Are You Prepared?

We're getting a blizzard where I am too, and I have to say that I'm probably not prepared enough. We don't really keep much in the way of supplies on hand because we're always short on money and have to buy just what we need right then. And I can't even imagine being able to afford a generator. Tonight my husband is supposed to go to work, and if he manages to get there I'm going to have him stock up on our baby's supplies at least. That's really the thing I worry about most: food and diapers and such for my son. I suppose I should be better about planning for weather emergencies, but it's just impossible when you don't have any money.

Being prepared can be the difference between surviving and not surviving during a weather emergency. As I've said in some of my posts, I am from the South Florida area and I have been through more hurricanes than I care to count from Hurricane Andrew, the no-name storm, Hurricanes Francis and Jeanne (within a week of each other) and Hurricane Katrina and Wilma. I think Hurricane Wilma was probably the worst storm since Hurricane Andrew for the South Florida area. During Hurricane Wilma, we lost power early on in the storm and we were without power for several days. Some people were without power for several weeks. Not having power, there is no cooking, no cleaning, no warm showers, no air conditioning (or heat), no light when the sun goes down, none of the things we take for granted. If you have children, I can't even imagine how you'd survive. Not only do we not have power, but the stores don't have power, the gas stations don't have power, and it ends up having this domino effect. So, yes, we gas up the cars with an impending storm, we stock the pantry with non-perishable food, we have plenty of drinking water on hand (because you can't boil water during the boil water period if you don't have electric), we hve plenty of batteries, things to keep us occupied before, during and after the storm, etc. One thing we never thought about until Hurricanes Francis and Jeanne was a corded phone. So, yes, I was always prepared, because there is no lesson well-learned than the lesson learned the hard way.

I live on the west coast and would eb able to last at least a week without power. I have a small genereator enought to power the whoel house if had to but would only use for essetial things. I have a propane BBQ as well as camping gear that could also be used enough realistically they say u should be able to last 72 hrs without any help but i think you should be able to last at least a week to 10 days. You should also look at what kind of events coudl effect you from storm to earthquakes.