Paranoid?

[Stmar]

As stated in previous posts I was raised in Florida and went through several hurricanes during my formative years. I still have friends and family down there and stay in touch. I texted my brother in law and a friend that I grew up with to see if they were preparing for the storm. Bil said he may get his car filled up later, I suggested he do it right away and that he take my sister to work and keep the cars in the garage, he said he may be able to squeeze both in. I asked if he had a generator, figured he didn't, and no he did not. Friend I grew up with was a bit more prepared, he has plywood cut to fit windows but since the last storm he put on an addition so had to go to Home Depot and get more plywood. He needed 4 sheets and was lucky, they were down to a dozen sheets. Publix was out of bottled water, they put out a pallet and it was sold in 2 minutes. Friend has no generator either, said he would not use one on a regular basis so it was a waste, and he lives at the end of the electric grid like we do. Seemed like I was more concerned than they were.

 

[85Hokie]

Well.....this one is a doooozie ! I would not take anything for granted. Hell - even here in VA - I am making sure I have the genny up and running.....just in case...... wife said we shouldn't need that, I said, baby - you never know!

Once trees and whatnot start falling down, then, thats WHEN the person typically says "damn, I wish I was more prepared!"

you are doing the right thing - and thinking the right thoughts!

 

[Daren Todd]

I also lived in Florida for around 12 years. Went through many tropical storms and hurricanes. I never really panicked, or was very worried about the storms themselves. My experience, we would go through the steps of boarding up the house. And the only storm damage was $70 worth of damage caused by screw holes

The biggest dangers I experienced were Walmart, grocery stores, and the gas stations. People were being robbed for gas, and fist fights and shootings over a working gas pump

During hurricane season, I used to keep a minimum of 3 gas cans in the garage full for the generator. As well as plenty of canned goods, and 4 cases of bottled water. I just rotated and replaced what I used as I went. Saved having to rush for stuff at the last minute

 

[Stmar]

Here in Wyoming, especially at the end of the grid, we have to be self sufficient. We have solar with inverter and 400ah battery bank that we use as a whole house UPS, plus it saves on grid power. Plus I have a Honda generator in case we don't have much sun for a few days, I have it set up so that I can plug it into the inverter to charge the batteries. I got a Honda because I wanted it to start when I need it, so far so good, and I "exercise" it every month or so to keep the gas fresh. I will use it when power washing machines or using power tools, just anything to keep it viable. We also figure we have a year's worth of food and provisions, probably more if you consider the protein on the hoof running around here. Different parts of the country have different mentalities, an hour to the closest Walmart vs. 10 Walmarts in the same radius.

 

[SHADOOBIE]

I am probably over paranoid, its so dry out here & the fire risk is at an all time high. Not to mention the high winds we seem to always have (60-100km/h average). I have all important papers and some clothing set aside for my boys in case a grass fire starts. We also have can's of gas, food, water. Few years ago when my oldest was 1 year old there was a bad grass fire that got us evacuated and I was not prepared, was very stressful. Do not want to go thru that again.

 

[eddiebob]

We live in South Mississippi. Storms are not a question of if but when. We stay prepared with provisions, water, and fuel. The last bad storm was in 2005. No power for 14 days and no water for 4 days. It was a pain but we were able to eat and stay comfortable.

 

[GregSmith]

It always amazes me the lack of preparedness of the average American. The vast majority of the people I know don't even have a pantry or a deep freeze. I can't imagine being unprepared for the simplest of outages.

 

[Stmar]

About 25 years ago we had a prairie fire, I was in the basement working on the computer and my neighbor called from town and asked how close was the fire. I looked out the window and it was just across the fence and moving rapidly. She rushed home and I got my horses loaded and my papers and my guns, the important things and put sprinklers out. Deputy came by and told me to leave so I headed up the road, stopped at that neighbor and she was having a hard time catching her horse. By the time we got him caught the deputy came up and said you can go home now. The fire had hit the prairie dog town and gone around our property, ended up going south another 15 miles. Figured the prairie dog town had used up the fuel supply and maybe a bit cooler from the tunnels, who knows but it sure was a good thing in my book.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

I find it interesting to watch the "organized" evacuation. Many will run out of gas halfway up Florida and I suspect many will try to ride out the storm in their cars. This gives you a eek into what will happen in an unexpected SHTF evacuation scenario. Not good.

I read on one blog today a guy in southern FL was telling people he had build a survivable house and planned to ride it out. How does a house work in 20 feet of storm surge? Does it have a snorkel? I remember a house built on the beach in Pensacola that was up on a pylon and shaped like a UFO. It lasted through Camille but I wonder if its still there?

There's times to sit. And there's time to git.

I fear in about 24 hours, a lot of people are going to be wishing they had chosen the latter.

 

[William1]

Being prepared is a lot less stressful than trying to make do when unprepared. I had talked to my wife about a generator and having a propane tank. She was not inclined

Isabel took out power out for nine days. We are 100% electric. We had no generator. We had no alternative heat source. Fortunately, it was not hot or cold out. We do have a pond and buckets of water from it enabled us to flush toilets. All the food in the fridge/freezer had to be eaten or thrown out. Nine days, no shower, dishes piled up, piles of dirty clothes.

We now have a 22.5Kw genset and propane backup heat. Typically, once a year the generator is used for a few hours due to a blackout. All the lights, TV, washer/dryer, hot water heater, three fridges run. Just the heat pumps are kept off. My wife is a believer now.

 

[twomany]

I was living in Fla. when Andrew went though (Miami). It was windy, but ... nothing much went for the worse. The high humidity was hard on things though. Mold and mildew grows quickly.

We left Ca. because my wife didn't tolerate fires well. The "borate bombers" used our house as a land mark two different fires. Three years after we left, the entire neighborhood was burned out. (all rebuilt for the next one now)

Here , We live in "constant fear" of a big snow. (Well not this time of year ;-)

Our house is snug, we are sheltered by forest (though the trees themselves could fall on us)
I rather enjoy a day or two without electricity. As long as the stored water lasts. It's easy enough to get water to flush the waste even in winter.

After a third day without running water, washing up in the sink get's old. How did they ever do it "back then"? Oh Now I remember, I used to live without running water as a young young boy. Now that I think of it, It was not so bad .....Plenty of time to walk over to the well pump and fill a couple of pails when they were empty. Preparedness takes many forms. Some folks just get in an airplane and fly to their "other place", or a vacation in Europe.

 

[skeets]

Being prepared is not a sign of being paranoid, that is a sign of knowing whats going on about you and setting your self up to be above the fray, and out of harms way. Many times just being able to think out side the box makes things better. Several years back we had a big snow knocked power out for days. My daughter had no problems she grew up with a crazy old man, the was set up for anything. Many of her friends were crying after wards about how much stuff they lost in their freezers. Se told them she didnt loose anything, OH YOU HAD EMERGENCY POWER,, she said nope I had 2 feet of snow on the back porch and put it all in snow caves the kids made on the porch. Her best friend a very highly educated young woman said,, you cant do that,, the kid said OK

 

[Stmar]

Being prepared is a lot less stressful than trying to make do when unprepared. I had talked to my wife about a generator and having a propane tank. She was not inclined

I think I am married to her sister!!!!!

 

[Stmar]

Being prepared is not a sign of being paranoid, that is a sign of knowing whats going on about you and setting your self up to be above the fray, and out of harms way. Many times just being able to think out side the box makes things better. Several years back we had a big snow knocked power out for days. My daughter had no problems she grew up with a crazy old man, the was set up for anything. Many of her friends were crying after wards about how much stuff they lost in their freezers. Se told them she didnt loose anything, OH YOU HAD EMERGENCY POWER,, she said nope I had 2 feet of snow on the back porch and put it all in snow caves the kids made on the porch. Her best friend a very highly educated young woman said,, you cant do that,, the kid said OK

Now that is funny. I guess the snow was a different kind of cold than the freezer, not OSHA approved, lol. I think I would rather deal with a blizzard than a wet windy hurricane. At least the snow is okay to use unlike the nasty water running in the streets during a hurricane. Plus no mold or critters to deal with, blizzard freezes everything.

 

[Tooljunkie]

You cant be too prepared. Not much for power outages, if it does go out i can use generator to power the water system that supplies 7 houses. Give them time to fill buckets and whatever.
I use my generator to power my welder when im working in my storage building so it gets used often.
Power was out a few days ago. Didnt stop my work at all, gennie was right there.
Food,water and a dry place to sleep.
For the ones getting it right now,take care, i hope it doesent get too bad.

 

[PHPaul]

I was born and raised in Michigan (tornadoes) and I have lived in the Philippines (typhoons), Northern Japan (earthquakes, SERIOUS snow), Florida (hurricanes) and now live in Maine (ice storms and extended power outages).

Preparedness is a way of life. After years of dealing with a mid-sized portable, a couple of years ago I got lazy and invested in a Kohler autostart/autotransfer full house generator. More than plenty to run the well, the furnace, the water heater and the freezers/refrigerator. BIG propane tank, it'll run for a couple of weeks on a full tank.

Have had a wood stove for many years, plenty of wood, cellar pantry full of canned goods, two freezers full of meat and veggies.

Only thing I have to worry about is boredom, and I've got a pretty fair stash of reading material I haven't had a chance to get to.

Bring it...

 

[D2Cat]

PHPaul, I agree with what you're saying. No matter where you live extremes in weather cause us to change our habits from time to time. Best to know that and make all reasonable preparations before the event occurs.

Now to aid in your boredom subscribe to "Farm Show". You can read them 5 or 6 times and each time you'll think you've never seen that one before! You'll get ideas you didn't know were hidden in your brain.