My SHTF experience.
As you know I live in VA and we had the mother of a super cell storm Friday night. The storm hit about 9:00 p.m. with no warning from anybody. The weather folks missed this one. We had gusts upwards of 80 mph. Trees falling everywhere and the wind sounded like the freight train. All we could do was hold on tight and pray we made it through the storm. Well obviously we did. However wo lost power and we are having this heat hit us with high 90's and above. So here is how we survived.
The night of the storm was not too bad as the storm cooled the weather down and we were able to sleep pretty good. Then we got up Satruday morning and when we went outside it looked like a war had been fought. There4 were branches everywhere and trees uprooted and laying in lots of inconvient places. Our driveway was blocked by a large walnut tree so had to get that out of the way first. I went to check on the cattle while my DH was getting things ready to go work up the tree. Fortunqtley all were fine but scared to death. So we got them bacx into their familiar field and fed them some feed to help calm them down. Yes they like comfort food too.
We got a tractor and pulled the tree out of the way and worked it up. We knew that power was not going to be back for awhile. So now what to do?
Due to my health I knew I could not stay at home in the heat so I began calling for a room in a hotel. Well so did everybody else and I had almost given up when I found a room in a hotel in the town 10 miles away. So here is what I learned about if you are going to bug outafter a natural disaster.
1. Leaving is the most critical part of getting out in time. I would start calling hotels as soon as the disater has happened if you had no warning.
2. Having cash is very important in a disaster like this as there is no electricity so credit cards and ATM are of no use. Everyone should have a stash of cash avaialbe at home. I would reccommend about $1,000.00 As you are going to need to pay for a room and you need to be able to pay for food while staying away from home. This is so if you have a natural disaster that you are able to get away from. Had this one covered.
3. You should always keep your gas tank on your vehilce topped off and have some gas at home in case you need to leave as when there is no electricity there is nogas available at the pumps. Had this one covered.
4. Have a bugout bag ready. I have one set up for leaving if I had to bug out outside but now I am going to have one ready for just a few nights away from home.
5. Have the patience of Job. You are going to encounter lines for everything. And even though we found a hotel then finding a place that is open to eat is the next issue. Many of the restuarants were closed as they were on the end of town that had no power. Fortuntaley there were several pretty close to the hotel to eat at but you had to wait in line some times as mush as an hour if you went at normal eating hours. The best thing is to go later. We still waited but only about 10 min.
6. Have some food that you can take with you if possible so that you are not at the mercy of vending machines at the hotels. And also something to drink.
7. Of course we could have bugged in as we have a generator but not one big enough to carry the whole house AC so that is why we left home.
We got power back today about 2:00 p.m. much sooner than we expected as we are rural and on the end of the power line. There are still folks without power. I am still at the hotel so the house has time to cool down and besides it was way past checkout time. DH went home to stay with the pets. If you have pets you have to plan for them also. Like finding a hotel that allows them. Otherwise you will be outside with them in the shade if all else fails.
I would not have bugged out if it were not for my health. Of course that brings up the what if we could not have found a hotel, well we have camped in our woods in the shade and toughed it aout the best we could. I am not sure what effect this might have had on my health except that it would not have been good so you must always take that into consideration when deciding to stay home and bug in or bugout.
This was not a fun experience but was okay since we were able to get a room and stay comfortably. I hope that we never have to experience these types of things again but folks it can happen to any of us in a split second. So if you have been blowing smoke up skirts about being prepared you better get off your keister and get prepared.
Take care and God Bless.
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Originally Posted by Rick
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