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Thursday, September 7, 2017

We are the crazy ones?



Day in, day out, a lot of us bloggers stress the importance of being prepared for emergencies. Somehow that makes us the subject of ridicule. Most of us do not want anything bad to ever happen. We do not want to have to deal with an emergency. Should one happen we want to be prepared. That is not a bad thing.

Now we are seeing people lose their minds because a storm is coming. Grocery stores are having everything stripped from their shelves. Preppers are not there. They already have what they need. Every prepared person is one less person in the mob at the store.

The hardware stores are getting stripped of everything from plywood to screws. Now it seems to me, if you are in an area where putting plywood over your windows is necessary, you'd keep that stuff in storage. In the old days people in snow country would put up storm windows for the winter. They didn't throw them out in the spring and buy new in the fall. Wise people stay prepared for what might come.

There are people who are in a panic because bottled water is hard to come by. The vast majority of those people have perfectly safe drinking water right from their taps. Fill up containers from your sink and save yourself a trip to the store. If you lack jugs, do what they did in the old days and fill up all your pots and pans. Fill up the bathtub.

If you think you may have to evacuate, evacuate. Sooner is better than later. If you guess wrong and wait too late, you could die. Weigh that against maybe looking a tiny bit foolish for leaving too early. That should not be a hard decision.

On a personal note, there are folks I know in the Virgin Islands right now. I hope they are well. I suspect it will be some time before anyone hears from them.

-Sixbears




18 comments:

  1. Better to be considered foolish than to BE foolish.

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  2. When the blizzards of winter here in MN are bearing down on us, everyone is rushing to the store for bread, milk and whatever. Except me. I'm curled up with a good book here in my cozy little apartment. I have a very deep pantry. But I am the crazy one. Go figure. :)

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    1. Indeed. I do the same thing when the storms hit NH.

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  3. A guy I work with has a brother and sister in law in the Virgin Islands. They managed to get a call out early last night ( by the time you see this) on a satellite phone.
    They have pretty much lost everything.
    House flattened, truck completely gone, every shred of vegetation around their property either on the ground or out at sea. Cell phone towers destroyed, no power
    and no water. They have their water shipped in weekly by tanker so they are double plus screwed there.
    They do not know if their large sail boat is even there anymore as they can't get to the marina to check on it.
    They are alive though.
    If you are reading this and live in Florida get the hell out now.

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    1. Sounds bad. I'm glad the guy's brother is alive. I suspect my friends are super busy right now. The husband is a doctor and had plans to be working in a shelter.

      I'd have left southern FL a long time ago.

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  4. Yep. Long Timers in Hurricane Country know that when summer approaches, its time to check out the hurricane kit and update any contents that need replacement. I designed our home with few windows for easier protection from high winds. Pre-manufactured plywood panels with Ply-Locks (6 per panel) for that. Installed commercial steel doors and frames for ALL door entries - expensive as heck, but what price do you put on security. Good locking hardware and hinges. These openings will be very difficult to breach from wind and rain.

    But 185 mph eye wall winds - not many stick built structures will withstand that, their roofing and roof structure even less so. When we built home, we placed hurricane straps at top plate - roof joists at EVERY joist. Might lose the roofing and even deck but the joists should be anchored very well, saving time to deck over them easier than building from scratch.

    Prayers for those who in Irma's path - I echo Phil, bugging out before is safer. Very few if any gas stations will be open during storm, if they even have any gasoline to sell anyway.

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    1. I remember when Andrew hit there was one guy's house that was the only one left in the neighborhood. He'd only lost a tiny bit of roof trim. He was from up north and built the place like one does to withstand blizzards. Back then FL building codes were not what they are now.

      Sounds like you're place is as squared away as it can get. You are right that not much can withstand that kind of wind. Storm surge is going to be very bad too.

      Stay safe.

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  5. Just got word that my friends in the islands are fine.

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  6. Consider us crazy , but we are going to hunker down. Latest says the eye will pass right over this area too. Estimate only a cat three by then tho...only !!! Lol
    This one s really leaving no place certain to run... Unless we went to Tennessee or beyond...
    Yup , fools are us...concrete house however

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    1. I've got a spare room here in NH. No kidding. I'm worried about you Spud. Keep us informed.

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    2. Just finished boarding up the windows.
      Our house is a mile for the ocean and twenty feet elevation too.
      Latest path says it's going up the west side ?
      I'll send reports till the net goes down

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    3. Got three hundred gallons of water , enough groceries for five years lol.
      Enough gas to run the generator about two weeks...
      Good to go on provisions, so long as a tornado don't get us anywho lol

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  7. Bubba Hermit and I came out post-Harvey relatively unscathed, but we were not in the path of winds, just water. With 185 mph winds, I would not be waiting around to be blown down the road, I would be long gone already. We never had to go to the store, although we always fill drink coolers and bathtubs just in case. Hurricanes are tough to predict, like Harvey - practically no wind, but floodwaters did affect several water purification stations. Be ready ...

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    1. Not matter how the storm hits, you are going to need fresh water. Glad you were prepared and weathered the storm. The winds here are a different beast entirely.

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  8. "Fill up the bathtub." Make sure you can get a water tight seal on the plug. Thank goodness the water wasn't turned off longer than 24 hours.

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    1. Just a note on filling the bathtub with water. I fill mine every time a hurricane comes close just I case we lose water pressure or what the towns are doing now is if your in a mandatory evac area they turn off the city water in case of a ruptured main line from storm erosion .
      It’s a great way to have many gallons of water for flushing toilets, doing dishes or washing up. The problem I used to have is the drain plug slowly leaks and overnight can lose ½ the tub! So what I do now is put the drain plug in, then wipe down the plug area with alcohol (rubbing not bourbon) and use duct tape to seal the plug. Works every time and no leak down.

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    2. Good advice about the tub plug. Many of them leak a little. Not a problem when taking a bath, but overnight the losses add up. Thanks!

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