hurricane drill

[windycity]

with the 06 season right around the corner, im thinkin of doing hurricane drills to discuss with my family the " what ifs" What if over night the small cat 1 bombs to a cat 4 or 5 ? that is scary thought but how do we handle that? do we trust our own home more than the new school/shelter up the street and leave pets behind? i think of people that went through charlie and andrew.and i just wanna be safe!!!1

[conestogo_flood]

That is a good idea.

Here, the family does a yearly fire drill. I am a fire alarm buff, so I installed my own fire alarm system. Once a year I randomly set it off when everyone is sleeping.

We also have had random tornado drills thoughout my life. We all have our safe area we are to meet in the event.

[MiamiensisWx]

Yep... I really want to be prepared as well! Some good advice would be to have extra gas tanks with you for your car, grill, and other appliances. Another good thing would be to study the location of your house and how it might be exposed or protected from wind by surveying the placement of surrounding objects (e.g., trees, cars, other structures, fences, shrubbery, etc.) and if your house is near open spaces, exposing it to wind. By doing this, you can have a better idea on how your house might be effected by wind during a storm, depending on the storm's size, strength, landfall location of the eye, and other factors. I am doing this right now to better prepare for the upcoming season. I think this may help you a lot, especially since every storm is different!

[Droop12]

Make sure you get gas early. Since we here discuss threats that are more than 4 or 5 days away normally, that gives you a head start over all the other people who dont follow the weather nearly as much as we do. I didnt do this and before Dennis and Katrina, I was in line for almost 30 minutes. Extra gas cans are also great. Just dont use 55 gallon drums, that normally will piss people off.

[cajungal]

My grandparents live in Picayune, MS where the eyewall of Katrina came across. They evacuated in such a hurry that they forgot all of my grandma's medication. She is a diabetic and has various other health problems. Usually the first thing you grab is your medicine. I think her nerves just got the best of her. They left without even boarding their home or anything. They only packed a couple of changes of clothes and loaded up their 5 dogs. Luckily, they escaped damage. But, it was nearly 2 months before they moved back home. Due to no power and no phone service. I think they will be better prepared this time. Evacuating this year will be different for me this year. Because now I have a new yorkie puppy Chloe. And there is no way I would ever leave her behind.

[Margie]

Do what many of us in MN are considering, now that our biodiesel initiative has passed and large biodiesel plants have been built and are operating: buy a car with a diesel engine.

You can store biodiesel in your garage, carry some in your trunk for fillups on the road.

In MN you can buy biodiesel just about everywhere, but while availability down south is limited, it can be purchased in the Miami area and also not too far from Hattiesburg MS.

Because it never gets cold down south, you can run off B100 year-round.

Also, for temporary Katrina housing, check out http://www.helpishere.org.

[alicia-w]

It never gets cold down south????? that's ridiculous...

[SouthFloridawx]

with the 06 season right around the corner, im thinkin of doing hurricane drills to discuss with my family the " what ifs" What if over night the small cat 1 bombs to a cat 4 or 5 ? that is scary thought but how do we handle that? do we trust our own home more than the new school/shelter up the street and leave pets behind? i think of people that went through charlie and andrew.and i just wanna be safe!!!1

Windy that is a really good idea. I think you should do that and I think I would recommend that everyone do that or at least have some type of plan to know exactly what do to, where to go, what to buy, who to call, what to bring and pull out all supplies and important paperwork and secure it.

[SouthFloridawx]

Just dont use 55 gallon drums, that normally will piss people off.

haha I would anyway. They don't have a 55 gallon drum and I do. Guess I don't have to fill up 11 5 gallon tanks of gas.

[decgirl66]

It never gets cold down south????? that's ridiculous...

I think they meant not as cold as it gets up North! We all know it gets cold here, but not to that extent!

[windycity]

i WILL BE HONEST TO SAY, THAT MY BIGGEST FEAR IS A BOMBING HURRICANE!! I WANT TO BE PREPARED IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLY, INCLUDING MENTALLY. KNOWING I CAN CONTROL SOME ASPECT OF THE SITUATION ( BY PREPARING) WOULD HELP. EITHER WAY, YA GOTTA PREPARE.

["Ice"]

Make sure you get gas early. Since we here discuss threats that are more than 4 or 5 days away normally, that gives you a head start over all the other people who dont follow the weather nearly as much as we do. I didnt do this and before Dennis and Katrina, I was in line for almost 30 minutes. Extra gas cans are also great. Just dont use 55 gallon drums, that normally will piss people off.

I was in the Wal Mart on Creighton Rd. the other day and the water shelves were already going bare. Also, my sister and her husband purchased another Generator last night.

[alicia-w]

we have emergency drills in our house twice a year: when daylight savings time starts and when it ends. that's also when we change the batteries in and test the smoke detectors. (unless my husband is cooking inside and then the detectors get checked again. )

[Dionne]

Hurricane drill? For us that would mean running into the bathroom and flushing all our savings down the toilet. But since Katrina already did that for us......we'll have to improvise and use Monopoly money.

[caribepr]

Great idea! Hope it is one everyone here that is in the zone of hurricanes (or any other weird weather areas) looks at closely, sooner than later. I don't think the grandparents who left everything behind in their panic were the only ones who did that by far.