Hurricane season is just around the corner; do you have your supplies?

[Makarov]

gas prices hitting 5, 6, maybe 7 bucks a gallon and the major roits, panics, and economic breakdown that would come with it.

Hmm, our gasprice is actually about 7$ a gallon right now. Norway's not the cheapest country to live in, but I belive our wages is a bit higher than average.

 

[thesurefire]

Hmm, our gasprice is actually about 7$ a gallon right now. Norway's not the cheapest country to live in, but I belive our wages is a bit higher than average.

Not only that but I'll bet in your country 20% of the population doesn't drive cars that get less then 18 MPG in city driving. Think of what would happen in your economy if gas hit 30 bucks a gallon. That probably would be about equivalent to 7$ here. Also Norway is a smaller country. Where I live pretty much everything gets trucked in from 500+ miles away, meaning the price of everything would go up.

Best
-David

 

[philiphb]

On March 1st the Red Cross sent out a notice to Amateur Radio folks. This season which starts June 1st is likely to be worse than last years with computer models showing major hits to the East Coast. "Charge your batteries!". The usual winter survival kits need to be changed over to summer kits, out with the portable cat heaters and stock-ip on instant ice and hydration packs. Rotate the three days of food using the old ones and replacing them with new ones, same goes for personal medications. After seeing last year's mess a couple of Winchester 30-30's were added to the supplies. Gas for the generator has to be rotated, using it to cut the lawn and fuel the cars and replaces with new gas. Have to remember to change the oil, get extra oil and a couple of spare spark plugs. Before the season starts have to check all the transceivers and hand-helds and the antennas. Since we may have to become rapid responders the Go-kits have to be checked. I know I'm forgetting stuff but there is a month or so to remember.

 

[ACMarina]

I live in Ohio and I'm planning on going inland

 

[Raven]

Thought I would bump this thread as a reminder. It's far better to prepare ahead of time, so you can avoid the last minute rush for batteries, water, etc.

 

[WhatMACHI]

Even though i live in a basically environmental disaster free zone, ive always grown up with a stockpile of supplies in my garage. Having grandparents lived through the war, they always seem to have a thing for over buying on canned and preserved foods, toilet paper, rice etc etc

 

[javafool]

Friday night and Saturday Barry provided us with a much needed 5 1/2" of rain and not much wind. The thing I don't hear prople (news media) talking about is that if the water temperature in the Gulf had been 8°F - 10°F warmer, which it will be in a couple of months, probably three fourths of Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg and other neighboring cities could have been virtually destroyed. To make matters worse, there would have been very little warning, no time to prepare and little time to evacuate.

This was a much closer call than most poeple realize and we really did luck out. I hope there is no repeat in August or September.

 

[Sharpdogs]

Folks will not only run out of their high blood pressure meds, many will also run out of their anti-depressants and anti-psychotics. I know that many will think I'm way over the top on this but I've actually seen most of what I'm writing about already -- here in the States.

Excellent point, I have not thought much about this, but the number of people who are anti-depressants and other meds is surprisingly large.

 

[Illum]

not too worried down here in Florida...we get the sig to evacuate every once awhile but nothing too serious have ever hit us..other than the downed trees and power lines...but being 5 feet above seal level, I suppose theres really no way to prepare for a flood

all the insurance, certificates, receipts, all the records are placed in individual ABS plastic tubs with handles. the drill has been practiced many times of how everything should be placed in the van when the time comes

as far as food and water....food is going to be primary rations of canned goods from chunkys and grain bars [I prefer not to deal with the MREs and freeze-dried foods since I haven't found a stable supply of it to work with so I base my organization on conventional household inventory]
Water will be in 2 liter bottles transfered from 5 gallon jugs we receive from Crystal springs every two weeks or so, the hurricane preparation literature says "1 gallon per person per day" but previous experiences found that to be unnecessary and heavy...for survival reasons on an extended outage I can always filter questionable water using socks and rely on chlorine tablets anyway.

lighting wouldn't be an issue aside from flashlights [batteries, I need more batteries] I've built a couple Luxeon fixtures epoxied to CPU heatsinks that run off USB...and with those AA powered USB chargers that are so popular these days...its a pretty good alternative to use them instead of flashlights that uses more expensive cells for area lighting
having 23 flashlights, 2 florescent lanterns, and 3 kerosene burning lamps ensures that everyone in the house have at least two spare lights aside from the one they are using. as much as I hate to admit, lights are expendable, lives aren't...if some guy is trying to steal the light, its better to hand it to him than stand your ground with a pocketknife without any experience to hand-to-hand combat:candle:

Tarps, sleeping bags are all rolled and prepared, we have a 4 people tent in case we needed it. sleeping bags lose their ability to insulate when they become wet so theres a few packs of "space blankets" in the bag also.

a Toolbox is assembled and a few hatchets in case we have to clear a way out but after 11 years of facing hurricanes we just relied on the chainsaw. a few pocket knives and two SAKs which comes quite handy as pocket toolboxes. aside from the generalities of tools in the garage I found a few expandable hiking sticks that resists breakage and by tieing pocket saws to the end with nylon cords it makes a pretty good saw....and a improvised weapon.

only inadequate part would be communication, in the event that cellphones don't work all we have is signal mirrors....I need to locate some walkie-talkies:green:. I suppose I can start fires by using matches, lighters, or simply a few pairs or lithium batteries if necessary:thinking:

the only real issue is our "get away vehicle"
its a 96 Nissan Quest with over 140 thousand miles on it...new batteries, replaced the coolant piping, wipers...and now the gearbox has issues:green:
In the event that it cannot be driven [really doubt that can ever happen] its a pretty good shelter with the radio, air condition, and a 400watt inverter for basic goods in terms of lighting [cant expect the baby inverter to power a microwave].

EDIT: plastic bags, they come pretty handy for those "impossible to waterproof objects"

 

[cutlerylover]

I consider myself lucky in that I don't really live in an area that has much natural disasters...Most of my life I lived in North NJ, and I am now living in North East PA, so the worst thign we have to be prepared for is some flooding...So in the house I just have plenty of flashlights, lol, and in the cars I have aof course more flashlights, and a emergency kit with flares, spare cloths, and canned food in case we ever get stuck in the car on the way home...

 

[chiphead]

I've been adding to my "bug-out" since Rita came to close to home (Austin,TX).Avian Flu, power outages,911+1 and living on the edge of the New Madris faultline can wear on a guy. At work during or last tornado I was the only with a flashlight(s) and a weather radio. It's funny how women seem gravitate to the guy with the most stuff.

chiphead

 

[billgr]

are you sure they didn't gravitate to you cause you use Brylcream in your hair

 

[chiphead]

I hope everyone has an all-hazard weather radio!

chiphead

 

[spacetroll]

Alot of my gear is AA powered. Radios - GMRS, FRS, CB, SSB, AM/FM/SB, WEATHER - Many flashlights both incandesant and LED (PrincetonTec, Fenix's, chinese knockoff's) also GPS

You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a AA battery. Think about how many AA's you could scrounge from remotes etc. All conveinience stores etc. have them, your neighbors will have them. Try finding a handful of CR123's in your neighborhood or 7-11.

Don't get me wrong I love my Streamlight Stinger HP five mega upgrade, Magcharger, G&P Scorpion, Pelican M6 etc.. But if the SHTF and power is out for days and days the last items you'll be relying on will be AA LED's and AA radios.

 

[DieselDave]

I am all stocked up on batteries, flashlights, water, way to many generators and canned goods. I have the ability to store well over 100 gallons of gas not including fuel in the cars. I also have two BOB's which are what I plan to use the next time a hurricane approaches because I'm not sticking around this time! I now have a trailer I can load all my emergency gear into and beat feet.

Everything is organized now so I can be loaded and gone in less than 2 hours. All our files now stay in portable boxes. All my emergency tools like chainsaws, small generators, drills, circular saws, are now in metal job boxes. My mechanic tools are now kept in a carry case. I have tarps folded and ready as well as rolls of duct tape and lots of rope.

The only extra things I would need for the first two weeks when I returned if it was really, really bad would be bleach, fuel, ice, a little hot chow and more water.

 

[illusion]

Where do you all buy your emergency gear?

 

[Sharpdogs]

I guess New Yorkers and those people surrounding the city should start praparing. This includes me, I'm only 18 miles from NYC. There was similar article to the one below on MSN yesterday.

http://www.wnbc.com/news/13484022/detail.html

 

[Sub_Umbra]

I guess New Yorkers and those people surrounding the city should start praparing. This includes me, I'm only 18 miles from NYC. There was similar article to the one below on MSN yesterday.

http://www.wnbc.com/news/13484022/detail.html

Absolutely! Being somewhat prepared for NY's once-every-75-year-Big-One will also put you and yours in good stead for the 7-10 day blackouts that have plagued east coast cities over the last few years. If any of your loved ones are elderly, infirm, ill, very young, dependant on any medications or otherwise fit into the "special needs" catagory now is the time to think about them. This kind of event is hard on everyone involved but may be deadly for some.

IMO the writing is on the wall about the power grid. It's an example of a part of our infrastructure that is going into a long term decline and we are no longer a productive enough society to be able to afford to fix it. The serious blackouts we have seen recently are evidence of a multi-year trend with no end in sight.

IMO the good news about the increased media coverace of NY's hurricane threat is that those who are spurred to prepare for it will also be in much better shape for the power outages that are likely to occur as the summer heats up. The supplies that they put up for hurricanes will serve them very well for many, many different types of emergencies which don't seem to pose a tangable threat to most.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=241

I have not eaten any of mine yet, but others who have reported they were good, but somewhat flat when made into scrambeled eggs. They got good results making omeletts out of them. They can be substituted in recipies where eggs are called for.

Now that a whole year has past some here may be iinterested in a report on this product. We bought a case of the #10 cans of dried whole eggs from Honeyville as soon as Ras_Thavas posted the link.

Good price. I think they shipped the case for free. We opened one can and I've made a few things with it. As mentioned the dried eggs are great when part of something else. We've had great success using it in fried rice and egg salad sammies.

There is an oxidizer pack in each can that must really work as we have been using from the same can for a year and it's still good.

Thanks again for the great tip, Ras.

Has anyone bought any Non Fat Dried Milk that they really liked in #10 cans?

 

[nightshade]

Has anyone tried the UHT variety of milk? The product seems to be more accepted in Europe than the US. Is the 6 month shelf life realistic?

One brand that I've seen locally: http://www.diversifiedfoods.com/DFI_BordenUHTmilk.htm