Hey all,
Some thoughts on evacuation prep..
1. Have a plan. Think it out ahead of time. Make the calls to family/friends so you know where you can go.
2. Be honest with yourself about how much time it realistically takes to get LOTS of people out of a place.... If a million people are evacuating - you will be lucky to move 20 mph. Example - where are gas stations along the route?
3. With #1 and #2 in mind - decide when you need to leave.
4. LISTEN TO THE GOVERNOR AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES!! They aren't out to get you. Take off your darned tinfoil hat... They want you out of the way and safe when crazy time hits... They don't want you stuck on a flooded highway looking at a washed out bridge and wondering how you will keep your kids safe.
The MAIN failure of Katrina was that while the local authorities understood the status of THEIR local infrastructure very well - they did not consider the impact of infrastructure up to 200 miles away in clogging up all the routes... It takes DAYS to move a million people....
Hurricane Florence saw similar - we had roads and bridges flooded or washed out EVERYWHERE in SC and NC. Folks got stuck in dumb places during the storm because they waited and then got stranded on flooded or washed out roads....
A few thoughts....
Take stuff you can turn into cash if needed. Gun collections, precious metals jewelry, antique coin collections, high end tools (like Snap-on), and stuff like this is EASY to transport and EASY convert to cash at pawn shops along the evac route.... Forget antique furniture as it's HUGE and it's hard to sell.
Take your cash, credit cards, deeds and titles, paper copies of bank and tax info, prescriptions and medical info, and insurance paperwork.
Take your laptop or computer where you have all your important info.
Make sure you have any irreplacable family mementos like photo albums.
Figure out what to do with pets.
Otherwise - just leave the rest. There's no sense in trying to save the whole world or die over stuff....
Some thoughts on evacuation prep..
1. Have a plan. Think it out ahead of time. Make the calls to family/friends so you know where you can go.
2. Be honest with yourself about how much time it realistically takes to get LOTS of people out of a place.... If a million people are evacuating - you will be lucky to move 20 mph. Example - where are gas stations along the route?
3. With #1 and #2 in mind - decide when you need to leave.
4. LISTEN TO THE GOVERNOR AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES!! They aren't out to get you. Take off your darned tinfoil hat... They want you out of the way and safe when crazy time hits... They don't want you stuck on a flooded highway looking at a washed out bridge and wondering how you will keep your kids safe.
The MAIN failure of Katrina was that while the local authorities understood the status of THEIR local infrastructure very well - they did not consider the impact of infrastructure up to 200 miles away in clogging up all the routes... It takes DAYS to move a million people....
Hurricane Florence saw similar - we had roads and bridges flooded or washed out EVERYWHERE in SC and NC. Folks got stuck in dumb places during the storm because they waited and then got stranded on flooded or washed out roads....
A few thoughts....
Take stuff you can turn into cash if needed. Gun collections, precious metals jewelry, antique coin collections, high end tools (like Snap-on), and stuff like this is EASY to transport and EASY convert to cash at pawn shops along the evac route.... Forget antique furniture as it's HUGE and it's hard to sell.
Take your cash, credit cards, deeds and titles, paper copies of bank and tax info, prescriptions and medical info, and insurance paperwork.
Take your laptop or computer where you have all your important info.
Make sure you have any irreplacable family mementos like photo albums.
Figure out what to do with pets.
Otherwise - just leave the rest. There's no sense in trying to save the whole world or die over stuff....