A Texan's Guide to Post-Hurricane Survival
Right, so, on the national news, we've been getting a lot of disturbing reports about what's going on up there following this hurricane, from fist-fights at the pumps to dumpster diving behind grocery stores-and it's been less than a week. So, coming from twenty-plus years of life where hurricanes are a yearly issue, I thought I would make this handy little guide for future reference. Hopefully to many of you this will be what you already know, but it helps to get the word out to people who usually don't think twice about hurricanes due to where they live.
1.) What we can learn from chipmunks....
Our family has always done something, that, while it may seem silly-it works. We stock up roughly an entire closet full of basic food items-canned soup, veggies, Compleat meals...basically something that needs minimal heating if any in the event the power goes out for long periods of time. As well as bottles of water, batteries, toilet paper, and other needed things. Now, this is done in April or May, well before the season actually starts. So, not only are you prepared for the storm, food-wise, you've beaten the rush! And if nothing happens that year, you've saved yourself some grocery shopping during the winter. Oh yeah. ICE for the freezer and ice chests. Ice chests work wonders when the power is out. A good thing to do is fill up empty 2-liter soda bottles with water and freeze them.
It's a gas!
Generally, the best time to gas up is the moment you see you're in the cone for the storm. If it's hinted to be coming at you, fill up your car and gas cans for your generator-don't wait until it's certain. That way, the day after the storm, you won't be in a borderline war for whatever fuel is left. Then, when you DO have gas, make time to help those who don't. Following Ike, we even had people volunteering to push other people's cars to the pump to save them some trouble.
No one said you have to eat bland...
Here's a wonderful Texan tip-when you grill out, always cook more then you're going to eat. Freeze a few servings and save a few bags of charcoal, then when the power goes out...you have some nice, cooked meat you just need to throw on a fire. Why settle for a room-temp MRE when you can have a hot, sizzling steak or rack of ribs you saved up?
PATIENCE!!!!
The power crews will be working as fast as they can, but they will have a list of priorities. Generally, businesses and more densely populated areas are at the top of the list, while if you're in a less populated or more rural part of town, you probably will be out of luck for awhile. But-they are working on you!
Like a good neighbor....
Here's how post-hurricane life can be some of the fondest memories you have. When you cook up all that spare meat, invite your neighbors and have a cookout with the block. Offer them use of your generator if they don't have one, offer extra batteries if you have some more to spare. Of course, help them with cleanup, but do what you can to make life ENJOYABLE! This is probably one of the few times neighbors are really forced to pay attention to each other unless you're in a really close-knit community, take advantage of it and makes some new friends!
Make like a tree.
Finally, if the local authorities tell you to get out-GET OUT. Don't assume it can't be 'that bad' or 'I rode out such and such and was fine'. GET OUT. And like the dry-good supplies, have a plan well in advance. Know WHERE you will go, make arrangements with relatives if you can, know HOW to get there, and EXPECT TRAFFIC. Don't wait until the last minute-beat the rush. And also: backroads, backroads, backroads. Taking side routes might mean a longer distance, but generally those are not the ones most people take. So, rather than sitting in stop and go traffic for hours, you're cruising along at 45-50 mph and putting distance between you and the area about to be hit.
