B (3:26)

And don't forget Hurricane Helene which slammed the western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee area with devastating flooding.

A (3:35)

And that's what I was going to say as that one continued on. It still had 74 mile an hour hurricane force winds when it got to north Alabama.

B (3:45)

Oh gosh.

A (3:46)

So you don't have to live on the coast to need some hurricane preparation.

B (3:52)

You need to pay attention. First of all, you need to really kind of assess your risk.

A (3:57)

You know, we talk a lot about risk assessment.

B (4:00)

Right. And I think that's, you know, again, if you're not living in a hurricane prone area, you may be surprised what could be impacting you as a result of a hurricane taking place hundreds of miles away.

A (4:11)

Now, if you live in those coastal areas, identify your local evacuation zone. Those are by numbers. And all of the cities on the coastal areas will have those. But the highest risk areas are those coastal regions, low lying areas and mobile home communities.

B (4:33)

You need to be aware if you live on the coast or any coastal community, how far below sea level you may be. You may be at sea level level or you may be below. And that's important information to have.

A (4:43)

A lot of Florida is, you know, a hill is 10ft high above sea level. Yeah, exactly. They're not real high a lot of times. But you can also sign up for local emergency alerts.

B (4:57)

I think most cell phone providers actually offer that now.

A (5:01)

They do push those through. But you can sign up with one from noaa. You can find one with the National Weather Service. I mean there's all kinds of good apps there.

B (5:14)

Well, speaking of apps, you can actually download the FEMA app, that's the Federal Emergency Response and also the noaa. Noaa, the weather radio. Have the radio and have that programmed so that you can receive information about the risk of hurricane.

A (5:31)

You know, we always talk about how you need to have two or three ways to receive warnings. That's really critical in the short notice things. I mean, we don't always get 36 hours on tornadoes. We may know there's going to be some severe risk, but we may not get but five minutes of warning with that.

B (5:53)

That's the nature of a tornado. With a hurricane though, sometimes we have a week or more.

A (5:57)

Yeah.

B (5:57)

Where they're already beginning to track it,

A (5:59)

coming across, they're watching it. And then at about 48 hours out from the expected landfall, they'll put out watches and those will be wider and then as that narrows some. And about 36 hours before expected landfall, they'll put out warnings as they've narrowed that down quite a bit.

B (6:22)

And that's when the evacuation rounds may also be published.

A (6:26)

Now, one thing that you definitely want to do while it's still dry before the storm comes.

B (6:31)

Exactly.

A (6:32)

Is look at your insurance and your documentation.

B (6:36)

Very smart. You've got to review your own homeowners insurance coverage.

A (6:40)

Yeah. And flood insurance most of the time is separate from standard policies.

B (6:46)

Absolutely. And did you know that in most states you have to have a 30 day waiting period for flood insurance to be in effect before you can make a claim.

A (6:56)

Exactly.

B (6:56)

So you're not going to be getting flood insurance the day before landfall.

A (7:00)

Exactly. You just. You can't. Or the week before. Now is the time ahead of time.

B (7:05)

Yeah. Let this hurricane awareness week really open your eyes to what you need to do.

A (7:11)

And then go through and document your belongings with photos or with video.

B (7:16)

Very smart. VIN numbers, identification numbers, serial numbers if needed.

A (7:20)

But have pictures of that, have video of that. Walk around through your house, film certain areas. Your tv. We bought this TV at such and such for this amount of money. Just have that documented so that you can show your insurance company that you actually had these things.

B (7:41)

And this is another way to keep you from being stressed with. Stressed and pressed, I call it stressed at the disaster and pressed for information that just may not be forefront in your mind. And you don't have to rely on memory. You'll have the proof. Also, think about storing your important documents in some waterproof containers with some digital flash drive backups. Now here's another tip. In a pinch, you can store valuables and documents in your dishwasher. Seal it up, don't turn it on, of course, but it's waterproof. So if flooding should strike your home, at least the dishwasher contents will be safe.

A (8:17)

Right. And not necessarily so with a refrigerator.

B (8:21)

That's true. You also want to build a family emergency plan. You've got to think about this. You've got to choose an evacuation destination.

A (8:31)

Yeah. That can be a relatives. It can be we're going to go north so many miles and we're going to get a hotel. It could be we're going to go north aways and then we're going to turn west away from this thing and get a hotel. But you need to have an idea of where you're going. What you don't want to do is just get in the car and start driving.

B (8:51)

Yeah. Without communication. You have to have some kind of A plan and make sure that everyone that you are responsible for also understands that plan and when to activate on it.

A (9:02)

And have multiple evacuation routes.

B (9:05)

That is very important because sometimes you know the storm can be coming from a different direction and you can't always

A (9:11)

evacuate just one way and those may be clogged up.

B (9:15)

Exactly.

A (9:16)

But go ahead and establish an out of state contact person.

B (9:20)

Very smart.

A (9:21)

We've done that with our family. We can make two phone calls and let everybody know that we're fine. Actually, we can make one and they will make the rest of them. But that covers the North Carolina bunch, it covers the Tennessee bunch, it covers the Alabama bunch. You can make one phone call out of it. And in our case, we could say, we're fine, everything's fine. We're without power, but everything's fine. We could also say, hey, bring help.

B (9:55)

Whatever the situation expects, you know, that's what you got to.

A (9:58)

But the main thing is to let folks know that you are safe. So you want that out of state contact out of the impact area and they need a list of everybody to contact. So what we did, we made a pretty extensive list and put that on. I put it in a word file and we emailed that to all of our family members that have computers and we printed it out for those that didn't.

B (10:26)

Also think about your pets. Identify some of the pet friendly accommodations that you may have to go if you are evacuating. Get that information up front and try to get to those places as early as possible so that you don't have to worry about Fido or Fluffy. Some of you. Others may have barns full of horses and barns full of cows. You've got to make other kinds of arrangements and think about that. So put some thought into what your animal friends are going to be needing in the midst of a disastrous hurricane.

A (10:56)

And are there any special considerations for medical needs and elderly family members in your family? You can register for special needs shelter programs. If that applies to you, you can call your local EMA and they will tell you how to get in touch with that. And one of the things that helps to be in that program is they can facilitate the movement of people. People. Even if it's somebody that's bedridden, these special needs shelters can facilitate the movement of those people when necessary. Let's talk about preparing our house.

B (11:33)

Yep, now is the time to start trimming some trees. Remove some of those dead branches and brush that just may be piling up

A (11:40)

that cuts down on the flying debris that can go through your roof right

B (11:46)

you may want to think about installing some storm shutters on the outside of your home. You could do that with actual exterior shutters. Or you may have to go get some pre cut plywood panels. But get some plywood now while it's available before any storms have been forecast. Because that is when a lot of folks will wait until the hurricane has been identified.

A (12:06)

And as that cone narrows, people start to panic and go and buy out all of the plywood.

B (12:14)

Well, think about this. The home improvement stores will also not get delivery of extra plywood if the storm is coming. So you got to look at it from the store's perspective. When they sell out, they're going to be out till after the storm has passed.

A (12:28)

But if you do that now, you can pre cut those to fit windows and you can number those pieces of plywood.

B (12:35)

Very smart.

A (12:35)

This goes on window one, this is window two. This is window three. It cuts down on the time necessary to put those up and to have them in place before the storm gets there.

B (12:47)

That's some good thinking there, Mark. You also want to locate your utility shutoffs. A lot of people have natural gas coming in their home. Obviously you've got water and some electricity. You may need to understand that if you are evacuating, you may want to go ahead and cut off some of the utility.

A (13:01)

You do want to turn off all of your utilities before you evacuate. There are several reasons for that, but you want that to happen. But another thing that you can do in your house is that you can elevate your valuables in flood prone areas.

B (13:18)

If you've got an attic, run some stuff up there.

A (13:21)

You can go to the attic, you can move it to the second floor, you can move it out of the basement. Just get it out of the flood prone areas. Let's talk about building an emergency supply kit.

B (13:34)

That sounds like practical prep.

A (13:36)

It is. Now this is not a bag, it's a kit. And it doesn't even have to be in one container.

B (13:44)

Oh, now that's good news.

A (13:45)

But what we're looking at is a recommended duration of a minimum of seven days of supplies per person.

B (13:53)

And number one on the list, water. You know, I'm going to say water,

A (13:57)

minimum, one gallon per person per day.

B (14:01)

But one gallon per person per day is, is a good rule of thumb at least.

A (14:05)

And then non perishable food and at least one manual can opener.

B (14:11)

Yeah, that's true. You know, we've talked about it many times. You may not have any access to heating your food, but if you open a can, you can eat beans cold out of a can. They're cooked, they're safe to eat. It may not be pleasant, but you're not going to starve.

A (14:24)

Oh, if they're pork and beans, they're. They're quite pleasant.

B (14:27)

Yeah, they're pretty good.

A (14:28)

Yeah, quite pleasant. But you can have a way to heat the food. Now, if we're going to be without seven days, I don't want to be just opening cans and eating out of the can.

B (14:36)

No, we've got a plan for that.

A (14:38)

We've got a plan for that. And that plant is first a camp stove.

B (14:41)

Yes.

A (14:42)

After the camp stove we've got a grill, we've got a smoker. We can cook on an open fire if we need to. But have a way to heat that food because hot food can be quite comforting when you're in stressful situations and

B (14:59)

it's easy enough to do.

A (15:00)

But you also want a two week or more supply of prescription medications.

B (15:07)

True.

A (15:07)

Here's the reason why the pharmacies may be hit. Pharmacies may not be able to fill your prescriptions for several weeks.

B (15:16)

That's the whole reason we talk about self reliance is you've got to get the mindset that if you're out of pocket from where you live, your community can also be equally impacted. And so you can't just assume that grocery stores and pharmacies and drugstores and hospitals and things are all going to be operating on a normal schedule.

A (15:38)

They're not.

B (15:38)

They'll be just as impacted as you are. And you've got to become self reliant.

A (15:43)

We want a first aid kit that's more than a boo boo kit. There can be injuries during the storm or during cleanup.

B (15:52)

True.

A (15:52)

And during the storm EMS is not coming. There's a point when that thing gets to a certain point they put the first responders into shelters and they lock them down.

B (16:04)

Yeah.

A (16:04)

And nobody is going out. Nobody's coming to save you during the middle of a hurricane.

B (16:10)

Yeah. And that's just natural common sense. Hard to accept sometimes. But.

A (16:15)

But it's just reality.

B (16:16)

It is true.

A (16:17)

But you, if you think about it, you could have a broken arm during damage during the storm. Have some splints, some sam splint or something to make some splints out of. Cuts are very common. People get cut up with some of this stuff and you want more than band aids. You want a kit that is an adequate first aid kit to take care of you and your family until EMS can get there naturally.

B (16:50)

Have some flashlights and extra Batteries for those flashlights because without power you're going to be running flashlight or any other type of artificial lighting longer than you normally would. So batteries can only last for so long.

A (17:02)

So it has to be interesting. But look at having LED lanterns instead of candles. Much safer, much safer. During hurricanes you can get gas lines

B (17:13)

broken and you don't want to be

A (17:14)

striking any matches, you don't want open flames there. So LED lanterns, they're not expensive at all. We've got them on the featured items page on the website and I think a four pack is like 20 bucks

B (17:30)

and they do last a long time.

A (17:32)

They last a long time.

B (17:33)

They're easy to use. Put them where you can find them, position them around the house and you can have a ready source of light when you need it.

A (17:39)

Yeah, we have one right behind Krista's chair on the bookcase. Hopefully we've got a flashlight usually in my pocket, but there's also a couple in the little lazy Susan on the table between our chairs. There's a flashlight available there. We can get to that LED and then we can get to our lights out kit. So have those things in place ahead of time. Battery powered or hand crank. Weather radio still a winner. Information is critical.

B (18:13)

You do need to know what's going on out.

A (18:15)

We love that Midland NOAA alert weather radio.

B (18:19)

Right.

A (18:19)

That's on the website as well. It goes off quite regularly here in north Alabama this time of the year it's spring, but it's will wake us up during the night. We can get all kinds of information from that. You also want to have phone chargers and power banks. Have those ready, have your devices charged. But if you're without power for several days, you may need a way to recharge that. And you may need to ration your cellular device usage.

B (18:53)

Exactly.

A (18:53)

Now that's going to be killer on the kids. I understand that.

B (18:56)

You know, it's called a coloring book and a box of crayons. I mean invest, you know, really seriously. Have some of those little travel games. You can buy a little travel Etch a Sketch. You can have coloring books, you can have building blocks. You can have. You know, you gotta think old school sometimes on the entertainment aspect of storm survival.

A (19:17)

And have some cash and small bills.

B (19:19)

That's right, we've said that many times. You want to have ones, fives, tens and twenties, ten. Don't be stuffing your wallet with a bunch of hundred dollar bills because if you have to make change somewhere, have to buy something where you're buying may not be able to Give you change.

A (19:33)

Right.

B (19:33)

So you're going to want to do your business in small increments.

A (19:36)

And the other thing there is, especially after the storm, a lot of these places have lost power. They can sell you something, but they can't take debit cards, they can't take credit cards. Right. And a lot of times in the evacuation zones, people will prefer cash when they're selling gasoline. So that's. Just keep that in mind. Hygiene supplies.

B (20:02)

That's right. You know, things to clean your house and things to clean your own self.

A (20:06)

Yep. And hopefully you still got some of that toilet paper from 2020. If you got some, that is, if you got some. But don't forget those. There's some basic tools that you need, a multi tool, duct tape, tarps, general prepper stuff.

B (20:25)

We've talked about those enough. Most people get the idea.

A (20:28)

But you want some special items for infants, elderly and pets. And ding, ding, ding. Lots of insect repellent.

B (20:37)

You know, that's right. Because these storms usually occur in America in the warm season of the year. And nothing loves a hurricane aftermath more than a set of mosquitoes.

A (20:48)

And they come out worse than the love bugs in Louisiana flies, the beetles.

B (20:54)

You get the picture.

A (20:55)

So lots and lots of insect repellent and get the good stuff. The deep woods type stuff.

B (21:02)

Exactly.

A (21:03)

You want some good stuff.

B (21:04)

Now what are we going to do when we know that a storm, a hurricane is approaching, we know it's going to make landfall and everybody's now heightened their alert, what do we do next?

A (21:15)

If it's a Cat 3 or above, I'm going to visit somebody north of here.

B (21:19)

Okay.

A (21:19)

So that's your.

B (21:20)

You draw the line at a Cat 3.

A (21:21)

I draw the line. If it's Cat 3, I'm gone. But what you can do, and this applies to smaller hurricanes as well as the larger ones. Okay, you want to fill your vehicles with gas early, there can be a run on the gas stations.

B (21:36)

Right. And remember, like I said about the home improvement stores, the gasoline trucks won't be running if the storm is coming either. You can't safely put those vehicles on the road. So, yeah, you got to get your gasoline while you can.

A (21:47)

And while the storm is approaching, go ahead and fill your bathtubs and whatever containers you can with water.

B (21:55)

Good call.

A (21:55)

You may need that for flushing, you may need that for drinking.

B (22:00)

Also think about this. Freezing water bottles to preserve food. We've often said to screw the lid off of a water bottle and squeeze out about a half an inch or so to give it some head. Space, because as we know, frozen water will expand and you've got to give it somewhere to expand or it'll bust up the plastic. But freezing those water bottles becomes a way to keep things cool and frozen. And it just helps. And then when it thaws, you can drink the water.

A (22:27)

You've got more drinking water, but especially a freezer. A full freezer is much more efficient than a half full freezer.

B (22:35)

Exactly.

A (22:36)

So if you have space in your freezer, fill it up with water bottles, with water jugs. Then after the hurricane or after the power goes out, that helps keep your food stored safer. And you can also take a couple of those picturing here, one gallon jugs and put those over in the refrigerator and that will help keep the refrigerator cooler.

B (23:04)

Okay? Yeah.

A (23:05)

So that's why you want to be freezing water, so that you can preserve that.

B (23:10)

Also, you need to secure your outdoor furniture and anything that can be a projectile. Now, this includes those hanging baskets, the wind chimes, anything that can be loose, the picnic table on your patio. Put these somewhere where the wind can't blow them all over the place and break something because some people have lost glass doors and windows from their own long furniture that was not secured.

A (23:35)

And you want to move valuables to upper floors. We mentioned this while ago. This is some of the planning process. But you can move those valuables off of the ground level, off of anywhere that's subject to flood. Because in these coastal areas you get a lot of storm surge that comes in storm.

B (23:56)

Yeah. You don't want to lose everything if you can help it.

A (23:59)

No. And if you can put it on an upper level, that helps. And if you do that while the storm's approaching, hey, you may do it in vain, but you're not left scrambling at the last minute.

B (24:12)

Something else you need to keep in mind is that you need to keep an ear to the news reports about any evacuation orders because it sort of starts in two phases. It'll start as a first phase of we recommend that you vacate the area and then it can move into the. We are mandating you will evacuate now.

A (24:35)

They don't go through, they're not going to come out.

B (24:37)

They're not going to drag you out of your house. I mean, there are people that have resisted the evacuation order and died. And many of them that lived to tell the tale vowed never to do that again.

A (24:48)

Pay attention to those evacuation orders and do what the local authorities tell you to do. Here's a trick. Wash your dirty clothes while the storm's approaching.

B (25:00)

Well, there you Go and then maybe store them in a higher area. That way at least you'll have clean clothes.

A (25:05)

You'll have clean clothes if you don't have water, if you don't have power, you can't wash clothes. So if you pre wash those, go ahead and wash everything that's dirty. Bed sheets, towels, clothes, whatever. Get the laundry done and then you're set for the storm.

B (25:24)

Now we're going to talk about what to do during a storm and even after the storm. But first we want to tell you that today's cup of coffee comes from Tony. Tony is a longtime supporter of our podcast and we want to thank him so much for that support. Now, do we bring you value in our podcast? Have you learned something? Have you gotten an idea of something that you need to do or in some other way have received value from our show? Would you help us by giving back a little? You can go to practicalprepping.info support. You'll find ways that you can support our show and that would include a coffee membership. It's only $5 a month, but it really helps us offset expenses that are incurred during the show. So please consider helping us out@practicalprepping.info support.

A (26:13)

Okay, here's what to do during the storm.

B (26:16)

Okay.

A (26:17)

Number one, stay in an interior room on the lowest non flooding floor. So not the basement, not the way. If that's not going to flood, if that's not a flooding area, well, you

B (26:29)

might have a basement on top of a mountain, you'd be okay.

A (26:31)

Exactly. I mean, mother's was not in the floodplain and she had a basement. But yeah, you want to own your lowest non flooding floor.

B (26:41)

Okay.

A (26:42)

If the surge is predicted to be 18ft and your first floor is 12ft above sea level, you probably want to look at floor number two.

B (26:54)

I don't know, a flood surge that much, I don't think I'd even want to be in the house.

A (26:58)

True. But if you've ignored those evacuation orders and you've stayed there, you got to get upstairs.

B (27:04)

I'm going to take that advice from that Mark and Krista couple. They know what they're talking about.

A (27:07)

And stay away from the windows. Krista was talking about the lawn furniture blowing through the window. You can have limbs, you can have all kinds of things. You're not safe standing there looking out the window.

B (27:20)

You're not. First of all, you're not going to see a hurricane. You're going to experience all the wind and the rain and. And it can wreak some Havoc. So don't, don't be, don't be foolish. If you would tell a child not to do it, then you don't do it either.

A (27:34)

And be really safe with your generator.

B (27:36)

Exactly.

A (27:37)

And have a carbon monoxide detector there with it. And never, ever use a generator or a grill inside of an enclosed area.

B (27:48)

We have to say this every year because every year somebody does it and it's.

A (27:52)

It's fatal.

B (27:53)

It's terrible.

A (27:54)

It's fatal.

B (27:55)

Now, what's going to happen after the storm has passed us by?

A (27:58)

First thing. And this sounds hard to do when. We don't know. Wait for the all clear before returning.

B (28:06)

From an official.

A (28:07)

From the official all clear before returning.

B (28:10)

And why is that?

A (28:11)

Well, they may have search and rescue operations going on.

B (28:14)

Oh, sure.

A (28:15)

They may be trying to get roadways open.

B (28:18)

They've. They've got to deal with some downed power lines and they've got to deal with floodwater.

A (28:23)

Exactly. It may take a little bit before you're able to get back in, but don't try to get in there before they give the all clear.

B (28:32)

Yeah.

A (28:32)

One thing. A lot of those entrances to areas are manned checkpoints. And they will not let you in. There are roads going into cities that they man. And they will not let you into the city.

B (28:48)

Yeah. Even if you live in there.

A (28:49)

And then at some point it's. If you live here, you can come here, but if you don't, stay away.

B (28:55)

Yeah. We've got to let the officials do the official stuff. Now. Something else, you need to confirm that your tap water is safe before you start pulling those faucets open and drinking or bathing in it because it may have been affected by a flood surge or damage to the utilities.

A (29:11)

Sometimes in hurricanes, the water system and the sewage system, they merge.

B (29:16)

Yeah.

A (29:17)

So you really want to be careful

B (29:18)

with this as a no can do. Yeah. And also document your damage before you start any cleanup. This is extremely important for your insurance claims.

A (29:28)

And this way you've got the before and after. You've got the pictures that prove what you had, and now you have the photographs or the video that documents the damage and do that before you start cleaning up.

B (29:45)

You know, think about this. You may have to replace a roof. The neighbor's tree may have fallen on your house. Well, you need to be able to maybe send a drone up to get pictures, but you want to see the impact and the severity of that damage in order for the insurance claim to be fair and equitable to you, the one who's paying for the insurance.

A (30:07)

And I say before you even begin is because we get busy starting doing cleanup and stuff gets forgotten and then file your insurance claims. You can register with fema there's a lot of resources available for that but you'll just have to get in line and file the insurance claims and then stay on top of that.

B (30:32)

We'd like to give you two main takeaways from our show today. Number one prepare as if help may not arrive for a week and number two start preparing now rather than waiting for the storm to hit.

A (30:48)

We do appreciate you being here today and please share this episode with friends and family that live in hurricane prone areas. It could save their lives. You know there are a lot of people that move to the coast that have never experienced hurricanes. They don't know what to expect. This could be an episode that could be life saving for somebody that you

B (31:12)

love well worth it.

A (31:13)

And as Krista always says stuff happens. Stay prepared and we'll see you next time. It.