Friday, September 8, 2017

Forest Fires and Hurricanes

I've noticed a big numbers jump on posts about caches and inclement weather lately. Not sure what's driving it exactly, might be the weather or the fact that a US territory just enacted a Firearms Seizure order, or both?

The entire point of preparedness is to be prepared for anything, but sometimes Mom Nature decides you need to flee. Now.

What would you do if you had 2 days to plan your exit from your current AO. Not an enticing program when you consider it's a real issue for some this week.

What really upsets me is when I hear of people binge buying water. Of all the stupid things to spend money on. Your tap works, and you've spent your entire life throwing away plastic bottles. Go buy a water bottle if you have to, but 20 2 liters in the attic would be a perfect solution to the problem at hand. If that's not an option for you due to space, why would you not have a few cases of water in the closet?

6 comments:

  1. I'm glad you're back posting! Haven't stopped by for a few months.

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  2. Florida resident here- was looking at exactly the question you pose "what would you do if you had 2 days to evac"?
    I live in the central Florida area, and we figured it'd be best to ride it out at home as we're not in a flooding hazard area (considered too far inland and not in the 100 year flood plain)

    Lessons learned from our experience:
    - Not exactly a lesson learned, but I read it and believe it's true re-do you evacuate in the face of a hurricane. Unless you live in a manufactured home or something not as strong as a regular modern house, don't evacuate from a hurricane due just to it's wind strength (cat 3, 4 whatever). Evacuate from a hurricane if you're in flooding danger.


    -Having several jerry cans of stored gasoline on hand, like we normally do, was a very good thing. By 36 hours before the hurricane, more than 9 out of every 10 gas stations were out of gas. The gas shortage lasted for about 3-4 days after the hurricane too, until gas deliveries could resume and make it all the way down into the state.
    I work in a medical facility and had to go in to work Monday night (Irma hit Sunday night and into Monday) to start trying to restore things for Tuesday morning. This added significantly to the driving I had to do that week without being able to go fill up the car- the extra gas gave me piece of mind and helped me avoid problems at work because of not being able to drive to work.
    -My dad lives alone about 100 miles away, and Saturday morning (-36 hours before Irma) the track shifted to have it running right over his house. I made an emergency run down to get him and his cat to ride out the storm with us. That extra gas on hand was very important to being able to do this without getting stuck.
    -Re that emergency run to get my dad down in Tampa- the interstates and FL Turnpike were CLOGGED with people evacuating, probably millions of people from south Florida. So badly clogged, that a couple of people we knew in Orlando who tried to leave several days earlier, gave up and turned around. Evacuating on main roads is a real problem.
    To go get my dad (Orlando to Tampa and back) would normally be on I-4 and I-75. I went backroads the entire way and didn't have any problems. I knew a couple of people along the route and texted/called them first to make sure the route was clear, no police shutdowns of roads etc.
    If possible, collect information from every source (especially locals) before heading out when there's a mass evacuation in place.
    I crossed under I-75 at one point and it looked like a scene from an end-of-the-world scifi movie, full of cars moving north. Avoid that if at all possible! Way too many ways you could get stuck in that mess if anything else goes wrong, even just a vehicle accident. You're like a cow in the chute once you're in that stream of evacuation traffic.

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  3. part II (original post too long)

    -Generators- so glad I got rid of the Harbor Freight chicom 2-stroke generator and got a Honda. Served us very well to keep refrigerators going, charge batteries etc. Enabled by the stash of jerry cans full of gas.

    -Even without power, we were able to keep internet since the cell towers handled the hurricane ok (mostly) and had backup power for long enough. The internet was out at our house along with the power, but, was able to get along by "tethering" my phone and using it as a local hotspot.
    Being able to log in to work really saved me on one or two of the recovery days when I was able to remotely work, vs having to drive 60+ miles rountrip.
    To keep laptops/phones/tablets etc going, I got yoeman service out of several 12V AGM batteries that I've had. Normally use these for temporary power for ham radio gear which uses 12 VDC. But, everything I have in 12V is connected with Anderson power poles, and I was able to use several 12V to USB power adapters to charge up several phones and other USB devices after the power went out. (The neighbors on our street really were happy to have us charge up their phones!)
    Buying some extra batteries for USB devices would be very handy, or if you have some bigger 12V batteries (like the 35 Amp-hr or larger lead-acid batteries) get an adapter or two for 12V to USB.

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Let's keep it clean and legal, as if you were sitting in my living room enjoying a nice glass of iced tea. Profanity or explicit posts will not be tolerated. Enjoy!