they can get their hands on, and also any single rooom window air conditioners they can pull out of the windows.


That way, they can take the stolen window unit and put it in THEIR house window, and then use the stolen generator (and stolen gas) to keep themselves cool.


Also, about prolonged power outages, it is a really good idea to have a battery powered lantern for every room in the house if you can afford it, and one or several SOLAR POWERED recharging units to recharge the D batteries that go in those lanterns.

The preferred and safe way to use a generator is to have a transfer switch installed by a qualified electrician. Typically, unless you have a large capacity generator 20K watts or higher you’re not going to power your whole house but just essential circuits for the refrigerator, sump pump and a few light circuits.

If you lose your electricity for any length of time (more than a few minutes) it’s a good idea to throw the main breaker switch on your electrical box. This will help protect your expensive devices like air conditioner, refrigerator and such for possible power surges when the power is restored.

For those of us that live in colder climates it’s a good idea to have an alternate heating source available for those that lose power in the middle of winter. Even if you have a natural gas furnace you can’t run it without electricity unless you’ve got it hooked into your essential circuits that your generator powers.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2012 07:32AM by davesnothere.

Do you ever notice that hurricanes didn't used to be this bad when they were only named after women ?
Letting hurricanes be named for men has invoked the wrath of god, I tell you !

Interesting theory, Dave.


But the two worst hurricanes to hit the Gulf Coast were both girls -- Camille (1969) and Katrina (2005).

Poor Louisiana & Mississippi--it looks like another direct hit. I think the thing to remember after a hurricane is that it CAN be a bit like Thunderdome. Some folks find their inner angel, some find their inner Hell's Angel.

I think that after Andrew and Katrina people are less apt to ride it out. At least I hope so. Pets, papers, pictures into the car and head away from the beast. No possession is worth the risk.

If you pour a gallon of water into one of those big black garbage bags, you can then climb into it (with a bar of soap) and take a bit of a bath. It's not great, but its better than nothing.

If it's hot and humid, be prepared for mosquitoes. I prefer coils, and foggers, as the skin lotions make you feel dirty.

As for family photos. I've scanned mine, put them on a disk and given them to 3 different friends and family in case I lose mine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2012 02:08AM by Mia.

I'll stick with baby wipes. I have a ton of them.

Sorry SouthernExMo, it looks like the storm is now heading your way.