Some Things to Remember Or That I've Realized Post Irma
Just a quick jot-down of some things I realized that would make chaotic times better, and also some things I saw other people doing that were no-no's:
*My hair is too long. Us prairie girls like our long hair, but in a water-shortage situation it takes up valuable resources to keep clean. A shorter "do" is in my future.
*Spam (the kind you eat, not the hated emails) is awful. It's not worth the stomach ache and potential diarrhea train that may rip through your group. Can or dehydrate your own healthy meats. (My kids asked for Spam for some reason Lol)
*Personal fans that run on 2 AA batteries are the bomb-diggity! Buy a brick of AAs a month to stock up. One fan for each person. The ones we have are made by O2Cool and they have a lanyard. The air blows up at your face, but they can be laid flat on a nightstand to cool you all night. The 2 batteries ran them 24 hours straight before I had to change them out.
*Try to keep the kids' hair damp so they don't overheat if there are no fans.
*Tap lights are amazing. I put one in every room of the house so that no one had to fumble in the dark. They light up the whole area and don't drain batteries fast. Highly recommended.
*Have an adapter for each cigarette lighter in your vehicles so you can charge as many phones as possible. Also, a fan that plugs into the cigarette lighter saves gas if you need to drive around (and functions well as a hair dryer!) Mine was $12 in the automotive section at WalMart. Try not to run the A/C. Its been 5 days and the gas trucks are still coming in slowly to refuel the gas stations.
*A power inverter and a car battery will keep your radio going instead of buying a million expensive D or C cells. And if you have a small solar panel for after the storm clears, even better! This is on my wish list...
*Stay home as long as possible after the storm passes. There will be downed lines and trees everywhere. Even more dangerous are the broken limbs that are dangling high above and will unexpectedly drop. We have over 30 on our property..ugh. Also, emergency services and electric companies are trying to do their jobs and really don't need more casualties or people in the way.
*Don't burn debris. If a wildfire starts and the fire trucks can't get through, you are seriously screwed.
*If you must drive: At intersections where the light is out, treat it as a 4-way stop. Don't drive over wires as they could be live. And most of all, treat each other with patience. Everyone is going to be edgy so kindness really goes a long way.
*EVACUATE. Avoid needing to go thru all this mess. Sitting in a closet wondering if your family is going to die is traumatic and life-altering. If a storm is coming your way and its a big one, just leave. I felt like the mom on the Titanic, tucking her children in to bed as the ship took on water. There is NO weight in the world like regret. Next big one, I'm getting my family out early. Lets hope that never has to happen, but there are already two more storm systems that are behind Jose off the African coast so......
Til next time friends....
Also, feel free to post any tips or suggestions below. There are people all over the world that can benefit from survival hacks!
THANK YOU FRIENDS!
Absolute sound advice.
Unfortunately it takes an experience of this nature to remind you of some of the simple pleasures in life.
Sanitation is a huge problem right now I'm sure, as well as staying cool, hydrated and safe. So many things you take for granted every day are not there.
Bless you and your family!
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I am happy to hear you survived the ordeal intact. Your suggestions are excellent and should be followed. I have one more follow up. Don't wait for the powers that might be to tell you to evacuate. And don't wait for these folks to help much in the aftermath. We watch several sites; NOAA, ventusky.com, http://ptwc.weather.gov/ to warn us in advance of hurricanes or possible tsunamis since we live on the coast. We can see when a hurricane is approaching by as much as 5 days. Plenty of time to evacuate. Tsunamis we might gat a few hours to several minutes. We leave when it is prudent to do so.
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Also windy.com and Mike's Weather Page! And that is so true, dont wait for the officals to tell you to evacuate. I knew we should have days before, but my truck has a problem that maybe would have stranded us. Keeping your vehicle at 100% is another tip. Thank you for your wise words!
So glad you all came through Irma alright. It was rough for a while but we dodged a bullet for now. Trim trees close to the house. Have a blow up mattress available, containers for gasoline, important papers in water tight container, safe place to evacuate to, flash lights, battery operated weather radio, yeti cooler, cans of sterno, solar lights. Wow! How about that list! 🐓🐓
So glad to hear that you and your came through Irma ok. Lots of things we will do better next time if we have to. We too are extremely disappointed in the fact that no Red Cross or other organizations made it a priority to supply locals with water, food, anything that might get us through until supplies could arrive. The most aggravating news to me was that Disney was back open the very next day. Priorities are seriously lacking. Sorry for the rant. Just glad you made it. 🐓🐓
I know a family in Ocala whose only entrance in their subdivision is 6ft under water. No one is coming to pump it out. They still are out of power (day 6) and they are having to share their supplies with the elderly in the neighborhood. We have called and called to get help and no one seems to care. But the Villages are up and running....thank god they are preppers and had a stocked basement!
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