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Thread: Hurricane Survival Scenerio

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    Woodsman Adventure Wolf's Avatar
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    Default Hurricane Survival Scenerio

    I live in the South East and have survived both Fran and Floyd as a child. Since Floyd we haven't had a significant storm pass through the heart of Carolina.

    Let's talk about a plausible scenario. Your home is hit by a catagory three hurricane, and a tree has fallen on your house. Your house is ruined and water is pouring in. This has happened to people before, and I was wondering what would you do?


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    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    When I get back to my home (I evacuated) I contact my insurance company and go from there.

    In reality (for me) I have our trees cut back every 5 - 10 years to prevent such a thing from happening.
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    Woodsman Adventure Wolf's Avatar
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    When I bought my house, I took down several large pines that were to close to the house. I knew that a strong storm or enough ice was going to bring one of those down on my living room or my bedroom. I took down a small oak too that made a nice pile of firewood.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    I have a hellious big tree in the front yard...could cause major damage...actually had a limb that came down this summer while we were gone and punched a 4" hole thru the roof.
    I have patched both inside and out.
    Didn't bother with insurance as the patch took 10 minutes.

    Had to cut up and haul away the debris .......
    Chain saws and tools are available.
    This time was OK but finding that a lot of this stuff is getting harder and harder to do.

    Really need to have it taken out, last estimate was over $2500 bucks.
    I guess I would rather move......LOL

    Anyway, no hurricanes around here WI/IL border...yet, who knows,...... but still have tornadoes, although most have lifted over us near Lake Michigan.
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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Yeah, it doesn't have to be a hurricane but that's fine for your scenario. I would suggest you take a strong look at your insurance policy now before a problem arises. Understand what is covered and what is NOT covered. Floods are generally not covered and if your insurance company calls storm surge a flood then you might be in trouble. Better to know up front. Secure any items that can become missiles or be blown away prior to your evacuation. Take necessary precautions to protect windows and doors. Remember that more folks are injured during the clean up from a storm than from the storm itself. If the building is still standing and safe to enter then you need to mitigate any further damage if that's possible. Again, check your insurance policy. You may have a legal requirement to mitigate further damage and property loss after a storm. You will also want to know if your insurance coverage will put you up in a hotel, for how long and what incidentals they will pay for during that time (food, clothing, lap dances..oh...scratch that last one).

    Here's a couple of resources for you:

    http://www.redcross.org/news/article...FTER-HURRICANE


    • If you cannot return home and have immediate housing needs. Text SHELTER + your ZIP code to 43362(4FEMA) to find the nearest shelter in your area (example: shelter 12345).


    http://www.ready.gov/hurricanes

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Yeah, there wasn't a "lap dance box" to fill out on my work expensive account either........
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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    That falls under "entertainment".

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    I was told never put anything in that box....so we used the "Laundry" box......
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    If the house is ruined, I'm not so much worried about water pouring in. Not much is going to be happening while the hurricane is still pouring down rain and the wind is still up either. It isn't worth risking life and limb to go outside in a hurricane that is bringing down trees. If only a section is ruined, hopefully with no one getting hurt, then it's all about getting it covered and secured. I keep a 100' x 20' roll of heavy plastic sheeting and have a 30 x 30 tarp for the boat that I can use in an emergency. There's always 3 inch strapping and 2x4s stashed up in the garage attic that can be used as battens to hold the covers in place.
    Then it's all about the insurance company.

    This house I live in now, the very first thing was taking down a huge double-boll oak that was 3 feet from the house. Because the property is technically within 100ft of a lake it takes all kinds of paperwork to take stuff down. I told the conservation guy that came out to look at that one and 4 others that I would blame the town if they fell on the house. Not that I'd get anywhere with that.

    But after a snowstorm one Halloween when all the trees still had their leaves, and spending a night at the end of the house that wasn't under the trees, listening to the branches coming down, I didn't have much trouble getting most of those trees removed. Luckily only some minor damage to the roof, and the power lines came down, but nature stripped most of the branches and it wasn't worth it to leave the rest of the trees.

    I still have one out there they wouldn't let me take down, but I did have it limbed up, trimmed back, and all the deadwood removed.
    Last edited by LowKey; 11-09-2014 at 09:06 AM.
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    Not a Mod finallyME's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hunter63 View Post
    Yeah, there wasn't a "lap dance box" to fill out on my work expensive account either........
    You obviously don't work for the secrete service.
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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Naw, was so secret none of us knew what we were doing.....
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    Or who we really were.

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    Alaska, The Madness! 1stimestar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Adventure Wolf View Post
    I live in the South East and have survived both Fran and Floyd as a child. Since Floyd we haven't had a significant storm pass through the heart of Carolina.

    Let's talk about a plausible scenario. Your home is hit by a catagory three hurricane, and a tree has fallen on your house. Your house is ruined and water is pouring in. This has happened to people before, and I was wondering what would you do?
    I have a portable file box with all the important papers I can grab easily. I have one box in a heavy plastic bag that is a quilt that my grandmother made me by hand and a lace tablecloth my mother crocheted by hand that I would grab. I have one box with my late husband's stuff from his funeral, like guest book, location of grave etc. that I would grab. Other then that, external hard drives, a few clothes and blankets just to make life easier. Other then those items I mentioned, it's not like you have to leave now. Things are just getting wet. I can work and pack in the wet.
    Why do I live in Alaska? Because I can.

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    Back when I was still teaching Physical Geography and Natural Hazards, I was constantly harping on the need to be aware of potential hazards and doing what you could to mitigate those hazards and be prepared to evacuate, when necessary. I salute you on being pro-active and preparing for such an event. Far to few do so. Just look a New jersey and Storm Sandy.

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    One thing folks forget to pack away are internet passwords. We rely on our computers to store those passwords today. If you don't have a list of them and loose your computer it could slow you down if you need to do internet banking of any type or even something simple like logging into email.

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