Disaster checks

[messybun]

I saw the other day for all those without power to get a tent in the house and cover it with a blanket or two for extra warmth.
Cover your bird cages with towels if you have indoor birds. Also, hot hands covered in a towel can be a quick help. I don’t know how many people on here have indoor birds, but for those who do, smoke can be worse than cold so be careful near fires.

When we’ve had hurricanes before people put out rain barrels so that they could flush the toilet, it won’t work if your pipes are frozen, but if there’s no water but rain it works.

 

[messybun]

Okay, thought of something else. Have every family member get a 3x5 card or piece of paper with their emergency list on it.
For my family it goes kinda like this: I get my and bro’s clothes and the animals. Mom gets paper work and documents. Dad takes down shelters that won’t last the storm.
I have a list for each item: 3 short sleeved shirts 2 long covers (hoodies or flannels) 4 pairs of pants 7-10 underwear and socks.
The list goes on for each individual thing because I don’t assume my brain will be working in an emergency. Everybody usually ends up over lapping lists a little and helping each other. But we’ve found what works for us, I’m good at packing clothes my bro is good at packing food. If any one of us isn’t there than we either split the list or I can take it all. Most every body can do most everybody’s else’s job.
Before we pack up though we will have a brief meeting of the minds and a quick prayer before springing into action. For us, this works. Not everybody needs this much organization, but maybe y’all can find it useful?

 

[Margali]

All of our vital paperwork is in a 9"x5" zippered dayplanner. Each person as a clear sleave with their documents. Eazy to snatch and go. I keep a black sharpie in there too. Any evac (or big fun event) kids get sharpied with name and phone number on bicep where covered by short sleeve.

After the recent tornado issues, we are looking into getting a tornado shelter for our land.

 

[Mini Horses]

Here we don't get a LOT of snow or often. Temps are not normally extreme....BUT...it does happen!! Because it's not a usual event, road crews are not heavily equiped. Lots of sand and salt, but limited plows. We occasionally get hurricanes. So mostly Jan and Feb are winter trouble months. I do have a large generator that can plug into special meter base unit, to run whole house if selective with the big draws. Buy gas when storms predicted....have several large and small heated tubs for animal water...great if electric isn't out. Can break ice and dip from the big trough. Can run one of the heated tubs from gen, dip from it, etc. Have kero heaters and lamps, plus a propane unit. Mostly it's all enough. Always food stocked.

I feel I'm as prepared as I can/need to be, based on area history and many years of experience through weather issues. Every 10 yrs or so we seem to get a HUGE snow, maybe 12-14". That might as well be 6' because it is horrid and everything closes down!