Prepping for a Hurricane

[DanM]

It looks like we will get spanked this weekend by Irene. The projected route is from the Hudson to Rhodes Island, and we are smack dab in the middle. I have a far amount of canned foods, beans, pastas, tetrapak soups and broths. I might try to get more food this morning after a quick inventory. I also bought a gallon of camp fuel and charcoal so I can cook if we lose power.

Regarding water, I have 10+ gallons of bottled water and I plan to clean out and sanitize a couple of brewing carboys for an additional 10-20 gallons.

I am concerned about losing power. What is the safe amount of time for food to be in the freezer after losing power? I stuffed every ice pack I have in the freezer to add thermal mass, but I don't know how long that will add. Worst case scenario, I will have a barbeque with neighbors on Monday evening.

I was a boy scout... I prepare for the worst. Am I forgetting anything?

[Kerry Beal]

Saw an interesting idea here on the greeneggers forum - here.

[dcarch]

I don't see stocking up food and water. Power outage due to storms don't generally last for too many hour. I don't remember water was cut off due to storm unless you have a pump and well. You are not talking about a major earth quake. Do fill your gas tank if your tank is not full. Gas stations cannot work with power out.

Do check in advance where you can get dry ice in case the power does not come back before the food in the freezer is about to thaw.

If you find your food in the freezer thaws too quickly, your refrigerator is defective or has very poor insulation to begin with. Replace it soon. You have been wasting a lot of electircity all along.

If you don't have a backup generator, get a small 12v inverter. A 400 watt inverter is around $30.00. Plug in the inverter in your car and let the engine idle (outside), with an extension cord, you can have TV, e. mail, computer, a light, charger for you phones, etc for many hours.

Depending on your car's generator, you can get a bigger inverter to run your refrigerator.

dcarch

[SylviaLovegren]

dcarch -- I don't know where you live but I've experienced power outages due to storm damage for 5 days, in a very well-off NJ suburb. In the middle of the summer when temps were in the 90s with corresponding humidity. Freezer items that didn't get eaten during those 5 days were a total loss.

Ditto the make sure car is gassed. Be sure to have flashlights and batteries. If you can find a crank radio get one. And be SURE to charge your cell phone -- and keep it turned off except when absolutely necessary if you lose power. If you have a landline, connect a phone that doesn't need electric to work.

You might also want to fill your tub/s with water. It won't necessarily be potable but is very handy for washing.

Stay safe. My husband and son are in NJ for the weekend and I am very unhappy about it.

[Zachary]

When Ike hit Houston a few years ago, we lost power for 17 days in 90+ degree heat. Ice, gas and water will become very important. Go fill up the car. Go get 4-6 cases of bottled water. If you have a gas grill, go get a couple of extra propane tanks - they'll come in handy. If you don't know your neighbors, you might be spending some time in close quarters with them. I'd recommend getting to know them. Go get some batteries if they're still available.

When it comes to the storm itself, anything that can blow around will blow around. If you've got things in the yard or loose, put them somewhere they're not subject to the wind. Go find your homeowner's/renter's insurance policy to see if it covers things like wind or storm damage. If you happen to have a sturdy walking stick, have it handy - it'll be useful cleaning out storm drains.

We ended up having communal dinner every night, and got to meet some great people. Once trash pickup came back online, we had filled two city garbage cans with beer bottles

Other than that, good luck. Remember that if you get a direct strike, there'll be a period of time when the winds drop, but that's just the eye passing overhead. The winds will pick back up.

Thanks,

Zachary

[andiesenji]

I too advise filling your bath tub with water. Friends who lived in the area where Hugo hit years ago did not have clean water from the taps because the pumping stations had been damaged. They could not even wash with it.

It doesn't take an earthquake to cause damage to water treatment facilities &etc. Water towers can collapse and water tanks can be ruptured by blowing debris.

[natasha1270]

Thinking back to when Isabel hit the DC area, we lost power for a while and could not use the water for several days. I would think to make sure I have water, tin foil, paper plates, disposable utensils, trash bags, wipes, hand sanitizer, flashlight & extra batteries and a deck of cards.

[ScoopKW]

OK, first, we're talking about a Cat 2. People have died in cat 2s, but only doing "hey y'all, watch this" type stuff.

I used to barbecue in the middle of a cat 2 -- just have to find a lee spot where the wind isn't so bad. Non-Floridians seem to lose their minds when a storm is coming. Don't. Irene is going to be 16 hours of mind numbing boredom. (Or 16 hours of listening to a generator. Your choice.)

Some tips:

1) Salt water freezes colder than fresh, and will keep your fridge colder, longer (But you can't drink the salt water as a back up supply. But you CAN flush your toilet with it.)

2) Use your baking pans/loaf pans to freeze water. Put the giant ice cubes in ziptop bags. FILL that fridge and freezer with giant ice cubes. Less surface area means they last longer. Use the salt-water trick if you tend to lose power for long stretches. Then resist the urge to open the fridge. Only open it once every four to six hours, and then pull EVERYTHING you need quickly.

3) Have a cooler filled with ice. Keep the milk, juice, wine, eggs, stock etc. -- stuff you want access to throughout the day -- in the cooler.

4) No plywood on windows is safer than poorly-installed plywood on windows. I've lost two windshields to flying plywood installed by morons who obviously thought, "Four screws oughta hold it."

5) Fill the tub, some big pots, and five gallon buckets with potable water. Rain water collected from the storm is perfectly fine, too. If water service goes out, you're going to want some to drink, and you're REALLY going to want to be able to flush the toilet now and again.

[Jaymes]

I don't see stocking up food and water. Power outage due to storms don't generally last for too many hour. I don't remember water was cut off due to storm unless you have a pump and well. You are not talking about a major earth quake. Do fill your gas tank if your tank is not full. Gas stations cannot work with power out.

Do check in advance where you can get dry ice in case the power does not come back before the food in the freezer is about to thaw.

If you find your food in the freezer thaws too quickly, your refrigerator is defective or has very poor insulation to begin with. Replace it soon. You have been wasting a lot of electircity all along.

I've been through lots of hurricanes (and a couple of typhoons, and, since we're talking about it, earthquakes, too) and reading this tells me that you have yet to experience a bad hurricane. I'd advise anyone in the path of a major storm that it would be extremely unwise to be this cavalier.

Anyone that lives in hurricane country can tell you that it can get frustrating to go through all your preparations, only to have the storm weaken considerably before it reaches you, or swerve at the last minute and miss you entirely. But you only have to go through one scenario the other way - major storm, minimal preparations - to never, ever risk that again.

Regarding water. It doesn't take that much for the public water supply to be undrinkable. Even miles from the shoreline, torrential rain and flooding can overwhelm the city's storm drains, sewer systems, water treatment plants, etc. Flood waters carry along with them whatever was lying on the ground - trash, animal fecal matter, spilled gasoline and oil, street runoff, drowned animal carcasses, you name it. In a torrential flood, that water goes everywhere. We were in a hurricane years ago in the Pensacola area, and after we crept back into town and headed home (where we were without power for 10 days, I might add), the radio said that public officials had announced that the water supply was safe to drink; that flood waters had not contaminated it. Stupidly (we were a very young family at the time), we believed that announcement and didn't boil our water. We all got giardia (a tropical parasite, which turned out to be nearly deadly to my 1 yr-old), before a government official issued a "Whoops, sorry" warning, saying that the previous information was inaccurate, and that we should boil all our water until further notice. In fact, I've been in many hurricanes since then, and in all but the smallest storms, you can COUNT on the public water supply being undrinkable for a period of time from at least 1-4 days. DO fill up your bathtub. It's too late for you Easterners now, but many folks in hurricane country keep several empty plastic milk jugs around to fill up when a storm threatens.

So definitely do stock up on water. And non-perishables like peanut butter. And canned foods. And don't make the hurricane-rookie mistake of having only an electric can opener.

And also, btw, we were in Houston during Ike, too. Houston is no rural, unsophisticated backwater. It's the fourth-largest city in the nation. And it's very accustomed to dealing with hurricanes. And Ike was "only" a category 2. Even so, almost everyone was without power for at least several days. And many folks for far longer. Like Zachary, we, too, were without power for over two weeks. We had considerable damage, and we're many miles inland. Galveston was basically destroyed.

As far as I'm concerned, it's impossible to take an approaching hurricane too seriously. Or to make too many preparations.

Much better than doing the opposite.

Edited August 26, 2011 by Jaymes (log)

[suzilightning]

i just got in from battening down the outside. i grew up on the east end of long island in the 1950s and 1960s and we got hit by at least two or three hurricanes each year. some of the things i have come away with are:

fill your car with gas - if the area loses electricity they will not be able to pump it

if you have camping stoves, gas or charcoal grills make sure you have enough fuel. after gloria in 1985 my mom lost power for 5 days. she had her- grill and we brought out the perishables along with a chain saw to take down the trees.

if you don't have city water make sure you fill your bathtub and just about any other pot you have. besides having water to cook and wash with the bathtub water was used to force flush the toilet. very, very important.

we kept a good sized ice chest and pulled out some food when we lost power, transferring it to the ice chest. we then wrapped the freezer and fridge in blankets. we had to put claims into the power company a few times.

i have windup and shake flashlights, a windup lantern and a windup radio. they are very important especially in keeping informed and so i can read!!

it has been many years since a hurricane has hit us on the east coast and many have never lived through it. many think it won't be that bad but i'll be ready.

[Jaymes]

fill your car with gas - if the area loses electricity they will not be able to pump it

And it isn't just that. When every vehicle in your area gets a fill-up at the same time, and generators, too, stations run out of gasoline. Even if they do have electricity. If there is lots of debris filling the streets, those big tankers can't get through to replenish the stations.

It can be some time before you have the option to fill up your tank again.

[LindaK]

We're watching Irene in Boston, too. Even if we get off lightly compared to other parts of the east coast, I'm assuming there'll be some power outage. I love the big ice cube idea, I'm going to start filling loaf pans when I finish this post.

It's easy to imagine how violent weather could compromise the water supply. Last year we had a major water main break that contaminated the water supply to the greater Boston area. Fortunately, the water was safe for bathing but not for drinking or cooking. Area stores ran out of bottled water quickly. At least we've had warning about Irene, I had no trouble finding water when I did shopping today.

This afternoon I harvested as much as I could from my garden--tons of tomatoes, tomatillos, cukes, and chard. Tomorrow morning I'll harvest as much basil as I can turn into pesto. I'm expecting everything will be flattened by Monday. So sad, the end of the summer harvest around here, most likely. But if it's only the garden and not my roof, I'll be grateful.

[dcarch]

The cleanest water is actually in your toilet tanks.

Don't flush if your water supply is disrupted.

dcarch

[David A. Goldfarb]

We usually don't keep a lot of canned food around, since I don't use many canned products, but I made a point of stocking up on some canned and shelf-stable items, since we're prone to power outages in this part of Queens, New York. It was also an opportunity to take stock of things like first-aid supplies and batteries and make sure we were supplied. We filled up lots of spare containers with drinking water and made plenty of extra ice.

Fortunately, the power has stayed on. We've had some high winds and heavy rain, and we seem to be getting the back end of it now. The roof was repaired about a year ago, and it hasn't leaked.

I remember from 9/11 that it took a few days for stores to restock dairy items with bridge closings and traffic restrictions, so I bought six quarts of Parmalat, since our 4-year-old son drinks a fair amount of milk. We did open one quart, when we finished the milk in the fridge. He didn't particularly care for it, but at least he can't say we didn't try our best.

So, the storm hasn't been as bad as all the hype, but I don't regret taking measures to prepare. It didn't take that much money or effort to be ready; nothing will go to waste; and had the hurricane been more severe, we would have been better off for having made some simple preparations.

Edited August 28, 2011 by David A. Goldfarb (log)

[ScoopKW]

Hurricane Georges, in 1998, hit the the lower Florida Keys pretty hard. I ended up driving in a pickup all the way from Maine to my father's place in the Saddlebunch Keys, just north of Key West, with tarps and strapping to cover his bare roof because nothing was available down there. From Marathon on down the destruction was pretty bad. Roads blocked off getting into Key West, so impossible to get to building supply stores - which were probably cleaned out anyhow.

I was in Key West for Georges -- and every other hurricane during a 20-year span. I never once evacuated. I never felt the need.

Are you suggesting we looted Strunk hardware or Home Depot? Or are you suggesting there was nothing left because everything had been purchased? Either way, not true.

The only real damage from Georges was landscaping damage. A LOT of trees blew down. Some of them blew down onto houses. Georges was annoying, but we had the town up and running in time for Fantasy Fest a couple months later. Wilma was the worst of the lot, we actually got some flooding -- and that did a lot of damage. But three feet of water, again, is annoying, not life threatening.

As I've said before, terrible hurricanes are TERRIBLE. But there's a difference between a Cat 1 rainmaker and the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. We have allowed ourselves to be cowed by the media -- which treats EVERY HURRICANE as if it's the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. And people run around like their hair is on fire, buying water and batteries and things they really should have on-hand already. Because they've been led to believe the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 is heading their way.

This was a non event. It would do my cynical heart good to see a headline someday that reads, "Weak Hurricane Limping Towards Florida, Fire up the Barbecue" But I doubt that will ever happen.

[Arey]

I live on a NJ barrier island about 1/2 mile from the ocean and three blocks from the back bay. In preparation for huricane, I threw out several items such as a quart carton of milk with half a quart of milk in it, and some other things mentioned in a thread about things that can cause a lasting stench in a refrigerator when the refrigerator loses power, and during my last power outage , which lasted 32 hours despite living in a metropolitan area, I removed all the perishables, put them in a box and pushed them down into the 2 foot drift on my porch which had been left by the blizzard which caused the outage.

This time in preparation I filled freezer containers with tap water, didn't put the lids on, and crammed as many as I could into the freezer and filled the ice cuber holder in the freezer with a lot of ice cubes , and filled a large but awkward space in the freezer with a ziplock bag filled with iced cubes.

Lastly, I filled a shopping bag with all the fresh vegetables and salad greens in the refrigerator, and took them me with to my brother's house in western central Jersey. I left my house because of the mandatory evacuation order and stayed at my brother's in an area where there should have been a voluntary evacuation and was on the fringes of an area which should have had a mandatory evacuation area. Unless you count the empty beer can from my neighbor's recycling bin which had been blown onto my lawn I had no damage.

The local municipalities, county governments, and state government tried to play it safe this time around, and after what happened the next time they'll probably play it really really safe, and issue a mandatory evacuation order for the entire state of NJ.