lets discuss preps for disasters

[dirt ditch]

Dirt Ditch - Well written, informative post.

As I read your scenario I can see you have learned the hard way; about prepping. I have never had to go through what has happened to you and your family. I will certainly take the tips that you have suggested inadvertently within your post. I am not prepped for anything like you described, but can see that everything you have described has purpose and should be heeded. I was shocked when you described FEMA as Marshal law though.... I hadn't really thought about that aspect happening as an aftermath. Interesting -that you incorporated that into your final thoughts when you closed your post.

Perhaps I need to do some sort of prepping, I am not prepared for any event of sorts, nor do I have any material to educate myself if resources aren't available. I have a handful of candles and a flashlight in the shop. I have no radio as you described ( had to Google FRS radio). Living in the country I do have chainsaws and camping gear (stove/axe/etc.). Generator is standard in these parts where I live as loss of power happens too frequently, every year. Guess I need to do something because I could only make it about a week if an event like yours came to my neck of the woods.

Actually if we did it like prepping for the end of the world I would not want to do it, and what good would it do. Like the people on the TV shows. I set and laughed watching those shows. People spending thousands and thousands of dollars on bunkers, weapons, food, and vehicles then want to be on TV showing everyone what they got and usually where it is. My favorite one was when the guy mad his own bulletproof vest out of floor tile. Yea, I'll hold his beer for him...

A smart budget and doing a little at a time works well. Like others that have posted before in this thread, we have a small well stocked pantry just by buying a little extra food for it when we could. Usually when it was on sale so we would save as much as possible. If a person has food stocks then they better stock up on TP. I don't know how Tarzan did it and I probably won't have to with a little planing. Now we have an emergency fund of cash. After our disaster it was some time before the local banks were open for business. Once in a while we buy a box or two of ammo and just set it back. Better safe than sorry with that. I got the FRS radios used on ebay from a good seller, 15 or 16 of them for about $40. They all work and most of them are FRS/GMRS. Have to have a license for GMRS, but the radios have the frequencies and I am sure no one gave a dang the night of our storm. After seeing what a tornado can do we now have an in ground tornado shelter. One sad event was a couple took shelter in their basement. The house blew away, then the wind picked up the guys vehicle and dropped it on top him down in the basement. It killed him.

As far as FEMA, I understand there has to be some control over what happens after a disaster. Marshal law was enacted as soon as the sun came up. Law enforcement from surrounding jurisdictions was brought in to set up roadblocks at every access point into town. Lots of rubberneckers needed to be turned away along with the thieves. But it really puts a burden on the local people who just want to get their property cleaned up and get on with their lives.

 

[dirt ditch]

I hope you had the kitchen exhaust powered with the generator or doors open AND battery powered CO detectors. You don't know you are fatally poisoned by CO until it is too late. Camp stoves are not typically rated for indoor use and give off CO, unlike a rated indoor stove. Be safe.

Ummm, an indoor propane stove is no different than an outdoor one. Both give off CO. That's why they advise against using an open gas oven to heat your house.
Aaron Z

I appreciate you looking out for us. We do have CO detectors upstairs and downstairs. If we have to cook on the camp stove it is always a quick easy meal so the stove is on for just a few minutes. It's never used for heating the house. Those little screw on bottles are way too expensive for that. We normally heat with wood but there are 2 ventless propane wall heaters in the house for backup (1 upstairs & 1 downstairs). so if we are not home the pipes wont freeze.

 

[Sprinklerman]

I have a driven well for my irrigation system , I also have a hand pitcher pump for just in case .

 

[s219]

dirt ditch, your story reminded me what it was like after Hurricane Isabel here -- took us a couple hours to make it the 14 miles to my mother in law's house to check on her (multiple trees down on her car and house, so we were anxious to get there). It was a real battle zone, and I cut more trees that day than I can remember, alongside National Guard crews and other people we met along the way. At the time I had my dad's old chainsaw which was really outgunned, and that started my modern chainsaw arms race (like my own personal chainsaw cold war -- me against the wood). Now I am so ready with saws and gear it's crazy. And now we live near water and could boat over to my mother in law's place to check on her, though I am not sure how safe that would be with all the debris in the water after storms. Anyway, you did a good job describing how intense and crazy things get after a natural disaster. Those are days I will never forget. Went through much of the same after Hurricane Irene in 2011, but thankfully nothing real bad since then.

 

[dirt ditch]

s219, that is funny about the chainsaw arms race. I did the same thing. Only had a Poulan at the time. Cut down and trimmed up several trees for my dad and granddad with it. Tree trunks got old real fast with that Poulan. Now I have 3 Stihl chainsaws, a tractor, and a skid steer with a root grapple. Hope I never have to go through that again but I am better prepared than I was.

 

[TnAndy]

We prep, but we also live a self reliant lifestyle raising 80% of our food....2-1/4ac gardens, 2 greenhouses that extends our growing to nearly year round, raise and home process our beef, pork, chicken and catfish+ venison. Built 'auxiliary' kitchen off back of garage with 6x6' walk in cooler to hang meat during processing. Can extensively (3 canners, two hold 7qt jars, big AA canner holds 20 qt jars at a run), 8x10 root cellar for veggie/fruit storage. 6 freezers (mostly 7-9cuft), empty and shut down as we use them up during the winter. Between what we raise + dried grains + Mt House cases, I'd guess we have 3 years of food in stock most of the time.

Photo today from one house. Green beans about a week out from first picking, we'll pick a couple bushels out of these over the next month or so.

Lettuce and spinach that will go on all winter:

3 hogs hanging in the walk-in cooler one year:

Water is gravity fed spring with 3,000gal of storage all the time + drilled well backup.

Power is grid, but have 11kw solar that feeds the grid now producing a surplus.... (they owe us $813 currently), and 6kw of it will operate off grid with the flip of a transfer switch, w/battery back up. Generators: 4kw, 5kw, 8kw.

Fuel: Two 300gal elevated tanks in shed, one gas, one diesel, put 6-55gal drums gas and 9-55gal drums of diesel, 2-55gal drums kerosene. All preserved with PRI-G&D.

Heat is wood, with small propane backup (wall heater). Burn 6 cords/yr, and have 18 cords cut/split/in dry. Cooktop is propane, water heater is propane, have wood cookstove w/oven for backup. Use about 350gal of propane/yr, and keep 3 -500gal tanks (2 full, never use) + dozen 100lb tanks (23gal).

Two of four firewood sheds. Hold 4 cords each.

Well stocked armory, plenty of stored feed for it, and plenty of reloading components/equipment. Location is pretty defensible as well....small valley between two mountain ranges, one way in at upper end, and lower end. We live off to one side at the end of a small, dead end road, surrounded by mountains/USFS property.

One of the reasons I build so many things around the place is most of our property is mountain land with timber. I bought a Woodmizer mill in 1991, and haven't quit building here yet.

 

[TomSeller]

Ummm, an indoor propane stove is no different than an outdoor one. Both give off CO. That's why they advise against using an open gas oven to heat your house.

Aaron Z

The indoor rated ranges are calibrated to burn more efficiently to be used in homes. Camp stoves are made for outdoor use, so not as we'll built or efficient. More importantly, however is the camp stove maker's often (if not always) rate their units "not for indoor use". So if you die of CO poisoning in your home because of a defective unit your family's lawyer has little to work with, whether the unit is defective or not.

 

[s219]

We prep, but we also live a self reliant lifestyle raising 80% of our food....2-1/4ac gardens, 2 greenhouses that extends our growing to nearly year round, raise and home process our beef, pork, chicken and catfish+ venison. Built 'auxiliary' kitchen off back of garage with 6x6' walk in cooler to hang meat during processing. Can extensively (3 canners, two hold 7qt jars, big AA canner holds 20 qt jars at a run), 8x10 root cellar for veggie/fruit storage. 6 freezers (mostly 7-9cuft), empty and shut down as we use them up during the winter. Between what we raise + dried grains + Mt House cases, I'd guess we have 3 years of food in stock most of the time.

Nice setup -- that must have been quite an investment in time and sweat to get where you are today, but it's great.

 

[TnAndy]

Nice setup -- that must have been quite an investment in time and sweat to get where you are today, but it's great.

33 years into a 50 year project. My goal is for the NEXT guy not to have it too hard.......ahahhaaaaaa

 

[MossRoad]

As far as using a camp stove indoors goes, besides CO there is another concern. If the flame goes out, your house fills with propane. And camp stoves are notorious for losing a flame. I wouldn't use one inside. I'd cook the meal outside or in the unattached garage with plenty of ventilation.

As for the CO, if your range hood vent is working, that'll probably take care of it, but if your cooking on a camp stove in your kitchen, your power's probably out and your range vent probably isn't working either.

Just cook it outside.