For those who missed it the first time around;
There's another reason to have a rock solid supply of safe water that I've never read about anywhere. It is kind of counterintuitive. Whenever we hear Public Service Announcements about preparedness it's always the same old drumbeat -- water, water, water! If we do our own research on...
www.candlepowerforums.com
Written by a person who /knew/ what he was talking about. 🕯️
Sound advice. I'll add my story to it:
I actually was rather blasé about getting water for a hurricane. I've been through numerous hurricanes over the years, including many Cat 4 hurricanes. We'd never lost water service in any of them.
I always have a 30-40 bottle Costco pack of water at home at any given time. Many of them are kept in the freezer or fridge and cycled through. I also have a couple of Sawyer water filters I travel with, even to civilised areas. I also have a 110v distiller. Right before a storm hit, we'd flush the water heater and fill the tubs and any containers with water, although this was always a fruitless exercise and acted more as a security blanket.
...that was until Cat 5 Hurricane Ian showed up and stalled over my home.
The hurricane's 15-20' storm surge absolutely scraped buildings clean off their pilings and foundations. Each building ripped off the foundation also ripped the water lines wide open. Pipes in the ground also were shifted and broke by the surge and the weight of the water above. When that happens 10+ thousand times, there isn't enough water in the system. Some of the potable water pumps also were damaged by flooding.
By the first full day after the hurricane, water distribution sites were starting to pop up from various organizations. By the second full day there was more water being handed out than you could use. (not a bad thing) There was never a shortage of places to get water and most of the time it was free.
It would be 16 days before all of the areas (minus the islands) had potable water again. Having the Sawyer filters and distiller made this process so much easier... although many times I just drank tap water. What was being pumped out of the water plants was clean. It was just the distribution system that was damaged.
Due to our HOA making all the wrong decisions, it was nearly 8 months before our water pumps were replaced. The bathtub and other water stored actually lasted 4 months out there. We'd throw more bleach in the water every time we were out there. We weren't living out there though. We abandoned ship after a week, realizing that the HOA was in waay over their heads and we wouldn't be going back anytime soon. We'd go out multiple times a week to try to salvage what we could and to clean up the place. It's been 517 days and we're still not back home yet.... they're saying "maybe" July. I suspect it'll be October.