what to do when mother nature strikes!

friendlyturner · August 2011

In the past couple days of lurking I've realized how many of us aren't fully prepared/aware of how to handle a natural disaster that is not common in our area of the states. I know that if I was caught up in the hurricane, I would have no idea how to prepare or respond when it hit. But I DO know how to handle a tornado and have been trained in what to do should an earthquake hit (Kansas/Missouri is on The New Madrid Faultline). Maybe we should come up with an informational here on our page and e-mail it out to each of us to have on hand for the various disasters?? Any thoughts??

danies08 · August 2011

More than anything...we rotate cases of water that we store in our closet under the stairs (where we would go for a tornado) in case anything would happen. Whenever we buy a new one, we put it in the closet and grab an older one out for the fridge. Always try to keep two cases of bottled water stashed somewhere. A few years ago we had a crazy ice storm (like 2" diameter of ice on a piece of wire bad), and all these power lines and everything were down. People were running out of water...fast! Luckily my small community avoided it, but a lot of people had to go to shelters!

RachieK10 · August 2011

I know how to be prepared for a hurricane, though sometimes I don't follow my own advice. It's good to always have this stuff on hand because everyone stocks up once there is a warning and the stores are crazy, but sadly I am one who waits til it's projected to hit:

- Batteries & flashlight

- Candles

- BEER and ICE and a COOLER (wine is also a good hurricane party option since it need not stay cold)

- Water water water

- Peanut butter, crackers, tuna, spaghettios, etc. etc. (yeah, I said spaghettios - I like them cold!)

- Cash

- Full gas tank

- Put all important documents in a ziploc (and keep it close to you)

- Propane tank for grill if you have one.

mickylvr1 · August 2011

In the event of a tornado, make sure you have blankets or something to protect yourself from possible flying glass.

And again...batteries, flashlights, water, and a fully charged cellphone (my MIL likes to call about a dozen times an hour during a tornado).

dayzchic9 · August 2011

RachieK10:

- Peanut butter, crackers, tuna, spaghettios, etc. etc. (yeah, I said spaghettios - I like them cold!)

hehe - i LOVE Beefaroni cold! but i haven't had it prob like 5 years!

friendlyturner · August 2011

Don't forget a can opener for the cans!! I always recommend having all of your candles and lighters/matches in one basket so that when the need arises you can grab and go. I second the ziploc baggie idea; I placed my entire computer hard drive in one over the summer several times and then tucked it IN MY PANTS to try and protect it!

Another thing - if in a tornado and you're out driving and don't have a place to stop and hide, get out of your car and get into a gutter...no joke...they've saved hundreds of people!

Marick · August 2011

Neat idea Jeni! I remember growing up in Tornado alley - I think California could never handle it - I was so surprised to move here and found that most people DON'T have basements, yikes!

Well, I can contribute to earthquakes safety now, I did EVERYTHING wrong during our first real earthquake (~5.6). When you feel it start, go to the nearest door frame and grab both sides (in work we had like 6 people in one door frame once!). Never ever exit the building unless the roof is literally caving in (which it shouldn't because of building codes that require some level of integrity during an earthquake). True fact - most injuries and deaths from earthquakes in the US were from people trying to exit the building!

Marick · August 2011

Oh, I have a funny story about tornados: Growing up, we usually had 2 tornado drills per year in school. So when my younger brother started kindergarden, he came home from school and told our parents that we were having a tornado drill and his teacher said not to panic, it's just a drill. Well, being an awesome older sister, I convinced him that night that you do the same thing for a tornado drill as a fire drill - walk quickly outside :P Kindergarden logic is easy to play with. Needless to say, he got in trouble for trying to run outside into the fake tornado :P Ah the joys of being an older sister

what to do when mother nature strikes!

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