I saw SiGraybeard’s My After Action Review on Dorian and I figured I should share mine.
We did not dodge a bullet but a 12 gauge slug. But I am happy to not have used any of the Hurricane Prep items but for the panels which are not coming down just yet because of the disturbance coming out of Africa.
The prognosticated/guessed path is familiar to Floridians and usually associated with hurricanes that come too close for comfort or plain hit Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe.
Some panels have come down: Mom’s window (because I know she can’t live with some sunlight) and both accesses to the back have some of the panels removed for easy access.
As for the rest, I am not touching anything till I have confidence we are not gonna get hit by the African import, call me paranoid.
Two improvements I am already implementing. The first is to dedicate one box to the purely hurricane items, that is stuff that only comes out when one is coming. I got me a couple of Sterilite 106 Qt. Latching Storage boxes for that purpose and once filled, they will go hibernate in a corner of my office.
The second improvement is a list of things that can be used in both hurricane and every day life. Tools, good gloves, 2 way radios, etc that makes no sense on buying duplicates or triplicates. I found myself running around the house trying to remember what was needed and where was it. A simple list would have made the process simpler.
What will I add to the kit? The WaterBob is one. They keep telling you to fill your tub with water, but this is plastic bag that fits in the tub and it is designed as water container with a manual pump while keeping any possible contaminants away. 100 gallons of fresh water makes for a month of potable water for the three people in our home. A gallon per day per person for 5 days is the minimum recommended for natural disasters, so going six times over seems like a decent buffer.
I am going to investigate water pumps. With the lake so lose to the house, I can use the lake as a source for the toilet and the occasional shower. Not sure what I am looking for, but I guess I will figure it eventually because the idea of a bucket transfer makes my back scream in pain.
OK, that’s it. Fingers crossed.
Look on line for shallow well pumps. I got one for $125 bucks. 150 ft lift 1&half inch out pumps. My dad used one in his pond to water flower gardens. Slide the pump into the lake in a milk crate and hook it up
GENERATIONS of Rv’s have run off these babies:
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_527_527
They are 12 volt (usable if power is out), provide common municipal pressure levels (roughly 40 psi +/-), are rebuild-able with simple hand tools, and parts are as ubiquitous as they are for a chevy 350.
They have a pressure demand switch which means if you shut off your water main, you can hook it up to an outdoor spigot and back feed the whole house (think normal faucet/shower/toilet operations).
12 vertical feet is the attractive part as the lake is about 7 feet lower than the house at dry month level. Thanks!
1) Don’t use Sterilite containers for anything you care about. They are made of a harder plastic and are prone to cracking, breaking.
2) Look at rubbermaid storage containers, their plastic is more flexible. I’ve not had a single sterilite container last for more than 6 months or one “oh shit” moment. I’ve used rubbermaid containers for multiple years and I think I’ve lost two due to punctures.
3) Get a 12v pump. Then you can put your collapsible water jugs in the bed of your truck go down to the lake and use the 12v pump to move water out of the lake into the cubes.
Remember that water gets contaminated in different ways. You can filter fresh water in a number of ways to make it potable. Or boil it. But the only way to get rid of salts and minerals and other things like that is to distill it very carefully.
I.e. you don’t catch anything that comes out when the temperature is less than 100C and you don’t catch anything that comes out over 100C. JUST the water that comes out at 100C.
We have one of those WaterBobs but consider them single use. How do you clean out and dry a plastic bag that big? For single use, my bathtub with some rope caulk around the drain is just as good.
Otherwise, no problems with what you say about dodging a 12 ga. Most people don’t grasp the difference between cat 5 and cat 2 or 3. Damage depends on wind speed squared. To double the damage of a 100 mph cat 2, you only need to go to 141 mph cat 4, not to 200mph. Going to 185 is almost 3-1/2 times the damage. In most places, nothing is built to survive cat 5. I’m sure my place is reduced to a concrete slab in 185 mph winds.
I define a Cat 5 as “Fuck your hurricane code”
I remember reading that the blockhouses on Cape Canaveral wouldn’t survive a Cat 5 hurricane coming ashore.
That blew my mind – those are designed to survive having an exploding rocket fall on them. I don’t really understand why they wouldn’t, but maybe they mean the storm surge will fill them with water, which would kill everyone and break everything.
One (or more) new 30 gallon garbage can(s) with lid, one gallon of bleach, one pack of 50 gallon trash bags, one measuring cup, one large plastic pitcher and several new plastic one gallon jugs. Place this stuff in the can and put the lid on until you think you need it. The extra room in the nested cansis able to be used for TP, paper towels and other stuff.
What you do is place a 50 gallon trash bag in the can(s) fill the bag with water add about a quarter cup of bleach to the full bag and then tie the bag closed and place the lid one the can between uses.
This bleached water will keep for over a week and stay potable, might taste like chlorine, but it is drinkable.
The cans are nest-able, not that heavy even with all the stuff stored in them and do not take up much space until needed.