Hurricane Season is Upon Us

So today is the kick off of Hurricane season, and especially in this type of situation it is better to be over-prepared then under-prepared ... 

FOOD

Here are a couple of things that you MUST keep in mind when preparing for a hurricane, most of us know the basics, of course food is involved, but do you know what type of food? it is important to know that when a hurricane hits, your food can not be heated up, are you comfortable with your food getting wet? Once bread gets wet it get's moldy, so keep in mind that your food that you are packing MAY get wet, cans are always a great route. Baby Food (such as Gerbers) are always a good food to have during this type of season, while not all of them are delicious for adults, they are rich in nutrients and vitamins to keep you going, they store well, and best part? you can always find coupons for them online. INCLUDE YOUR PET, make sure to have ample of food for your pup in a plastic zip-lock bag. 

INSURANCE:

Check your insurance coverage - flood damage is not usually covered by homeowners insurance. for more info go to www.floodsmart.gov

Create a "take box"

The take box should have everything you need to reconstruct your life in the event you evacuate and everything is lost. Passports; birth, wedding, adoption, divorce, and armed service separation certificates; copies of insurance policies; mortgage information; house and car title; large purchase receipts. You get the idea. If you have a scanner, save yourself space and heartbreak by scanning family albums and images of other keepsakes, burn those to CD and keep a copy in your take box, or make a copy of all your pictures, videos, music and documents on a external hard drive that you can keep in your take box. But remember that CD's can malfunction. Make sure you take along the original documents, if possible, make copies of them. The CD is just for convenience when shown to officials.

Discuss and practice a disaster plan with your family.

One of the most important lessons from hurricane Katrina to make sure everyone in the family knows who to contact (and how to contact them) as an out of area contact. Make sure kids know enough information so that an adult can get in touch with that person should sudden evacuation be necessary when you aren't near them. Practice this, and make other back up plans. This can be as involved as you like, but keep in mind the ages and temperaments of individuals to assure everything runs smoothly in the event you have to evacuate immediately. See Tips below for examples on how to do a run-through. Make sure to include your pets in this, do you have crates?? for dogs/cats.

CLOTHING

in this kind of weather, layers are a key, especially if you are on stand by, you don't know if at a moments notice you may need to grab your "take box" and go. If you do pack, make sure to have all of your things in plastic bags, toiletries , socks, clothes, documents, everything needs to be in plastic bags. Rain boots are a great item to have, some places are more flooded then others, do not wear open toe shoes, you never know if there is anything floating in the water after a disaster hits. 

Recognize that your hot water heater contains 50 to 75 gallons of fresh drinking water.

The water in a hot water tank can keep one person alive and healthy for more than a month. Attach a garden hose to the drain valve. Run water out of the tank to remove any built up sediment that has collected at the bottom of the tank. To get the water out of the tank after a storm you will need to open the plumbing system by opening any hot water faucet in the house. This will release the vacuum in the tank. You must turn off the electrical breaker to the hot water tank or unplug it to prevent damage if the electricity is restored before water service.

Extinguish all candles once the rain and winds reach thunderstorm levels.

This is to assure they are not accidentally left lit when and if the winds start whipping through your home. A safe way to use candles is to put them in a saucepan, deeper than the candle is high, with shiny sides. The light will reflect off the ceiling and inside of the pot, and the candle will be protected from being knocked over. An inch or so of water in the pot isn't a bad idea, either. However, if you smell gas, hear gas, or even suspect a gas leak, do not use candles. Use light sticks.

DID I LEAVE OUT SOME TIPS? EMAIL ME TO LIZBETH@ILOVEMCALLEN.COM

some of the information obtained for this blog was gathered from :

http://www.wikihow.com/Prepare-for-a-Hurricane

Comments

[Belen De Leon]

Very good info. I'd like to post some advice for heat safety focusing on not leaving children and pets in cars unattended. I heard a good one today. For example, when you put your kiddos in the car practice leaving your purse, cell phone, laptop, etc. whatever you need whenever you get off the car so you will forcefully have to open the backseat door and not forget the kiddos. It may sound a little silly and obvious, but I've heard many tragic stories about kids that forget their children in their cars( they might have fallen asleep and weren't making any noise) and the heat in the trapped car killed them. Very sad. I hope this helps. For more helpful hints you can go to safekids.org.