After a Hurricane has hit you and moved on!

I will post some photos during our Hurrican Operation and what I think you should do when a Hurrican is approaching your way. GET OUT, OF THE AREA, Nothing is worth your life or the life of a loved one. As I write this I will try and show you what you can do and what the good guys are doing to get you and your neighborhood back in action. TRUST ME when I say get out of the area. If the storm is passing close by your state. fill the tank and be ready to move out. Clear and protect what you can form the yard that might fly and do damage. Check with local NEWS and weather as they have lots of printed and freely give out emergency information booklets. Now let's look at the inside of your home months before anything back has happened. Learn to hang clothing aline hanger hook in the same direction. This way you can put your arms inside removing all at once. You should have already had your electrician hook up a quick attachment to your fuse box for standby to attach a generator. Two-part rain gear for members of your family to stay dry. Surge protectors, Unplug items you do not need and place them in high places if you should get some flooding inside. The Magic Quarter is a useful tool for year round. So you should keep in the refrigerator all year long and check on return home. ( the Magic Quarter is a plastic cup half full of frozen ICE. The quarter rest on top of the ICE. If you are away and lost power check the plastic cup of ICE. If the quarter is on the bottom everything in the refrigerator has to go in the trash are you can get sick from bad food).

Now, the Fire and Police FEMA and other Federal emergency centers area setting up command centers called HQ. Each day teams of 5 or more are set out into the area to help. They will work an area of about 50-miles more or less depending on the area of damages. They will relive there effected members and help in getting them back in the fight to help you. Folks with medical concerns area all assist as in the military TREEAGE. Meaning the most critical first not first in line.

Now let's say the Storm has past and you have returned home. POWER may be out but not off. When going back into an affected area watch for fallen power poles and lines as they can kill you. Do not walk in water or drive in water. If you see or find anyone down on the ground do not rush in, but look for powerlines, sparks, fires. smoke are all signs of problems. If you had water in your home and see a water line on the wallboard inside, start removing all wallboard one foot below the line and place it out front for trash pick up. Carpet, furniture, think of everything below the water line a no longer useful. All collected stuff should all be moved out front for trash pick up. Even the kitchen cabinets. Once all removed spray down everything with BLEACH as this will help to kill mold before it starts. A backyard grill can be helpful for some hot food. New Generators should need a little more oil to start correctly. If you have a standup washer is a good place for an ICE cooler. If you should have a lost pet, check and search for a PET rescue location(s) site/areas. LOTS more to know but I wanted to keep this short and try an post before June 1, Hurrican season until Nov. But we do have some in the Atlantic now. so I hope one line of this is helpful. READY.GOV https://www.ready.gov/ and https://www.fema.gov/ FEMA. REMEMBER to BE SAFE AND LEAVE THE AREA A.S.A.P.

That's sorta what I do for hurricanes, cept I don't leave. I just board up the windows and get the generators working, fill up the vehicles, boat(27 gal) and any gas cans I have with gas, stock up on drinking water. A buddy of mine has one of those above ground pools so other water is plentiful, but it never hurts to have every spare container filled with potable water. Lots of batteries, and chargers, and solar chargers.

If we get high water here then something really bad has happened. Biggest threat is spin off tornados, but if one of those gets you, you've been got.

The trouble with leaving is that everyone else is leaving also, clogging the roads and using up resources.

One weird thing though, for the next hurricane the last tHing I'm going to do before I batten down the hatches, is mow the grass. It's easier to rake up from mowed grass than from long grass.

Alan

Good thread. Alan has some good points. We've been through several hurricanes. We've had huge pine trees and an oak come down on our house with nothing more than shingle damage. It's old pine frame built in the 40's. You have to drill before you can sink a nail into a stud. We're inland (Ocala) and high so flooding is not an issue. Nothing can protect you from tornados except an underground shelter. That is our concern. We debated evac on 2 storms but their predicted paths led them north right along our route. There's no telling how long it would take to get somewhere completely safe. Our cabin in WNC is 8 hours away in the best of times. We really would like to ride it out at home with our prep in our dug out crawlspace under the house than get caught in a mega jam on I-75.

I saw the aftermath of Camille in AL years after it happened. Seeing big ships miles inland and piles of rubble impacted a little kid. We drove through Homestead after they opened the highway up after Andrew to get the Keys. Again the destruction was almost incomprehensible.

We're also not in the crowds that rush to Lowes and Publix to stock up a day before the storm hits. We stay prepared. One more year and we'll spend most of hurricane season in the mountains. Where we have started preps in case the roads get closed.

We don't really need elec for anything but have a big Honda in case we want AC and for the freezer. We can also hook up our aged and disabled neighbor to keep her going and have done so in the past. We got Kelly's Mom to install an auto gen that runs on propane from a big underground tank. She had all the dangerous trees around her house cut down.

We probably are lacking in 1st aid. We have the basics but would need more training to get better prepped. Both of us are trained in CPR.

Great thread for SE and E coastal residents.

What is this thing called Hurricane?

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Originally Posted by Rick

What is this thing called Hurricane?

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It's like a "Tempest in a Tea Cup" only the tea cup is the size of the Gulf of Mexico...

Alan

My first thought after reading about staying put during a storm was this is a Survival Group? But so many well meaning people on advice of others would make the deadly decision to "STAY IN PLACE." I wish in some way I could show you what I've seen after the storm. But so many think they can weather the storm. Then after when the NEWS MEDIA begins the interviews, we try to understand why they stayed? We hear things like My medicare check was to come in day after the storm hit. "The officials did not make the call for Buses to be used prior. One part I left out of what officials do after the storm. Teams will begin to clean up by setting up morgues, and place 24-hour security around them until family members can claim the lost family member. A House-to-House search is performed and on every Garage door is left behind a sign to other officials "this house has been searched and a special code for the number of people found who stayed in place dead. During Katrina the number who stayed in place was 1836-people died. 100's-of School Buses not used for evaluation. Each storm has its own stats. When you as a person others look up to for survival information. Make a statement understand other people hear you and who look up to you will think you know best what to do? Remember all life is important even the face when life has left is importent. My thought of this group was to show each of us how to "stay alive"? Did I miss something about this Survival forum?

I don't prep by depending on FEMA to support me after I run out of gas in southern GA and all the gas stations are out of gas. Or living in a tent city hoping the food rations don't get smaller. Or the fresh water ration starts getting short. Or hoping to not contract cholera in a crowded refugee camp.

Thanks but no thanks. And please don't think that I'm minimizing your efforts and services. As I said before, you appear to be a man of duty and service. I certainly can't fault that in any way.

No offense taken here. I know this is a Wilderness Survival group and maybe having seen the storm after effects and folks I worked with have been in combat describing the aftermath of the Hurricane as looking somewhat like a battlefield. In the midst of the storm when alone it can be a wilderness for some. Understand my point on the street interview by the press and the person stating they were to receive their government checks the day after was to illustrate the mindset a seemingly poor understanding of what was about to happen. As no services would be in effect except essential services. for anyone living in a Hurricane zone area the following link may be very helpful. Note below on page The 2019 Disaster Planning Guide is Available Online: http://Tampabayprepares.org/

Well you're certainly right about the average citizen. No matter how much of a warning and instructions they get, they just don't seem to comprehend that they are looking at a possible SHTF. Right there. Albeit temporary, that doesn't help when they're wet, hungry, and maybe hurt. No set plans to reunite with friends and family. No cash. I couldn't even get through some of the stories that came from the stadium during Katrina. What a nightmare.

Hurricanes have been a part of my life for as long as I've been alive. I've stayed and I've run. I have never stayed and wished i'd have run, but I've run and wished I'd have stayed.

Hurricanes are a situational thing. Camille and Katrina were dangerous and deadly because Cat 5 Hurricanes are freakin monsters. There was another storm in the late 50s or early 60s, I can't recall the name, but in went in in Cameron Parish (Hurricane Audrey, 1957). That country down there is flat and about one inch above sea level. If you don't leave you'd better have a really good boat. Camille occurred when I was about 14 and as I recall it was the storm surge, Hellaciously high winds, and spin off tornados that did the damage. Like what else was needed, right? New Orleans is a punchbowl and when a Cat 5 goes in directly East of the city, pushes massive amounts of water into ‎Lake Pontchartrain, with massive rainfall, and city workers abandon pump stations (most of which were allowed to fall into disrepair), in a city where the corrupt Mayor (who is now in prison I believe) is advancing his political ambitions on the lives of the people, and 50% of the population couldn't leave if the wanted to do so, ..... well bad things are going to happen.

But, my BIL was on the West Bank and they had some wind, no flooding. The power was out but they had water. They had generators, blacked out their windows, had plenty to eat, got around on bicycles and successfully hid from the National Guard, the police, the looters and a number of other "officials" who would have, no doubt, "helped" them. He finally had to leave after two weeks, not because of anything bad, but because of the smell of rotting refrigerators and freezers popping open. Of course, this is the same BIL who used to head for Grand Isle with his surfboard when a hurricane was getting close.

A Nephew rode out one in Houston. They had a grand time camping in their back yard. I offered to take him a generator but he said he was having too good of a time without one.

In the succeeding storms immediately after Katrina, our "officials" on the Texas coast put out "run for your lives" warnings, and mandatory evacuations. That's what people did, and they all came through our town. They cleaned out the stores, bought all the gas, left tons of litter and depleted their own financial resources. "WOLF!!!" Then they all went home. Next Storm, "WOOOLF!" Here we go again. This time a lot of them stranded themselves because they ran out of money to buy gas. There were cars stacked up on the interstate in Katy, TX running out of gas sitting still.

"WOOOOLLFFFF! Nobody had any resources or the desire to leave, not even the storm came here. Oh, the other storms didn't come here either.

So then we have a real Hurricane, Harvey. The wind blows, The rain falls, the low areas flood, and those who didn't properly assess their own personal situation got hurt of killed or stranded at the very least. Big surprise, right?

We spent two days digging out, then I took the boat and went to Houston. I tried and tried to find somebody to save but I couldn't even find a dog or a cat that needed a ride. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places. I was looking in the high water, I guess they were all gone. Oh well...

Looters... I never understood... Their houses were filled with water, so they waded through the water to steal a TV to take back to their flooded house.... That kind of mentality isn't going to up and leave a gold mine because the hurricane is coming. They Want the hurricane to come. With Harvey, the one thing I was truly prepared for, looters, and nary a one to be found.

Again, it's a situational thing. To issue a blanket "STAY" or a blanket "LEAVE" either one is irresponsible at the very least. Before Harvey the SO must have come by 10 times telling us to leave, that it was a "Mandatory Evacuation". I finally told them to get going, find a safe place. They said they wouldn't be able to help me if I stayed. I said "Okay, I'll still help you if you need it though. Bye."

Really, if the "officials" of this world would just spend their time fixing the potholes in the streets, mowing the bar ditch, clearing the power ROWs, and keeping the water tower full, and Staying the H*** out of my way during trying times, we'd all be better off.

Alan

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Originally Posted by Rick

What is this thing called Hurricane?

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It's like snow, only different.

OOoooh. Gotcha. (wink).