My Hurricane Survival Tips (outside of the 'normal' stuff they tell you to do)

Our town just suffered a direct hit by Category 3, Hurricane Irma.  This was one big, bad storm!  It shattered hurricane records (longest sustaining Cat 5, lowest pressure, largest windfield, etc.)  10 days before landfall, the Hurricane Center was predicting a direct hit to our area of Florida. 

  However, experience has told me that when you are in the center of the “cone of uncertainty” 10 days in advance, it’s generally a good thing, because that cone will significantly move. Whelp…I was wrong this time.  Although some models wanted it to move to the east coast, the storm had its sights set on Southwest Florida.

About 5 days before the storm, we got into serious storm prep mode.  We chose to stay ( see other blog posts about that decision), and so I wanted to make sure we could take care of our family for 10 days without needing any help.  10 days…that is what stuck in my mind.  Looking back….I think we did a pretty good job preparing, and we were fully self-sustaining for 10 days. 

Hurricane Preparation Tips (in no particular order)

1.  Freeze bags of water: Each day for 5 days, I would fill 2 gallon sized zip lock bags with water, and then freeze it.  The idea behind this is…the more full your freezer is, the longer it will stay cold.  AND….that huge block of ice will be welcomed cold water a few days after the storm.  I had never done this before, so I wasn’t sure how it would work….but it was perfect!  I truly believe this one prep tip made a HUGE difference.  Our freezer was cold three and a half days after our electricity went out.  Our food was still frozen, because it was surrounded by these blocks of ice.  We tried not to open the freezer door.

2.  Cook all of your meat:  I wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad idea…but, I figured it couldn’t hurt.  I cooked all of my meat before the storm.  This meant no raw meat the fridge or freezer to worry about (or stink up).  I put all of my frozen chicken breasts in a crock pot, threw some seasoning on top, and let it cook all day long.  Then, I shredded the chicken and portioned it into gallon size freezer bags.  I cooked about 4 pounds of ground beef and portioned it into freezer bags too.  I also made about 2 dozen meat balls, and again, put it into freezer bags.  Next time, I will make some hamgburgers too.  It was wonderful to have meat for dinners after working in yards all day.  The cooked meat defrosted quickly, and I cooked it over the side burner of our grill.  We had tacos, fajitas, soup, chicken & noodles, and more.

      3.  Fill all of our sports bottles and pitchers with water the morning of the storm.  We did this and used it for the first day, so as to not dip into our water supply.

  

      4. Empty your ice maker once your electric goes out.  I put mine in a cooler and had ice into the next morning 😊

      5. Work together: Make a plan with the family and work together.  Move all of your outdoor furniture inside, etc.

      6. Norwex Body Cloth:  This makes you feel fresh and clean when you can’t shower for two weeks.  Just a bit of water on your cloth, start with your face and then work your way down to the dirty areas last.  The kids and myself used a body cloth to stay clean (we each had our own) and it was amazing.  You NEED some of these!

      7.  Parked the truck in the garage, and filled the truck with items we really didn’t want to get wet.  I mean…crazy stuff would have had to happen to get through the garage  and then inside the truck. 

  

          8.  Have BOB (Bug Out Bag) ready:  We could have left at a moments notice before the storm hit (or after) because I did have clothes and important documents ready to go if we needed to leave in a moments notice.

       9. Pray & Praise:  The most awesome we thing we did as a family was create a Prayer and Praise wall for our “hunker down” corner.  Right after our electric went out, we sat around the table and started writing out scripture, prayers, and prayer requests.  We spent time in prayer for all of our friends and family, and in praise over our Lord.  We then taped this up on our bedroom wall and referenced it throughout the scary times of the storm. We have often went back and added to it as the weeks progressed.

     10. Have a “hunker down” corner.  We put our son’s twin mattress on the floor in our bedroom and made it “fun” for the kids.  It was like camping.  We had pillows and blankets, an ipad, our radio, etc.  During the eye wall, we sang together, we prayed together, and we listened too. But, it was a safe place for our family to gather and be comfortable.

There are obvious things you need to do to prepare….but I didn’t include those.  Of course, have your important documents handy, buy batteries, water, fill your vehicles with gas, etc.  These were just some extra things that I think really helped us.

What we wish we had, but didn’t.

     Generator: Honestly, didn’t even cross my mind.  God provided (more in another post)

     Chainsaw: We stayed to help…but quickly realized that we needed a chainsaw to help.  God provided (more in another post)

      Baby Wipes:  These will become a hurricane kit staple.  It would have been so nice to have that to wipe our hands with. 

      Extra underwear and socks:  Because, it gets gross when you can’t do laundry.  ‘nuff said.