This is a Drill !

(Photo: cswisdom.com)

 
     This is a quick mental exercise for you.  Although there are never tornadoes in your area, your Spring weather has been unusual. Overnight, a tornado has significantly damaged the electrical infrastructure where you live, and your water will likely be out there for at least two weeks.  Some of your neighbors lost everything. You awaken to a bewildering site, but with minimal damage to the outside of your home.  You are being told to lock up and to evacuate.  A bus is coming to evacuate you and your family in two hours.  What do you gather ? What do your turn off ?  What are your plans with your pets ?

For the sake of this exercise, this is your closest neighbor's home.   (Photo: http://www.theoaklandpress.com)

 There are many different ways to respond to this scenario and many of them would be correct. What is most important is that you do have sufficient of the mental work done in this exercise to react correctly and not waste time.   Since your house has only superficial loss of trim and exterior items due to wind, it is still important to find the gas turn off, and turn it off immediately, should you have gas.   It is also a good idea to shut off your water should you depend upon municipal or city water.    If you are a rural person, and your generator permits you to pump well water, you may still wish to hear from your area, that it is still safe to do so, although it likely is.
     Whether you evacuate or not, largely depends upon whether this is a mandated evacuation or whether this is an optional one.  If you have small children, or are elderly, it might be a good idea to evacuate, as injuries could occur without electricity for an extended period.   If you are set up for long term power outages, you may wish to stay, to avoid looting of your home,
      If you evacuate, you need to bring:

    1. Your regular medications and those for any family members.
    2. First aid evacuation kit
    3. General evacuation kit     All of which we discussed when the blog began
        aka "Bug Out Bag:.   Remember solid protective shoes and socks for everyone.
    4.  Food and water for evacuation.
    5. Pet evacuation kit including their food and dishes.
    6. Your pets and family
    7. Your Evacuation Document File
    8. Medical Evacuation notebook.

It is also essential that you lock everything before your departure.    Your valuables should be in a hidden safe anyway.

     Since you have animals, you should evacuate using your own vehicle, not the bus which is coming.


          In such a situation,  in a rural area without water or sewer provided here, we would likely remain.   We would use our diesel supplies to fuel our generator to pump each days water.  Then we would depend upon the battery array for electricity for refrigeration, and lights.  (The generator powers both the pump and allows us to store a days charge on our marine battery array through inverters.)   Life would not be grand, but it is survivable.  We would bucket flush our toilets.   We would eat easily prepared foods and cook using our gas stove or gas grill, for which we use tanked fuel.  (There are no gaslines here)  We would not leave home unless we wished to add to the stockpile of diesel fuel we would be gradually depleting.

      After power restoration, other than clean up and repairs, to restock we would need to:

 1. Restock emergency foods used, and any bottled water we used or gave to trusted friends.
 2. Restock any fuels used.
 3. Arrange any necessary inspections or repairs of essential systems.

        This is not complete or comprehensive.  It would not be possible for us to set out every potential task or possibility here.  What is important is that you think about, and plan for the possibilities yourself.

  These are some of our prior posts which may help you with this task:


Discussing Evacuation:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/09/rational-preparedness-2-0912-by-prepper.html

Creating emergency kits for home base:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/09/creating-your-own-emergency-medical-kit.html

Continuation of the emergency medical kit for home:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/10/continuation-of-emergency-medical-kit.html

Deciding which foods to stock:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/10/deciding-which-foods-to-stock.html

Formulating farm disaster plans:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/01/ideas-for-formulating-farm-disaster.html

Emergency preparations for pets:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/01/emergency-preparations-for-pets.html

Assembling your own excellent first aid kit:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/12/assembling-your-own-excellent-first-aid.html

Considering an Escape Cabin for Emergencies:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/12/considering-escape-cabin-for.html

The Document Evacuation Bag:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/03/document-evacuation-bag.html

How are your Evacuation Kits, and your Medical Kits ?
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-are-your-medical-kits-evacuation.html

Planning for Tornadoes:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/04/thought-on-planning-for-tornadoes.html

Evaluating the Need for a Safe:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/04/evaluating-need-for-safe.html

The Evacuation Notebook: Personalized Information:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/04/evacuation-notebookpersonalized.html

Information on the Diabetic Ecase:  Updated:
http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/01/updated-information-on-diabetic-ecase.html