Unique/Creative Hurricane Prep Tips

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wafbwx
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Unique/Creative Hurricane Prep Tips

#1 Postby wafbwx » Tue May 08, 2012 8:54 am

Hi All,

As we get closer to the start of Hurricane Season, I'm looking at compiling some unique and/or creative hurricane prep tips for a story. Most residents in hurricane prone areas like ours (south Louisiana) know the standard tips...getting water, batteries, generators, etc. But I'm looking for some tips that maybe people haven't heard before. Let me know if you have anything along these lines that you'd be willing to share.

Thanks!

Steve Caparotta
WAFB-TV
Baton Rouge, LA
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Re: Unique/Creative Hurricane Prep Tips

#2 Postby Hurricanehink » Tue May 08, 2012 9:55 am

Be prepared for being bored. My family had to evacuate for Hurricane Irene last year, and we had a power outage for about 12 hours. That's nothing compared to other people, so we all had some beer and enjoyed a game of monopoly. We all brought plenty of stuff to do, in the event we were without power for a few days. Nothing is worse in the summer than being bored without electricity in 2012.
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#3 Postby DanKellFla » Sun May 13, 2012 7:31 am

Buy a cheap small flashlight for small children. They WILL want your flashlight. They WILL scream. In a stressful time small screaming children are 10x worse than normal.
A roll of construction paper and crayons are another great distraction. A friend of mine gave me a tube that had about 20 feet of paper on it. I unrolled it and let the kids go nuts. You can find this stuff at Home Depot.
I like to buy Ice Cream cake and celebrate something as soon as the power goes out. It is also fun to go to the store just before it closes and wait in line with an Ice Cream cake. The weird looks and conversations are great. Of course, I have my hurricane kit prepared for way in advance.
Headband mounted flashlights come in handy.
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Re: Unique/Creative Hurricane Prep Tips

#4 Postby Persepone » Fri May 18, 2012 5:34 pm

Shelf paper and kraft paper also work for small kids. Advantage of kraft paper is that you can also use it to make "clean surface" or temporary tablecloth, etc. Don't substitute markers for crayons. More mess potential.
PS Schedule a trip to the public library before the storm for books for everyone.
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#5 Postby FutureEM » Sat May 19, 2012 6:01 pm

My Geography professor who is from Louisiana recommends that everybody from Texas to Maine buy a road atlas. In times of evacuation you will need to develop plans on how to escape depending on advice from your local Emergency Management...knowing the routes out of town and beyond is very important. Also don't rely solely on a GPS, if everybody follows the same set of standardized directions on their GPS systems then there is going to be mass congestion. Instead plan a route, and a set of alternate routes by hand ahead of time and save yourself a lot of trouble. :D
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Re: Unique/Creative Hurricane Prep Tips

#6 Postby Jagno » Wed May 23, 2012 10:49 pm

Being a native Cajun there is absolutely no place with our specific cuisine. In most cases we have a weeks notice so get as much food cooked just the way you like it and frozen or canned. Most hotels have small refrigerators and if nothing else a good Yetti ice chest will keep your food on ice for days. A crisis is no time to adjust your system to tolerate new and different foods.

The minute your location is in the "cone" make reservations immediately. You have a 24 hour window in which you can cancel them with no penalty. If you wait you may end up in a shelter situation.

Keep rolls of quarters in your preps for washeteria use.

Don't be disrespectful of your hosts should you be blessed enough to have family or friends to stay with by planning ahead to leave them with at least $20 per day minimum to cover the added utility expenses of housing you. Yes, this means increases in their water usage, electricity usage, gas usage and often food expenses when housing guests. Clean up after yourself and your children and do extra chores around their place to show your appreciation. When in Rome, do as the Romans. In another words if they are usually in bed by 10pm then you go to bed by 10pm, not midnight.

Download and complete or submit online all of the 2012 FEMA, RED CROSS and other emergency documents prior to evacuating. This will save you hours of standing in line at emergency stations set up in major evacuation areas to help you.

When you evacuate, bring your own bedding, including pillows, stuffed animals or whatever else you normally sleep with. Hotels or hosts don't generally keep a ton of extra bedding around, especially when major metro areas are evacuated at one time. I learned the hard way that when your home is destroyed you can't find bedding or linens within 50 miles of the affected area.

Make firm rules now regarding where you are going and who is going with you. During Rita I made arrangements to stay with a friend. It was just my son and I. Everyone else decided that they would shelter in place and did not make arrangements. Within 24 hours 7 of my extended family members just showed up. This was not planned and very much a shock to my friend and I. Never again. I tell them once and if they can't make their own plans then don't show up for me to handle everything.

Get out people. Why do most people feel the need for another person to tell them to get out of harms way at the last minute? It's easy to see within 3 days if you will or will not be affected so why take chances when it's so unnecessary, unless of course you enjoy the drama of traffic jams, empty stores, and totally stressed out people.

If you are evacuated for a major hurricane then chances are your area will sustain major damage and you may not be allowed back for weeks or even months. If this occurs during the school year you may be required to enroll your school aged children into school where you are sheltered so be sure and bring copies of school identification and last report card to verify grade level as well as uniforms.

P.S. - If your home insurance is in your name along with your spouse or someone else and you are not evacuated together then please go now and have a power of attorney drawn up immediately. My insurance company has provisions for emergency living expenses while under a madatory evacuation. I contacted them while evacuated when I realized it would be weeks instead of days living "on the road". My husband is a disaster relief Chef who is always in the affected area while me and the kids evacuate. I was able to go pick up a sizable check within a few hours but could not cash or deposit it into our joint account because both signatures were required. The way around having this is to have a power of attorney statement on file with the insurance company stating that the check is to be made payable to you.
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Re: Unique/Creative Hurricane Prep Tips

#7 Postby midnight8 » Mon Jun 04, 2012 4:26 pm

How about if you plan to stay find out who else in the neighborhood is also staying. See iff the people staying can get together and get some sets of 25 buck frs walkie talkies. You cell phone will probably be useless for a while and this way you can check on each other. You should get close to a mile range. Also many ham radio opetators can monitor these radios and may hear if someone needs help. I can hear those things for more than 5 miles with my antenna. Just an idea. I am not advising staying however.
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Re: Unique/Creative Hurricane Prep Tips

#8 Postby vbhoutex » Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:59 pm

I may not have read the rest of this thread well enough so I apologize if I am repeating this. Most often even though a cell phone may not be able to get calls out after storm passage, it usually can get a text out. I was able to after Hurricane Ike even though calls weren't going through initially. Perhaps set up with a family member or friend not in the path of the storm to text them as soon as the storm has passed to let them know your status.
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Re: Unique/Creative Hurricane Prep Tips

#9 Postby crazy4disney » Mon Jun 18, 2012 11:34 am

I know this story probably happened a long time ago, but here's my .02:

When a retailer has the solar-powered lights that go in your yard on sale, pick some up. During a power outage (such as the 2-week outage we had during Ike :roll: ) you can toss them out in the back yard during the day to charge them up, then bring them in at night. Ring them around the base of a toilet, string them down a hallway, across a mantle, anyplace out of the way where some automatic light will both come in handy and be a comfort to your family. And no battery cost!

-gina-
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Re: Unique/Creative Hurricane Prep Tips

#10 Postby Jagno » Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:41 pm

If flooding is a concern in your area get several cans of that "Great Foam" in the can and spray all of your doors, windows and where your slab meets your walls. Spray garage doors and exit doors as you are leaving. This saved my sisters home while all of her neighbors had over a foot of water in their homes.
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Re: Unique/Creative Hurricane Prep Tips

#11 Postby MississippiHurricane » Thu Jun 21, 2012 11:22 pm

Never heard of it...i assume its sold at hardware stores...if its what im thinking of, you spray it and then it expands and hardens?
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#12 Postby FLCrackerGirl » Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:19 am

Awesome Tip, Jagno!
Worked extremely well for us before Hurricane Frances '04.
Helped completely water-proof a storage room at our business that had always had leak issues & we knew was a potential disater area. Days on end of driving rain from Frances, then Ivan, then Jeanne and not a drop of water inside that room, period. Saved a tremendous amont of clothing inventory from ruin & no insurance headaches.

Great Stuff Insulating Foam Sealant is available at most hardware stores for about $3.50-$4 per can. One can is the equivalent of 17 tubes of caulk. Extremely easy to use and dries quickly, even on damp surfaces. Buy several cans & stash in your hurricane prep kit ... Seriously Useful STUFF!

Product Info at http://greatstuff.dow.com/
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#13 Postby KBBOCA » Fri Oct 26, 2012 6:31 pm

I saw good advice from a Floridian related to power outages in the comments at Jeff Masters' blog:

It sounds silly, but based on dealing just with garden variety SoFla power outs, I'd like to suggest that people find out now how to report and how to track local power outs on both their computers and on their phones. Make sure you can make things work- some companies want your account number and in this day of ebills, who has that lying around? Some let you text in an outage report, but you have to register in advance, etc. A little time now will cut your stress later, imho. Be safe, all.
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