Local disasters and extreme weather events seem to be more common these days. What do you do to prepare for emergencies? As winter approaches I am thinking I need to do more than just make sure I have enough propane in the BBQ and have water and extra batteries on hand.
What do you do for emergency preparedness?
- Thread starter Rusty Blade
- Start date
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
Living in the tropics here, we are well versed in emergency kits for cyclone and flooding. Basically we need to be self-sufficient to live for at least 7 days without supplies of electricity, fuel, food, water, etc.. What some forget is that, without electricity (no cards working), cash may be needed and banks/ATM’s will be down.
Oklahoma is the "Korea" of the CONUS. Our mild Falls and Springs are only about a week long. The rest of the time? Extremely hot, humid summers with torrential rainfall, thunderstorms, severe flooding and destructive F5 Tornadoes, that flatten huge swaths of populated areas, taking lives and property with it, Or extremely frigid winters with ground drying and cracking drought, with the occasional blizzard, white out snowstorms thrown in.
And then there are the occasional Earthquakes to worry about because of all the fracking. So most okies, store generators and gasoline for when the power grids go down, charcoal grills and gas stoves to cook until the power comes back on and firearms to hunt for wild game or protection from looters.
And then there are the occasional Earthquakes to worry about because of all the fracking. So most okies, store generators and gasoline for when the power grids go down, charcoal grills and gas stoves to cook until the power comes back on and firearms to hunt for wild game or protection from looters.
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We live in a rural area, so are accustomed to self sufficiency. We have spare gas bottles to cook with if the power goes out, and we run on tank water. We have gardens and an orchard for food, and buy staples (rice, flour, dried beans, etc) in bulk.
I also have enough blades and soap to tough it out for at least a couple of months... So, come the apocalypse--and irrespective of how bad things get, I'll be sporting a DFS.
I also have enough blades and soap to tough it out for at least a couple of months... So, come the apocalypse--and irrespective of how bad things get, I'll be sporting a DFS.
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
A man with his priorities sorted out.I also have enough blades and soap to tough it out for at least a couple of months... So, come the apocalypse--and irrespective of how bad things get, I'll be sporting a DFS.
I have a generator and plenty of gasoline on hand. I keep no less than 200 lbs of propane around for the grill and a couple of heaters. I have a kerosene heater and fuel. I also have a portable AC because we have lost power during heatwave. I always have a surplus of food. We can cook on the grill or use one of the Coleman liquid fuel stoves. Worst case I have a case of MRE's.
If something happens to the house, we can either move in the camper on site or move it to a more suitable location.
I also keep a stash of cash. I figure if the powers out, cash will be king.
If something happens to the house, we can either move in the camper on site or move it to a more suitable location.
I also keep a stash of cash. I figure if the powers out, cash will be king.
I have 3 small children. If there was any kind of natural disaster as long as our house is still livable we're "bugging in." We have a generator with 10-15 gallons of gas on hand, depending on how often I've mowed the lawn. We do a lot of camping so we have all the gear for that including cooking stoves/fuel. Since we do a lot of backpacking I bought a months supply of Mountain House Freeze dried meals. They have a 30yr shelf life and we use and replace them when we camp. Lots of canned food, both store bought and home canned. Flour/Rice/Beans/Salt/Sugar are bought in bulk, separated and stored in Mylar bags with O2 absorbers and packed in 5 gallon buckets with desiccant packs. I have 25gallons of water stored in the house and we have a well that can either be powered with the generator or accessed with a hand pump. We have plenty of fire wood and propane. As long as the gas is on we can power the furnace with the genny. If it comes down to it I can shoot the squirrels, deer, and doves that are frequently in my yard. And I have enough Bourbon and Pipe tobacco to last me 50-60 years.
If we absolutely have to leave the house we have 2 weeks worth of freeze-dried meals and other camping gear in a tote in the garage. All your tents, sleeping bags, etc, can be thrown into our Backpacking packs within 5 minutes.
I was in New Orleans and the surrounding areas post Katrina working as a Paramedic. I saw first hand what happens when you're not prepared. Even folks who's houses weren't flooded had no food or potable water 3 days after the storm. If I can help it, I will never be in the same position.
If we absolutely have to leave the house we have 2 weeks worth of freeze-dried meals and other camping gear in a tote in the garage. All your tents, sleeping bags, etc, can be thrown into our Backpacking packs within 5 minutes.
I was in New Orleans and the surrounding areas post Katrina working as a Paramedic. I saw first hand what happens when you're not prepared. Even folks who's houses weren't flooded had no food or potable water 3 days after the storm. If I can help it, I will never be in the same position.
Totally unprepared. If it's that bad, I'm a goner. The only thing I have planned is to grab the flat-screen off my bedroom wall when The Big One (yes, I'm in SoCal); I'd feel like an idiot if I sat in bed and watched the teevee hit the floor.
I live in N.Ireland we just get rain most of the time. In autumn/fall it rains, in the spring/summer it rains except for around a week in June/July it stops then its sunny then its back to rain sometimes we get all 4 sessions in one day. Hence the old Irish saying If you don't like the weather give it 5 minutes. If your ever coming here bring a coat no matter what time of the year but you'll always get a warm welcome 
Yeah, I’m in Northern California. Close to some faults. Did I spell that right? Anyway, I have a water filter, four five gallon buckets filled with dehydrated food. Two 50 gallon rain water collection barrels. A garden and a dozen chickens.
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
In my part of the world, there's no earthquakes. Nothing serious, anyway. No active volcanos, and I'm 50 miles from the coast, so no big waves will reach me. Too urban for wild fires, although neighbours are potentially thick enough that fire is still a minor risk. High enough up a hill for floods to not reach me. That has been proven twice since I've lived here. I'm on the water company's priority list in case supplies are interrupted, and power outages are short lived.
Add into that, limited mobility, and no dependents. Whatever happens, I'm staying put, although I might need to break out torches and a camping stove.
Add into that, limited mobility, and no dependents. Whatever happens, I'm staying put, although I might need to break out torches and a camping stove.
No matter how prepared you think you are, Mother Nature has other plans. We were in our house 8-9 years when in 2011 Irene (a rain event) hit. We never had a long power outage, and I didn't plan for one, until Irene. Our power was out for 40 hours. We were on well water, but had enough bottled water for a few days. Our above-ground pool provided water for flushing toilets. The major scare was having a finished basement with no power to the sump pump and watching the water rise. Thankfully, I got along with the guy behind me. He back-fed his generator into his house and we ran 150' of extension cords to his house which provided just enough power to keep our sump pump, running at low speed, from overflowing. By the next day, the neighbors on both sides of me had 12" of water in their basements, but we survived.
The next day I drove to a neighboring State and bought the last Honda generator I could find. Because our well pump was hardwired into the panel, I had an electrician install a 10 circuit transfer switch. The next year Sandy hit and we had no power for 9 days. I kept a gas reserve of 10 gallons or so, but unfortunately, gasoline was hard to get. My gas station had a generator to pump gas, but they couldn't get deliveries from the distributor. Thankfully, it wasn't a rain event and the sump pump wasn't a worry, but I had to ration the gas by running the generator 3 hrs on and 3 off. Temps dropped, but with my transfer switch I could run the furnace to warm us up occasionally. Family and friends used to come over in the morning to get a hot cup of coffee and warm up. We did sometimes have to drive an hour to stations with gas and wait in line, but we survived.
After Sandy, I began stockpiling 30+ gallons of gas (treated) before a storm event. Every 4-6 months, I would use it in our cars and stockpile fresh gas. We sold the house late last year with the generator and most of the cans.
Good Post. My main worry is always the amount of gas we have on hand. I have a transfer switch installed and I bought a genny big enough that it can power or freezer, deep freeze, furnace, sump pump, and well. If we have to I can siphon gas from our cars. My biggest issue with gas storage is space. I really don’t want 40gal of flammable liquid anywhere in our house, but our HOA won’t allow me to build a storage building. In a perfect world any long power outages would be in the winter and I could just put all the food outside. The sump doesn’t worry me as much because I have a battery backup and a backup battery for that system. If I run out out gas and can no longer run the sump out comes the bucket brigade. Of course with the kind of rain y’all got with Irene I may not be able to keep up with just buckets.
Absolute worse case scenario we head to the in-laws.
I've got lots of camping gear which would help in a disaster.
Power: a portable solar panel which can easily keep a phone, radio and torch charged at most times of year.
Water: a Millbank bag (excellent traditional piece of kit) and a Sawyer micro to filter water. You can drink out of muddy ditches with this set up (I've had to). The Millbank bag gets rid of mud and silt then you sterilise either with a good boil or a filter like the Sawyer.
Cooking: portable wood stove. There are a variety of designs for camping. Some are simply a small metal box. Mine is a clever dual-wall design which ignites the smoke when it's going well (Wild Woodgas Mk II). As long as you can find wood, you'll always be able to cook or boil water. And you don't need much wood: a couple of handfuls of knuckle-sized chunks will burn for almost half an hour.
This is all light and highly portable - part of my loadout for trips into the mountains. That could be a plus in an emergency. However, realistically, you can't carry more than a week or two's food if you're travelling under your own steam. Help had better be close at hand.
Early last year, when the first covid cases were discovered outside China, I immediately realised this was going to spread round the world and it could be very, very bad. I thought about buying 25kg sacks of cornmeal and lentils as an insurance policy. One of each is about 75 days of food for one person. You'd get bored but you wouldn't starve.
Power: a portable solar panel which can easily keep a phone, radio and torch charged at most times of year.
Water: a Millbank bag (excellent traditional piece of kit) and a Sawyer micro to filter water. You can drink out of muddy ditches with this set up (I've had to). The Millbank bag gets rid of mud and silt then you sterilise either with a good boil or a filter like the Sawyer.
Cooking: portable wood stove. There are a variety of designs for camping. Some are simply a small metal box. Mine is a clever dual-wall design which ignites the smoke when it's going well (Wild Woodgas Mk II). As long as you can find wood, you'll always be able to cook or boil water. And you don't need much wood: a couple of handfuls of knuckle-sized chunks will burn for almost half an hour.
This is all light and highly portable - part of my loadout for trips into the mountains. That could be a plus in an emergency. However, realistically, you can't carry more than a week or two's food if you're travelling under your own steam. Help had better be close at hand.
Early last year, when the first covid cases were discovered outside China, I immediately realised this was going to spread round the world and it could be very, very bad. I thought about buying 25kg sacks of cornmeal and lentils as an insurance policy. One of each is about 75 days of food for one person. You'd get bored but you wouldn't starve.
Ron R
I survived a lathey foreman
We just had a freak flash flood in Merit(7,000 population), British Colombia Canada. The whole town is under 2-4 feet of water and the main high-ways are washed out with large rock slides. Your trapped basically with only helicopters bringing in supplies, very strange storms for this time of the year in the Rocky mountains IMO.
I think if a person might stand a chance for shelter if he has a trailer on high ground that he can move around, what a mess and going into winter is not a good situation for anybody. Temperatures at night -2 to -4 Celsius at night.
Cloths, food, potable water & cash is sure nice commodities to have. Very dangerous times for these folks.
I think if a person might stand a chance for shelter if he has a trailer on high ground that he can move around, what a mess and going into winter is not a good situation for anybody. Temperatures at night -2 to -4 Celsius at night.
Cloths, food, potable water & cash is sure nice commodities to have. Very dangerous times for these folks.
- Thread starter
- #16
I have been following this story on the news. Hard to imagine...and the effects, even after the water recedes, will take months. Our prayers are with BC.
I live in southwestern Ohio. The weather here is not bad, no really cold skies, or fire; not like California or Oregon.
We live in Appalachia so no natural disasters. We had power out for 5 days once but we have moved to a place with gas fireplaces, heaters and a stove. We also have a gas grill. We have a fully stocked pantry and live in a neighborhood. We have 2 AWD vehicles and chains. Town water and sewer.
And guns. Lots of those. And deer. Lots of those.
And guns. Lots of those. And deer. Lots of those.
Singapore has no natural disasters, no freakish weather (just hot and humid all the time!) and stable government so there is no incentive to have any emergency preparation. I do have $2k cash in the safe which is basically a fireproof box with key documents. Most importantly, I make sure the wine fridge is well-stocked and a gin delivery service on speed dial.
I dislike generators. Gasoline is volatile. Instead, 
I have a battery bank of marine and gel 12volts, several solar panels and solar controllers. A 2000watt inverter makes enough AC possible to run the fridge, or charge many devices, or run led lights, fans and TV.
The other day, wife's car wouldn't start. She immediately stole mine. Figuring it out, I put a controller and 100watt panel charging her car battery. 45 minutes later, with that weak battery topped off, car started right up - and I got a new battery for free under warranty, and the thief returned my car, so. Everything worked out.
AA
I have a battery bank of marine and gel 12volts, several solar panels and solar controllers. A 2000watt inverter makes enough AC possible to run the fridge, or charge many devices, or run led lights, fans and TV.The other day, wife's car wouldn't start. She immediately stole mine. Figuring it out, I put a controller and 100watt panel charging her car battery. 45 minutes later, with that weak battery topped off, car started right up - and I got a new battery for free under warranty, and the thief returned my car, so. Everything worked out.
AA
