It's That Time of Year Again

Here's my public service good deed for the day, since hurricane season is about to start.

When they say you're supposed to have 72 hours worth of supplies at home, they mean you're supposed to have, you know, 72 hours worth of supplies at home. It always amazes me when people who live in the hurricane strike zone, hear days of warnings, then complain when the day after a hurricane they have to wait in line for hours for water. No kidding, pal. That's because it wasn't supposed to be the government's job to get you water the day after if you're a healthy, able-bodied person who could have afforded to stock up in advance.

Here's NOAA's preparedness guide and here's their list of items to keep in the house (which I admit I haven't completely assembled yet.) The one category they've forgotten is what my Homeland Security expert refers to as "comfort items," or as he says, "that's cigarettes for you and a bottle of scotch for me." Make sure you have plenty of fresh batteries. Oddly, while they include flashlights, they don't list candles and lighter and/or matches. Flashlights are useful, but if you're stuck sitting in the dark for hours there's only so much you can do while holding a flashlight up.

Don't forget gas for all those nifty gas operated tools you bought yourself after the last hurricane, by the way. Filling the car with gas is fine but it won't do much for the generator or that gas-operated chain saw you're so proud of.

One last thing -- if push comes to shove, don't forget to fill the bathtub with water!

Update: An excellent point made in the comments section: I think about these things because we're pretty far inland here, so we often get enough of the storm to lose power and to get storm damage, but not often enough to require evacuation.

Do not take this as a suggestion that you should hunker down if you're in an area where authorities are advising evacuation! If we learned anything from last year, I would hope to God it's that if you're told to get out, you should get out!

Comments

[Wayne]

Take it from someone who has been there - and there and there and there and ...

Battery powered flourescent lights are way better than candles. They produce at least as much light, don't give off heat and smoke, and very rarely start fires. You can even get them that can be recharged off your automobile.

[Toby928]

One last thing -- if push comes to shove, don't forget to fill the bathtub with water!

Remember to line the tub with VisClean or other sheet plastic and drape it over the top, shroudlike. No leakage and dust won't fall into the water.

[John Burgess]

No, if "push comes to shove," the idea is to get the hell out of Dodge!

In Sarasota, my level of hurricane tolerance is a 3. When they start talking about >3, I'm in my car with my "Go Bag," heading inland and upland.

[Ron Hardin]

LED flashlights run a long time. The kind you wear on your head are extremely handy for setting up or filling a generator at night.

Rechargeable batteries won't have any charge when you need it since they don't hold charge well, by the way.

The lines means there's price controls. Where they allow price gouging, no lines form and you can get all you want.

[dauber]

Please don't misunderstand! This was in no way intended to suggest people should attempt to ride out something they should evacuate for! But we're pretty far inland for, so we don't usually get hit bad enough that evacuation is called for. And thanks for the other suggestions.