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Hurricane Readiness
By James Wesley, Rawles
I have lived in Florida all of my life. I was born here, went to school here, and my chosen profession is here. I have bugged in through every hit and near miss in my 30+ years of existence from North Florida to South Florida. I was never scared of hurricanes as a child because my parents made sure we were prepared. I do not have fear of a hurricanes now because I understand what can happen and what I need to do for myself and my family. Don't mistake lack of fear for lack of respect. A hurricane is an immense and powerful storm that will leave devastation, destruction, and death in its path.
If you are planning on riding out a hurricane you need to assess your personal situation. Is your home hurricane hardened, do you live in an area that is prone to floods with even a normal thunder shower, at what predicted category of hurricane do you stay or evacuate? My personal situation is high and dry during even the worst rain storms and torrential down pours, I am not in the storm surge zone and my home has been upgraded to the latest Miami-Dade County Building Code. I am comfortable staying and riding out a hurricane up to and including a Category 3, anything larger and I evacuate. If you decide to evacuate, this is when to activate your G.O.O.D. plan. I will focus on bugging in.
First and foremost monitor the activity throughout the hurricane season but don't ever fall into the hype of your local television station. Make your own formed opinions from all of the available information on the Television, Radio, and Internet. Deciphering all of this information can be overwhelming, but it is in your best interest to understand it.
The Week Before Hurricane Season
In the beginning of the season I go through my hurricane supply list (below the article) and make sure I haven't raided any of the items for projects. I also go through my pantry and restock (I do this quarterly). The government says you should have at least three days of nonperishable food and water. I would suggest a minimum of a week. I have substantially more than a week stored for my family's use. Downed trees, debris, and power poles can make roads impassable for much longer than the 3 days. Also make a video or picture documentation of all of your possessions including interior and exterior of your home. Know where your power, water, and gas shutoffs are and how to shut them off if you need to. I also slather silicon grease that I use for my SCUBA mask on all fridge and freezer seals (there may be a form of this at your hardware store). This saves you money during the rest of the year as well. Check with your family, friends, and neighbors to decide on how you will communicate before, during, and after the storm.
Monthly
I check my generator. I get it running and put a load on it. I run a resistive item like a coffee pot or toaster and a high wattage device like a microwave for 10-15 minutes (I have an old working microwave in the shed). After this time, I turn off the fuel valve and run it dry. I store a minimal amount of gas in the generator tank with Sta-Bil.
Three Days Before a Storm Hits
I go fill my gas cans and top off my vehicles. I never let any of my vehicles go below a half tank. You can fill them earlier than three days just make sure you have enough Sta-Bil for all of the gas you plan to store. Don't wait till the day before or even the day of a hit to get fuel. Either nothing will be open, the line will be around several blocks, or everyone will be out of gas. I don't store more than 5-10 gallons at the house at any time. I don't have enough outside storage without taking up too much [floor] space in my shed for too long. I fill 14 5-6 gallon cans. This gives me approximately two full weeks of generator power based on the loads I have previously used for my house. If I am certain the effect of the storm will last longer, I can start cutting out creature comforts and extend that time by another week and maybe two. If the storm doesn't hit, I have the fuel available for the next storm or to transport to friends or family that do get hit. During Hurricane Wilma my brother drove down from Central Florida to me in South Florida with 14 gas cans. I got six, my neighbor got six and my brother kept two for the return trip. I was without grid power for a little over four weeks for Wilma. I also fill as many jugs of water as I can and put them in the deep freeze and the refrigerator freezer. This helps maintain the temperature for when the power is out during the storm and at night after the storm when I am I not running the generator. Turn all of your freezers and refrigerators to maximum cold setting. Wash all of your clothes, everything. You will be going through plenty of shirts, pants and underwear with all of the clean up and repair work you will be doing after the storm. Fill up your bath tubs and plug them closed.
Read the whole thing here: Hurricane Readiness
