We entered our 6 month-long hurricane season the other day and all the local news outlets were reminding us what we needed to do. Useful I suppose as Houston has recently had a major population explosion with people from other parts of the country moving here.
So I guess a word on some lessons learned from hurricanes past is appropriate. The last hurricane was a bad one. Over 95% of the city lost power and in some areas power wasn’t restored for a month. The scale of the physical destruction wasn’t on par with Katrina and New Orleans but Houston is nearly ten times the size of New Orleans and for that alone I think that the destruction involved means that we in Houston know what we are talking about when it comes to hurricanes.
Electricity – It’s not totally necessary but its damn convenient. We take it so for granted that it’s not really possible to realize all the things that we can’t do without it. Most power outages last hours, but for major disasters it can go on for days. During really bad storms even the land line telephone network will go down. The city will be one huge tangled traffic jam as all the traffic signals will fail and leave motorists relying on common courtesy and yielding the right of way to each other. Supermarkets will see tons and tons of food spoil and have to throw out it all out. Well lit streets will become as pitch black as country roads. Your comfortable home will become a sweltering hot box without any respite from the late Summer heat. Hope for a short outage but prepare for a long one.
Food – Prepare before the storm. Stock up on canned foods, shove them into the corner of the pantry, they can stay there for years if necessary. For your perishable foods, stock up on ice or make your own. Have a couple small coolers. The reason for this is that their smaller spaces can keep cool longer than a large refrigerator space. Although our fridge survived four days keeping cool on the ice we had in there. Remember that melted ice can be used as drinking or cooking water later on if need be. If you have any flour or cake mixes or whatever then you can keep busy by baking bread or making cake. Freeze dried food and military rations? You really don’t need any of that stuff. Doesn’t taste all that great and with a little forethought you can do just as well with locally available food
Water – The electric pumps to the city water mains shut down without electricity and the danger of bacteria seeping into the water supply existed for a couple of days. Filtered water or water treated with disinfectants tastes nasty. We had a water filter but luckily didn’t have to use it. We started the storm with 25 gallons of bottled water and by the time the water was safe to drink again we finished with about 8 gallons. Fill up the bathtub with water. Not to drink but to have water to flush the toilets. Ditch or pool water should be your last option. Even with filtering or disinfecting I would still advise boiling the water from these sources.
Camp stoves and charcoal – We used both for cooking. Camp stoves can stay in the box for years. Ours did and worked perfectly. A small keg of gas will keep you cooking for days. Charcoal is useful for grilling perishable meats. The smoke is also useful for keeping away pests like mosquitoes. Cooked perishables will keep longer than raw perishables. If the electricity goes out for an extended period you will want to eat your perishable foods first. Don’t forget matches.
Batteries – Probably best not to buy too long ahead of time or they’ll be dead in the box when you need them. Buy them at the beginning of August, when the chances of a hurricane in Houston really ramp up. Buy a lot. a 16 pack of D or AA or AAA batteries sounds ridiculous till you’re on day 5 of being without power and you need them cause your batteries died. The traditional sources for batteries will be picked clean of batteries really quickly. Try dollar stores or large warehouse stores.
Lights – You will need not only a flashlight but some sort of lamp to light rooms. Flashlights don’t need to be giant spotlights but they should be adequate enough to light up an area that you are working on. Lamps can be gas or electric-powered but I think you will want to reserve gas for cooking purposes. Candles are more romantic than practical. They don’t put out much light, they’re hot on muggy warm evenings, they leave a mess behind, they are fire hazards. One of those last option type of items.
Radio – Get one of those hand powered radios. preferably with AM/FM/TV/weather band dials and one that has a flashlight and cell phone charger. They work great, and some give money to the red cross when you buy them. Listen to the news for updates on what’s going on in the city. Listen for updates on electric repairs, weather updates, and news on where you can find certain resources.
Money – Yes this is a tool too. ATM’s may be out of money or out of power after a disaster and almost no one will be taking credit cards. Get a lot out. If you don’t need it you can deposit it later.
Generators – These can be useful but only if you know how to operate them. Biggest rule is operate it outdoors. During the last hurricane, 30 people had to go to the hospital because they almost died breathing in carbon monoxide. Set it up outside. With a good-sized generator you can operate your fridge for a few hours and refreeze the freezer and cool the fridge area. This can extend your food sources for weeks this way. If your neighbors can provide fuel you should think about sharing this resource. Don’t forget motor oil.
Gasoline – Goes without saying that you should top off your car’s gas tank. Even if you don’t have a power generator you should still have a spare can of gasoline for general use. During the last hurricane many gas stations had gasoline but the fuel pumps didn’t work due to the electricity being off. Again, exercise care in the use and storage of this.
Your car – Make sure your spare tire is filled up and your tools for changing a flat are there. Try to park your car in an area that will most likely not flood and hopefully away from trees. Get an emergency roadside kit for your car and shove it into a corner of your trunk. You can buy them at Walmart for almost nothing. During the first day there will be flooded streets, debris on the road, and panicky drivers. Best to stay off the streets till things settle down.
Communications – During a crisis the emergency people will commandeer all cell phone voice frequencies so calls from your cell phone will usually not work but text messages will still go through. Land lines may or may not work. But you can still keep in contact by text messaging. If you can somehow get online you can also try social media like Facebook or try utilities like Skype to contact people but make sure you keep your usage to a minimum. Buy a spare phone battery and charge it up. Get a car charger too.
Guns – If you’ve never handled them before then this is not the time to start. The rule about guns is that you only point it at what you intend shooting. So if you know you could never shoot someone then there’s really no point in getting one.
Neighbors, friends, and family – They are your ultimate resource. Share your commodities with them and they will share with you. They can also be relied on to share news or lend a hand in clearing storm damage.
Price gougers – Price gouging is defined as raising the price of necessities 20% above per-disaster prices. Necessities are things like food and water and gasoline. Things like tennis shoes or cell phones are not covered by this, neither are generators. During the last storm some guys went out-of-town to buy generators and came back to sell them at double or triple the price. They will usually set up in a strip mall parking lot and work out of the back of their car. If a cop wanders by then they usually banish. These guys deal in cash only and are usually pretty sleazy.
Above all try to keep a positive attitude on the ordeal. Everyday you wake up is a day closer to getting back to normal.
Recent Comments