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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: March 22 2011 at 8:59pm | IP Logged
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This morning the kids and I attended a very informal presentation on Earthquake Preparedness. I'm sure those of you who were not hs growing up and attended school remember those firedrills or "drop and roll" drills.
Unfortunately, my kids have not grown up with this. So right after the Japan earthquake a mom from one of our hs groups decided our children really need to go through the motions and at least as a goup hear the basics of a drill.
We met outside a library: she read some statistics, showed the kids the basic things to do during an earthquake, then we went into the library walked around looking for hazards/dangers, came back out and discussed creating home emergency plans and prepared kits with food & supplies.
She emailed us some links to sites for us to look at home. We all agreed, while yes we all think about these things, there is something about doing it as a group that really gets the kids thinking and planning.
I think it was a wonderful thing she did and we were glad to participate.
Has anyone done something similar? Or how have you prepared your children to deal with emergencies?
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Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 22 2011 at 10:20pm | IP Logged
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Yeah I grew up with the whole Earthquake drill thing.. we're in an area that is really really low for Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and tornadoes. Flood would also be pretty rare.. so fire is our worst danger.
And my dh is the training officer at the city fire station.. and unlike the cobblers children.. that means that every group we're part of that might want to do any sort of tour of the fire station or such.. goes through my dh and so we've done that more than most. 
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guitarnan
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| Posted: March 22 2011 at 11:15pm | IP Logged
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Oh boy. I am the Queen of Disaster Prep. Ask anyone who knows me in real life!
We do family "talk-throughs" on an occasional basis. We drill when I think family members are getting complacent. We have emergency plans that involve communications with extended family (tip: if a disaster happens and you are looking for out of state family members, text message them. Your text may go through when a call cannot). I have "earthquake food" even though I live in Hurricane Land instead of Earthquake Country. I have a manual can opener, two Dutch ovens, fuel, matches, canned food, etc.
I do not own a generator and we need to fix that.
I have lived through a big earthquake and two hurricanes, not to mention the panic after a big Calif. quake, after which none of us could figure out if my disabled aunt was alive. I called from out of state and talked with her, whew! (Tip: in-state comms fail first. Designate an out-of state relative to make those critical calls...quickly.)
If you live in Earthquake Country and are near the ocean (3 - 5 miles from shore), you MUST train your loved ones to think: "Earthquake + Time = Tsunami" so they have enough time to get to high ground. Do not rely on the government or schools to do this for you. Knowledge is survival.
I could go on (and will, for anyone brave enough to PM me!), but in then end what matters is that there are many things we can to to help ourselves survive. We just need to know and do them.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: March 23 2011 at 1:57pm | IP Logged
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Nancy, I have to ask. What do you think of dehydrating food machines? Have you used them in preparing your emergency food? We noticed Costco online sells a bucket of dehydrated meals (we figure we would need way more than one bucket). So my dh trying to be as resourceful as he can wants to buy a dehydrator. We just have no idea what would be good to purchase at a reasonable price  . (I should mention he wants this as well becasue he is a backpacker and the dehydrated food packages get pretty expensive too)
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Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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guitarnan
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| Posted: March 23 2011 at 2:10pm | IP Logged
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I haven't used one, but it sounds like a great idea, especially with backpackers in your family.
Maybe someone else has used one?
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 23 2011 at 2:22pm | IP Logged
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I have used one and know people who have also.. there's a learning curve as far as how thick to slice things and how long to cure them and the quality may not be what you're used to for purchased foods.
Also you may want to check into the actual cost.. because while dehydrated food cost more.. you have to buy more food (by weight) to get the same amount of dehydrated foods (by weight). Which is also why I rarely used mine and ended up getting rid of it.
There's also the freeze dried foods that are out there, that I've heard the flavor is of a higher quality than the dehydrated foods.
Nancy if you're talking longer term, I'm sure I could give you a run for your money. What I'm less good at is the "emergency kits" type of preparedness.. but that's probably because I just don't find that we have a high probability of needing to go that quickly.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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LisaD
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| Posted: March 24 2011 at 9:38am | IP Logged
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We live in CA, and we are never as prepared as we should be. We have done the walkthrough of the house several times, identifying hazards, and practicing an emergency evacuation plan. The organizing of emergency supplies is something we have put off for a long time, but are trying to take care of this spring. The kids also know that if an earthquake wakes them in the night, they are not to jump out of bed and run to mom and dad. They know to stay in bed until mom or dad comes to get them.
My dad was a fireman...he always insisted that we sleep with all bedroom doors closed. He said that closed doors can mean precious extra minutes for firefighters to find you in a blaze. This has been hard for me as a mom, since I like to be able to hear the kids in the night. When my husband is traveling, I always have all the kids camp out in my room!
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: March 24 2011 at 10:36am | IP Logged
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LisaD wrote:
| My dad was a fireman...he always insisted that we sleep with all bedroom doors closed. He said that closed doors can mean precious extra minutes for firefighters to find you in a blaze. This has been hard for me as a mom, since I like to be able to hear the kids in the night. When my husband is traveling, I always have all the kids camp out in my room! |
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Open doors at bedtime is a rule in my house. I would love to get rid of them completely, just can't get dh to sign off on it  . I'd love to hear more about why it saves them time. I grew up in apartments and I hear you about fires!
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Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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guitarnan
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A closed door can block a fire's progress for a few minutes, giving the occupant of the room time to block the space under the door with a towel or clothing (to keep smoke out) and crawl to a window to escape or yell for help.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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florasita
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| Posted: March 24 2011 at 8:02pm | IP Logged
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we live in the center of the country prairie so we haven't really discussed the earthquake thing aside from when it happens elsewhere and is on the news .
We do have winter survival stuff in the vehicle ,sleeping bags , candles, shovels , extra socks , hats , mitts etc. same with summer survival stuff as we get extreme heat as well as cold .
We always do the fire saftey thing each fall and I was really impressed with our older ds last yr. When he was staying at my mother's place she'd gone out for the morning he was still asleep when she left . he awoke to a smoke filled house . he immedietly went to ground level and did the check the door for heat thing . he then crawled out of the house to saftey and went and got help from a nieghbour .He phoned me to tell me about it .It had been her electric furnace .she since had it fixed .
We also do water saftey because we are at the lake so much . forest fires we've also discussed . I feel we are in a fairly safe location in regards to natural disaters though .
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guitarnan
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| Posted: March 24 2011 at 9:34pm | IP Logged
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Just a thought from personal experience, for what it's worth:
My dad (Wisconsin native) made me (SoCal native) learn to drive in snow at age 17. I thought the idea was ridiculous at the time. In 2004, I thought he walked on water...the Navy sent us to the mountains of West Virginia, where driving on snow was an annual necessity. I knew exactly what to do. Thanks, Dad!
Teaching our children to cope with all kinds of emergencies allows them to be safe anywhere, at any time. We should all know how to behave when earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and blizzards hit, because we might be in the wrong place at the wrong time some time during our lives. (Cooking without electricity and basic first aid are great things to know, too!)
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: March 24 2011 at 9:56pm | IP Logged
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guitarnan wrote:
| Teaching our children to cope with all kinds of emergencies allows them to be safe anywhere, at any time. We should all know how to behave when earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and blizzards hit, because we might be in the wrong place at the wrong time some time during our lives. (Cooking without electricity and basic first aid are great things to know, too!) |
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I'm so glad you mentioned this. I've been thinking about this too. I'm actually thinking of getting a disaster book for kids. I have to admit as a SoCal native myself I don't know how I would survive "real weather" much less other disasters .
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Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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juliana147
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| Posted: March 25 2011 at 9:43am | IP Logged
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Jenny, when I lived in earthquake country, we got free materials for the whole family on disaster preparedness from FEMA. They had a book called "Are you Ready?" that covered a number of different types of disaster. It was helpful to me. They also had booklets for the kids.
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: March 25 2011 at 9:59am | IP Logged
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Thanks Juliana! This is the Earthquake link we got at our presentation and here is the one you mentioned: Are You Ready?. I'll be reading through both. 
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Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Nov 02 2012 at 10:12am | IP Logged
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I'm bumping this thread after a request from a recent prayer thread:
JodieLyn wrote:
Mackfam wrote:
| When we had that destructive day of tornadoes hit us a year and a half ago we were in much the same boat minus the extensive sand and flooding. Trees and power lines down everywhere, gas shortage, no power for two weeks, limited ability to get anywhere because of the scope of damage. We thought we were fairly prepared for emergencies before that, but we learned some essential emergency preparedness and survival skills during those weeks which we now keep in place without fail! |
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I don't want to detract from this prayer thread (and we are praying) but Jen, some time would you share what you learned? Please  |
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In late April of 2011 our state (Alabama) experienced a tornado outbreak which spanned an entire day. By the end of the day our home had sustained 2 direct hits with F 2 and 3 tornadoes. Other areas were not as lucky as us, experiencing wider and stronger tornadoes which wiped out entire communities. Our entire area - over half of our state - was declared a disaster area. Infrastructure was vastly affected by trees over roads, buildings picked up and dropped on roads and debris. Cell towers had been devastated, and a substantial amount of power lines were down along with whole power grids and substations that were destroyed in the storms.
Though not everyone experiences spring and fall tornadoes as we do in our area, I am struck by the similarities of those recovering from Hurricane Sandy, and the similarities which seem to be a common denominator in any survival situation - power loss, needing to shelter-in-place for at least two weeks, and feeding and protecting family.
Before the tornadoes in 2011 we had a good number of emergency preparations in place, but having to live through it and come up with systems and deal with the reality of sheltering-in-place really forced us to step up our preparations. Our first few days of survival were a little scary, but once we figured out our system we probably could have gone on for another couple of weeks and been just fine which made both my dh and I feel like we had a pretty good survival system in place.
I'll share what we learned and the items we consider essential to sheltering a family for 2 - 4 weeks with no power and very limited resources. This will not be short, but I trust that if you're interested in this topic, you won't mind the details.
During the crisis - I know not everyone has to deal with tornadoes, but I'll share what we do in the event of an impending tornado:** Bike helmets on all kids - infants strapped into a carseat.
** Backpack with purse, keys, cellphone, laptop - Both cellphone and laptop can be useful for streaming weather video. If you have a smartphone, you should have weather and local news apps on your phone. You may not be able to add them during or after a crisis and these proved life-saving for us because by mid-day we had no power and no ability to know what kind of weather was coming. We used our cell phone weather apps to prepare and stay safe the rest of the day.
** Everyone must have good shoes on - no flip-flops (if there is damage and a need to climb out of a damaged house, sturdy shoes will be best to protect feet!)
** Safe room in house - basement, cellar, closet. Whatever your natural disaster likelihood in your area (tornado, earthquake), plan your safe zone to ride out the crisis.
** Flashlights - but not the standard skinny, cheap versions. At least one BIG lumen heavy duty light. You can find these at good outdoor supply stores. And each of our kids has a lantern style, battery operated flashlight which makes them feel more secure when we have to go to our saferoom.
** Leashes on dogs and assigned children bring dogs to safe room. Prepare how you will handle any pets you have.
** Practice drills - this seems so ridiculous, but trust me, in a true crisis situation some kids can really panic!! Tornadoes are loud, houses shake, ominous things happen - knowing what to do, where to stay, and that mom and dad have a plan helps kids stay calm and stay where they're supposed to! Practice what you grab, what you put on, where you go and prepare the kids for the reality of what a crisis might look and sound like. Not in a scary way, but simple role-playing run through practices helped us be able to get in place over...and over...and over again on that tornado outbreak day. Be Prepared to Shelter-in-Place for at least 2 weeks
In any survival situation, a family needs to be prepared to survive almost entirely on their own for at least 2 weeks. Stores and gas stations will be shut down for at least a few days and infrastructure may be damaged enough that you can very possibly be trapped in your home, road, neighborhood until infrastructure can be made safe. This can take a few days. While infrastructure improves, it takes even longer for power to be restored. Unless you live next door to a hospital or police station, power rolls back into neighborhoods on a priority basis. Prepare that for a short time, you may be isolated, but soon you'll be able to get out but may still have no power and limited resources.
ESSENTIAL:** Generator with appliance grade/heavy duty extension cord - A simple generator which can be purchased from a home improvement store can be essential in a survival situation. You will not be able to run the generator inside your home, so have a plan for where you'll run your generator outside. Also, you cannot run your generator in the rain so have a plan for a small structure/cover for the generator in case of rain. We built a simple plywood structure which we wrapped in tarps (as necessary) with heavy duty clips on the sides that the rain was blowing in. It left plenty of ventilation, but kept rain off the generator. You will also need a heavy duty cord to run from generator to appliances.
Then, you will want to identify the appliances that you consider necessary for survival for your family...RIGHT NOW.
IMPORTANT: -- Your generator will be rated to support a limited amount of wattage and you will need to ration that generated wattage out between appliances. Know/identify how many watts your generator will support and identify the necessary appliances you will want to run via your generator and how many watts they will pull. A lot of times this is printed on a sticker on an appliance or on a panel on the back of an appliance, but if you can't find it research it NOW and write it in sharpie on the back or bottom of your appliance so you'll know! We have an 8500 watt generator and could comfortably support our outside upright freezer, indoor fridge and a small appliance like a lamp or coffee maker. At times we unplugged the big freezer in order to plug in our washer and be able to wash clothes. Again, unless you have a HUGE generator you won't be able to run your dryer from your generator so plan on hanging clothes on the line.
Drain gasoline after any generator use and maintain your generator YEARLY! It does no good to have a generator and then find out it doesn't work when you need it!
** Gasoline - Have you seen the gas lines at the pumps for those trying to get gas after Hurricane Sandy? Gasoline stores depend on electricity to pump, so unless they have a generator you won't be able to get gas for a while. And...we found that after they get a generator and are up and running, they will run out of gas quickly as demand sky-rockets. This does even out after several days, so we learned that having an initial supply of gas on hand is very important. Purchase an amount that seems reasonable and keep Sta-bil in your gas which will keep it shelf stable in your garage/shed for up to a year. Have large portable gas tanks on hand...and be prepared to drive a long distance to find gas to pump.
Generators run on gasoline. We ran ours only during the day, securing it in our garage at night. One tank of gas in our generator held 5 gallons of gas. We ran our generator all day (6a - 10p) and that tank usually lasted one day. So consider that you may be using 5 gallons of gas/day to run a generator.
** Cash - No power = no debit machines and no ATMs. Keep a basic amount of cash on hand for survival situations. We weren't prepared for this, but fortunately our oldest dd had a nice supply on hand. It was the only way we could purchase gas.
** Solar and battery powered survival radio - Don't buy a cheap one! This was the only way we could keep posted with local news like curfews, law/crime issues in the area, power restoration plans, etc. With no power, we kept our radio in our kitchen window and charged it via the sun during the day and would turn it on when there were local news conferences and briefings. Our radio will also charge our cell phones. You can find excellent survival radios in good outdoor supply stores.
** Cell phones and chargers - After the tornadoes most of our cell towers had been damaged, so cell calls were out, but what we learned during that time is that texts require very low bandwidth to get out so often you can text, but not call. For several days, the only way we could communicate with the outside world was via text.
** An old, plug in the wall, number punching, curly cord from handset to base telephone - Land phone lines were restored before power here, so if you have a land line, it is useful to keep one, old phone tucked in your survival bin to plug into the wall. You can probably pick one up for a quarter at the thrift store.
** Be prepared to defend your family, home and property - This one is a little more serious, and each family will have to decide in prudence how they want to prepare for and handle this eventuality. It was unsettling when we came to this realization. Via our radio news we learned that looting was becoming more and more of an issue as people became panicked about lack of food/resources and that there were those taking advantage of others (shops and homes) because (1) there was a prolonged lack of power and (2) law enforcement access can be very limited if infrastructure has been damaged. It's a frightening thought, but if you can't get out because power lines, trees, and debris cover roads...the police, fire, and ambulance can't get in. You may be on your own entirely for protecting your family and home for a few days. We were!
We are a very fire-arm conscious family. My dh trains our children in gun safety from a young age and both my older children, husband, and myself are trained in handling and protection. When dh and I realized we may need to protect our family/home, we came up with a plan together. We discussed (in simple, non-scary terms) with our little kids our plans, which involved all little people in a safe room so that they were contained. Each older person was assigned to a particular part of the home, and the importance of communication and safety was emphasized. Communication with neighbors is important here, too. We shared plans and resources for this and other things with our neighbors. We did not have to deal with this directly, thanks be to God, but others in our community did have to.
A first aid kit that goes well beyond band-aids and neosporin - don't go crazy, but basic bandages, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, steri-strips (tape that can be used to hold deep gashes together instead of stitches), and a few other basic supplies could be important. See above statement about emergency responders that may not be able to get to you for a period of days. If you are life-dependent on certain meds, keep this in mind and perhaps make an effort to refill before you hit bottom so that you always have a week's supply of your meds on hand.
** At least 3 extended/long lighters - Do NOT be caught without these! Something like this which you can find in almost every grocery store and stuff mart. One for outside, one for inside, and one for back up.
** Duck tape - I think everyone probably has a roll of this on hand, but be sure you keep at least two rolls in your emergency supplies bin - one for your family, and one to give away. One of your neighbors is going to need it!
** Water and water filtration that does not require electricity - Safe drinking water may be affected in your area in an emergency situation. There are always admonishments to keep gazillions of gallons of water on hand (x number of gallons per person). We just don't have the room to keep that much water stored for our family. SO....as soon as we knew we were going to be without power for a few days, we filled every bathtub in our home with water (disinfect bathtubs first). (IMPORTANT: cover the drain with two layers of duck tape before you fill or you will lose all your saved water.) Consider small people and that this may be a water hazard and keep bathroom doors locked if you can. This can be used for drinking water as well as for washing dishes. We have a Big Berkey gravity fed water filter and used it to filter our water, but you can find a variety of these around in outdoor/camping supply shops.
** Bleach - You may not like bleach, and you may even avoid using it in your everyday cleaning, but in a survival situation you may need serious, effective disinfectant for surfaces and water. A little goes a long way with bleach, so we keep one large container on hand at all times.
** Camping Stove with propane - Utterly life saving! Most of us have a camping stove. Brainstorm how you can set up an outdoor covered kitchen. Keep propane supplies on hand at all times for your camping stove. We prefer using the small propane cans for our camping stove.
** Food - If you can save your freezer stores with a generator and eat out of them - GREAT! But even with freezer stores you need to be prepared with a basic pantry of shelf stable items - rice, grains, tuna, canned chicken, canned veg and fruit. Grocery stores in our area were finally able to get generators and open up but of course only the non-refrig stuff was available to purchase. Still, that helped us out after about a week and we could replenish some of our supplies. We *could have* kept going with our pantry supplies and freezer stock, but since we didn't know how long we'd be without power, we restocked some basics. Again though...be prepared...cash only!!
** Source of heat - Brainstorm what you've got to keep your family warm. Consider that if you have gas fireplace or cooktop supplied by city gas lines, that gas is going to be shut off in an emergency and you may not be able to count on it. You don't need to heat your whole house - just one or two rooms in a survival situation. We have a kerosene heater backup but didn't need it because our propane gas supplied fireplace logs provided enough heat for us in late spring.
** Battery powered Carbon Monoxide detectors - VERY important! Check the batteries in these at the same time you check your smoke detector batteries during the year! If you run a generator near your home, and/or you use kerosene or woodstove for heating, you need to keep a close eye on carbon monoxide levels. Keep a detector in every room where someone is sleeping.
** Batteries - Pretty obvious one.
** Check with your neighbors, especially elderly neighbors - be prepared to give away/share some of your resources.
GOOD TO HAVE, BUT NOT ESSENTIAL** Folding tables/outdoor kitchen set-up - these were super helpful in setting up outdoor kitchen and work spaces!!! And they fold up and store under beds when not in use!
** Clothesline - Both indoor (in case of rain) and out. We had an outdoor clothesline, but I had to engineer something quickly to hang clothes from our stair banister.
Tarps and heavy duty spring clamps - These come in handy in a variety of ways! Heavy duty spring clamps are in hardware stores - ones like this.
** Chain Saw - Not necessary, but can be very helpful if you have debris and trees down. Of course, caution is used in the case of downed power lines and debris, but our power lines are buried near our home so we were able to cut trees off structures as needed.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Wildflowers and Marbles
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Nov 02 2012 at 10:23am | IP Logged
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Forgot two things in the ESSENTIAL column:
** Several (at least 5-10) of those big, square, ice substitute freezer blocks - (like this) kept in your freezer at all times! If you have a packed freezer these won't be as necessary in your big freezer, but if it isn't full, the ice packs will keep your freezer colder longer. We also used them at night in our fridge. For security and safety reasons, we did not run our generator at night. So we unplugged the appliances and came up with this to maintain coolness for the period of time they would be off power: We transferred 5 or 6 of those big ice substitute blocks to our fridge, spacing them out, and they helped keep the contents cold for the night. Our fridge worked very well like this for us.
Something RED!!! - Either construction paper, red duck tape, a big red bow or ribbon from your Christmas stash -- you need something RED to put on fridge handles once you've cut generator power so that kids see instantly that it SHOULD NOT be opened in order to maintain its internal coolness.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Wildflowers and Marbles
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Nov 02 2012 at 11:08am | IP Logged
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Thanks Jen.
oh on the First Aid Kit.. add superglue to it.. it's exactly like the glue they'd use at the ER to patch up a cut and will give a lot more stability to a cut than tape alone.
I remember growing up and filling the bathtub with water during any storm that made the power flicker.. we were on a well and no electricity = no water.
Out of curiosity did you continue to have "city water"? or was what you filled right off what you had to work with? I know that they'd still have pumps and such to keep it flowing but they also have back up since water still flows during a power outage.. though I suppose as fuel got scarce that that would go down too, not to mention if there was severe damage to the system.
Oh and I realize my statement above for risk factors was wrong.. we do have the potential for winter storms here that could be pretty severe.
How do you do stuff in a neighborhood.. I noticed you mentioned a few times of helping your neighbor (2 rolls of duct tape). Do you go out and check on them? Did you talk to them beforehand?
__________________
Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Nov 02 2012 at 11:34am | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
Forgot two things in the ESSENTIAL column:
** Several (at least 5-10) of those big, square, ice substitute freezer blocks - (like this) kept in your freezer at all times! If you have a packed freezer these won't be as necessary in your big freezer, but if it isn't full, the ice packs will keep your freezer colder longer. We also used them at night in our fridge. For security and safety reasons, we did not run our generator at night. So we unplugged the appliances and came up with this to maintain coolness for the period of time they would be off power: We transferred 5 or 6 of those big ice substitute blocks to our fridge, spacing them out, and they helped keep the contents cold for the night. Our fridge worked very well like this for us.
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You can also fill milk jugs with water to freeze for this purpose.
__________________
Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Nov 02 2012 at 11:40am | IP Logged
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We actually live very rurally here, so our neighbors aren't close like in a regular neighborhood. Here in the country, most folks are pretty good at being self-sufficient, but everyone close-ish checked in on one another and we'd share tips like someone that found a gas station that still had gas, etc.
We live too far out to be on city water or sewer; we're served by well water in the county that is pumped to us, but the local city water sanitation was affected by the storms and their water supply became very diminished. They started to work from nearby county wells to supply hospitals and minimal supplies for people in the city and that pulled from our supply. Also, some wells were affected by the storms. We had water via our faucets the whole time, but since we were hearing of others around us with significant water issues, keeping bathtubs filled became a priority. We always thought our water would be fairly secure since we're not in the city, so this was an eye-opener for us, and one of the ways we quickly scrambled to prepare.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Mackfam
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Location: Alabama
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| Posted: Nov 02 2012 at 11:41am | IP Logged
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CrunchyMom wrote:
Mackfam wrote:
Forgot two things in the ESSENTIAL column:
** Several (at least 5-10) of those big, square, ice substitute freezer blocks - (like this) kept in your freezer at all times! If you have a packed freezer these won't be as necessary in your big freezer, but if it isn't full, the ice packs will keep your freezer colder longer. We also used them at night in our fridge. For security and safety reasons, we did not run our generator at night. So we unplugged the appliances and came up with this to maintain coolness for the period of time they would be off power: We transferred 5 or 6 of those big ice substitute blocks to our fridge, spacing them out, and they helped keep the contents cold for the night. Our fridge worked very well like this for us.
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You can also fill milk jugs with water to freeze for this purpose. |
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Yes. They just take up a lot more space!
__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Are you ready for an emergency?
