Heléne and Milton: hurricane-force reminders of basic precautions

 

Big Country Expat offers an acerbic, occasionally profane, and very practical look at hurricane relief efforts in North Carolina after Hurricane Heléne, and what he's doing to prepare near Tampa, Florida.  (His home is right in the bullseye of where Hurricane Milton is expected to come ashore tonight or early tomorrow).  An example from his report:

Speak of fuel and whatnot… a interesting thing we saw:  On the way home we saw ‘cop lights’ coming up going Northbound on I-75, not in hi-pursuit but escorting -something- That in itself wasn’t the odd thing… we see **** like that everywhere, all the time right?

In this case, Sapper and I both thought “oversized load” until we saw it was Two Florida State Police Cruisers escorting a RaceTrac Fuel Truck!

THAT was a first in 20+ years and multiple -other- storms I’ve been through in the past. I’ve not seen an ‘armed escort’ ever here stateside… Mind you, I did see on Twitter a mention of a near-riot in or around Sarasota (south of me) that some asshole pulled a handgun and tried to hijack a gas truck that was trying to refuel a service station… Mind you also there’s been ZERO mention of anything like that on even the local news, so the Memory Hole is activated like a mother****** I’m guessing. I’m personally not sure if I’m more worried about the memory hole or that things are already that potentially bad already. Time will tell.

Load another magazine and watch my lane I suppose…

There's more at the link.  Entertaining and worthwhile reading (albeit profane in parts).

Karl Denninger reminds us of several essential basics in preparing for any sort of disaster.  There are many more, but these are fundamental and must be addressed first.  Emphasis in original.

Concentrate your efforts on the basics of human need because in a disaster that's what matters most and expect even in a population area to be able to self-provide for at least a week.  The first and most-basic human need is air; if you can't breathe it you're dead.  Fires and toxins are real risks, but they're also ones that when it comes to breathable air your best option is to run at the first hint of trouble no matter where you are.

Second is drinkable water.  Assuming you are not inordinately stressed you might make three days.  You're probably worthless in two days and children are more susceptible to serious dehydration because their skin area is larger on a percentage basis, so they typically cannot make it past two days and are effectively useless in one day.  Do not expect help to reach you under any circumstance until roughly that amount of time and perhaps more.  Even with "local" relief that ignores exhortations to not go help personally (like here after Helene) it still will take that long because until people can get in there that's just how it is.

Any allegedly "fresh" water source after a disaster has to be presumed contaminated and unsafe unless you have the means to treat it, and there are chemical contamination risks that cannot be reasonably mitigated in a disaster situation at all with water at ground level.  If you have a traditional hot water heater and your home or other residence is physically intact you have somewhere around 50 gallons of usable water in it.  It should still be filtered with a Sawyer and/or treated with Aquamira drops (yes, buy both well in advance!) before consumption, particularly after a few days, but it will not be full of contaminants because it was full of clean water when the system went down.  Keep a short hose around for this purpose and make sure you turn off the electrical or gas feed so once you start using it when water is restored it does not "dry fire."  If you do not have any source of stored water (e.g. you have a tankless system and didn't fill anything in advance) then bottled water is your next and last resort.  Everyone needs to be prepared to deal with this all the time; even if you're on a private well if there's no power the pump won't work (more on that in a minute.)

Third is personal shelter from elements, which includes clothing and similar.  Enough to be out of the wind and elements (e.g. rain, etc.) is frequently enough but not always.  Being wet, particularly in wind, can nail you with hypothermia even in moderately cool temperatures and in colder temperatures it is rapidly deadly.  Some of this is beyond your control and if your housing is destroyed in adverse circumstances securing from that problem is, after immediate threats (e.g. incoming flash flooding) your first priority.  Tools of some description, all the way down to a pocket knife, make a difference -- perhaps a really big difference.  Having some preparation against this (e.g. a shell rain jacket, disposable space blankets, etc.) is inexpensive and everyone should have at least some elements of that available at any time.

The last utter essential is personal protection.  It would be nice if people didn't try to take advantage but some will.  Remember that the option to accept a "lesser injury" does not exist when there is no prompt medical care available, and there won't be in this situation.  Exactly what you choose to do in this regard is a personal choice and I won't go into it on this side of the blog but it is critical to remember that any significant injury can trivially wind up being fatal if you can't get medical attention for a day or two.

The rest is very situational but these first points are not.

Again, more at the link.  Recommended reading.

Good luck to my friends and acquaintances in Florida as Milton draws near.  We'll be praying for you.

Peter