Hurricane Checklist
Here is a super-paranoid version cribbed from a dkos diary.
The basics:
[ ]Flashlights
[ ] batteries
[ ] candles
[ ] Battery-operated radio and/or TV.
[ ] More batteries
[ ] those solar garden lights can be out all day and brought in at night.
[ ] Canned, dried food.
[ ] At least a week of drinking and cooking water.
[ ] Some 5 gallon buckets of washing water.
[ ] Medications. With less than a week before the storm reaches the US, there is still plenty of time to refill your prescriptions. First aid kit should be checked and refilled now.
[ ] toiletries should be topped off, too.
[ ] Money. As in cash.
[ ] Important papers (deeds, titles, wills, insurance), discs, etc. into the strongbox. Pulling the hard drives from the desk top should wait until the last minute.
[ ] Booze, tobacco, porn. If you don’t indulge, good for you, but remember, they make great trade goods.
[ ] Cell phone. Account paid? Plenty of pre-paid minutes, if that’s how you roll? A couple of those one-shot rechargers are a good idea, though for under $30 you can get a solar charger shipped today.
[ ] Matches, propane, charcoal. All the things you need to cook without the grid.
[ ] Catch up on laundry–all the bedding, towels, sleeping bags, etc.
[ ] Wash all the dishes, storage containers. Not a bad time to re-up on picnic supplies like paper plates, plastic ware, etc. You may be feeding the neighborhood.
[ ] Ice. One great way to store water is to pack your freezer with filled gallon jugs. The frozen gallons last lots longer than little cubes. Pack ’em in. Jeez, what about ice chests? Good time to get ’em out and get ’em washed.
[ ] If you eat, you gotta, you know… How’s your toilet paper stock?
[ ] How’s your tool situation? All your cordless tool batteries up to charge? Got an axe? Crowbar? Sledge hammer? Heck, are your pocket knives sharp?
[ ] Rainy day basics: boots, slicker, waders if you’ve got ’em.
[ ] Shelter repair basics: tarps, visquine, rope, duct tape.
[ ] Coffee, filters, canned milk (ugh).
[ ] Take out the trash. Get as much to the curb this week as you can, while there’s still a pickup to come. You can’t leave it out in a storm.
[ ] Pay. The. Bills. Get any upcoming bills in the mail now, so that they get to their destination or out of town before the storm. Phone, power, insurance. Even with the services non-existent, Accounts Receivable miraculously still works. Probably in India.
Now that you mention toilet paper…
Seriously, what’s this going to do, knock us out for a month? Wawa will be open as soon as the wind subsides. Plenty of books and games in the house, so we can do without the TV and computer for a few days if necessary.
It’s not like we’re getting an earthquake. Now that would be something to worry about!
Agreed. I loved “…If you don’t indulge, good for you, but remember, they make great trade goods.” cuz, you know…it is going to be a Mad Max world for a while.
A case of Mountain Dew, in the ice chest, with plenty of ice to keep it at the proper temperature for drinking. Make sure the Kindle has a full charge, so you can read.
And don’t forget to put the Kindle/Nook/Tablet in “airplane” mode to save the battery.
I’m in Anchorage, and will be in the Yukon Territory and British Columbia over the next week. After tomorrow, cell phones will be useless, and internet access will be non-existent. Sorry I’ll miss the excitement, but happy I can share your pain. In case of emergency, I have a real (hand held) book.
I’m up in Wisconsin and only worry if we’ll be able to fly back into Salisbury on Sunday afternoon. If not, we’ll rent a car from Philly to get home.
I was approached today by a ‘true believer’ (for some reason, I seem to attract them) who informed me that the earthquake and hurricane are positive proof that THE END (yes, he did say it in capitals) is near.
Based on this firmly held opinion, I am going to skip the bill paying part of the preparedness list in the post.
[ ] Start beach replenishment business
One Million dollars per mile.
School is supposed to start on Monday in most NCC districts.
I love this. Great information and very detailed. I like to get info from lots of different writers because each brings something unique and useful. I found this list to be very good as well: http://blogs.carouselindustries.com/data/disaster-preparation-checklist-irene-provides-one-more-reason-to-prepare/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CarouselConnect+%28Carousel+Connect%29 Knowledge is power!