[PAA-Discuss] [FWD] are your hatches battened??

Thu Sep 22 02:05:04 EDT 2005

All: 

Good advice from some friends of mine in Florida (they live
around Cape Kennedy). 

I thought the idea of dropping lawn furniture in the pool for
safekeeping (and to prevent the furniture from being
blown around) is pretty clever. 

Charlie

===============

hi ya'll ...

we've been watching the weather closely and looks like rita's gonna be 
packing quite a punch in the next few days ...

we just wanted to check to make sure you're all battening down your 
hatches and preparing properly ... altho galveston looks like its gonna 
take the hardest hit, we can speak from experience and say that cat 1 
winds up through houston and into DFW in such a broad storm is still 
gonna have an impact on ya'll too.  (we've had 2 solid days of rain and 
wind here and rita went 50 miles south of the florida keys ... nearly 
200 miles away from us!)

anyone need any pointers on how to prepare and what to do?? ...
goodness 
knows we've had enough practice over here the past few years. ;-)

here's the quick list ... if you have any questions or want to know 
more, give us a shout!  (and let us know when you're safe too!!!)

*  if you are in an area that needs to evacuate, don't wait too
long ... 
the worst place to be is on the road when the storm hits
       *  have a plan on where you are evacuating TO ... don't just get 
in the car and drive
       *  don't evacuate to somewhere else in the projected path of the 
storm ... go someplace to either side of the storm
       *  'round here, the say not to evacuate more than 100 miles ... 
but rita's a mighty big storm ...

*  put all your insurance policies, agent number and other important 
papers in a safe (waterproof) place where you can access them
afterwards 
if need be
*  have a good photo inventory of your home and possessions ... if 
possible get a copy to a geographically distant family member or friend 
for extra safe keeping (during last year's storms, i emailed digitial 
photos to my dad up in virginia)
*  have a plan to make contact w/ family & friends in case you get 
separated or need to evacuate

*  have a good first aid kit

*  have a WIRED phone, not just wireless or cell phones
       *  altho we often lose power, we almost never lose phone service 
... but a wireless phone requires a powered base station to work
       *  cell phone towers usually take a beating in high wind ... 
sometimes you'll have cell service, sometimes not

*  fill your gas tank on every vehicle and keep them that way prior to 
the storm
        * by planning ahead you can avoid wasting gas and time driving 
around looking for gas after the storm ;-)
*  if you have a generator, have a good supply of gasoline for it in 
advance ... remember in a pinch you can always siphon the gas out of 
your car as well ('round here we fill EVERY vehicle, even the ones not 
currently "road worthy" just for xtra gasoline storage capacity)

*  have enough food, water, medicine, pet supplies, etc. to be SELF 
SUFFICIENT for at least 3-5 days ... the calvary doesn't arrive
overnight
       *  if you have a medical condition that could be life
threatening 
w/o power for an extended time, register with your area
emergency operation center (or other designated authority) so they know 
who and where you are
       *  after the storm, bread, milk and water are often in very
short 
supply
       *  food needs to be mostly non-perishable and not require a 
microwave to reheat (no power, no microwave!)
       *  if grocery stores lose power, they toss all their perishable
food
       *  if you're a coffee fiend, have some instant coffee on hand
*  if you've got a propane stove or gas/charcoal grill to cook on, make 
sure you have appropriate supplies on hand to make use of them in case 
you lose power.
*  have CASH ($500 - $1000)... no power means no electronic cash 
registers to read your debit/credit card
*  have a battery operated radio and/or small tv
       *  find out in advance the radio simulcast stations for your 
favorite local news channel to keep up with storm conditions
           before, during and after the storm passes
            (we often lose power on the front edge of a storm and our 
only info during the worst of the storm comes
            from the radio)
*  have several sets of batteries for every flashlight/battery 
radio/battery tv you own
        *  Dcells and 6v dry cells are hardest to find after a
storm ... 
have a few that'll take C's or AA's
*  don't plan on using an open flame candle for anything ... mucho 
dangerous!

*  IF you have a generator and can keep your fridge cold for an
extended 
period of time (3-8 days after the storm)
        * fill (or more accurately, fill w/i 2-3 inches of the top) 
gallon or 1/2 gallon milk jugs with drinkable water and place as many
as 
possible in BOTH the fridge and freezer
                (rearrange fridge/freezer to accomodate as many jugs as 
possible).
       *  turn your fridge & freezer to their LOWEST possible 
temperature setting
       * if you lose power and are running your generator (after the 
storm passes unless your generator is covered and dry!)
                 you can moved jugs of frozen water to the fridge side 
and thawed jugs of water to the freezer side ... this rotation
                  will help keep things cold.
       *  you can also freeze jugs of milk (open and pour out a little 
to allow room for expansion) but don't thaw them back out more than
once 
(this helps to keep a large qty of milk on hand ... its often hard to 
find afterwards).
       *try not to go into the fridge/freezer any more than absolutely 
necessary (even if you have a generator) ... we usually make a "fridge 
dash" in the morning and drop whatever perishables we think we need for 
the day into several coolers w/ 1/2 gallon frozen water jugs.  then we 
can keep the fridge/freezer closed most of the day and just nibble out 
of the coolers.

*  if you have a private well and a totally electric house (like us) no 
power also means NO water ... fill your bathtubs with water and place a 
water pitcher nearby to use for flushing the toilet and washing up (not 
recommended for drinking tho ... have a separate water supply for that.)

*  clear your lawn of all loose objects ... they make great shrapnel 
proppelled by high winds and wreak havoc on glass windows
*  yard furniture can be dropped into a swimming pool if you have one
*  picnic tables can be flipped upside down and weighted with something 
heavy that isn't likely to get blown around
*  if you have double wide garage doors that aren't reinforced, park a 
vehicle parallel to the door as close to the door as you can

*  don't bother putting tape across your windows ... it doesn't do any 
good and is a terrible mess to clean off afterwards

* after the storm passes STAY PUT and stay off the roads if there is 
significant damange in your area ... don't go gawking 'round town ... 
emergency workers, power trucks, tree debris removal trucks, recovery 
teams and support volunters all need to get around and clear roads and 
other safety hazards.  give it a day or two before you venture out so 
the recovery teams can get their jobs done faster. (of course if you 
absolutely need to go out for a good reason, by all means do so ... but 
if you're prepared, you should be ok.)

uhm, that's all the pointers i can think of ... mikie, did i leave 
anything out??

so ya'll take care and be safe!!!
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