What to Do? - Page 2

SF_BHT · 05-01-2010, 13:32

This is just what I have been preparing for since I have arrived in the middle of Hurricane central here in the Caribbean. Today I got up and serviced the Generator and prepared new cables to run the house with. Been looking for good fuel cans that are heavy plastic instead of these new ones that are thin as hell.

Set up the shelfs last week in the garage to store the bulk items that I am picking up. Working on my master list which is a work in progress. Being here I can not run so I have to ride it out if we get hit by a hurricane.

The above listings and comments are helping me refine my list. These type of threads benefit all. Keep commenting.

echoes · 05-01-2010, 13:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete

Stay or Go?

Caused by man or caused by nature?

Total with no end in sight or temp of a few weeks maybe a couple of months?

For those hitting the road and heading for the back country there has to be a tigger point of "go - no go".

Go too soon and as things calm down you return to a looted home. Wait too long and you're easy pickings in a road ambush.

Stay, and stay loo long, and you're stuck in place.

Stay and in a suburban area you become stuck with your neighbors.

Comms, Comms, more comms and back up comms. Power? Solar panels with a converter to keep cell phones, etc charged.

Bikes? A good town/country bike with mid size tires and cargo racks. If gas and food becomes rationed or scarce local in and about transport might be better on a bike and in groups using security.

The key - as TR stated - is that all of the parts of your plan should be in place. You spot something that may happen and you have a couple of hours jump on the sheeple.

Thats why for me it would be dog food. The Curb Setters eat about a bag a week but in return are early warning.

Practice parts of your plan to make sure they all work.

Pete Sir,

My above post was our POA for the most likely situation, a Tornado. However, I have studied other threads here on PS.com that dealt with emergency evac, due to a long term event.
I took from those threads that those with a disability would be a liability in any of these situations, and that plans should be made for them to be left behind.

Since that is not an option for me, am curious if there is any contingent idea for the above situation, for folks that incur this issue?

Holly

**Pete** · 05-01-2010, 14:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by echoes

........ that those with a disability would be a liability in any of these situations, and that plans should be made for them to be left behind. .......

Thats a harsh way to put it but..............

Special Medication? Specialized medical treatment a couple of times a week?

Anything "Special" and you need to be twice as prepared.

craigepo · 05-01-2010, 16:57

Questions:

1) Anybody have knowledge of a portable HAM radio that is worth packing-up and taking? Are these vehicle-mounted?

2. The link to the hand-pump water well stuff is very interesting. I have never messed with hand-digging a well; the options in that link look great, and the book they sell might be really handy.
a. Anybody know of any cheaper manuals(fm's?) that discuss primitive water wells? Anybody have a review of any book like that discussed?
b. Anybody have experience digging/installing a hand-dug/primitive well?

**The Reaper** · 05-01-2010, 17:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by akv

That makes sense, I hope to avoid that decision by having my place be the meeting point. I would pack stuff on hand for an hour into the SUV while the friends showed up. We wouldn't go for supplies until we had cleared the city and were in the suburbs. I also feel it is best for the group not to separate while in the city.

I would not want to execute that plan, but I do not have to live with the consequences.

Time is essential.

Unless your shopping is for non-essentials only, or you get VERY early warning/decisions, you will likely find the shelves empty.

OTOH, once all of the people show at the assembly point, do you need to go back, or could you coordinate a link-up en route?

Just thinking out loud here.

TR

echoes · 05-01-2010, 18:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete

Thats a harsh way to put it but..............

Special Medication? Specialized medical treatment a couple of times a week?

Anything "Special" and you need to be twice as prepared.

Yes Sir, we are. And that fact is due in large part to reading threads here on PS.com over the years, and following the advise given.
(Would also encourage anyone who has a family member that is disabled to read-read-read the," Be Preared," and other Threads.)

Holly

CommoNCO · 05-01-2010, 19:17

So, the day I start seriously researching survivalism and the "be prepared" threads, is a day that started with a ruck in preparation for SFAS, reading "The Secret Knowledge of Water," and I hear not only about a growing oil slick, but a water main break in Boston that has already led to store shelves being bare of bottled water. It's time to seriously reconsider where and how I stock my shelves, and how I can better my odds when the SHTF.

akv · 05-01-2010, 19:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by TR

I would not want to execute that plan, but I do not have to live with the consequences. Time is essential.Unless your shopping is for non-essentials only, or you get VERY early warning/decisions, you will likely find the shelves empty. OTOH, once all of the people show at the assembly point, do you need to go back, or could you coordinate a link-up en route? Just thinking out loud here.

TR,

Sir I value your opinion highly and will reconsider. Pete mentioned trips to a grocery store, a Sam's, and a Lowes. I would only add a trip to the gun store. Simply put , other than the basic grocery, the limiting factor is these types of stores for whatever reason don't really exist within SF city limits. There is one Costco but it is already in a sketchy neighborhood, and the only one in the city might be quite popular. As for bullets, as of last fall it is impossible to buy bullets or a gun within a 5 mile radius of city limits. Even the sporting goods stores here don't carry bullets, and there are are no Walmarts for miles.

Our destination is about 30 miles south, once you clear city limits, on the Peninsula there are all sorts of Costco's, a Lowe's for seed, and 2-3 gunshops to buy ammo. I will reconsider immediately buying local groceries in SF before leaving, but I thought with time of the essence, as soon as the go decision was made, clear datum first, then hit stores en route, frankly betting the suburbs will be less pro-active than the city. A friend experienced the gridlock and dangers of the highways in Houston during Katrina. Unless you have a boat or want to deal with a bridge, south is the only way out of SF, it will be the same here quickly.

Once the others show up at the assembly point (my apartment) there is no need to go back, the boat marina, Safeway, and freeway are all within 1/2 mile of my apartment. The risk is you miss the food anyway and still get caught in the freeway gridlock nightmare, I wanted to adhere to KISS, but perhaps just loading up and hitting the local Safeway enroute to the boat is most prudent, I will keep thinking on this.

Thank You,

AKV

**The Reaper** · 05-01-2010, 20:12

I would say that your most likely threat is an earthquake and there is little warning there. How does your escape route look to withstand major earthquake damage? Few/Good bridges, a route away from the fault lines, etc?

Unless there are civil disturbances associated with the event, you may not need, or be able to evacuate. Fire could be a problem, just like it was after the big one.

If I were in your location, I would want to have enough basics on hand to get by for two weeks, minimum. A month would be much better, as would a friend with a boat docked nearby.

TR

LarryW · 05-01-2010, 21:03

Craigpo:

The below USGS info site from a Google Search. There were other references (one from a homesteader in Montana that was interesting) but this looks more usable info for planning purposes. I've talked with people who have used the drill method represented by the Lehman's link successfully, but have never done one myself. The technique for accessing a water source depends a lot on the geology of the area you're in. A lot depends on depth of the water table, time of year, resources available to dig, drive, or drill a well, etc.

Anyway, sir, hope this helps.

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthgwwells.html

ReefBlue · 05-01-2010, 21:05

I would avoid evac at all costs. I'd rather be miserable in my own home than miserable in someone elses.

I'd buy a bunch of food that doesn't require much, if any, cooking. My stomach is a garbage can, so raw hot dogs and bread is just as good to me as a nice hot meal.

If it was too hot or too cold and there was no power, I could periodically sit in my truck with the engine running. I have something like 400 gallons of fuel in my yard, so running the truck all day/night isn't really an issue. I've also got sirius radio, so I could get news from there if nowhere else.

If I could get (afford) a decent (2500 watts or more) portable generator from Home Depot or Lowes, I'd get one so I can have hot water and a fridge.

No natural disaster around here is going to cause anything more than a power outage for a day or two in the extreme. That is hardly a problem.

But . . . if Three Mile Island has some kind of issue, and millions are forced to evacuate, where is it that I'm going to go that the millions aren't? I'd be like a grain of sand on a beach at an evac center of some kind. It goes back to being miserable and irradiated at home instead of miserable and irradiated in a refugee camp.

SparseCandy · 05-01-2010, 21:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigepo

Questions:

1) Anybody have knowledge of a portable HAM radio that is worth packing-up and taking? Are these vehicle-mounted?

2. The link to the hand-pump water well stuff is very interesting. I have never messed with hand-digging a well; the options in that link look great, and the book they sell might be really handy.
a. Anybody know of any cheaper manuals(fm's?) that discuss primitive water wells? Anybody have a review of any book like that discussed?
b. Anybody have experience digging/installing a hand-dug/primitive well?

I can't answer the HAM question, but as for water, page 474 of Country Wisdom and Know-How has a decent overview on wells. I love this book although it isn't built well. You can pick it up for under $15 on Amazon and it's been able to answer every question I've thrown at it so far. It's nice to not have to call the family for things I'd know if I had been paying attention growing up.

Another set of books worth owning is the foxfire series. They consist of 12 books but the first 9 are really the best. If nothing else, they are a facinating look at an almost extinct way of life in the mountains. I don't remember them addressing wells, but they do talk about a variety of nice to know information like generating power with water wheels, bee keeping, gardening from scratch with hand tools, smoke houses, etc. Plus they don't suffer from the distracting tone of panic you see in some of the "this is how we did it before electricity" manuals that are made to cater to survivalists.

koz · 05-01-2010, 22:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigepo

Questions:

1) Anybody have knowledge of a portable HAM radio that is worth packing-up and taking? Are these vehicle-mounted?

I'd also like some info on this - I've got family in AK and would like to have comms with them.

LarryW · 05-02-2010, 04:54

It's not an easy afternoons job, but it can be done. Again, it depends on several factors; from soil type, to risk of adjacent contamination from fertilizers/additives, to equipment availability. Not sure of expedient methods other than solar stills or digging into surface springs. One would be wise to have bleach in your BOB.

Anyway, here's a link to a blog that offered some thoughts to consider.

http://massiehouse.blogspot.com/2008...ging-well.html

(Can't certify the reliability of this info. YMMV.)

kgoerz · 05-02-2010, 07:37

Isn't the Government going to take care of us. I mean thats the attitude these days.
I live in Wilmington NC. Definitely in the Hurricane Zone. I keep enough goods in my Apartment to last me two weeks. Three weeks if I really stretched it. Most disaster relief will be there before two weeks.
More then likely I will pack up my valuables and leave town. One of the benefits of renting. I have no attachment to this place. I also don't spend all my money in Home Depot every weekend.