Great Hurricane Prep Blog

[olddude]

Came across this blog when surfing a preparedness forum.
http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/

The author went through Katrina by bugging out from a small Louisiana town and taking his family to Houston. It isn't your standard "I had 2 years of food and 100 gallons of fuel" preparedness comentary, rather he has a very good take on what he should have done and how to get your act together BEFORE the storm strikes. It is a work in progress and is written in a folksy style.
Take the timeto read it, it will be time well spent.

Scott

Stickied by vbhoutex

[elvinp]

This is the most comprehensive, real life description of Katrina, that I have ever read. It is applicable to every other city that is near a coast line. You should read it now before the 2008 season begins. You and your family will be better prepsred for spending your time reading it. ///Elvin

[Cookiely]

I'm still reading but its an awesome site.

[green eyed girl]

This site was fascinating. Thanks olddude.

[wxman57]

Bump..

Excellent reading. Should be linked to in one of the "sticky" threads.

[Ed Mahmoud]

Bump..

Excellent reading. Should be linked to in one of the "sticky" threads.

You should ask for a promotion like Tony and become a pro-met/moderator.

You would have to visit the severe storms and winter storm threads more often, if only to look for abusive language or inappropriate posts.

[LaPlaceFF]

Anyone knows where the author is from?

[arjaycob]

Thanks for the big share, your site is very informative, now I know what going to prepare to next disaster.



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[chrisrich]

Amazing!! I can't begin to describe how informative that all was. Took a while to finish it all but I'm glad I did.

While searching for info on how to become more aware and prepared I have found many forums, blogs, etc. But there always seems to be an over-emphasis on being armed and having guns and the willingness to use them. I've been searching for info about the details....the essentials, the little things......all the items I may not even be aware of needing in the aftermath of an earthquake or a hurricane. I have the typical and usual survival tools (water supply, food rations, batteries, matches, lamp, change of clothes, extra $, etc) but there were so many things mentioned that I never thought of as important. The link in the original post is so informative it could be published and sold.

Thanks for putting up the link, most appreciated.

[Hurricaneman]

I reccomend reading this, because hurricanes can be very destructive and cause so much heartache and death and change so many lives

[KatDaddy]

Great reading with lots of really good information. Everyone should read this before hurricane season.

[sponger]

Just got power back and wanted to give my 2 cents. Most of what i used, I have had for 10-12 years since Francis and Jeanne, the plywood was bought in 2002 right after I bought the house in Nov. None of this is recommended, just what made my life so much easier.

Must haves.

1) Sterno! Great for reheating the spaghetti I precooked for the kids the night before. In the middle, comfort food helps!
2) Propane. For after the storm cooking. I keep 2-3! Plus make sure you have a side burner grill. Critical for cooking and heating water.
3) Cooler Don't open the fridge!!! Unless its been a day or two and its all lost. We put all kinds of stuff here, including juice, roast beef (Deli),Spaghetti (Precooked), Milk, and of course beer.
4) Radio and enough batteries. We like music so a small stereo was over kill, but so nice for clear updates and tunes.
5) LED lantern! Flashlights are great for moving around, but you are going to want to light a room. One is batteries, one has a USB charger so you can use a laptop to recharge.

Nice haves!

In addition we have a 5500 Watt Troy built generator from 2004 that is a 30 AMP (Far more power than 20 amp!) and a surge to 8500. Bought at Lowes for 750, 4 days into our last outage. With out it, you are guaranteed to lose everything in the fridge after 2 days. We have the ability to feed into the house (500 bucks or a friend that really knows electric. At one point, we were running 2 window units, a fridge, the dish washer, and a load of laundry, plus tv and a few lights. When you over load, the generator tells you and should have a dual fuse reset. (Push the button.) We run ours at 85-90% almost continuously. We have four children and use it for what it was intended, lots of power. Warning, we burned 5 gallons in eight hours instead of 12! No central air, or stove. Water heater, kill the breaker if you are fed into the house. You need to dial the top element to off, crank the bottom as high as you want, you will never reach that temperature. An hour will give you luke warm shower, but you will be down to a fridge only. Turn down water heater when power is back on! If you cannot feed into house, a heavy duty extension cord for anything is a must. Don't use your yard or home extension cords. Heavy duty is expensive but worth it.

Window units! Used off season are cheap and will really keep the humidity down in the house. We close off kids rooms, master bath, utility room and guest bathroom. Kept it nice on a 90 degree day! Two should do. 12000 btu for the core, 5500 for Master bedroom. If you have three, you will need to rotate one with fridge. I use gorilla tape to seal the sides of the window unit, a great temporary seal that is sturdy! We also crank the central air down to 69 (8 -12) hours before we expect to lose power. Helps maintain comfort until generator gets turned on.

We also have 5/8 inch plywood, (heavy) Buy it, pre cut it and store! Worth every penny! 6 inch lag bolts with washers, because a screw can fail before a bolt does.

So for preps, Snacks, snacks snacks! Favorite beer, wine or liquor is not a bad idea. I crank my water heater to max the night before. Be careful! My children are old enough not be be scalded. 10 and up. When younger, I had water turned off and I put on shower for them, sink, ect. This little trick gave us five showers after the power was out. Heat is expensive for your generator! I also crank the fridge to max the day before.

I begin freezing milk jugs with filtered water 2-3 days in advance. 3 gallons in fridge, 3 gallons in freezer. This helps with maintaining temperature during storm, and after you shut off at night out of respect for your neighbors, and security of your generator, and you and your families safety! Don't go to sleep with generator running and don't ever close your garage with it on. I gorilla taped my attic stairs in the garage closed to ensure no carbon monoxide seeps in. I also don't use the garage entry and go out to the garage through front door. Back to freezing. Jugs are rotated each day power is out to ensure one set is always freezing, one is always thawing.

Fuel. 5, 5 gallon jugs are empty in the garage. I fill those 2 days before, or earlier if an evac is South of me. That will run me 4 days or so. Enough to stay off roads until crews can clear. Gas cans are the first thing to run out so buy one every time you go to a hardware store until you have what you need.

Just a few simple tips to make it bearable, and even a enjoyable family time. Evacs are expensive, and the cost of this can be covered by one or two storms. I have this stuff for years and it is essential not to scramble for supplies. So take a deep breath, use logic not hype to determine your plan, and make life a little easier when the inevitable happens. If ordered, run! Not worth a life. Most storms off of the coast are quite bearable, some are intense. We stayed for Matthew, a cat 4, but were expected to stay on the weak side, and did barely. You have to make your own choice! Good luck!

[Claire]

It is better to prepare for the hurricanes before the hurricane season. The hurricanes with category 1 and up have the potential for damaging the home. We should make our windows and doors hurricane proof. We should stock food especially water in the house. Water is the top priority as you will die in less than a week without it. We should also buy gas for a generator (if you have one), camp stove fuel, etc. for after the storm. If we will not prepare for a disaster before time then we might not have time to prepare for it when the storm starts.