Have you made your preparations for Hurricane Season?

[southerngale]

With Hurricane Season just around the corner, now is the time to start making your early preparations. Don't wait until something forms and is headed your way. You can get a lot of preps done early.

Prepare for the worst and hope for the best!

Visit the Hurricane Preparation forum for tips and suggestions, and to share yours.

[thetruesms]

I have not, but I need to get started - it'll be my first hurricane preparedness kit ever.

[Plant grower]

You better believe it.

[micktooth]

I moved to Colorado from New Orleans I will be back in Destin,Fl in July, here's to NO STORMS!!!

[Jagno]

Just got my major prep delivered Friday, a new 5th Wheel Camper. Our other camper is in Florida with your youngest living in it while attending school there. That camper was invaluable following Rita. There were no apartments to be found in areas of the disaster. I've ended up in more than one "undesirable" area in a hotel during evacuations. Now I'll just bring my back-up home with me. I did learn that when you actually live in a camper the "Living" room area needs to be as large as possible. Thanks to Storm2K I've always been able to get out ahead of the masses so traffic wasn't an issue. Praying I won't need it for anything more than pure enjoyment and entertainment.

Thank you for the reminder. I do need to go through all of my hurricane prep boxes and update some of the stuff in there. I also need to do a thorough and complete new home inventory complete with pictures.

[ExBailbonds]

Yep!! Already got extra beer on hand. I'm ready!! On the serious side I don't go nuts on buying extra supplies but I am always ready. 10K Generator pre wired, Storm panels, Gas cans, 200 gals of gas in the fuel barge (AKA the boat) 4 marine deep cycle 12 volt batteries (from the boat) 12 volt lights, 12 volt TV, Portable AC, propane hot water heater, propane oven/Stove, a very secure 100Gal. tank of propane, Insurance, inventory, Photos, 3g Air card for the laptop, Tarps,and the list goes on. But this stuff is maintained year round

A very good tip for those with boats pull your deep cycle batteries in for use at nite so you don't have to run the generator all nite you can use 12 volt stuff and be safe. Heck you can even get a 12 volt blender and coffee maker rather cheap.

Yes I have been thru a few storms and my house is grand central after-wards for neighbor's and family for hot showers and hot meals.

[Category 5]

Nope, we don't get hurricanes

[StormingB81]

I am not prepared for Hurriane season..However I am in Japan and I AM ready and prepared for Typhoon season. Last season in the WPAC it was pretty busy...see what this year brings.

[SETXWXLADY]

Just got my major prep delivered Friday, a new 5th Wheel Camper. Our other camper is in Florida with your youngest living in it while attending school there. That camper was invaluable following Rita. There were no apartments to be found in areas of the disaster. I've ended up in more than one "undesirable" area in a hotel during evacuations. Now I'll just bring my back-up home with me. I did learn that when you actually live in a camper the "Living" room area needs to be as large as possible. Thanks to Storm2K I've always been able to get out ahead of the masses so traffic wasn't an issue. Praying I won't need it for anything more than pure enjoyment and entertainment.

Thank you for the reminder. I do need to go through all of my hurricane prep boxes and update some of the stuff in there. I also need to do a thorough and complete new home inventory complete with pictures.

What a great idea! Wish we had one. Wow. Your story sounds a lot like mine. Bad motels in bad parts of town. And I don't care what I have to run from I am NOT going through Lufkin again! Lufkin sucks you in and won't let you back out. Our last trip through there I kept saying I'll never gripe about I 10 at home again! It only goes east or west so I usually have at least a 50/50 chance of going the right way. Lol. And in the aftermath of Rita as you said if it wasn't destroyed around here then it was occupied! Nowhere to rent. Every hotel/motel room within 200 miles was taken up. It was a mess. Thank God Mama and Daddy's house came through unscathed-ummm. So Far. Knocking on wood here. We've become quite superstitious since 2005 around here. Yeah my parents were very nice. Poor Mom n Dad. They probably didn't imagine we'd be there NINE MONTHS!! Ah good times, good times. I need to get all my ducks in a row here soon. Think I'll go check out the hurricane prep blog.

[Jinkers]

I've just started re-stocking my food/water supplies, I always have extra gas for my grill, I have panals for my downstairs, and accordian shutters upstairs, I'm pretty much ready as I am everly year, hopefully hurricane season will be kind to us this year, and no one gets hurt by a major hurricane

[MGC]

If the big one is gonna hit you....run. That is our hurricane plan. The heck with stocking up on supplies....it didn't do a darn bit of good after Katrina. If I get hit this season I'm going to Disney World.......MGC

[HouTXmetro]

I live in an apartment so ain't much I can do to prepare besides stock up on bottled water.

[SETXWXLADY]

If the big one is gonna hit you....run. That is our hurricane plan. The heck with stocking up on supplies....it didn't do a darn bit of good after Katrina. If I get hit this season I'm going to Disney World.......MGC

Sounds like my husband. He said the heck with it, if we have to evacuate AGAIN we're going somewhere fun.

[Downdraft]

Just a reminder that those little 5" black white portable t.v.s won't work anymore without a digital converter box that I don't believe comes in a portable model.

[ExBailbonds]

Here are some 12 volt options that work great and will run for days on a deepcycle battery I have one on the boat works great here in miami. Out in biscayne bay I get all the locals on the boat. At my house I cant all the locals but I get like 8 out of 10

[dolebot_Broward_NW]

Just a reminder that those little 5" black white portable t.v.s won't work anymore without a digital converter box that I don't believe comes in a portable model.

Yup, may as well throw them in the landfill.

Small (handheld) Rechargeable LCD and battery-op LCD models and even those that charge on a cig-lighter plug are about $100.

EDIT: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4015429

[boca]

Just a reminder that those little 5" black white portable t.v.s won't work anymore without a digital converter box that I don't believe comes in a portable model.

I think radio shack now has portable digital tv's.At least that what someone reliable told me. Well I guess they do didn't bother to read the post above thankyou.

[SETXWXLADY]

Here are some 12 volt options that work great and will run for days on a deepcycle battery I have one on the boat works great here in miami. Out in biscayne bay I get all the locals on the boat. At my house I cant all the locals but I get like 8 out of 10

Wow! Y'all have 10 locals?? We only have 4 and that cuz one station owns 2 of the networks. But great reminder about the tvs. They can come in handy even if you evacuate. We watched our old one in the Rita evac. Even when we got to where we were going we had no other tv to watch. What I'm wondering and know nothing about is how those wireless 3 g thigs work for the computer. But I'm hoping to get that figured out by June too.

[LaPlaceFF]

Another thing you can put in the ole kit is a GPS (Tom-Tom, Garmin, etc).

[Jagno]

The GPS is invaluable and a great reminder for prepping newbies. As for the digital tv, most people have saved that $100 and simply invested it in a good laptop which has alot more features that proved to be absolutely wonderful during Rita. Not only could you get on S2K but you can access multiple local and national channels, email loved idiots who decided to "hunker down" as well as chatting live with family and friends disbursed throughout the U.S., filing claims for insurance or assistance and in my case seeing my house destroyed. The internet stayed up when the phones & cable went down using satelitte internet service. Our laptop crashed a few months ago and this was just the reminder I needed to get off my duff and go get another one.

P.S. - Most hotels, motels and RV parks have free internet so you won't even have to buy the satelitte internet unless a loved one stays in the affected area then they'll need one.