Using a small storm as a test run for preparedness.

We just got through riding out Hurricane Sally. I was working in the emergency room during the early part of landfall, and I drove home in the Wrangler about an hour or so before the eyewall landed on us. It was a maxed out category two storm. All in all, not terrible. No damage to our house or vehicles, very little to clean up on the property. Parents and siblings doing well too. We lost power for only about two days.

My wife and I are of the prepper mindset, and we like to use the large thunderstorms we get here on the Gulf Coast to shore up our preps every year. We rarely get to “practice” with cyclones like tropical storms and small hurricanes like Sally because they don’t hit as often as they did when we were growing up. We were able to check some boxes this time and make a few changes to our list. For example, drop the kerosene and get more lamp oil, because kerosene smokes and lamp oil does not. As always, need more gas cans, more propane tanks, more ammo, more rain barrels and more sandbags. Going to get a burn barrel and a tow chain. Need to get the CB radio running. There is always something you think of when the lights are out for an extended period of time, that you won’t ever think about when the lights stay on.

One thing to note is that this was originally supposed to hit much farther west of us as a tropical storm. So instead of getting a rain band with no wind, we got a direct hit from a category two storm, and it was almost a category three. Easily managed, but still a big difference. Always expect the worst. I had just told my wife that all of the storms that had come near us for the last several years always ended up west of where they predicted. This one ended up well EAST instead, right on top of us.

The way we prepare for the big hurricanes (that will come eventually) translates pretty well to how we would prepare for some other grid-down disaster. You still have to think of it in terms of hierarchy. Shelter, water, food, security. Once those essentials are handled, you move to the secondary needs, medical, commo, intelligence and transportation.

I guess I should have guessed we’d get a lot of storms this year. It’s been a hell of a year, 2020. And we still have an election left to go…

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10 Comments

  1. Anonymous September 22, 2020 at 07:04

    5

  2. Anonymous September 22, 2020 at 07:42

    3.5

  3. Gray Man September 22, 2020 at 07:54

    5

  4. pnoldguy September 22, 2020 at 09:00

    Yes, it was a test of preps. One of the preps not usually on the list is a window air conditioner for the bedroom. Trying to sleep in high humidity is uncomfortable! An extension cord to the fridge saves the cold food and the preps make the days bearable. After a week without power one must pause to think how our ancestors managed before electricity. Those are skills many do not possess in the current population. Read or re-read ‘Alas, Babylon’ written in 1959 for a chilling look at what can be.

    • Publius September 22, 2020 at 09:39

      One must remember that the population in the State of Florida pre-electricity (1900) was 500K. That’s half the population of Jacksonville, FL today for comparison. Many of those residents were not “full-time” and resided only from Fall thru Spring. In addition, homes were built to accommodate the unique weather Florida has https://www.curbed.com/2017/7/20/16003184/old-houses-air-conditioning-summer. Homes had large porches covering the windows, high ceilings, transom windows and cupola’s one the roof for ventilation. By comparison, homes today are meant to keep the conditioned air inside. They do not “breathe” as homes in the past did.

      Most of our ancestors did not live in the humid swamps of Florida without electricity. Those that did relied on architectural details to allow venting and cooling. That is how they managed.

  5. Anonymous September 22, 2020 at 09:38

    4.5

  6. Curious Passerby September 22, 2020 at 10:55

    Has anyone here ever seen Steve Harris’ videos? He offers to sell you training for dealing with power emergencies, but even if you don’t pay for the training, the tips and ideas he discusses are informative in their own right. Visit his site, too. His site offers amazon links to the products he discusses and he gives you enough info to do your own homework. Basically, he shows how you can turn your pickup truck into a generator for your house in an emergency. To prove the concept, he’s done things like plugging 5 bread makers in to make bread or several ice machines. His tips are worth checking out.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXpupAbU4NM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8a7YDTTd28

  7. James September 22, 2020 at 17:36

    I would think the faux pandemic and the shortages related to it would be a good wake up call for folks,did see this season a huge increase in home gardens and chickens ect.,at least some folks got a step closer to being self sufficient.I agree power outages ect. does wake one up quick to what holes they have in their plans,filling mine as best as I can.

    Food/clothing/tools reasonably priced right now,get shopping for what you need.

    Curious,thanks for video,I always learn as much from comments as I do from articles with sites like this.

    Grey,thanks for sharing your experience and glad you came out relatively unscathed.

  8. Curious Passerby September 22, 2020 at 19:09

    It took me some searching, but I found an old post from Bayou Renaissance Man from his Katrina experiences. https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2008/08/lessons-learned-from-hurricanes-katrina.html
    He learned a lot of lessons the hard way during Hurrican Katrina.
    His points include:
    1. Have a bug-out kit ready at all times.
    2. Renew supplies in your bug-out kit on a regular basis.
    3. Plan on needing a LOT more supplies than you think.
    4. In a real emergency, forget about last-minute purchases.
    5. Make sure your vehicle will carry your essential supplies.
    6. A big bug-out vehicle can be a handicap.
    7. Make sure you have a bug-out place handy.
    8. Provide entertainment for younger children.
    9. Pack essentials first, then luxuries
    10. Don’t plan on fuel being available en route.
    11. Have enough money with you for at least two weeks.
    12. Don’t be sure that a disaster will be short-term.
    13. Don’t rely on government-run shelters if at all possible.
    14. Warn your friends not to bring others with them!!!
    15. Have account numbers, contact addresses and telephone numbers for all important persons and institutions.
    16. Have portable weapons and ammo ready to hand.

    He has a lot more info at that link. Check it out for a real world AAR.

  9. Publius September 22, 2020 at 20:58

    Here is a recent article from SurvivalBlog: https://survivalblog.com/hurricane-preparedness-floridian-style-r-l/

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