Disaster Prep.

[brucethebroker]

Certainly an option, I thought of that, but since we would stay put or travel by car, weight is not an issue.
And buying $300 worth of canned chicken, tuna, salmon, etc is not wasted money as we can rotate the cans by use and replace.

In our area, $300 would buy about 350 cans of tuna...400 if you catch a good sale. Peanut butter seems another good choice.

 

[Aerides]

There will be people who tell you it is easy, just think you're camping in the wilderness. Ignore them, as they obviously haven't lived through it. Think through scenarios, have things on hand and give yourself options.

This. Remember, camping is a choice. While the logistics may be the same, you have additional concerns, such as securing your home if there is some damage.
You're exhausted and stressed before the storm even hits, the impacts, even no great damage, can be depressing. Post-storm depression is real.

My initial list is just those things I keep all the time. In the "days before" prep you basically want anything you'd need if you couldn't leave the house for 2 weeks. So include cleaning supplies, paper towels, and plenty of toilet paper!

 

[Music Lover]

I counted our cans thinking 2 weeks no power, 2 people, that is 84 person meals and eating a can of canned tomatoes or chicken broth would be pretty meager.

If you have no power, the first things you should eat should be the perishables...leftovers, milk, fruit, etc. Go through the fridge and eat the things that will spoil the fastest first, and don't forget about the freezer. It should be okay for a couple days before things start to thaw. If you have a barbeque, you can cook a lot of meat before it spoils.

Bread bagels, etc., will last several days. Granola bars, crackers, potato chips, etc., will last weeks.

You can go quite a long time before you have to rely on canned goods.

 

[Sunset]

It was a good idea to stay in place. Do you think people were thinking of driving anywhere right at the start? I would not think so because I don't think anyone knew how long the outage would last.

This also suggests having at least one vehicle that can go more than 300 miles on a tank. Example: 18 gallon tank @ 25 mpg is 450 miles.

For us it was a bit odd, as we had been camping without any electricity and no radio, so we didn't know it had happened. We had the car nearly full of gas simply because where we were, the gas was a bit more pricey, so we had filled up before driving 90 miles to camp.

After a week or two of camping, we packed up and drove into the city in the daytime, mostly along the freeway, noticing it was odd once we were off the freeway the traffic lights were out, and traffic was pretty sparse.

When we pulled into a relatives street , we saw lots of folks outside on the driveways, it was then we learned power had been off for over 24 hours.

I think the people who were really in trouble would have been folks who were driving on the freeways getting low on gas and then it hit, they would have no idea it's going to last days.

Once there was some intermittent power back on, I went and got in line at a local gas station and filled up. We then left the next day driving straight south, to get out of the affected areas, before we headed towards home, as we wanted to be in areas where getting gas was possible.

 

[erkevin]

The hurricanes did make me consider our lack of emergency plans. Although, I live in an area not prone to weather disasters, there are, of course, other reasons to prepare. In my case, i began preparing for shelter-in-place due to pandemic, prolonged power outage, or tainted water supply.
I put together an emergency bag (not specifically a BOB), stored water, and extra propane. Purchased a solar, hand-crank radio and other supplies. Updated flashlights (LED) and batteries, etc

 

[Music Lover]

It also never hurts to have cash on hand. Electronic tills won't work in a power failure, but there will always be small independent stores that will accept cash. I think that if an event happens that might last for a long time, the first thing you should do (if you're not leaving) would be to find those places and buy as much useful stuff as they will allow. What the store owners don't keep for themselves and their friends and family they may be willing to sell to someone with a fist full of money.

 

[pacergal]

each car has a 5 day 2 person survival backpack from Red cross.
Home has water, camping stove, dehydrated and canned foods, candles, flashlights, hand crank and solar radio/flashlight, one hand crank/solar power source for phones, emergency stove and fire starter, extra wood for wood stove. Some $ in the safe Have not put together the tarps/ duct tape/emergency face masks, etc yet.
Hoping "the big one" does not hit the PNW in my lifetime!
Unfortunately, it is not all in the same place--some in the house, garage, and shed.
A work in progress....

 

[erkevin]

each car has a 5 day 2 person survival backpack from Red cross.
Home has water, camping stove, dehydrated and canned foods, candles, flashlights, hand crank and solar radio/flashlight, one hand crank/solar power source for phones, emergency stove and fire starter, extra wood for wood stove. Some $ in the safe Have not put together the tarps/ duct tape/emergency face masks, etc yet.
Hoping "the big one" does not hit the PNW in my lifetime!
Unfortunately, it is not all in the same place--some in the house, garage, and shed.
A work in progress....

"it is not all in the same place"
That was a large portion of my emergency planning. The supplies that I did have were scattered in multiple rooms, structures. My wife wasn't even aware of what we had. I gathered and inventoried, placing the majority in a large duffel bag. I also developed a schedule to rotate the water storage, charge the emergency radio, and rotate batteries. I also placed a list in the duffel of other supplies we had, but use regularly/occasionally, so that in a stressful situation we would not forget or overlook something.
Also: one of my additions to emergency kit is a USB of scanned documents. This includes DLs, marriage docs, insurance docs, passports, contact info, SS cards, auto titles, birth certs, financial info, etc....... And, yes, it is encrypted. This is really in case of an evacuation situation

 

[LOL!]

"it is not all in the same place"
That was a large portion of my emergency planning. The supplies that I did have were scattered in multiple rooms, structures. My wife wasn't even aware of what we had. I gathered and inventoried, placing the majority in a large duffel bag.

As noted many times elsewhere, I keep our "kit" in a 2 large Rubbermaid food-grade 32 gallon containers. This includes tarps, hammer, nails, and other stuff. The containers can be filled with water in our showers given enough warning. I have a large dry bag/pack used when canoeing which has the camping stuff and it just drops into one of the rubbermaid containers when stored.

 

[imoldernu]

Re:Water and the loss of electricity and heat in cold weather climes
The general rule of thumb for us as RV'ers is to take action when the forecast is for 28 degrees for 4 hours or more.
First... shut off water if the supply has been cut off. If water is still available, open taps for a trickle flow. (warmth of the water from the in ground pipes will keep the final pipes from freezing). Don't forget the toilet and the shower. Adjust the toilet valve to reduce the flow.
If there is no water pressure, First shut off the main line to the residence. If possible, use an air compressor to clear all of the lines in the home... one outlet at a time. Drain the Hot Water Heater. Buy gallons of RV anti-freeze, and use the air compressor to pump it through the water lines, checking each outlet for the "pink" color. (not necessary to fill HWH) . Pour antifreeze into each drain, the toilet bowl and tank.

The decision to use antifreeze in the main lines is a coin toss... In our RV Park, draining the pipes is the norm, using antifreeze for wherever there will be standing water.. drains, tank, bowl etc.

Failure to winterize can be very costly. Pipes bursting and leaking behind walls, under the floor etc, and be very expensive to repair. The one year we had pipes burst in FL (gray pipes, not freeze) the repairs came to $3,000.

Doesn't take a disaster to cause pain.