my disastrous disaster kits

[KD5NRH]

Granted I don't live in an area subject to natural disasters that arrive with no notice, but does anyone else either? I have never felt the need for a "doomsday kit" because I figure I can assemble everything in one of those kits in about 10 minutes if needed. What sort of disaster would have you fleeing your home for an extended time with less than 10 minutes notice?

Tornadoes and wildfires both can pop up with very little notice, and both have happened in the McKinney area.

[Dave01]

Sorry if I missed it, but there is one notable item missing from the disaster kit list....extra gas. Even something as little as 5 gallons can be very useful. As others mentioned, if you have to leave your home, you won't be the only one going. Traffic will be heavy. That half a tank of gas may not get you as far as you think. Also, don't expect you will be able to fill up at your corner gas staion on your way out either. Aside from very long lines, the station may be out of gas. This is exactly what happened in Florida in 2004 when 3 hurricanes hit the state in a 6 week time frame. In some instances, there were police at the gas stations to keep order.

Even if your going to weather the storm in your home, the extra gas is still important. The gas stations were out of gas (and electricity) in my area for a full week after the first one hit (Charlie). Even when things got somewhat normalized, gas was still scarce. I used every bit of the 5 gallons I had, but most of it went helping out neighbors (my chainsaw was the hit of the cul-de-sac).

[WildBill]

That half a tank of gas may not get you as far as you think.

During the last evacuation I used half a tank going 32 miles! Idling the engine for 13 hours burns up a lot of gas.

[Paladin]

I think it's important to pack different items in the disaster kit in individual sealable bags for this and other reasons.

The sealable bags protect your stuff in case of leakage, protect your stuff from the weather, keep everything organized, and can serve as containers in an emergency.

Did this, and most of the things in sealable bags were still destroyed.
Lesson learned: Keep food and water seperate from other items.

uh oh... <sounds of Paladin running to dig out and check kit>

I normally keep a couple cases of bottled water separate... but I'm gonna have to re-think my setup.

Thanks!

[Paladin]

Good info troglodyte

Go with a good Minimag® flashlight. They are durable, have an extra bulb in the tail cap, and can be found for about $10. I never have enough of them. Get a pack of AA batteries.

I like lithium batteries as they last a long time and have a 10 year shelflife. The alkaline batteries in my Minimag leaked and destroyed the light.

Also, I'd note that the new LED lights can give you more runtime

[Venus Pax]

Odin, I realize you may not need to set-up something very elaborate, but at least keep plenty of food and water in your pantry in addition to your stock of cash, credit cards, guns & ammo.

Mars & I were prepared for Rita, and it's a very comforting feeling. I kept the gas tanks filled when I discovered the storm was in the gulf. I bought water ahead of time and kept my pantry stocked.

A few years before Rita, however, it was a different story. In 2001 we had TS Allison. I've always thought of a tropical storm as a turbo-powered thunderstorm. No biggie.
Allison (2001) turned out to be the worst nightmare that the Houston area has ever endured. My sister and I met my aunt for lunch in Kemah/Seabrook. When we went to cross Toddville Rd. (a few feet from the bay's coast), waves were lapping up on it. Shortly thereafter, Mars called. None of us even new it was coming. I discovered later that my parents, 90 miles away, were frantically trying to reach us. They couldn't get through.
Allison dumped many inches of rain on us. We were stuck at home for quite some time before we were able to get out. I'm glad that I happened to have a stocked pantry at the time, as well as bottled water. My vehicle was one of the thousands flooded.
I was stressed out and nervous during Allison. I was miserable with worry. It wasn't so with Rita. I was prepared, and I knew it. I had the supplies we needed, a plan, and a back-up plan. I also had numbers of out-of-town friends and relatives. My coastal relatives and I knew to call them if we couldn't reach eachother. Rita was no picnic, but we weren't sick with worry either.

Preparing ahead of time made all the difference in the world.
Even with the disastrous disaster kits, I still think its worth it.

[ELB]

Granted I don't live in an area subject to natural disasters that arrive with no notice, but does anyone else either? I have never felt the need for a "doomsday kit" because I figure I can assemble everything in one of those kits in about 10 minutes if needed. What sort of disaster would have you fleeing your home for an extended time with less than 10 minutes notice?

Tornadoes and wildfires both can pop up with very little notice, and both have happened in the McKinney area.

Also man-made disasters can pop up quickly. Think derailments and big trucks hauling icky stuff in highway accidents.

A couple or three or four years ago, just southwest of San Antonio, a train derailed early in the morning (0530-ish) and released chlorine in big way. Killed some people who were closest. I lived several miles north, was on my way south to pick up Hwy 90, when I smelled chlorine at Potranco & 1604. I u-turned, switched the radio to a news station, and boogied home. Heard about the derailment on the radio. I was far enough north that we had time to hook up the horsetrailer and load the horses, just in case, as well as get all the small animal stuff loaded, water and all that. Ultimately we did not have to evacuate, but had I been a few miles south, would have had very little time. The people closest, who "sheltered in place" as the phrase goes, died.

Break-break.

I've thought the ultimate BOB, at least as long as I can drive out, would be one of those camper-inserts that fits in the back of a pickup. Keep all the evac stuff in there, when the time comes, back the truck underneath it, bolt it down, and go. Shelter, food, water, etc all in one package. Altho with my luck a tree would fall on it.
elb

[stevie_d_64]

Trog's got this thing down pat...

I recommend taking the list of stuff, plan for where your line in the sand is, and be ready for what you can do in these types of situations...

One thing about the water, and I am sorry your system messed you up the first time...

We bought two 5 gallon collapsible "bladder" type bags...They have a good sized fill nozzle, and a dispenser valve down on one corner...You can buy these at most Academy stores for an unbelievable price outside of hurricane season...

I leave them unfilled most of the time, and can get them filled up in rather a hurry when we need to evacuate out of the area...That operation doesn't slow us down a bit...Along with grabbing the BUG's, the dog and ourselves...We can be on the road heading to our rally point in less than 20 minutes...Its all about planning WHAT to do and not so much on "stuff"...Stuff for the most part is replaceable...Our papers, ID's and other accoupraments are copied (certified) and stored where we are going in the event we need to bugout...We have clothes, and other things where we are going...

We'll take both vehicles, grab our elderly in-laws kicking and screaming, and still be on the northside of Houston in about 30 minutes...

I would recomend that if you do not have a "place" to go that is family, that can accomodate you, outside your normal area, I'd start planning on where you would go, a primary and an alternate, and shoot for those on the same time frame as we plan to be in 5-6 of minor driving out of our area...Anticipate (some) traffic, mild to major...And work your way to that point, with a main route and an alternate...

The faster you bug out, obviously the quicker you'll be out of the madness that will be building behind you...

The better you plan what you are going to do, the better all the "stuff" seems to fall into play in the long run...

[stevie_d_64]

Ohhhh, plan for going north (in our situation), at least north of I-20 somewhere...Gas, lodging, food and other facilities should not be too effected by the storm itself if thats the case...

And if you get up there in good time, you should not have too much of a problem finding a place to lay up for a while...

Just some food for thought...

[Odin]

Granted I don't live in an area subject to natural disasters that arrive with no notice, but does anyone else either? I have never felt the need for a "doomsday kit" because I figure I can assemble everything in one of those kits in about 10 minutes if needed. What sort of disaster would have you fleeing your home for an extended time with less than 10 minutes notice? I'm all for preparation, but I just don't see the need for this. I've got a firearm, plenty of cash and a credit card on me at all times, and my truck has a cell phone and always has enough gas to get out of the state if necessary. What would a bug-out kit do for me that I can't do already?

Sorry for the sour tone Odin but here I go...

1997 Galveston Texas, Tropical Storm Frances. If I remember correctly we were without power and water for 3 days on East end of island. Cars were underwater on Broadway in some sections. Wife got bit by snake which swam into the house and youngest daughter stepped onto a gafftop who washed up in front yard whaile we were wading out of area to higher ground. We too had tons of money in bank and lots of credit cards with us.

Now heres the reality of what happened.

Could not use the large amount of gas in car to get out of town..........Our car was under water.
Could not use the toilet any where the water system was down ..........City services are non existent, and even if we would have found a toilet to poop in there would have been no dry paper to wipe with.
Could not goto the store to buy a drink or food for wife and child........Power was out, no atm's worked, no stores were open cause no power to operate registers.
Wife had to use a broken glass piece she found on road to cut her leg for me to draw out venom........Ambulances could not get to us cause you guessed it we're underwater at the house.
Wife also had to use same glass piece to get out broken off barb from cat fish stuck in daughters foot........daughter cant walk to doctor for him to get it out cause he's underwater and closed.
My nice pretty 1911 did absolutely nothing good with all its shiny parts and high dollar ammo .........it got filled with sand and salt water.


That my friend is why you need a BOB pack or a problem arises bag...

Galveston, yes. McKinney, no. If I lived in a flood prone area, forest fire prone area, etc...maybe.

[Skiprr]

Galveston, yes. McKinney, no. If I lived in a flood prone area, forest fire prone area, etc...maybe.

Odin, I just deleted a rather inquisitorial post.

I'll start again.

I wondered why, if you're completely comfortable in the security of your home, you even bothered to post to this Topic.

I've been through volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, and tornados.

But these are just natural events. September 11, 2001 taught us we should be prepared for more than a natural storm.

If you are comfortable in your lack of preparedness, then good luck on ya', mate.

[Keith B]

Galveston, yes. McKinney, no. If I lived in a flood prone area, forest fire prone area, etc...maybe.

Well, as a storm spotter for the NWS and one of the ones who spotted the Melissa tornado a couple of years ago (just north of you), they lost homes within SECONDS. Being able to go back into your demolished home, where you home is basically rubble or blown over 40 acres and retireve one box is vital. Having one qucik kit that you can dig out (hopefully) with insurance contact info, serial numbers, emergency first aid kit, drinking water, flashlight, etc. is a BIG plus. I was in the middle of some of the aftermath minutes after it hit. The folks that were unprepared were devistated, while I saw one family that had an emergency box take it to their car and head to another one of their families homes for shelter. They had already dug out their insurance info and were calling the help line. The early bird catches the worm (or the adjuster in this case.)

Just my $.01999 cents worth.

[LedJedi]

My bug-out bags contain packets of hydration gel instead of bottles of water. I have been in your shoes.

hey man, where can i find this hydration gel? I googled for it but the only thing i found was beef flavored and intended for pets.

[Odin]

Galveston, yes. McKinney, no. If I lived in a flood prone area, forest fire prone area, etc...maybe.

Odin, I just deleted a rather inquisitorial post.

I'll start again.

I wondered why, if you're completely comfortable in the security of your home, you even bothered to post to this Topic.

I've been through volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, and tornados.

But these are just natural events. September 11, 2001 taught us we should be prepared for more than a natural storm.

If you are comfortable in your lack of preparedness, then good luck on ya', mate.

Living in north Texas I've never been through a volcano, earthquake, hurricane or typhoon, and the tornadoes that I have been near didn't affect me. If the tornado had hit my house I'd go to a friends house or hotel that would have everything I'd need to survive, I just can't see a tornado destroying the entire north Texas area to the degree that I couldn't easily find lodging and necessary supplies to survive comfortably.

If I lived in an area prone to natural disasters I would take the necessary precautions against likely events.

Alligators are rare in my area, but they do exist. I do have any sort of protection plan against alligator attacks. It's not that I want an alligator to eat me, it's just that the risk of an alligator attack is so astronomically low that I don't think it's necessary to "prepare" for that event.

I also didn't load up on ammo and food before Y2K.

[LedJedi]

I don't think it's necessary to "prepare" for that event.

Well, I kinda see his point. If anyone was gonna survive Ragnarök I would say it would be Odin. Who's really gonna jack with a norse god?

You should change your signature to "Have Gungnir, will travel"

*sorry, couldn't resist*