Do you have an urban survival story?
About 15 years ago I was in N.Y. city during the winter. I noticed this guy who lived in a cardboard box. Upon closer inspection of his hooch I could see that he had tapped into the electric light pole to run a space heater inside his box.
I was thinking that a small electric heater and extension cord could come in handy and might be prudent to keep in the car. What say you?
I don't carry it anymore, but when I lived in colder climates one of the things I carried in my truck or car was a six pack of the little green propane bottles and a small heater that attached to them. I hadn't thought about an electric one. I do carry a small ac/dc converter in each vehicle now.
Years ago, I used to have a work van and the heater never worked in it half of the time. I went to Wally World and got a propane heater and some propane fuel to try out and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it done. I finally got rid of the van but I kept the heater.
Take only what you need, and leave the rest.
I do that to charge the cell phone.Originally Posted by crashdive123
Not sure if either of these are what you're looking for but.....
I lived in Ft. Lauderdale when Huricane Andrew hit in 1992, we lost power for over a week, couldn't leave the house but luckily had a coleman stove and a few lanterns and enough food to get by.
Was living in Indianapolis Indiana when a bad ice storm hit 1990 I think. Again no power for about a week, water lines busted so no water, and couldn't go to town. Had our camping/survival gear and enough food to get by. Filled up the bathtub with water we got melting snow to bathe with. Luckily we also had a wood burning stove as a backup.
Alaska to Florida, for how long, who knows...
They work great. Sometimes I find myself at a house that needs a termite treatment. The 750W inverters will run my large hammer drill (found out the 400W will not).
Immediately after I learned the levees broke (Hurricane Katrina) I went to New Orleans and mainly south-east of there to St. Bernard parish (where I grew up), to go help rescue family, friends, and strangers. There were some pretty crazy survival stories involved there, although I certainly don't consider my rescue trip as one. They're way too long to tell, but I'll try to abbreviate one.
A cousin of mine was home riding out the storm, as he always had. He saw water coming up the lawn quickly at some point, and started grabbing photo albums to move to some high spot. He went into his garage to grab a ladder to get into the attic, and there was 2-3' of water in it. He was barefoot and stepped on some metal tool that had washed into his path, gashed his foot open, and dropped the photo albums into the water. It was rising quickly so he grabbed a different extension ladder and got on his roof. In a span of 15-30 minutes the water reached his roof and leveled off.
The storm beat on him for something like 12 hours. At some point during it a Nutria (giant rodent) swam up and got on the roof. He said he was looking at it and it was looking at him. He figured "If I'm stuck here for days, at least I have that big rat for food." He figured the Nutria was thinking something like "I smell blood pouring from that human's foot. If he dies at least I'll have his body for food."
Once the storm subsided, he waited. At some point a boogie board washed onto his roof and figured he could travel somewhere on it. He saw a boat a few houses down riding level with that roof, and started going for it. He was paddling down the "street" when some kid popped up in a 2nd story window and asked him where he was going. When my cousin told him the boat, the kid said "Don't go there man, it's taking on water. Me and my dad already checked it out. Come in here if you want." So he did.
The next day some Cajun redneck came down the street on a boat, and offered them a ride to a nearby gymnasium where a bunch of people were (sitting on bleachers to avoid the water). Reportedly people were being rescued from there, so they went, and stayed there for another day.
That next day a Wildlife and Fisheries boat came to get people from the gym and bring them to the levee where ferries were running rescue crossings. Since my cousin's foot was in very bad shape, he got an early ride along with some women and kids. At some point they were passing some flooded shoe store. My cousin figured he needed at least one shoe, because if he injured his other foot he'd be quite screwed. So he asked the guy to stop the boat so he could look for shoes quickly. The guy did, and there was a woman on the boat who was also barefoot, and she asked him to get her a pair of size 7's or something.
The water was neck-high, and my cousin walked around in that dark flooded store looking for his size and the women's. At some point he realized that every shoe was left-foot only. So he waded into a pitch-black storeroom and started pulling out shoes. He kept bringing them towards the store-front to see what size they were. Finally he got what he needed and went back out to the boat. The shoes he got the woman were both size 7, and they were similar in style and the same color. He threw them on the boat and the lady said "These are different. Can you go back and find me matching shoes?"
He said the Wildlife & Fisheries guy gave her a look like he was gonna throw her off the boat (heh).
So he got dropped off at the levee, and there were LOTS of people there waiting for the ferry. He ended up being there all night. The next day he got on the ferry, and wound up at some high and dry place where they were giving medical aid. Some doctor cleaned up his wound, gave it some quick stitches, bandaged it up, handed him a bottle of antibiotics or aspirin (I can't remember which), told him to grab a couple of water bottles on his way out, and sent him on his way.
From there he went to some other shelter, and finally made it to some relatives place in northern MS.
Too many other stories, and that was a tragic situation. I knew an elderly couple who spent 9 days on their roof, drinking the nasty water all around them just to stay alive. Just going there after was completely surreal. My mother and my two brothers lost everything, as well as too many other relatives and friends to remember. My best friend had a pretty crazy urban survival story during that too. Another friend told me he was trying to devise a way to process his own urine when he was rescued. But I've typed plenty already and don't want to bore anyone.
Last edited by sthomas; 01-22-2009 at 09:04 PM. Reason: noticed a typo right after posting
Not a personal survival story, but something that sthomas's story reminded me of. After the Fort Collins, Colorado flood in the late 90s CSU sent the books from their flooded library to a large frozen foods storage facility in Denver. By being kept frozen in a reduced humidity environment for several months, the books dried out without developing mold (the primary thing that ruins wet paper). Many of the college's books and journals were saved this way.
Just one of those good things to know in case you ever have a photo album or book get wet and want to save it. Stick it in the freezer and over the course of the next few weeks to months it will dry out without molding.
I'll rest when I'm dead...
Anyway, this thread was to try and look at urban survivalists and implement/ adapt their skills.
Sometimes a different medium is used for the same purpose. For example, Carboard v. Debris hut.
Last edited by rebel; 01-23-2009 at 12:44 AM.
We've covered dumpster diving on another thread as a way of foraging..
Water would be available.
I haven't seen any sign of hunting. No snares in the parks. Hunting would need to be quite and concealed. No sign of fishing either.
Fire for cooking and warmth might also need to be concealed. I have noticed that when it gets really cold folks move into warm areas such as, subways and lobbies.
I've seen news paper stuffed for insulation instead of the wilderness grass and leaves.
Plastic bags were used for ponchos and for huts. Similar to the wilderness.
Plastic bags for carrying things.
Plastic bags for wearing and waterproofing the feet.
Thats all I can think of for now.
Right after Katrina came Rita.
I had some relatives who got stuck in the evac fiasco. Not horribly smart about it, were they.
Stuck on the road, in parked traffic for miles, in the heat, w/ no water, eventually ran out of gas.
Their ordeal was one of the main reasons I got involved in this forum. I asked myself "If there were a disaster of some sort, and I had 24 hours or less to get out of Dallas, could I do it? I will assume that all major thoroughfares will be jammed."
So now, I have a plan. And a back up plan.
Not sure if this fits with the tenor of the other posts, but here is something that happened to us about 15 years ago:
I am driving with the family cross country to visit relations. DW spells me on the driving and I go to sleep. As she drives through a very large city, she decides it is time to eat. She gets off the freeway in the center of the city. She wakes me when she reaches a bar and grill. I am half asleep as we go in.
We are in the ghetto. This place is like something off a movie set. Here we sit with four little kids in a place where drug deals are going down in the back corners. The place is packed. Prostitutes and pimps are plying their trade.
It is like we are invisible. Everyone is looking straight through us, and the hair is going up on the back of my neck. People who come in after us are getting served before us. I try to get my wife to go somewhere else, but she is oblivious, and says, "Don't be ridiculous"! A quick calculation shows I don't have enough bullets, even with two extra high capacity magazines, to shoot everyone in the place - plus I'm sure about half of them are armed.
My dear wife is apparently oblivious to all of this. We get a pizza and she happily munches away. It comes time to pay, and she is rummaging around in her purse. Unable to find her money, she upends the purse and out rolls her wad of cash, $900 in bills.
I am dieing here and praying fervently under my breath. No one looks at us, but everyone goes freeze-frame and the place goes instantly silent. I've got my hand on my gun, trying to decide whether to shoot her or the bad guys. She, oblivious, pays up, and we edge toward the door, me crabbing sideways all the way, with my hand in my jacket pocket and wrapped around my gun. We get in the car and I'm driving like a mad man.
The Mrs, can't figure out what is wrong with me. Two cars start up in the parking lot, as we leave, and one follows us for quite a ways. I finally loose them driving the wrong way down a one way street - hoping to see a squad car. The kids are laughing, they think this is great fun, and my wife is screaming I've lost my mind. We finally get back on the freeway, and have a 100 mile argument.
To this day she won't admit there was a problem.
Last edited by RBB; 01-23-2009 at 10:43 AM.
Raised By Bears
Bear Clan
What are your plans for going around the jam? Motorcycles?
You are a great story teller. Reading it reminded me of the Chevy Chase Vacation movie.
Every car has a detailed street map of the area. Basically, I can get out by staying off the main thoroughfares. Done this as practice a few times.
The issue in a situation is not to get caught in a place such as an elevated highway w/ no exits, or on a highway that has swamp on both sides, or in a gridlocked downtown area.
Its not a quick exit, Its not an easy way out, Its not without problems.
But it appears to work so far. I pray to God I'll never have to use it.
So the focus was actually bums/hobos/runaways, and what they do. Sorry I missed that slant.
I will quickly say that those types do use signals to show others something they know about certain areas (good place to camp, fresh water, food, etc).
http://www.cyberhobo.com/signs/hobosigns.html
I referenced that practice in some hacker talk I did somewhere. Can't remember why offhand.
RBB your wife sounds like my dh...lol. Great stories sthomas except they should have tossed that woman overboard for sure.
You didn't miss anything. This thread can also include disaster survival.
A friend of ours was trying to flee Houston by car ,before a hurricane, and was unable due to the traffic. He was able to go to the airport and took one of the last flights out.
I get pretty frustrated with maps. Don't get me wrong, I love studying them, I know how to use them, but to get a large enough geographical area to cover more than the city you live in, you immediately leap to a state map that lacks any of the local county roads. As a result, anyone stuck in a traffic jam is looking at the same set of options as you are. The only way around this is to carry an accordian file full of every-stinkin' possible county, forest, and city you might possibly come in contact with on the way from point A to point B. Then again, if I lived along the coast, where evacuating is a near-annual rite of passage, I think I'd do just that.
Colorado is fairly easy during the summer, but suddenly in the winter, if you're going west from Denver your options go from dozens to two or three, depending on just how far out of your way you want to go. That's just another reason bugging out is a serious last resort for me. I think I'm well set up barring the very worst.
I'll rest when I'm dead...
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