lets discuss preps for disasters

[/pine]

Not to worry here... when our sewers overfill with rainwater, huge flapper valves automatically open and the combined rain and sanitary sewers flush directly into the river and then on to Lake Michigan.... yuck! :thumbdown:

That is probably a good thing when it comes to immediate (emergency) health concerns...
...The real issues can arise where lift stations, forced systems/mains are a factor...and there is no electricity to power them...The crux of problems occur when gravity systems (that are typical) get saturated and there is no power to move the waste water to available treatment plants with release outlets...

This is a common problem in coastal areas where barrier islands and low lying tracts (etc.) are densely populated but do not have gravity fed treatment plants (and relief pumps)...all the waste has to be forced (via pumps) to mainland treatment facilities...

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

We keep all our important (hard to replace) papers in a small plastic file holder ready to go. This includes titles, deeds, credit card information, etc.. We learned this trick when the Bastrop Texas fires got close to our home. You should include pictures that you can't replace. Better yet, scan the pictures and store them at someone else's server.

 

[riptides]

Back to flooding, we had an event last year that basically closed the bridge on my property edge. Around the community most roads were also flooded out. I recall going about 40 miles out of my way just to get home. I called the wife from across the bridge, which the local FD was engaged in a water rescue, and told her I was going to be late.

After that event, I made sure all the family was equipped with the "driest" safe ride to the house. It's pretty devastating to see your house and not be able to get to it.

On valuable papers and pics, we use our banks safety deposit box, DVD's. No electronic gizmo as one method of backup.

 

[mark02tj]

144 double rolls to a crate, 12 crates put away. Let ole Mr. Whipple hide......ahahahaaaa

You'll never be wiped out with that kind of supply!! :laughing:

In terms of floods we keep an 11' inflatable in the shed for the winter. It lives at the YC in summer and that's walking/wading distance...

Another tip if you have a propane gas grill and camp stove or lantern that uses the 1 lb cans. You can buy a conversion tube from Coleman so you can run your camp stove off the 20 lb canisters.

There are also devices to refill 1 lb cans but I've not tried them.

I rotate five 20 lb tanks for my grill. I also have a couple of adapter hoses. My goal is to keep at least 3 full 20 pounders at all times, but sometimes that slips and I'll get down to one. The last time I took 4 tanks to TSC (best price around!) to be refilled, I couldn't believe how many "are you getting ready for a big barbecue?" comments I heard.

Even though I don't grill as much during the colder weather, I keep them filled over the winter. I have a Big Buddy in case the power AND the natural gas are cut off. I also have a couple of these.

People have mentioned backup power for their wells and also mentioned putting a hand pump on their well. I do have backup power, but not a hand pump. One of the "I really need to take 2 hours to put this together" things I need to do is make a "well bucket". Basically a piece of PVC with a one way flapper valve on it. Put a piece of rope on it, lower it in your well and haul it back up. You will only get a gallon or so at a time, but that might make the difference between good water and no water in a long term situation. Lehman's Hardware sells a nice one, but I think the same thing could be made out of PVC for about $15.

 

[PhysAssist]

In terms of floods we keep an 11' inflatable in the shed for the winter. It lives at the YC in summer and that's walking/wading distance...

Another tip if you have a propane gas grill and camp stove or lantern that uses the 1 lb cans. You can buy a conversion tube from Coleman so you can run your camp stove off the 20 lb canisters.

There are also devices to refill 1 lb cans but I've not tried them.

I have and use the adapter to refill the one pound tanks from our 20 pounder, and it works really well.

It has repaid the $20 I spent on it many times.

 

[PhysAssist]

Or the Yellow Pages like we had a Boy Scout camp... :laughing:

We decided to hold onto our old phone book and yellow pages just in case..

 

[paulharvey]

Ask yourself these four questions to reveal your level of preparedness | Glenn Beck

Worth a read

 

[paulharvey]

Double post, but since I did; if you read the list, I find my self well prepared in some areas and sorely lacking in others. I know I am extremely lacking in the cash on hand (and money in the bank as well, lol, {not really that funny...}) and food one hand. Wife doesn't like canned veggies or canned food in general, so we have less than a normal house hold.

We are OK to good, on ammo/defense as well as plan. My water plan is fair (pull well pump and dip out, or walk about 500 ft to fresh water lake, and bill with wood and or propane)

 

[Jstpssng]

I take anything which Beck says with a grain of salt... He makes a lot of money by capitalising on people's fears. (I.E., the gold buying scare not so long ago.) Having said that, his questions do make some sense.

Even though your wife doesn't like canned foods, they still are good to keep on hand. If she's hungry her palate will change, and there's less danger of "borrowing" them for every day use.

 

[aczlan]

Even though your wife doesn't like canned foods, they still are good to keep on hand. If she's hungry her palate will change, and there's less danger of "borrowing" them for every day use.

Or as a trade item... TP will be a high value commodity

Aaron Z

 

[SirReal63]

I take anything which Beck says with a grain of salt... He makes a lot of money by capitalising on people's fears. (I.E., the gold buying scare not so long ago.) Having said that, his questions do make some sense.

Even though your wife doesn't like canned foods, they still are good to keep on hand. If she's hungry her palate will change, and there's less danger of "borrowing" them for every day use.

He does that as a commercial, carefully blended with more or less serious topics, effective for advertising but you have to be paying attention to notice it is a sponsored commentary. I kind of hate that about some of the radio personalities.

Ask yourself these four questions to reveal your level of preparedness | Glenn Beck

Worth a read

We will never be at a level 5, nor do I think we ever plan to be but we have included some things from that level. If it gets so bad that only level 5 people will survive, I don't think I want to be around. I know some people who may be at that level, if they are what will be left, it isn't my world anymore.

 

[onlyonenow]

There was this old cliche about an all out Nuclear War
"The living will envy the dead"


Depends on what kind of situation you get.

Now something like a meteor hitting (called an Extinction Level Event or ELE) nothing matters. If we get something like the Yucatan again we are all dead.

And even if it is not quite that bad who wants to live in that kind of world?

BUT there certainly is a lot of room between that 'put your head between your legs and kiss your *** goodbye'
and not doing anything at all.

You really have to look at each region and sum things up. Now those prone to Tornadoes can pretty much look at it this way- if your home gets taken out you have to leave no matter what pretty soon. If your home is not taken out or badly damaged but the town/area is then you are looking at several weeks without power, etc in a worst case scenario and hanging around is not really an option. UNLESS you are willing to invest a lot of money in being able to last a month or more without any real support. Days after the roads will be clear and you can get out and get food even if you have to go a distance; same with fuel, etc. At that point it really is a matter of how much financial ability you have.

Those in hurricane areas- somewhat different since the area gets wiped pretty much. Long term staying is probably not going to be an option if it is really bad.

Earthquakes are a lot like hurricanes. whole areas are wiped in bad ones.

Those are the more apocalyptic (on a personal scale) scenarios.

so everyone has to make their own decisions on how much to invest in being ready.


Now take everyone else- I think 10 days would be a good compromise. Have everything you need to last 10 days without any outside help at all. And have say food and water for longer.

Human nature being what it is (one really has to be brutally honest about this) you really in the end cannot truly depend on anyone else but close family and really good friends. Acquaintances and neighbors- just how well do you really know them? Are you willing to trust your families safety to them?

It is good to plan to work with the neighbors on handling bad situations- but honestly how many people anymore live in a place long enough to really know them? And how long do THEY stick around?

I am lucky; after retiring I have a place in a canyon that is perfect for bugging out in all but IOTW situations and like I said who really wants to live like that anyway.

I already have plans with several close friends (no family in area) for them to come to my place. They have supplies and resources to add to my own. We can easily survive several months on our own.

A lot of what has been said and posted in this thread really would help anyone starting out thinking about being ready for a bad time.

I feel sorry for anyone in a big city or near one; if anything beyond a short term situation that is not truly serious happens you are toast and getting out is the only alternative.

I remember watching Katrina and shaking my head at the stupidity of not only the residents of NO but their city and state governments. So many want to blame FEMA and they did screw up but remember that 1000 buses sitting in that yard? 50,000 people could have been evacuated using them but the excuse was no qualified drivers available. Such incredible BS. Frankly there was so much information available about what was coming there was no real excuse for anyone who was not crippled or too sick to not get out in time. None at all. That was on the people there and no one else. So the primary blame for what happened is there. IF they had been smart enough to do that those that were left and could not leave could have been taken care of by the city unless they totally blew it (which certainly could have happened). Bottom line is the blame for what happened there goes this way 1. The people that could have left and did not. 2. The city government for not using those buses and other resources and getting people out. 3. State government for sitting around with their thumbs up their butts. 4. FEMA for not being prepared and ready.

I agree about the fanatics and their bunkers. You really would not want to be around them period. BUT I also feel the same contempt for those that do nothing at all and think the government will bail them out.

 

[Paddy]

We have a pantry full of canned goods, 10 lb bag of rice goes a long way, bags of many kinds of dried beans. Freezer full of stuff that what/could last weeks. My 15 + bottle Bourbon collection to keep up the spirits We live on a lake so boil it and it's safe. A few guns and start thinning out a few deer that we see daily. (I could live off all the squires alone that attack my bird feeder!) Oh, and a dozen good books to go with the bourbon.

 

[Gunny]

Don't forget the Spam!

 

[Soundguy]

Don't forget the Spam!

lotsa calories for the price in spam, especially store brand . Good ratio.

And lets face it, in a SHTF situation, 'healthy nutrition' can be out the door a couple weeks. You are just looking for 'fuel' for short term.

Survival bars, clean water, and high calorie foot per cost/weight are good things.

When things level out and you get to long term survival, then you can rethink your 3 a day spam and survival power bar meals, and try to start getting fruits, vegi's and lower sodium / fat content foods in.

 

[Soundguy]

Don't forget the Spam!

lotsa calories for the price in spam, especially store brand . Good ratio.

And lets face it, in a SHTF situation, 'healthy nutrition' can be out the door a couple weeks. You are just looking for 'fuel' for short term.

Survival bars, clean water, and high calorie foot per cost/weight are good things.

When things level out and you get to long term survival, then you can rethink your 3 a day spam and survival power bar meals, and try to start getting fruits, vegi's and lower sodium / fat content foods in.

 

[Garandman]

I have bottles of booze and quarts of motor oil. I can probably trade for anything else needed.....

 

[MossRoad]

We have a pantry full of canned goods, 10 lb bag of rice goes a long way, bags of many kinds of dried beans. Freezer full of stuff that what/could last weeks. My 15 + bottle Bourbon collection to keep up the spirits We live on a lake so boil it and it's safe. A few guns and start thinning out a few deer that we see daily. (I could live off all the squires alone that attack my bird feeder!) Oh, and a dozen good books to go with the bourbon.

And 48,000 starving college students! Better get some Ramen noodles. :laughing:

 

[vtlpluyr]

We had the great ice storm up here in 1998 and it was shocking to me how few farmers were prepared. Many diary farms had no back up power and had to share generators - unacceptable! People with wells had no way of getting water, and if they didn't heat with wood there were bigger problems. Many with generators hadn't started them in so long that they could not get them to start.

I do not believe that people need to have grandiose prepper-style plans, but some common sense doesn't hurt. If you live in a rural area you need a reliable generator and have your house wired in such a way that you can run basic things like fridges, freezers, and some lights with it. It also needs to be powerful enough to run the pump that provides you with water. You also need to have a backup plan for heating if you live where it is cold and do not heat with wood. Everybody should have a spare propane tank for the BBQ - in non-emergencies it means that you don't need to drive to town when your tank runs out, and in emergencies it gives you a week of cooking.

Having 5 gallons of fuel ready to go at any time is not unreasonable whether it be diesel or gas.

If you have a deep freezer you almost certainly have a week's worth of food ahead of you. Some people keep containers of water in them - it keeps things cold if the power goes out and gives you some water to drink if needed. My wife buys large volumes of things when they are on sale like cereal and canned foods that we use - I think everybody should do that.

Depending on the power grid in your area, you should follow everything above and be ready for one (1) week of no power or available food. If your grid is flaky double up and be ready for 2 weeks with no power. Stretching it all out to last a month could be done by storing more food but I see no need for that.

I know people who store massive amounts of rounds for their .22s. I see no reason for this unless you fear a 30+ day crisis.

That's my 2 cents on prepping.

 

[EddieWalker]

On storing fuel for a generator, what type of fuel is best? Gas seems to be the worse since it breaks down so quickly and needs to be used and replaced on a regular basis. If I see a storm coming, I will fill my 5 gallon gas cans, but that's just for a small Honda generator that isn't big enough to keep my freezers and fridge going. How long can you store diesel? Or is it best to just do the same as I do with gas and fill up fuel cans when I see a storm on the way? I've often thought that a propane generator would be best. Burns clean and you can store it for a very long time. I have natural gas to my parents house, but didn't run it to mine. I can if I want to, just a matter of digging the trench and installing everything needed to make it happen. Are there natural gas generators?