Disaster preparedness

[flatrock]

I am writing this under generator power with a 16" tree laying on my roof. One week without grid electricity & counting. 2 inches of ice has essentially destroyed the electrical infrastructure in KY. I have learned a few lessons I thought I would share.

In an emergency where power is lost.....

Gas stations cannot dispense gasoline.

ATMs cannot dispense cash

Credit card system doesnt work most merchants that are open only want cash.

cell phone network crashes when the cell towers crash. Better have a car plug in cellcharger or you cannot charge cellphone unless you have a generator.

Unless your city has back-up generators for their water system you will lose water

Gas logs, gas stoves, hooked to natural gas lines will keep you warm & save your life.

chainsaws, gas cans, kerosene heaters, LP heaters, outdoor grills, generators, car cell phone chargers, extension cords, and all foodstuffs will sell out immediately. If you have enough gas in your car you will have to travel outside the affected zone for these items.

No TV even with generator unless you have a sat dish. cable TV lines destroyed when the power poles came down

Generators are key. I got on several wating lists for shipments and had to buy the largest most expensive one has the cheaper ones sold immediately.

I have cash in a safety deposit box for emergencies. However, the bank has no power and is closed.

I have an account at another bank but they were operating under generator and limiting cash withdrawls to $200 per person.

In the future, I will have $3000 in cash at my house, 20 gallons of gasoline, and a generator. Although the vast majority of people pull together there have been incidents of chainsaw & generator theft. Although the area has been declared a national disaster area I have seen no national gaurd, FEMA or any form of government assistance. The local government is overwhelmed and doing an excellent job on infrastructure restoration. Let me make it clear you cannot depend on anyone but yourself , friends, & family. Please prepare ahead if you live in an area subject to disaster.

[Angio333]

Great advice. Thanks for sharing.

The one thing I would add is the need for a firearm and ammo......just in case.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

This is a very good list of things to consider; thank you. If you think of more and can still use your computer, please do share. I really feel for you and so many other people who are without utilities in the cold and whose way to even drive out is blocked by so many trees down. One thing I think of is how isolated people are when they have no way of getting any news form others. No radio, tv, internet, phone, etc, and not knowing how widespread the outages are and the problems are being addressed.

Are you on public water? I know people with their own wells may not be able to pump water because they usually use electricity.

The winter disasters you are having in Kentucky and my state is having in its southeast (100, 000+ in emergency shelters) is really making me consider better preparation. I think I need an alternative way to heat at least part of my house. I hate to think I might lose any plumbing due to them freezing. If I had to go elsewhere for warmth, I'd need to shut off the water and drain the pipes. Landlords used to put antifreeze in toilets and U-drains in empty buildings, but maybe I could put salt. I don't know.

[mdcrim]

We got stuck on a major highway in our area for 3.5 hours about a month ago due to an ice storm. The storm caused a major accident that shut down the highway and the emergency equipment and salt trucks were BEHIND the backup. I learned a lot of lessons from that experience, too, and I'd like to add to your list. By the way, the only reason we weren't stuck for longer is because we finally decided to try out the 4-wheel drive on the SUV and turned around in the middle of the median. Not too safe, but we waited until it was clear.

As a result, I outfitted all of the vehicles with blankets, water and non-perishable food. I keep a one gallon container of sand in the trunk (in case the car gets stuck). More importantly, I am making sure I keep at least 1/2 tank of gas in all the vehicles while it is wintertime.

We were very, very lucky the night we got stuck-we had less than a quarter tank of gas when we started out, but enough to easily get us where we needed to go (about 50 miles). Thanks to my son needing to use the restroom enroute, we stopped at a gas station and filled up while he used the facilities. If we had not have stopped and filled up, we DEFINITELY would have run out of gas while stopped in the backup-no gas, no heat...

Thanks for the tips, flatrock, you give me lots to think about.

[flatrock]

preparedness

I wanted to emphasize my good fortune of having a natural gas fire log in my chimney and a natural gas hot water heater. And my city had the forethought to have large back-up generators at the water plant. So I was able to stay warm & take hot showers even without a generator. One other point is that the phone lines in my area are buried. My cordless phone sets would not work but the old timey regular corded phones work as they evidently run off the existing juice in the phone circuits. If all you have are cordless phones I would buy a cheap corded phone for back-up. As far as shelters the one here quickly filled up and initially had no power or heat.

[SnoopyCool]

Another good thing, especially if you don't have a generator, is some sort of crank radio/flashlight.

I was just thinking today that if I lived further north, I'd definitely want a house with a fireplace. Many of my family members were without electricity for awhile during this round of bad weather. A fireplace sure would be handy then!

[scfr]

Good list. A couple other things I learned from a similar past experience:

- When your car's tank gets below 1/2-full, fill up.
- Keep a small transistor radio that runs on a single 9-volt battery in your emergency kit, and of course have spare batteries on hand. When we were without power, our radio ran for several days on a single battery. I knew people who were trying to stay informed using those big boom box type radios and they burned through the C or D batteries and the stores ran out.
- Flashlight: I have a more expensive model that I thanked my lucky stars for. It runs on regular batteries, but has a backup lithium battery that has an incredibly long life. If your regular batteries run out, you just switch to the lithium one.
- If you have a choice, have a house that has a combination of gas & electric power, not 100% one or the other. If one goes out, the other may work. When our electricity was out, we relied on our gas fireplace, water heater, and stove.

[GREENBACK]

I lost power for a week in September(fortunately good weather). Everything in the house needs electricity to work and that includes water. I assembled my list back then with most of the things listed. It was a good lesson in being prepared but was a long week.

[glock35ipsc]

If you are going to store any quantity of gasoline for long periods of time, be sure to treat it with some brand of fuel stabilizer. I personally use SeaFoam for long term fuel storage as well as in the snowmobiles during the summer and the ATV's during the winter. Also, rotate the fuel at least once a year. I just put it in a vehicle and refill the jugs and treat with SeaFoam for storage.

Also, don't forget to turn off the fuel valve on the generators and allow them to run until the carburetor runs dry. This will help to prevent the fuel from gunking up the tiny passages and the metering jets.

Don't forget food too. We live in a very rural area, so are always prepared for whatever might happen, especially during the winter. Dry goods like rice and wheat, and plenty of water at a minimum.

[zakity]

We buy lots of gas at one time, then we use it. Then, when we go fill up, we fill up the gas cans also. We always have fresh gas that way.

If a storm is on it's way, several days before, we go fill up the vehicles and fill up the empty gas cans and mabye an extra jerry can or two. If the storm doesn't hit or isn't as bad as they say it was, we just have a little extra fuel. But, if it is bad, we have lots of fuel for the cars and the generator. We also store the fuel out in DH's shop so it isn't near the house.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Just heard from an online acquaintance an example of how hard the situation has been for her family in the Ozarks ice storm. They have been without electricity or phones since the storm hit, and could not get out of their house by car until the weekend. They could not even find out how the rest of the family in the area were doing until the weekend. Turns out one part of the family had had their house burn down (candle accident?) during this time. They moved in with someone else in the family whose source of water has been breaking ice off tree limbs and melting it next to the gas heater. There was a warm spell two days ago and will be again this weekend, so I doubt they will have that source of water. The hope is that the National Guard and Red Cross can help them with water.

I have a few gallons of water set aside for emergencies, but should have more.

I moved into this house in 1993, the year of the huge flood on the Mississippi that was in the news that whole summer. My house is near the highest point of the city and mostly the city is well-protected by flood walls. But I found in the basement outdoor stairwell a sign painted on a big white plastic bag that the wind had blown in, probably from miles away. It said in heavy magic marker: RED CROSS: SEND WATER. It set me to imagining someone trapped (or choosing to stay) in their house surrounded by flood water, but of course unable to drink it. Perhaps this sign had been on their roof or a porch column and the occupants and hoped that it would be seen and responded to.

[LuxLiving]

I've insisted that we have a house w/both gas & electric every time we've bought. Too dangerous in my opinion not to!

[cantretire]

Flatrock - I hope your situation has improved by this posting.

I have an emergency radio approved by the Red Cross with is crank rechargeable, has a light and siren, and with an attachment, can charge a cell phone. I must admit I have not ordered the attachment, but Flatrock's post has convinced me to find out how today.

Here's the link to a bunch of them:

Product Card


The government has a site about preparedness:

National Preparedness Month - Ready Campaign Introduction


New York City Office of Emergency Management's site:

OEM - Ready New York


Perhaps others could post other sites as well?...