Well, it looks like I kinda jumped the gun talking about getting ready for spring and tornado season when we were issued another Winter Storm Watch yesterday, advising us that another bad storm is expected in here on Thursday!
I was all set to be done with ice and snow! I'm already thinking gardens, spring and sunshine!
If you live in the South and Midwest and are expecting more bad winter weather, are you prepared? Some of your preparations would be similar to having your "safe place" ready for tornado season but lets go over some additional preparations that you need to consider if there is lots of ice and snow!
Loss of Power of course is one of the main things you have to worry about with ice not only accumulating on streets underneath snow and making for hazardous driving conditions, but ice accumulating on powerlines which can snap and break under the sheer weight of the ice or because they are no longer flexible and have ability to sway in high winds. Several years ago we had a horrible winter ice storm. I had friends up in Tulsa who were without power for approximately two weeks. Luckily they had both a fireplace and were able to borrow a generator about 4 days after the storm hit.
Frozen water pipes in another worry. On those outside pipes, your water spikets for hooking up your garden hose, if you don't have any of those fancy "bonnets" made of styrafoam to put over them, at least wrap them in newspaper and hold it in place with some type of tape. If your water heater is out in the garage, it would also be a good idea to have an insulation blanket around it.
Inside faucets and outlet pipes that are on exterior walls are also prone to freezing. Dripping BOTH the hot and cold faucets and opening up the cabinet doors underneath that area to circulate warm house air will help eliminate this problem.
Food, Water and Medicines are also important to have on hand in case you are stuck inside for several days unable to get to a store. If you are without power, you will need items that you can eat cold right out of the can. Now of course if you are like me, this is when you are craving a nice big bowl of hot soup or chili and you have to settle for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! If you have no way to cook anything, as in my case if I lose power, I am out of luck. You might see if you can't find a couple cans of "sterno" and use some light weight aluminum pans to try and heat things up in. But please, don't try to fire up the bar-b-q grill indoors!
Pets will also need to have protection from the elements if they are outside animals. Be sure that they have shelter to get to, warm bedding to snuggle into, plenty of food and fresh water. I know that many farmers use heating elements to keep the water flowing and not iced over. Little animals (especially cats and dogs) probably should be brought inside or if not into the house into some type of heated area if the temperatures are going to be prolonged periods of below freezing weather.
Check your neighbors, especially those that are elderly. Hopefully you will have phone service and can give them a call. If not, you might be able to venture out across the street or next door to check on them if they are living close by.
So now I batten down the hatches, in preparation for possible ice and snow with blowing winds to arrive over night tomorrow and be hanging around for a couple of days! I will curl up under a warm blanket with that seed and flower catalog and dream of spring and that new garden I plan to put in.
Stay safe and warm everyone!
Showing posts with label disaster preparation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disaster preparation. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Are You Prepared?
Why does it take either a natural disaster or a man-made disaster to refresh my mind on how lax we are in taking steps on a daily basis to protect our families and our every day existence of our communities? With the recent earthquake in Haiti once again I am reminded how very important it is to have emergency plans in place to care for your family and neighbors as well as your community in general. I feel that everyone needs to try and take responsibility for themselves and not expect any type of government assistance to be coming to your aid. As we have seen in past catastrophes, it can be days and weeks before assistance arrives, so it is necessary that you are able to care for yourself.
With tornado season right around the corner here in Oklahoma, NOW is the time to get our emergency plans in order. We have been fortunate, our city has been spared for all the years that I have lived here. We’ve had them nearby and zooming up in the sky over our heads but not touching down in our city….. knock on wood! Over the years we’ve gone to the shelter, waited out the warnings and in some cases been without electricity for several hours but we’ve not had the destruction that devastated a great portion of many cities in Oklahoma with the F-5 tornado that touched down May 30, 1999.
Get your shelter in order.
I personally have an underground shelter. This is the one thing when I purchased my home that HAD to be on my list of amenities as a MUST HAVE.
With the frequency and severity of the tornadoes that come through Oklahoma, I would suggest that if you do not have a shelter or an above ground safe room, that you look into putting one in place right away. If you just can’t afford one, clean out a closet in the center of the house where you can take shelter. If you have too many people in your family to all squeeze into a central closet, go to a central hallway, away from windows and be sure to have plenty of blankets and pillows near by that you can use to cover yourself with. Another good item to have handy are helmets, like bike or sports helmets for your children especially.
Put Important Papers Together
I have a plastic tote in which I have copies of my insurance policies for my home and my automobile, along with my car title, my birth certificate, a copy of my last will and testament, medical directive and a camera. When I know that we are into bad weather warnings, I immediately take this tote down into the shelter. Otherwise, everything is already all together incase someone needs these documents.
Setting up your supplies
Down in my shelter, I have a small plastic rolling cart in which I can keep canned goods, a can opener, matches, candles and hygiene products along with pet food for my critters. In a large plastic trash barrel are sheets, pillows and extra clothing. I even have some basic medical supplies stashed away in the trash can. On the table are the radios, lamps and flashlights.
Presently there are plastic chairs and a table down there, along with a weather radio and a regular radio. I used to have a little portable TV down there which is no longer useable thanks to the new digital TV receiving. There is electricity down there, but if we were to lose electrical power, I would be able to rely on both flashlights as well as oil burning lamps.
Keep your purse nearby
I keep my purse close by during tornado season. That contains all my current necessary items such as car and house keys, debit cards and driver’s license. If I took medications, I would be slipping those into my purse also so they would be ready to go to the shelter with me.
Critter Care
I have three cats and a parrot whose safety I am responsible for. When I know that we have bad weather in the area, they all go into their carrying cages. The cats have individual carriers, for the simple fact that I don’t want them fighting with one another if they get frightened. They go down into the shelter early. Luckily they seem to know the drill, having been through this over the years. A couple of them will actually go lay inside their carriers when I bring them into the house, as if to say “okay, I’m ready when you are!” Now the parrot is a different story, he doesn’t like his small cage and I do need to look at getting him a larger one this year.
Shelter Updates
This year, I want to do some major renovations down in my shelter. Instead of plastic chairs to sit on, I want to build benches with storage underneath the padded seats. In this way, bedding and clothing items could be stored under the benches. With them being padded, one could actually sleep on them if necessary.
The entire area under the stairwell, I would like to build in shelf units for storing food and other supplies. That way I would have more on hand for a longer period of time or at least would be able to share with and assist more people if need be.
One thing that my family needs to do is agree upon a way to contact each other and meet up with one another if we are unable to communicate by phone. We also need to advise other family members who live in near by states of what our emergency plans are and how to go about locating us if something happened.
When there is widespread devastation such as happened with the F-5 tornado, Hurricane’s Katrina and Ike, the Tsunami in Sri Lanka, and earthquakes such as in Mexico and most recently now in Haiti, it becomes apparent that individuals need to prepare for their own safety and well being. It can take time for the government or other countries to bring aid to you. It is imperative that you have shelter, clean water, food and clothing. Some basic medical supplies as well as tools would also be helpful to have.
I would like to know how you have made preparations to protect your family?
With tornado season right around the corner here in Oklahoma, NOW is the time to get our emergency plans in order. We have been fortunate, our city has been spared for all the years that I have lived here. We’ve had them nearby and zooming up in the sky over our heads but not touching down in our city….. knock on wood! Over the years we’ve gone to the shelter, waited out the warnings and in some cases been without electricity for several hours but we’ve not had the destruction that devastated a great portion of many cities in Oklahoma with the F-5 tornado that touched down May 30, 1999.
Get your shelter in order.
I personally have an underground shelter. This is the one thing when I purchased my home that HAD to be on my list of amenities as a MUST HAVE.
With the frequency and severity of the tornadoes that come through Oklahoma, I would suggest that if you do not have a shelter or an above ground safe room, that you look into putting one in place right away. If you just can’t afford one, clean out a closet in the center of the house where you can take shelter. If you have too many people in your family to all squeeze into a central closet, go to a central hallway, away from windows and be sure to have plenty of blankets and pillows near by that you can use to cover yourself with. Another good item to have handy are helmets, like bike or sports helmets for your children especially.
Put Important Papers Together
I have a plastic tote in which I have copies of my insurance policies for my home and my automobile, along with my car title, my birth certificate, a copy of my last will and testament, medical directive and a camera. When I know that we are into bad weather warnings, I immediately take this tote down into the shelter. Otherwise, everything is already all together incase someone needs these documents.
Setting up your supplies
Down in my shelter, I have a small plastic rolling cart in which I can keep canned goods, a can opener, matches, candles and hygiene products along with pet food for my critters. In a large plastic trash barrel are sheets, pillows and extra clothing. I even have some basic medical supplies stashed away in the trash can. On the table are the radios, lamps and flashlights.
Presently there are plastic chairs and a table down there, along with a weather radio and a regular radio. I used to have a little portable TV down there which is no longer useable thanks to the new digital TV receiving. There is electricity down there, but if we were to lose electrical power, I would be able to rely on both flashlights as well as oil burning lamps.
Keep your purse nearby
I keep my purse close by during tornado season. That contains all my current necessary items such as car and house keys, debit cards and driver’s license. If I took medications, I would be slipping those into my purse also so they would be ready to go to the shelter with me.
Critter Care
I have three cats and a parrot whose safety I am responsible for. When I know that we have bad weather in the area, they all go into their carrying cages. The cats have individual carriers, for the simple fact that I don’t want them fighting with one another if they get frightened. They go down into the shelter early. Luckily they seem to know the drill, having been through this over the years. A couple of them will actually go lay inside their carriers when I bring them into the house, as if to say “okay, I’m ready when you are!” Now the parrot is a different story, he doesn’t like his small cage and I do need to look at getting him a larger one this year.
Shelter Updates
This year, I want to do some major renovations down in my shelter. Instead of plastic chairs to sit on, I want to build benches with storage underneath the padded seats. In this way, bedding and clothing items could be stored under the benches. With them being padded, one could actually sleep on them if necessary.
The entire area under the stairwell, I would like to build in shelf units for storing food and other supplies. That way I would have more on hand for a longer period of time or at least would be able to share with and assist more people if need be.
One thing that my family needs to do is agree upon a way to contact each other and meet up with one another if we are unable to communicate by phone. We also need to advise other family members who live in near by states of what our emergency plans are and how to go about locating us if something happened.
When there is widespread devastation such as happened with the F-5 tornado, Hurricane’s Katrina and Ike, the Tsunami in Sri Lanka, and earthquakes such as in Mexico and most recently now in Haiti, it becomes apparent that individuals need to prepare for their own safety and well being. It can take time for the government or other countries to bring aid to you. It is imperative that you have shelter, clean water, food and clothing. Some basic medical supplies as well as tools would also be helpful to have.
I would like to know how you have made preparations to protect your family?
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