lets discuss preps for disasters

[Jstpssng]

Last-Minute Stockpiling Only Makes Disasters Worse

I'm always amazed when stores run out of snow shovels before a winter storm. It snows over 20 times a year in Boston - did they eat them during the last storm?

That's one of the great mysteries of life. I don't know when the last time was that I bought a snow shovel. At 35-50$ for a decent one-without hydraulics and diesel power- I try not to lose mine.

 

[Garycw]

One item that I'm pretty sure no one has mentioned, for short term, is bug repellant/bug poison. They actually brought it up once on news; after one of the hurricanes a pretty long time ago (Hugo I think) they said wasps, and hornets where extremely bad. After Francis (or was it Frances) there where floating mini islands of millions of fire ants. Flooding drives all kinds of nasties indoors.

Very good point. We stocked up on that some time ago as well as snake bite kits.
The mosquitos can carry some nasty stuff besides the itching. Heard on news yesterday the rats in nyc have fleas that carry bubonic plague?
After HUGO I talked to a lineman and he said all the bugs went crazy. Said his arms were solid black with mosquitos.
When IKE hit there was 80-90 mph winds sustained for hours in SW Ohio. Power was out for 3 weeks+ it was also out in ky and other states you wouldn't associate with hurricane damage

 

[dmccarty]

Some of the stories written by the first white settlers to Florida talk about massive clouds of mosquitoes. Some houses were built with a small airlock where you would brush the mosquitoes off your body and clothes. Hopefully, when you entered the house proper, most of the mosquitoes would stay in the entry way. :shocked:

I really don't know how the Indians lived in Florida or in other areas of the South. A smoky fire helps keep the bugs away but at some point you have to leave the protection of the smoke. Then what? :confused3: Even if you lived near the ocean so you had a breeze a good part of the time, that only worked so much. We have stayed at a resort on the beach and the no see ums were just vicious. We stayed at a beach house in NC years ago and I went kayakng in the evening and the mosquitoes chewed my shoulders to pieces. The Indians must have done something to protect themselves from the bugs. They only thing I could guess they did was cover themselves with mud.

In my part of NC we don't have many mosquitoes if you don't let the water stand in containers around the house. However, what will get you are the mobs of ticks and chiggers. :shocked: I suspect this was not a problem hundreds of years ago when wild fires were allowed to burn through and burn these spawn of the devil...

Later,
Dan

 

[Egon]

What many of you are describing as preparations was just a normal way of life for many only a generation or so ago.

 

[TnAndy]

What many of you are describing as preparations was just a normal way of life for many only a generation or so ago.

Too bad this forum doesn't have a :thumbsup: button.

 

[TnAndy]

Last-Minute Stockpiling Only Makes Disasters Worse

I'm always amazed when stores run out of snow shovels before a winter storm. It snows over 20 times a year in Boston - did they eat them during the last storm?

Same with plywood in hurricane zones. You'll see a news clip of every sheet of plywood disappearing out of the big box stores to cover windows/etc. I always wonder "did they throw it away last time ?"

 

[paulharvey]

Same with plywood in hurricane zones. You'll see a new clip of every sheet of plywood disappearing out of the big box stores to cover windows/etc. I always wonder "did they throw it away last time ?"

No, but you'll find you need a piece of plywood for something, and you take that piece. Not to mention, it does take some room to store; like a garage

 

[dirt ditch]

How are others storing their supplies? In our basement pantry we have good plastic shelving loaded with the canned, boxed, and bottled items that we have to monitor the dates of. From Lows we purchased food grade, 5 gallon buckets and lids. They work great for storing bags of beans, rice, and flour. my wife freezes the bags for a week or more to kill any weevil or their eggs before placing the bags in the buckets. She stores quite a bit of stuff in totes. To save room she vacuum packs anything she can with her food saver before placing it in a tote. I'd love to use part of our tornado shelter for storage. Unfortunately in it the temperature fluctuates so much throughout the year going from an oven in the summer to deep freeze during winter so we don't have much in it besides a small folding table, a couple chairs, a battery powered fan and bottled water. We keep a tote of emergency supplies like flashlights, glow sticks, batteries and a police scanner by the back door during tornado season that we can grab while heading out the door if the need rises. Something I have thought about using, because my father-in-law did it when he was alive, is large suitcases. Before there was such a thing as totes He bought large suitcases really cheap at garage sales. He had a bunch in his basement and stored all kinds of things in them.

 

[CalG]

Some of the stories written by the first white settlers to Florida talk about massive clouds of mosquitoes. Some houses were built with a small airlock where you would brush the mosquitoes off your body and clothes. Hopefully, when you entered the house proper, most of the mosquitoes would stay in the entry way. :shocked:

I really don't know how the Indians lived in Florida or in other areas of the South. A smoky fire helps keep the bugs away but at some point you have to leave the protection of the smoke. Then what? :confused3: Even if you lived near the ocean so you had a breeze a good part of the time, that only worked so much. We have stayed at a resort on the beach and the no see ums were just vicious. We stayed at a beach house in NC years ago and I went kayakng in the evening and the mosquitoes chewed my shoulders to pieces. The Indians must have done something to protect themselves from the bugs. They only thing I could guess they did was cover themselves with mud.

In my part of NC we don't have many mosquitoes if you don't let the water stand in containers around the house. However, what will get you are the mobs of ticks and chiggers. :shocked: I suspect this was not a problem hundreds of years ago when wild fires were allowed to burn through and burn these spawn of the devil...

Later,
Dan

For a glimps at what "Early America in the south" was like, Read the book about this poor fellow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Álvar_Núñez_Cabeza_de_Vaca

What did the indigenous people do? Forced captives and slaves to tend smudge fires all night and most of the day.

Of course, you can't believe everything you read... ;-)

 

[Garandman]

We live near Boston Harbor and Hurricane Sandy got my attention. We happen to live high enough flooding is very unlikely, but we'll be on an island 12 hours a day.

Now I find out not only is the ocean rising, parts of the east coast are sinking.....

East Coast Is Extremely Vulnerable to Hurricane Flooding - Scientific American