My step-dad has been collecting/hoarding food ever since Katrina. Every week, he and my mom buy three or four cases of canned/bottled stuff - veggies, soups, water, etc - plus boxes of various first-aid supplies, which are being stored in the basement of their warehouse (no chance of flooding where they are) in the event of some disaster - natural or man-made.
Pa, living in hurricane land we always stock up this time of year on water, batteries, canned goods….and make sure our propane tanks are full at all times in case we have to cook on the gas grill for any amount of time. Water is our big thing. Gotta have it.
Water is the biggest problem in any disaster. Especially when combined with all the physical damage to homes and people that y’all in hurricane, tornado, and earthquake lands have to deal with. (I’m a chicken, and I admit it. This is why I live in PA, where we get nothing but floods and blizzards.)
We had a situation a couple summers ago when our water treatment plant flooded - it’s amazing still that the emergency management team had absolutely no plan… other than “have residents collect water from the fire hydrants.” Um, yeah. And where did the water in the hydrants come from?
And, on top of that, their first act was to shut down the sewer plant to conserve the water in the mains, in case of a fire. Oh goody! We have no water *and* we can’t flush!
Luckily, we have smart people in the fire company, and they arranged for water tankers to come in from the other fire companies. It was a rough - and smelly - two weeks, but pretty short and easy for a disaster. And the porta-potty companies made money.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Next up, water shortages.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:09 pm
My step-dad has been collecting/hoarding food ever since Katrina. Every week, he and my mom buy three or four cases of canned/bottled stuff - veggies, soups, water, etc - plus boxes of various first-aid supplies, which are being stored in the basement of their warehouse (no chance of flooding where they are) in the event of some disaster - natural or man-made.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Pa, living in hurricane land we always stock up this time of year on water, batteries, canned goods….and make sure our propane tanks are full at all times in case we have to cook on the gas grill for any amount of time. Water is our big thing. Gotta have it.
April 24th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Water is the biggest problem in any disaster. Especially when combined with all the physical damage to homes and people that y’all in hurricane, tornado, and earthquake lands have to deal with. (I’m a chicken, and I admit it. This is why I live in PA, where we get nothing but floods and blizzards.)
We had a situation a couple summers ago when our water treatment plant flooded - it’s amazing still that the emergency management team had absolutely no plan… other than “have residents collect water from the fire hydrants.” Um, yeah. And where did the water in the hydrants come from?
And, on top of that, their first act was to shut down the sewer plant to conserve the water in the mains, in case of a fire. Oh goody! We have no water *and* we can’t flush!
Luckily, we have smart people in the fire company, and they arranged for water tankers to come in from the other fire companies. It was a rough - and smelly - two weeks, but pretty short and easy for a disaster. And the porta-potty companies made money.