Are you prepared for a natural disaster?

[Deb in IA]

EROS, our stupid PC is about to be shot (sorry, I know you are against the death penalty, but in this case, I believe it is JUSTIFIABLE COMPUTER-CIDE).

It is old and outdated, and the kids have loaded so many games onto it, we can't even get on the Internet anymore. It keeps telling us "Your hard drive is low on space."

As for the bathrooms, our last power outage occured in the middle of summer, no storms, and at 6:30 am, as I was trying to get ready for work, and DH just happened to be out-of-town . There I was, in the shower, when suddenly BAM! No lights, and the water trickling down slowly as our pump (electric-driven) gave out. No shower, no shampoo, no blow drier, no makeup!!!

After calling the power company and getting an blasted automated answering menu, I dug out the flashlights, and got the kids up, while cursing Eric for dragging us out to live in this God-forsaken farmland. Just as I decided I would just tell my patients that I had had a terribly rough night on call, the LIGHTS came back on!

That's when I decided we really needed a generator . . .

 

[Nagle]

I'm going to be 40 next week. Does that rate as a natural disaster?

 

[newmousecateer]

Originally posted by Nagle
I'm going to be 40 next week. Does that rate as a natural disaster?

We have a generator, 2 chords of wood for the fireplace, candles, flashlights, batteries and plenty of food in the house. The generator is powerful enough for the furnace, lights and appliances throughout the whole house. (Not that I'm an over-planner or anything )

 

[Kermit]

We don't really have much. We have emergency candles since the power does go out occassionally, but that's about it. We don't really get hit by too many storms. Tornados are most likely, and they usually destroy a small enough spot that rescue workers get there soon. I do stock up on stuff when winter weather is coming, but probably not enough. I try to use as few processed foods as possible, so we have almost no canned goods, except tomato products. I guess we could live off of tomato sauce and paste if we had to, but I'd almost rather have tc's spam.

 

[Lucky4me]

Unless my house gets blown away, yes I'm prepared. We heat with wood, have a small generator, and there are at least 50 gallons of water in the basement. I have stuff to treat it if need be. I also have a good stock of canned goods and food that will keep for long periods of time. I have enough candles to light the entire city and a ton of batteries.

It wasn't really Y2K or a natural disaster that had me worried but 9/11. Who the heck knows what will happen next? If I need to hole up here for awhile, I can. So can the rest of my extended family. I counted on the fact they wouldn't be prepared and I have enough for us all.

Call me paranoid, but I'd feel even better prepared if I still lived in Montana rather than New York......

 

[nativetxn]

Well, pretty prepared. We have plenty of water and candles and batteries. We probably have enough canned goods to last us if something really bad happened. I should add to the canned goods though. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[EROS]

Originally posted by Deb in IA
No shower, no shampoo, no blow drier, no makeup!!!

Hey, when WOMEN were WOMEN (and MEN were MEN), those frontier gals bathed once a week, wore no makeup, and simply dashed a sprinkle or two each day of perfume on their torso . Sounds like those IOWA farmgirls are getting soft these days .........

 

[shortbun]

I have a two week supply of food and water, a generator and
plenty of charcoal to cook with. I have emergency candles,
batteries and flashlights galore. I have plenty of pain relievers,
a filled antiboitic script, my cars always have 3/4 tank of gas.
I even have backup cash stashed. It's the way my mom trained
me. I have loads of camping gear too-great sleeping bags and
lots of waterproof tarps. Yep.

 

[catsrule]

no

 

[Laurabearz]

We have a battery back up for our sump...... DH says we have enough food in the house to feen an army for 2 weeks (although we would run out of milk, eggs andmeat by then) Tonz of batteries......

Lots of firewood, and otherstuff we could burn.......

As for flashlights......... do the spinny lights (with pooh and tinkerbell) count?

My PC also has a battery back up........

Water is the one thing we dont have enough off.......

We are toying with getting a gerenator though........

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

So happy to hear alot of you are prepared!!

One little note.... for those with emergency candles. Please be very careful with them. I highly suggest getting flashlights and lanterns.

There have been many large and devastating fires in the last few years during power outages and people were using candles.

And for all those canned goods.... make sure you have a "manual" can opener. You never realize how much you depend on your can opener until you need it

(Can you tell I do disaster preparedness for a living )

Debbie

 

[wovenwonder]

Originally posted by EpcotKilterFan
(Can you tell I do disaster preparedness for a living )

Debbie

Okay Debbie -- how about a personal list of suggestions from a 'professional' as to being the most prepared?

 

[denisem]

No matter how well prepared I think I'd be, I'm sure I'd forget SUMPTHIN' important!

Denise < ---- has her feisty 83 y.o. mother (who lived the Depression) living with us, so we're probably more prepared than most

 

[CindyKansas]

Living in tornado country we have a survival kit we call it our "Tornado Bag" It has extra clothes, water, batteries, radio, can opener, prescriptions, first aid kit, etc.