Many of us have watched in disbelief the torrential rainfalls in southeast Texas that followed after Hurricane Harvey hit the region this past weekend.
Over the past several days, I have kept up with my stranded and recently retired step-brother David Sanford and his wife Joy, who happened to be on vacation in the Houston area visiting family. Initially, he felt that he was at a fairly safe distance from where the Hurricane made landfall, but things quickly changed for him.
Their flight was cancelled as soon as the heavy rains set in. It didn’t matter, though, because the highways to the airport were closed by flood waters. They hunkered down with family.
I have noticed his mood change over the course of these last few days as they dealt with multiple power outages, tornado warnings and a constant deluge of rain, among other challenges. They cautiously watched the flood waters rise in their neighborhood.
Rising floodwaters during Hurricane Harvey (Photo Provided)
Imagine if some 50 inches of rain fell on every square inch of your neighborhood, city or town over the course of a few days. Would you be able to remain in your home safely for an extended time?
This epic “once in a century” or, in this case, probably “1,000 year flood” ranks like no other event in America’s history. As high ground and multi-story homes and buildings became makeshift shelters, others were forced to abandon the safety of their dwelling, leaving behind all their belongings.
I predict that this will become the most costly hurricane in U.S. history, topping out in the hundreds of billions of dollars once the waters recede. Homeowners and landlords will have to wait months before their claims can be processed after this disaster.
Like Noah back in biblical days, everybody was warned of the possibility of heavy rain falls, but nobody could have predicted the amount that actually fell. Even if you found yourself safely on high ground, hundreds of thousands of people were unable to get to local stores to stock up on supplies, forcing most to live off of what supplies they had before the rains came.
The fact is it pays to plan ahead. You have to remember that it wasn’t raining when Noah built his ark before taking his 40 day cruise. Of course he had divine guidance from the Big Guy upstairs, but that shouldn’t stop you from learning a lesson from this event.
Every family needs to prepare themselves and their home for emergencies, even if you live safely away from coastal towns and cities, because other disasters can still occur.
Heeding FEMA’s warning, like any good father, husband, and risk management/safety consultant, I have a contingency plan, including a small stockpile of supplies in place. I have done my best to prepare my family in the event of a natural disaster.
I don’t have a underground bunker, but I do have a fairly good supply of food, fresh water, batteries, ammo, toilet paper, camping gear, generator and the necessities that have proven to help us survive through the last couple of ice storms.
With the New Madrid fault-line just being hours away and with the ever increasing presence of Mega F5 sized tornados that have hit our country, it isn’t impossible to imagine a natural disaster striking your area.
To better prepare for such an event, I have tried to keep up with new inventions and options that occasionally hit the market. For example, knowing gasoline could become scarce during a disaster, I recently purchased a newer and larger generator that comes with a dual fuel option for either LPG or gasoline.
I have since slowly started to stockpile several LP tanks, to give me another option if gasoline became scarce.
During this disaster, social media have proven to save lives, so I recently purchased a Stanley Fatmax 1000 Peak Amp Power Station that has multiple purposes. It can be used to jumpstart a vehicle and it comes with LED light and an air compressor to inflate flat tires.
But the feature that I like the most is the four USB charging ports to keep electronic devices like cellphones and tablets working.
Also I recently added a landline phone back in my home, after discontinuing service some 10 years ago. This allows me to communicate in the event cellular service was unavailable.
Now I wouldn’t call myself an official Doomsday Prepper, but I do believe that I will survive a little longer than your typical homeowner.
Here are some additional tips to better prepare you to survive a natural disaster:
• Check your insurance policy to insure that every conceivable disaster is covered and that you have enough coverage to make you whole.
• If you have enough warning, go to the store and stock up on plenty of non-perishable food, water and necessities that you can’t live without. Purchase at least a week’s supply.
• Get a safety deposit box and place your most important files (car titles, deeds, etc.) in it. Sometimes you don’t have time to grab these things.
• Having a strong social network is imperative. Remember to notify family members, neighbors and caregivers in advance that they might need help in emergencies.
• If you are older or have special needs, you should signing up with local government registries, which help locate and evacuate you during a disaster.
• Create a digital home for your important documents. Make copies of your important documents and store them into the cloud, so that you can retrieve them later.
• Download emergency assistance smartphone apps which are designed to help those caught in a disaster. Some examples are iUDAME and ManDown.
• Have plenty of batteries, flashlights, lanterns, candles, enough to last a couple of weeks.
• Have at least a two week supply of medicines and prescriptions.
• Fill your bathtubs with freshwater immediately after learning of a disaster, because water supplies may become contaminated. If so you will need to boil your water.
• Have a plan to rescue the elderly. Most casualites from natural disasters come from the older people trapped in their homes, waiting to be rescued.
• Keep extra cash hidden in your home in the event you don’t have time to stop by a bank or ATM machine.
• If you wear prescription lenses or contacts, keep an older pair or extra pair in your car, purse or briefcase.
• Sign up for SMS text and email alerts from the National Weather Service and see their suggested weather apps to stay informed.
• Have a bag packed with these supplies: a change of clothes, duct tape, rope, first aid kit, a couple of bottles of water, water filtration kit/straw, flashlight, LED headlamp, multi-tool Leatherman or Swiss army knife, gloves, whistle, fire starting tools, canned food, batteries, can-opener, maps, signal mirror, compass, medicines, crank power charger, radio, and other supplies to help you survive for 72 hours.
• Develop a disaster plan including the location of emergency centers, rallying points, possible evacuation routes, emergency phone numbers and addresses of contacts.
• Keep extra gasoline on hand, and keep your vehicle’s tank at least half full at all times.
• At the beginning of a natural disaster, consume all the perishables first, before turning to dry and canned foods.
• Be sure all adult and teenage family members know how to shut off gas, electric and water lines if there’s a leak or electrical short. Keep the tools close by.
• Remember your pets during a natural disaster and include them into your plans.
Be Safe My Friends.
Keven Moore works in risk management services. He has a bachelor’s degree from University of Kentucky, a master’s from Eastern Kentucky University and 25-plus years of experience in the safety and insurance profession. He lives in Lexington with his family and works out of both the Lexington and Northern Kentucky offices. Keven can be reached at kmoore@roeding.com.
