Self-Sufficiency: Preparing for Severe Weather Season
Severe weather season is upon us, and there have already been major tornado outbreaks. Nearly a dozen twisters ripped through Dallas on April 3; dozens more were spawned in an April 15 outbreak stretching from Oklahoma to Nebraska that sent an EF3 tornado through Wichita, Kansas.
Preparation can be the key to surviving potentially deadly sudden weather, whether it be a severe thunderstorm, a tornado, or a flash flood. National Weather Service meteorologist Drew Albert tells PJ Media:
The first thing is you want to avoid being in that situation to begin with. It’s all about personal responsibility.
Before heading out for a day at the lake or the golf course — where a lot of weather-related fatalities occur — people simply need to check the weather to make sure a storm isn’t brewing.
However, a thunderstorm can pop up seemingly without warning — especially in the plains area — so people should bring along a means of checking the weather. Smartphones are an excellent option; most weather apps will even send out notices of impending severe weather. Not everyone has the ability to own one, of course, but fortunately you have other options, per Albert:
Have a small portable radio; they make portable weather radios that will fit in a golf bag.
Additionally, he says people need to be aware of the skies. This habit is second nature for lifelong plains residents, but not everyone knows what signs to look for up above:
Look for building cumulus clouds — as they get more vertical, it’s time to think about packing it in.
Cumulus clouds (the big puffy ones) will start to rise in height as warm air is drawn skyward. These updrafts, which pull warm, moist air — and thus energy — into the sky, are one of the main precursors of a severe storm (however, be aware that even typical thunderstorms can also spawn torrential downpours and lightning).
Albert also says to listen carefully for thunder, which can be heard from miles away before a storm closes in: if you can hear thunder, you are in range to be hit by lightning. As many as 2,000 deaths are attributed to lightning each year, and significantly more injuries. Lightning can strike out of what appears to be a clear sky before a storm gets completely underway.
Another sign: watch for sudden temperature drops, which represent outflow from the circulation within the storm. This is a bad sign, says Albert:
If you’re getting to the point where you’re getting outflow from the storm and the temperature is dropping, you should be getting to shelter.
Even where I live in New Jersey we have been hit by some very severe storms and two hurricanes. Power has often been out for days. As a matter of course, we always have a large supply of flashlights, lanterns, batteries, and a very good stock of canned foods and boxes of dried pasta (which lasts a long time and can easily be cooked; we have a gas stove, so even if the power goes out we can cook a hot meal by just lighting the gas on the stove with a match). And given the severity of the hurricane we went through last year, we also have emergency provisions in our shed in the back yard, just in case it’s needed and we have to pick something up in a hurry. It’s wise to be prepared and it has already paid off big time after going through all of this severe weather we’ve been having over the past few years. Thankfully, we don’t get tornados around here, so at least we don’t have to worry about that. But it’s always good to be prepared for the worst. You’ll be able to endure just about anything that way.
we have a generator
Down here in post-Katrina country, we laugh at the “three day” suggestion — three weeks would be better. And water, water, water, and more water. I realize that a family “bugging out” will be limited as to what they can take, but the more food and water the better. And don’t forget to turn off the power at the main as you leave. After Katrina, houses that had been spared storm damage, burned down when the power came back.
Excellent point.
This is excellent advice for anyone in any part of the country. From earthquakes in California to ice storms in the northeast, hurricanes in the Gulf states and Atlantic seaboard, and tornadoes just about anywhere, it would be difficult to find a place in this country where this is NOT good advice.
I live in Pennsylvania. So I have some water stored but not a whole lot. But I do have a water filter made for camping, and iodine pills, and unscented bleach. And I’m considering a backup water filter. Or maybe a SteriPen.
I have a river 1/2 mile away and buckets.
Don’t forget there are situations where purifiable water may be fairly close but for whatever reasons it could be very convenient to not have to go to it and carry it back (and it’s rather heavy). E.g. you can get tornadoes where you live, suppose the route is blocked by felled trees or whatever? Or there’s civil disturbance, (unnecessary?) government restrictions on movement, or you just plain have better things to do (like get immediate repairs done to your roof).
Having lived half my 80 years in South Florida, I can add a few more items to that list.
1, Cell phone charger adapter to recharge cell phone from car.
2, Propane BBQ Grill and spare tank.
3, In addition to dry foods, rice, pasta, beans, crackers dried fruits etc, canned entrees in single or small serving sizes One Pound hams, Canned stews, soups other staples, Coffee, tea, sport drinks Gatorade etc. Freezers, and refrigerators will be nonfunctional when electric service is out more than 48 hours. Plan ahead by taking one day and approaching each task and figuring how you could get through it without power.
4, Extra spare chain and oil for chainsaw, sharpen axes and machetes.
5, Paper/plastic plates, cups, bowls, utinsels, Don’t count on hot water for dishwashing.
6, Emergency lighting, battery camp lamps, coleman lamps candles.
This assumes you will be staying in your residence, if ordered to evacuate do so anticipating that there may be nothing left to return to. In any event fill all fuel tanks and spare emergency extra gas, propane and medical oxygen supplies.
It is routine pre-seasonal preparation which will not be wasted because the foodstuffs can be worked into the menu later in the year.
One indispensable hurricane prep is web site http://www.wunderground.com a free weather reporting and forecasting service which got our family through Katrina and Wilma.
Freezers and refrigerators will keep food for well over 24 hours, longer if you keep them closed. With a power inverter, big brother to the ones you plug into your cigarette lighter, you can run freezer or fridge for a half hour every day and keep things cold/frozen indefinitely, or at least as long as you have gas for your vehicle. I recommend at least 1,000 watts with 2,000 surge, and keep the vehicle running while in use. These must be clamped directly to the battery as the car linkage won’t handle the amps. Or invest in a couple of deep discharge batteries hooked to a solar array trickle charger and do the same thing. Short of an array the size of your entire roof you can’t run everything, but it will keep you in creature comforts over the course of a week long outage. In an 8 day outage last year the largest loss after storm damage itself was the contents of people’s freezers thawing and spoiling before they could be eaten.
I’d recommend saws rather than axes and machetes. Even with skill the slip of the axe or hatchet is easy and can make a bad situation life threatening. I generally cut anything 4″ or less with a bow or pruning saw. Those sizes can become booby traps on a tree when it falls rigged to spring back when cutting.
Also, for cold weather, i recommend a roll of the bubble wrap radiant heat barrier you can get at the DIYs. It reflects heat back to you, blocks wind, will keep the rain off you, makes a decent ground mat, and generally make outside heat sources less critical. Just keep a small airspace between it and you.
Israeli bandages are good for quick bleeding control.
A spool or 550 cord is always useful, strong and comes in handy for all kinds of things.
This is a big reason that I live in Western Oregon. No tornados, no hurricaines, major flooding is scarce, (1996 was the last one), thunder storms are small by prairie standards.
It gets hot, but not for long and it gets cold, but again, not for long. It snows about 2 days a year and accumulates about an inch. Unless you’re in the mountains.
All in all, not too shabby.
However one of the worse possible local disasters in the US is an earthquake and tsunami from the subduction zone to the west of Washington State. Don’t know how far south it extends, but you’d feel in a variety of the effects.
That said, SW Oregon has long been the traditional place for survivalists, excuse me, we’re now preppers, to move to due to all the things you cite, plus unless directly targeted in a nuclear war you’d almost certainly be safe from fallout.
Ah, yeah, if you’re in a forested area forest fires could be a big problem.
I need to buy another generator and get it set up right so that it can run my deep water pump, but otherwise I have a lot of survive-in-the-country stuff, a lot of which I use all the time.
One can only imagine how bad things would be if AGW WERE messing up the climate, because as it is, this Memorial Day weekend, we have a hurricane off the west coast, two tropical storms off the east coast, a record-breaking heat wave in the center of the country and drought induced fires burning all over the southwest. We have had an epic and early tornado season, and a winter without snow in the northeast.
If someone were paranoid, they might imagine that something WAS screwing up the weather. Just saying.
Damn Dwight…looks like you’re going to spam every climate thread with the same drivel of a post. So, in the spirit of that, let me spam my smackdown reply:
“we have a hurricane off the west coast, two tropical storms off the east coast,”
–and this is abnormal, how? And I’m SURE you have solid data that can irrefutably tie these ‘abnormal’ events to AGW…yeah?
“a record-breaking heat wave in the center of the country”
–Let me try something out on you that I hear from YOUR types all the time: “Weather is not climate!11!!1!1!” Seriously…where were you idiots when we had record breaking lows all over the pace the last few years?
“and drought induced fires burning all over the southwest.”
–Okay…and….???You are aware that these are normal phnomenon, don’t you? yes, they are unfortunate, but normal still the same.
“We have had an epic and early tornado season,”
–”Epic” early? Oh, do tell: Could you explain the scientific parameters that consitute ‘Epic?’
“and a winter without snow in the northeast.”
–Allow me to retort: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/23/us/northeast-weather/index.html
Again, where were morons like you for the past few years?
Dumbass.
But you do have a major infestation of liberals.
Include plenty of tarps, and duct/duck tape.
Water is the most precious of survival items. Have more water than you will need or a way of purifying water. For food do not over look the storage friendly cases of Spam in a can, Spam unless your a fan of this food you won’t screw up and eat it before the emergency. I’d include a lot of hot sauce with it though.
Guns? I don’t believe the authorities will allow the law abiding survivors to walk around with any kind of visible firearm. In you own home and hidden maybe.
The looters and outlaws will have guns for sure.
Experience in Florida after major hurricanes shows that one of the best ways to deter looters is to be sitting on your porch with a long gun across your lap. And of course guns are potentially useful in case of home invasion.
As for outside your property, most states and a majority of the population now live in “shall issue” concealed carry regimes. The Federal courts have also just held, with regards to North Carolina, that a ban on carrying during an “emergency” is unconstitutional.
Finally, after unconscionable firearms confiscations in New Orleans after Katrina, a Federal law was passed allowing a private right of action by anyone “aggrieved by a violation” of this to sue the individuals responsible for it, winner (unless the United States) gets “a reasonable attorney’s fee”. And your gun(s) back. So those ordering or implementing confiscations will pay a heavy price afterwords.
Now, I grant you in various emergencies I might prefer to carry a long rifle (although my folding stock SIG551-A1 is short enough to fit into a backpack or the like), but all this takes care of pretty much all the issues assuming your live in a state that respects the RKBA in the first place. And prepare yourself ahead of time, e.g. don’t forget LA banning ammo sales during the Rodney King riots. I read the account of a few individuals who came back home after a trip into the hinterlands having fired off all their ammo; always keep a reserve.
I once heard that when the water is shut off one can get water out of the hot water heater. Sounds good because there is obviously a lot of water in there. Just not sure howl to get it out… does anyone know?
This is pretty basic stuff, but first, turn off the water heater circuit breakers, because you don’t want to fry the heating elements in your drained system when the electricity comes back on. Then open the bottom valve/faucet on your heater. If you don’t get any flow open the top one too, and drain out water as needed, which often is not as easy as it sounds as the drain is often at the lowest point and you need a hose connection to get it back high enough to go over the lip of whatever you are draining it into. Close both of these faucets in between draing, because if the water pressure comes back, you will have a flooded basement. Also, do not turn the breakers for the heater back on until the tank has completely refilled.