Have you ever been in an Emergency situation?

[arppt01]

Have you ever found yourself in an Emergency situation in home? Well, I had found myself once in such a situation. It was an earthquake in the middle of night. Initially I thought something is wrong with me but later (fortunately immediately) released that it's an earthquake. I left the house with my family in a rush. Still it took some time to go out and we were lucky that nothing happened in that space of time.

[vicki2]

The only earthquake I've been in I was in a hotel. It was the oddest feeling, but I later found it was a building built on rollers specifically to withstand an earthquake!

Nearest we've come is massive snow storms with week or more long power outages.

[echos]

I have been in many earthquakes, coming from California. However , my worst moment, was in high water. It was the February thaw on the river I lived for 3 seasons. Well, the river took my deck and collapsed the house from under me. I was fine, but, rolling down that river for about 100 feet was no fun. I am very wary of high water, and of government officials who say, <theres nothing to worry about>.:confused:

[Minwaabi]

Excluding medical emergencies, I have never been in any emergency situation at home. However, I have been on the water in very rough seas that were too big for our fishing boat and I have been swimming in the ocean with the tide going out and gotten all cramped up. (I'm not counting lightning storms on the water or tornadoes, they are far too common to notice anymore).

[thinkfree3]

Emergency medical for sure.. all the time. I'm a firefighter/emt so i see all sorts of emergency stuffs. been through a few hurricanes an stuff 2. hurricanes that don't hit directly make for some great kayak paddling in the ocean.

[mamab]

In 1993 we had a snow storm that knocked out the power for 3 weeks. Luckily we lived in my mother-in-law's front yard. She had gas heat and a gas stove. We slept at our house with a kerosene heater, shutting off everything except the living room, and went up there for meals by oil lamp. That's the worse we've had to deal with so far, thank God!

[arppt01]

Luckily for all of us we survived our moments of emregency. It may not be the same for few others and that is the exact reason it is always better to plan for emergencies.

[Bowcatz]

I survived Hurricane Katrina. When the power went out here in Jackson, MS, I assumed it would be back on within a few hours. I didn't realize the devastation occurring on the Gulf Coast. It was four days later before we had power to watch TV.

I listened to the men and women sobbing when they called in on the public radio station local show about the hurricane. They described the horror they were living through on the Gulf Coast with seeing bloated dead bodies, no homes, but slabs, and the lack of water. I cried right along with them in my RV that had been damaged by the high winds. Tore the roof vent clear off the back and severely damaged the other one. I had been spared their horror, but felt it in their words and tearful answers to the radio host.

Half the trees in the yard were blown over or snapped off fifteen feet above ground. This made access through the yard difficult. The city's water supply was affected by the power outage and this created low water pressure which means polluted water. Water had to be boiled ten minutes. The stores all shut down the day after Katrina and only let people in 15 at a time when they re-opened. Wal-Mart, too. There was no gasoline till Wednesday morning for average folk like me. The gas line was at least two hundred cars long at the Wal-Mart in Clinton, MS. I got there at 4:45 a.m. and had to wait three hours. I waited. I needed the gasoline to get back and forth to work. I could only fill one 5-gallon can, so I made no trips out unless absolutely necessary.

There were several murders over bags of ice. One man killed another. One brother shot and killed his sister over a couple of bags of ice. The hurricane happened on a Monday, but by Tuesday afternoon, I would make no more trips out for ice. Lost 3 freezers worth of food. Beats getting shot dead. Some terrible people were charging $20 per bag of ice. There is a special place in hell for these terrible people.

We had four cats when the hurricane blew through. No way were we going to a shelter and leaving them behind. The cats were stressed by the heat and snapped at each other often. I separated mine from my mom's and we stayed in the RV. Mom's cat is very alpha male and has no patience to begin with. His little hissy fits disrupted what little bit of peace we could manage the first 36 hours following the storm.

Temperatures were very hot the days following the hurricane and I worked at night on cleaning up the yard, washing clothes by hand, and security. Lot's of walking up and down the street in front of my home shining my light up and down the black as night street. The sound of generators attracted strangers to our little neighborhood day and night that Monday night. Liars, most of them. At least the ones I met. I had night and day guard duty with a million candle watt power light and a 12 gauge shotgun. I don't like strangers anyway, but strangers during a time that followed were putting their lives on the line. I don't like looters at all.

Tension was tight among people because no one knew what to do or what to expect. The citywide curfew was a blessing of sorts. The nighttime travelers in my neighborhood stopped. My mother got really angry with me and was cursing me. She didn't know I was outside and could hear her. I didn't say a word. I understood her stress. Her blood pressure medicine was running out. Without it, she'll die.

There wasn't much to do, but clean up the storm damage, listen to the radio, and pray. I didn't realize how woefully unprepared I was concerning food, clean water, and security lighting without the grid up and running. I've been making changes ever since in all those areas and more. I stockpile food (mostly dry goods and lots of canned goods), bottled and jugs of water, and medicines. I keep fresh ammo. I put a fence up around the yard and a heavy gate across the driveway.

Katrina made me realize that I'm not so bulletproof after all from hurricanes. You see, Jackson is like a three hour drive north of the Gulf Coast. In the past, the only fear we had of hurricanes were tornadoes spawned off from them.

When the sustained 70 mile per hour winds blew through here, thousands of homes were damaged by falling trees. Our wash house was barely missed by the top of an old tree that couldn't take the hard wind plus the gusts up to 110 miles per hour. The wash house and equipment inside was only a year old and that would have hurt us hard financially had it been destroyed. We're not wealthy people.

It's like a week doesn't go by that I am not reminded of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it caused. I prepare and prepare and if it happens again, I hope to be in a much better position. Got lots of dried goods now and only keep one freezer's worth of food frozen. We keep cases of bottled water in different areas of the property---the sheds, the RV, and the house. Got better camping gear in case the city loses power, water, and natural gas supplies. Learning primitive methods in creating fresh water, too. Had it not been for the gas fridge in the RV, we would have been drinking hot water. Mom needed the cold water so she wouldn't overheat and die from heat stroke. She was 87 years old at the time. At least the cold bottles of water in the gas fridge in the RV kept us a little better off than some.

I tried to order a solar panel and the other equipment that goes with one but was told by Gander Mountain and SportsmansGuide and the couple of other camping/hunting gear suppliers I buy from that they had been instructed by the federal government (FEMA?) not to ship anything to Mississippi. The battery in the RV was starting to drain by day four and that battery was keeping the igniter lit in the gas fridge that kept the water cold, so 87 year old Mom would stay cooler and not die from a stroke. Later, I researched on the Internet a homemade 12-volt generator made from a lawnmower motor, a car alternator, and on a heavy wood frame. If this happens again, guess who's building it from the 5 HP Weed Eater lawn mower, a couple of pulleys, and the spare car alternator kept in storage for a just in case event? It will give me something to do besides sitting around getting nervous or depressed. Busy hands help the mind stay in the positive.

If you discover yourself in such a disaster as a Katrina was, don't expect much help from the government or local cops. They will be overwhelmed to the point of short tempers and doing dumb things. Some New Orleans cops killed themselves while on duty. Some afterward. I'm staying at home and will only go out if it is absolutely necessary. Keep your supplies handy and hidden. Don't be too friendly with strangers either. If you have medical conditions or the people in your family do, keep an extra supply of medication around.

Main thing though. Prepare for the mental and physical stress you'll be under. I prayed a lot during the storm and afterward. It helped in not feeling so alone. I stayed busy when I couldn't sleep with handwashing clothes in 5-gallon buckets, sawing trees up with both of my chainsaws, small trips out in the truck looking for gasoline, food, and water, and helping out my mom the best I could.

Listening to the men and women weeping on the radio really tore me up emotionally, so I turned it off. I set little daily goals and met each one the best I could. I had no idea how long the power would be out. Entergy's canned message quoted two weeks before power would be restored in my area. Two weeks! I would have lost the fridge in the RV because I had no way to recharge my 12-volt battery without lugging the 65 pound brute around. Being a woman of average strength and alone, that would have been a job. At times like we were all going through, the last thing anyone needs is a back injury.

When I saw the images on TV on Thursday, after Entergy got the power back on for our neighborhood, I got a full understanding of why the people on the radio were so completely devastated. Tens of thousands of homes were destroyed on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I mean down to the slab destroyed. The people on the bridge to Gretna and in the Super Dome had me shaking my head at the lack of help. I mean, if CNN and Foxnews can get in to take pictures, why not the government and cops? Answer: poor management and lack of manpower.

If you don't have a 72 hour plan, you'll be in a bad place when the water runs out. One of the things that really helped us was an old radio that picked up the TV bands (local TV stations.) We were able to listen to the local news and make better plans on when to go out (no gasoline wasting) and where not to go (areas where the locals go nuts and start shooting people over a bag of ice.) If you don't have one, I would get one, if I were you. I now own four (two handheld, two desktop.) That way you get radio stations and TV stations for better coverage of a wide disaster like a hurricane or earthquake. My favorite is a handheld model that also straps to my arm (Radio Shack) and uses a couple of AAA batteries. And that's another thing. Keep the radio batteries on hand. Lots of batteries and then some. A solar recharger is worth it's weight in gold, too. I had to ask my nephew in New York to send batteries because we couldn't find any locally by day three post Katrina. By the time I was able to get into a store to restock what we had, they were all sold out.

Before each hurricane season now, we empty the freezers by not buying anything that has to be frozen. Man, it hurt losing all that food, but it wasn't safe to eat by day four. At least the possums and stray cats ate good.

Katrina affected the way I look at hurricanes and the way I store food and water for the rest of my life. I am learning how to can food, smoke meat, and dehydrate food in case this happens again and with this global warming thing going on, it probably will.

[taiarain]

Nothing serious. I was left unscathed by two near-misses with tornadoes and have lost power/water (including flushing ability thanks to power), but have thankfully never had to test my knowledge or skills.

[WiccanSpirit]

Hello Everyone! I have been in a few storms that had us secluded in our home but luckily it was never that bad. I remember once my dad, sister, me and my mom were all stuck in the bush for a month. We managed to survive on animals that we hunted, fish, stuff like that. I loved it so much that when help finally came i didn't want to leave. lol

[arppt01]

It is terrifying to read the experience that Bowcatz has been through. Yes, everything is possible. So much of devastation. I think it's name, place and type of fury that might differ but the devastations never differ.

[Tangent210]

Not at home, I've ran into some situations in the wilderness that could have gotten ugly fast but all the earthquakes at home have been very mild and we literally have no natural disasters around here except for the occasional flood.

[arppt01]

Sometimes it seems that it is better not to experience any such emergeny, when things can be so risky.:)

[mamab]

Bowcatz, you're fortunate to have survived. The lessons you learned were hard ones, but one's I'm sure you won't easily forget. Thanks for the information and for the encouragement to prepare with applicable instructions, as well. :)

[taiarain]

Bowcatz, I was just rereading your post and something struck me. You mentioned the lack of cold water and losing things in your freezer...

A friend of mine in Florida fills the freezer to capacity with ice when a hurricane is building. The reason is two-fold. First, the ice will help to maintain food preserving temperatures longer. Second, it will produce drinkable water if needed.

You've probably already considered this, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

[donny h]

Bowcatz, I'm glad you got through Katrina in one piece, and it is a very good thing you are more prepared for any future disasters.

I wish more of us learned that lesson. It's hard to believe, but there have been multiple polls taken since Katrina showing that very few people have increased their emergency preparedness nationwide. City dwellers are particularly unprepared, which is ironic, because they are at the highest risk.

EVERYONE in the U.S. should have supplies stocked away, I don't care where you live, you are at risk from a disaster. EVERYONE should also carry a kit in the car, you may not be at home when disaster strikes. Remember the folks on the streets of NYC after 9-11? In high heels? Walking shoes need to be in that car kit.

Here is another truism: If disaster strikes, and government assistance is available, it will NEVER come to you. You will have to go the the aid, it will not come to you. That is a major reason to have supplies at home, otherwise, you will have to abandon your property.

Do not use expense as an excuse, large bags of rice, beans, and wheat are cheap, so are water storage barrels, use tap water, and add 8 drops of plain bleach per gallon.

Do not tell your friends and neighbors the details of your preparedness, they will remember you, and come a calling. I've had friends tell me, "why should I prepare?, I'll just come to your house", I reply to them "only come for my food if you'd prefer to be shot by a friend than a stranger".

It's nice to help friends, but not at the expense of my family and their well being.

Certain items will not be for sale after a disaster, batteries, generators, guns, and ammunition will be nowhere to be found, get them in advance or not at all.

Gasoline can be stored for long periods if you periodically treat the fuel with Stabil fuel stabilizer. Store your gas cans full.

We saw in Katrina that the authorities went door-to-door, collecting intelligence which was later used to DISARM folks at gunpoint, and forcibly evacuating people who wanted to stay.

Because of that scenario, and you may not agree with this, in any future disaster, I will not allow any government agents to know of my existence, level of preparedness, or number/type of firearms. It pains me to say it, but after a disaster, I think the government is the enemy of my freedom, and clearly has no interest in allowing me to protect my property and family.

Please folks, set aside some food and water for bad times, I have enough food for a year+ for my family, you could get a months supply for under $100. I only store enough water for a month, but I'm lucky enough to have a mountain stream a 1/4 mile from my house.

Prescription meds are the tough part, between shelf lives and high costs, it's not feasible to have a long term supply.

Redundancy is good, extra items can be bartered, the top trade goods will always be: guns/ammo, fuel, food, batteries, booze, and tobacco. I think cash and jewelry will be mostly useless if you stay at home, cash isn't filling and gold doesn't taste good.

[trax]

i was stuck alone 500 meters underground with a broken leg once, all I did was wait for help, no big heroics. My family and I had to evacuate from the town we lived in because of the proximity of a forest fire once, the town that took in our town was not very well equipped to deal with the situation but for the most part handled the task admirably, setting up mass feeding schedules etc. I took the family out to a campground because the town was over-run trying to billet everyone. The same town, when we lived there, lost electric power for two weeks in February one year. I had a woodstove that I heated the house with and the wife used that for cooking, our water supply was ok and we used camp lanterns around the house. Had to heat bath and wash water on teh woodstove though.I was out firefighting once and me and three other guys got cut off from our mainline by a surprise blow-up, a couple of acres of bush basically exploded into flames in front of us. We did what we could with our equipment but a water bomber passed overhead and put it out well enough for us to get out. I've never been lost or injured hunting or fishing, I have a very good sense of direction and no urban disasters that I had to live through. Donny H, I think your sense of avoiding govt agencies is only common sense personally.

[trax]

The elevator stalled between the 14th and 15th floor. There were seven of us and panic was setting in, so we cast a vote and decided to cook and eat that pudgy little accountant from the 4th floor. Now, there are those claiming that we acted prematurely, but that elevator never moved for almost 20 minutes!! I mean...COME ON, PEOPLE>>>20 MINUTES!!!:eek:


OK, sorry, couldn't resist:D :D

[zadig39]

Hurricanne Hugo. Without power, water or phone for 16 days.

[Sarge47]

Don't know if you can call this an "emergency situation, though it sure was intense! A bit over 2 1/2 years ago I was driving my school bus out of town to pick up my 1st rider. I was going down the highway about 55 mph when I saw a semi coming at me from the other direction going about as fast. In an instant I knew he was going to hit my bus and I couldn't get out of the way in time. His tractor hit me in the front wheel & he skidded down the left hand side of my bus completely totaling it out. I wound up on the opposite side of the road in a cornfield 30 t0 40 feet perpindiclar to the highway, the bus was totaled and I was back to work within a couple hours, which freaked out some of the other drivers.

[eddiec]

I have been a medic for the past decade, so emergencies just come with the territory. We did, however, have two(f2 and an f3) tornadoes rip through Springfield last year in March. A good chunk of town was destroyed, and we were without power for a couple of days. It was amazing how the town rallied around those who were unfortunate enough to be in the damage path. It's pretty sad, if you think about it, that it takes something like that to kill the apathy, and make people start caring....

[eddiec]

Oh, we also had a blizzard and an ice storm this year!!! Sorry folks...

[nell67]

3 years ago we got 36" of snow over night,we went to bed prying the electric would not go out as that wa the only heat we had,about 2:30 in the morning we woke up to someone beating the heck out of front door,we got up wondering who on earth would be out at that time of night in THAT kind of weather, it was 2 very drunk men,who had driven their SUV off the road because they could not distinguish where the road was,anyway we bedded them down on our floor with pillows from the couch and our dd brought her big comforter in for them to use,they were frozen half to death,but they didnt even realize it until they started to sober up ,they said they were not drunk when they started walking but it had taken them over an hour to walk less than 1/4 mile and they had loaded thier coveralls down with beer and other spirits ,I guess that was the only reason they kept going as they Thought they were warm because of the alcohol. We didnt have a clue who they were,we just knew we could not send them away in that weather,they stayed for 2 days until a farmer cleared a single lane on our road and they were able to walk a mile to the main road where a police with 4wd was waiting to pick them up.

[Sarge47]

I survived Hurricane Katrina.

Later, I researched on the Internet a homemade 12-volt generator made from a lawnmower motor, a car alternator, and on a heavy wood frame. If this happens again, guess who's building it from the 5 HP Weed Eater lawn mower, a couple of pulleys, and the spare car alternator kept in storage for a just in case event?


Yo Bowcatz, so how can we find out how to make that same generator you're talking about?????

[wareagle69]

i was in a little town in northern ontario when a sizable snowstorm hit,now the provicial gornment and hydro one had stoped cutting tree limbs in algoquin park so every time the wind blew it took out more power lines, not to make light of anyones situation ever but for me a week without power wae fun we had plenty of food wood for the stove and great snowshoeing these folks in this town are used to this happening every winter so for them its buisness a usual we did not have to deal with looters or the likes, bowcat you are an inspiration. the only thing i would add to your list would be a few hundred dollars in cash small bills preferably


always be prepared

[lumpy]

I had just spent an hour writing a long post on a canoe trip that turned into a survival situation.It wouldn't post,and I lost it.I'll now give a brief summary and try to post again.
Myself and two others went on a 3 day,2 night canoe trip shortly after H.S.graduation.There were 6 mistakes that were made that cumulatively nearly cost us our lives.
Mistake#1We didn't bring near enough food.
#2Flashlights were inferior and not waterproof.
#3We didn't make it to our first checkpoint,had to set up camp after
dark.
#4Didn't have our sleeping gear protected.Sleeping bags became
waterlogged.
#5Didn't bring tents or any form of shelter.
#6Didn't bring any cold weather clothing or rain gear.

[Sarge47]

I had just spent an hour writing a long post on a canoe trip that turned into a survival situation.It wouldn't post,and I lost it.I'll now give a brief summary and try to post again.
Myself and two others went on a 3 day,2 night canoe trip shortly after H.S.graduation.There were 6 mistakes that were made that cumulatively nearly cost us our lives.
Mistake#1We didn't bring near enough food.
#2Flashlights were inferior and not waterproof.
#3We didn't make it to our first checkpoint,had to set up camp after
dark.
#4Didn't have our sleeping gear protected.Sleeping bags became
waterlogged.
#5Didn't bring tents or any form of shelter.
#6Didn't bring any cold weather clothing or rain gear.

Interesting, where was this at? We got two guys in canada going into the Norther wilds up there with just there knives.:confused: :confused:

[lumpy]

sarge47,I assume that these two guys you mentioned know what they are doing.The three of us had just gotten out of H.S.We weren't survivalists or even boy scouts.We were just three kids looking for a good time.We were unaware of how serious our lack of preparation would become.Fortunately,we did survive, so it didn't become a news event, like the ones we read about in the newspapers.

[FVR]

Lumpy, that's funny.

After HS, a hunting buddy and I did the same thing. Only, we knew a little of what we were getting into. It was a 4 day trip down the Delaware River. Drove way north, got dropped off and started paddling.

We took our bags in big plastic bags. Took plenty of food, water, and yes, beer. Back then the drinking age was 18.

Shot a few wingdams and the rapids at Trenton. Trenton has a way of breaking conoes. We were in my folbot, wooden frame covered with a thick vinyl. Just bounced right off the rocks.

Now, we almost lost it in Dec. on the Delaware hunting ducks. Had to dodge ice burgs floating down the river.

We were young and stupid.

[Sarge47]

sarge47,I assume that these two guys you mentioned know what they are doing.The three of us had just gotten out of H.S.We weren't survivalists or even boy scouts.We were just three kids looking for a good time.We were unaware of how serious our lack of preparation would become.Fortunately,we did survive, so it didn't become a news event, like the ones we read about in the newspapers.

As for the 2 guys knowing what they're doing......we'll see.:rolleyes:

[lumpy]

Fvr,it's comforting to know that there are others out there who were young and stupid.
I have also done a winter canoe trip.Looking back,it was pretty dumb also.

[trax]

Fvr,it's comforting to know that there are others out there who were young and stupid.
I have also done a winter canoe trip.Looking back,it was pretty dumb also.
wasn't the water kind of...hard?:D :D

[FVR]

Water was very hard, had to dodge giant ice boulders.

We would paddle in and set up. By late morning the water around us would freeze and we would have to take a paddle and break the ice in front of the boat to get to the decoys.

Easy to find the downed birds, they would hit the ice and just lay there.

We were so stupid, we did not even have life preservers. We wore our tents. My tent was a coat from Siberia. It had a 3/4" thick wool liner and a waterproof canvas outer layer. I could have been nekked under my coat in 0 degree weather and still be comfortably warm.

Ahhhh, memories.

[Fog_Harbor]

I've been through two hurricanes, two tornadoes, and an earthquake or two (just call me 'lucky'), but through all that, The closest I've been to an in-home emergency was the blizzard of '77, but even then with the lights out for two or three days, and no way to get anywhere, we seemed to stay warm, safe and well fed.

[lumpy]

Fog Harbor,I remember the blizzard of '77.I didn't have to go to school for the whole month of January'78.Where were you living at the time?