<p>Just curious how much folks do to prep for storms. It’s on my mind, as our state has two back to back tropical storms/hurricanes scheduled to hit or pass near our state this week. One has petered out without doing much damage and the other is expected to go north of our state.</p>
<p>Normally, we really don’t get very excited at all and actually until the tsunami in Japan rarely even evacuated, even tho the have moved the flood inandatino zone to cover our street now (used to not include our street–the zone stopped at the highway, 3 streets closer to the ocean).</p>
<p>Have read that you’re supposed to have 1 gallon of water per person per day PLUS at least 1/2 gallon per person per day for cooking and personal hygeine. Since we live on an island, we’re supposed to have supplies to last at least 7-21 days. That’s a heck of a lot of water, even for only two people, and doesn’t even include water for bathing or toilets.</p>
<p>Anyway, this past storm, we bought a 35 pack of water because I use them for my support group and other meetings, and had an open pack so total we had about maybe 60 bottles of 16 ounces of water. I also decided to fill two gallon jugs with cover with water for sanitation needs, “just in case.” We also went to Costco and bought a 12-pack of tuna and some bread and rice (we were nearly out of this staple), but otherwise had supplies of nuts and other nonperishable food.</p>
<p>Anyway, am just curious about what folks actually do for storm prep. In our lifetimes, none of us in my exteneded family have ever had a disaster that caused us to lose power lasting longer than 36 hours or have a flooding in our home. Thanks for insights folks care to share.</p>
<p>Have just read the <a href=“Water | Ready.gov”>www.ready.gov/water</a> webpage about their suggestions on having sufficient water for disaster kit. It still seems like a LOT of water, but at least it has a suggestion on how you can prepare your own if you need to. If you do, they say water should be in sanitized container, dated and replaced at least every 6 months (tho commercially bottled water is better).</p>
<p>Was surprised to read that hotel guests reported buying all they could from vending machines before being evacuated to shelters. I thought the hotels would try to provide for the guests, but perhaps that’s too tall an order? When traveling, I think disasters are that much more complicated to plan for and deal with.</p>
<p>I have been following my niece on FB who lives at Ewa Beach. She frequently posts pictures of her back yard which is right on the ocean. This week she had pictures of gallon jugs of water, a generator, and her two older daughters painting pictures on their boarded up windows. She also said that they had plenty of toilet paper, pop tarts, and MREs. The clouds over the ocean are spectacular----but maybe not when you are living there.</p>
<p>We live in an area where there can be storms a few times per year during any season. We have a generator, plenty of gasoline for it, and I easily have enough food in our house to last a month if we truly had to - not to mention we could hunt for more. Our water is well water, so as long as we have the generator, we have water. It’s a shallow well, so we could even just get water via buckets if needed.</p>
<p>I have lots of canned tuna and salmon, a old fashioned can opener. Also canned fruit. I keep many ice packs in freezer, so can move to cooler with food. I have a freezer full of food, so I try to use as much of that as I can. Don’t forget flashlights and candles. All my windows and doors are hurricane proof, but I still prepare a safe room (my walk-in closet). I have books, cards, and games ready. </p>
<p>Even though I live in the suburb of a large city, we seem to lose power at the drop of a hat. We purchased a generator that is attached to the home and comes on automatically in the event of a power outage. However, it runs on propane so I wouldn’t say it is completely a solution as when the propane runs out, you have an issue unless more can be delivered. But I can get a week or so out of it. </p>
<p>I also fill bathtubs with water just in case though the generator does power the well so usually water is not an issue.</p>
<p>HImom. Looks like you have skirted the first storm so yipppeeeeeee for that!</p>
<p>If you have tubs put Saran Wrap over the drain in addition to closing it and fill with water. That can be for toilets and pets. Fill your biggest pots and pans and cover with lids and anything else that holds water. </p>
<p>We have a generator because we have a sump pump that runs constantly. If you ever get a generator get one that starts without pulling anything…ugh…I </p>
<p>I need to buy a couple oil filled heaters to plug into it for the winter as our furnace is hard wired. Winter storm prep is somewhat different. We have gas stove and gas grill so cooking is never a problem as long as propane tanks are full for the grill.</p>
<p>And always fill cars with gas before the storm as all pumps are electric. And get some cash from the ATM.</p>
<p>Crackers, peanut butter,canned food is all you need. , big bag dog food for dog.</p>
<p>Oh and we bought some solar powered spot lights for the yard for 5 bucks a piece. When we lost power we brought them in the house at night. They were great. No need for candles or batteries!! Highly recommend!</p>
<p>We’ve had a couple hurricanes, and in addition to the water, canned food, can opener, etc. the best pieces of advice I’ve heard are to fill gas tanks on all vehicles, have a supply of cash if ATMs go down and to use your dishwasher as a repository for papers/valuables - it has a waterproof seal. Just don’t forget to remove them when storm passes.</p>
<p>Gas up car.
Gas for generator.
We fill our bathtubs with water–clean out tub with bleach and add a bit to water. We ended up needing water for our toilets to flush them.
Drinking water.
A small microwave was a godsend – hot food with the generator.
Gas for gas grill.
Cash. Batteries. hurricane lamps. Fan. Canned food. Ice.
Find your insurance papers and keep them safe. Hadn’t heard about the dishwasher trick–great one!</p>
<p>Get the generator wired to an outlet in a covered area. Then you won’t need a ton of extension cords.</p>
<p>We folks in New England had those two October 29 storms where we were without power for days. The first, the snow storm, was actually a no warning storm. I’m not sure anyone expected it to pack the punch it did, and bring down so many trees.</p>
<p>We always have two or three of those multi gallon Poland Spring water bottles in our house…replaced annually. We also keep 6-8 gallons of water in old milk jugs. Beyond that, we have plenty of food that does not require cooking in our house.</p>
<p>During that storm, we had to cook everything in our freezers…on our gas grills. So I would suggest that you have enough propane to do cooking on that. If you have a side burner…all the better. We had a huge cookout…and all the neighbors contributed. </p>
<p>One family had a generator for that first storm, and also had room in an extra freezer and fridge…since the power estimates were for days without power, we did all cram that full as well. But even so…lots of stuff got tossed!</p>
<p>We actually bought a back-up generator ( Honda EU 2000i- approximately for $900) several years ago. It runs off of gasoline. It came in great use when we had a three day power outage in New England several years ago. We were able to keep our refrigerator running and charge our cellphones. If necessary, we could have used it to run sump pumps. </p>
<p>I would keep your cars filled up to capacity with gasoline during any threats of storms. We live in a neighborhood that is fairly populated so I wasn’t worried about not having enough to eat. Plus I think I could survive for a while on minimal amounts of food :)! I did fill some pots up on the stove with water to use for brushing our teeth and washing up.</p>
<p>The outage was annoying, but nothing compared to the devastation of so many natural disasters.</p>
<p>Please do not skimp out on the water. Sure, a gallon a day sounds like a lot, but in reality it is not. It’s your water for the day. Anything can happen. The weather could be any which way. Don’t skimp out on the water. </p>
<p>Our storms usually result in power outage due to downed trees, so water and gas flow do not get interrupted (water district has emergency generators, and gas lines are buried deep). With a gas cooktop, 2 gas fireplaces and lanterns/flashlights we survived 6 days without electricity and with a limited access to the world outside of the house. I tried to cook everything we had in the freezers first. We were lucky that the temperatures never dipped below upper 20s at night and stayed around mid-40ish during the day, so with our gas fireplaces, fleece sweatshirts and camping gear we were able to stay warm even without operational heater.</p>
<p>One warning about generators: make sure that it is operated far away from the house air intake and direct fumes away. Never bring one inside the house!!! Too many families in our area get CO poisonings. Ditto for hibachis and portable grills. Keep them outdoors! If it is rainy, get an umbrella for the patio or some sort of rain cover. </p>
<p>Yes, my understanding is that generators need LOTS of ventilation and need to remain OUTDOORS. My folks have one that has never been used and NO fuel to use it with (plus I don’t think they even know HOW To use it. We don’t have a generator as I think we could handle without one and it’s just one more thing. </p>
<p>For water, my understanding is that if you are planning to keep it for any length of time, you’re supposed to treat it (like adding some drops of bleach, plus use a bit of bleach to sanitize the container ahead of time). We have enough water and are fine, but I don’t like filling everything with water and then having to pour it out later after the danger has passed. I guess some prep is better than being sorry later.</p>
<p>We have only our small walk in closet that has now windows, as well as our hallway. The entire rest of our home has windows, so not much in the way of safe rooms. I guess that will be something to contemplate if we remodel our home, though I’m not sure where we would put it, given our current layout.</p>
<p>OK, we have two empty 4+ liter square containers that we saved after our colonoscopy prep, as well as a soon-to-be-empty 1/2 gallon jug from a ginger drink we love. We still start by sanitizing those per the <a href=“Water | Ready.gov”>www.ready.gov/water</a> website instructions on post #2 and filing them with water with those few drops of chlorine. We will store those filled containers in our spare shower (out of the way and in case they possibly leak, tho we feel a leak is unlikely). Over time, we will add additional containers, sanitize and fill with water with a few drops of chlorine too. After hurricane season ends 11/30, we will water the plants with them, let them air dry and then store them empty until storm season is begins again next June. This plan appeals to us much more than being part of the madhouse at the stores trying to get stockpiles of water as each storm or disaster is announced. H is happy with it as well.</p>
<p>They recommend using 2 liter soda bottles, if you’re bottling your own water but we don’t drink soda, much less in 2 liter bottles, so don’t intend to go that route. The site also says NOT to use bottles that have had MILK or FRUIT JUICE, but soda bottles are OK; it says that bacteria can grow in bottles that had milk or fruit juice that would contaminate the water. Anyway, this is our current plan. We generally have adequate canend goods to handle days and probably weeks of not getting out of our home.</p>
<p>We have never really paid much attention to storm prep, but these seem to be larger and more frequent storms and warnings these days. Seems better to be prepared, especially since no one is using the spare shower (that the kids use when they lived here and now when they visit), especially as we can keep the water out of the way but ready.</p>
<p>Around here…we BUY new Poland Springs water, I think they are three gallon containers…every year. Those are what we would use for drinking if we needed to. We do NOT reuse containers for drinking water…at all…ever! </p>
<p>We do keep gallon filled old milk containers filled with water, because in OUR house, we don’t have water if we don’t have power. And if we don’t have water, we aren’t able to flush our toilets. The milk jugs are used to flush toilets in the event of a storm…not for drinking.</p>
<p>I mean really…those Poland Spring sealed water containers are not all that expensive…and they are a lot less headache than washing used containers out with bleach solutions.</p>
<p>When the year is close to up…we buy new containers, and just use the old ones up. Easy peasy.</p>
<p>P.S. When you factor in your time and the cost of the bleach…I’m not sure it’s worth it to sanitize used containers.</p>
<p>Hmmm, maybe we will just buy a few sealed water containers–you may have a point. I guess we could just use the jugs for toilet water. Have never had any of the sealed containers. Just read that a 5 gallon bottle weighs 40 pounds. That’s pretty heavy and cumbersome for us to be trying to work with, as we don’t have a dispenser to use in connection with the bottle either. Hmmm, more to consider.</p>
I tried to cook everything we had in the freezers first. We were lucky that the temperatures never dipped below upper 20s at night and stayed around mid-40ish during the day, so with our gas fireplaces, fleece sweatshirts and camping gear we were able to stay warm even without operational heater.</p>