Mud Slide, While your driving!

Mother nature does not care what man thinks something should be. You can be driving home from Grandma's house and what you thought was a road.... Mother Nature decided was a streambed and you are now surrounded by water, mud and debris!!

No matter what your daily drive is like you should keep in the back of your mind that road you are on is temporary. Nothing we humans have made is permanent and in some cases we forget Mother Nature has the final say on what is going on. This is especially important for those of us living in the city. We tend to forget there are more powerful forces out there than what we can build. We also forget our buildings and changes in the environment might make things worst when Mother Nature shows up in force.

All it takes is one drain to be clogged. One inch of rain coming down faster than the drain system can handle. For those of us in California the drought, along with fires we have had the last few years is only going to make the coming El Nino worst. Hill sides will come down from the rain, drains will be clogged and areas will be flooded. Not to mention, people in California can not drive with rain. Imagine days of rain and flooded roads!!!! Ok everyone in places with seasons go ahead and laugh!!!

The idea here is to remind people to plan ahead, let people know where you are going, how you are getting there and when you should arrive. Have some basic items with you to help if something happens. Do not plan on the authorities being there immediately to help you, you are responsible for you!

As Always,

Stay Safe

South Carolina - Thousand year storm

Thousand year storm, how do you prepare for a thousand year storm? You don't! None of us were around a thousand years ago to have a clue what one of these storms looks like. What we can do is take a bit of time and cover what we can before the storm comes and try to be ready for the aftermath.

Seeing people 'stranded' in there homes should be a reminder of why we put some prior planning into our lives. People found themselves without electricity, running water, access to stores and living on what was now an island. Could you and your family cope with your home suddenly becoming an island? Hopefully you can at the very least for a day or two????

If you plan on just leaving if the flood waters rise what do you do if the water rises before you can go? Remember Nature was not at the kitchen table with you when you made the plan and Nature does not care what you planned on doing. Roads, bridges and other infrastructure you might not think about on a daily basis are no match for Nature. Storm drains clog up, roads get washed away and your Prius is worthless. Your Prius is worthless everyday and should not be allowed on the freeway any day but when the water rises your Prius and most cars are not made to drive through the water.

Think about all the ditches you drive over. The bridges both large and small you drive over. What is under all the roadways you take for granted? how many of these need to be washed out for you to be stuck at home? Sure you could have a small boat you can use or you can walk through the water to get out.

If you decide to just walk through the water to get to where you want to be please think of a few things before you do. One water moving quickly is much more powerful than you might think. The water will quickly knock you down and now you have become a victim of the storm. The second thing, what is in the water you want to walk through? Sure there could be wild life in the water. What is not really ever discussed is the germs floating around in the flood water. Remember the smallest scrap or cut can let germs into your system which could make you sick or worst. Just think about your cities water treatment facility. Is it flooded and where did all the waste go? Yep, good chance all that human waste is floating around in the water you want to walk through in your shorts....... Besides where are you going to go? The store, what if the store is not there any more? Remember things are not normal after something like this and assuming you can just wade through the water to the grocery store might not be something you can or should do.

All of us should plan not only to leave if need be but also to stay if we need to. This means being able to sustain yourself for a day or two at home without any help from the rest of the world. We need to have options and we need to plan ahead to give us the ability to utilize these options.

As Always,

Stay Safe.

Got To Go Box

This will be one of those “GO DO IT NOW!” postings. As soon as you read this go do it, do not wait, get up from where you are at and do it!
Find a box, shoebox, hatbox or just any small box you might have around the house. Inside of this box put all of the important information you have around the house. Extra identification, mortgage paperwork, insurance paperwork, medical information, shot records, address book and anything else you can think of you would need if you had to walk away from your home right now. Remember you cannot take everything so just the important stuff. GO DO IT NOW!

I’ll wait…………………………..

Ok so hopefully you took the time to gather the stuff up and toss it into some sort of container. Of course we can upgrade the container to a fire resistant box, old ammo can or hopefully some other container which is portable and you can lock. You might of also accidently organized some of the clutter and have all of the important stuff in one place now!!

Should you need to leave in a hurry you only have to grab this one container and you know you have the most important paperwork with you. Just that quickly! No running around trying finding and organizing stuff while the water is rising, the fire is approaching or the Zombies are stumbling toward your home. The twenty minutes to an hour you spent doing this now could really pay off when and if you find yourself in an emergency!!!

Please take a few moments, be pro-active and tackle this task!!!!

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!

Medication

None of us are getting any younger, some of us have special needs and some of us rely on medications to keep us around. If you need medication on a daily or even a once in a while basis this is something you have to take into account when planning for emergencies. Be it an inhaler you use only once in a while or heart medication you need to take every day. Why? Because the day you are running low on medication or forgot to get a new inhaler is the day something will happen!!! (Murphy’s Law)

Some medication is easier to store then others and in rare cases you might not be able to store it at all. First thing we need to discuss is, do you really need it? What would REALLY happen if you did not have it? We all know people who take something or have some medical condition which really…… let’s just say they aren’t going to die if the condition is not addressed.

Ask your doctor if you can get extra. Tell the doctor what it is for “Doc, I am afraid if an earthquake (tornado, hurricane, insert disaster) comes I will be without my medication! What can I do?” Be honest with them, let them know you value their thoughts and honestly ask them to assist you in doing something to alleviate your concern. They can write you a prescription to have some extra medication. Heck this might even lead into a good discussion about planning for emergencies and having a doctor as a friend is almost always a good thing!!!!

Whatever you do, DO NOT cut your pills in half or some other scheme you think you will be able to pull. If you skip taking your pills or lower the dosage or whatever half brained idea you come up with, this will just cause you issues. Why? Because the doctor said to take a certain amount and now you haven’t. This means the day something bad happens will be the day you are weakened by not taking your pills and this puts you at a deficit right from the start of the emergency. Just ask your doctor.

While talking about medication and emergencies we also have to address the elephant in the room. Some of us cannot live without modern medicine. I hate to bring this up but some of us will die if we cannot stay connected to modern medicine. Of course we will try to go to any lengths to reach modern medicine but there could be situations where we cannot, people will die. If you are one of these people who are alive only because of modern medicine you have a duty to your family to try and learn what was done for people with your condition before electricity. In a lot of cases people lived long and happy lives before what we would call ‘modern medicine’. If there are treatments for your issue learn them now! Ask your doctor what used to be done. You have an obligation to your family and loved ones to learn now what could keep you alive later.

Ask your doctor, see if the can help you. Have some extra medicine on hand. Say a weeks’ worth or even a months’ worth. Just enough in case the "big one" does hit or your home suddenly becomes an island. Remember in emergency situations you are responsible for you………..

As Always,
Stay Safe!!!

THE WATER IS RISING!!

Recent events in Texas and the news coverage got me to thinking about this post. I watched several rescues of people from cars trapped in flooded streets, homes surrounded by water and some folks who decided to “play” near running water.

This event really drove home for me how important prior planning is. People found themselves having to leave their homes, with nothing. Others were stranded on the road when the waters blocked the roads or their cars stalled in the water. They had to abandon their vehicles, with nothing.

With the minimal of planning the odds are they would not have found themselves in these positions. How? Nothing is worth your life, not your job, not your car, not that event you need to be at and most defiantly not “playing” around running water.

Even ankle high water is enough to sweep a grown person off their feet. The dip you drive over every day can fill up with enough water to stall your car. Mother Nature will win every time if you challenge her! Period, full stop!

Having food, water and extra cash at home can keep you from having to venture out during a flood. Having a get home bag can help you if you are stranded somewhere. Having a bail out bag can help you if you’re in a situation where you suddenly have to abandon your car. Being able to miss a day or two of work because you have something set aside might ensure you are around to go back to work after the storm has passed.

Do not drive through streams in your car. Your car is not designed to go through water. The force of the water can easily push you off the road and you will quickly find yourself stranded. Do not try to walk across streets which have turned into rivers. Especially in urban areas, water takes the path of least resistance and in urban areas this means the roads. Do not drink or spend time in flood waters. Sewage treatment plants get flooded and odds are the water all around you is contaminated!!! Even a simple scratch can become infected by the CRAP, chemicals and other nastiness floating in the water.

DO NOT DRINK UNTREATED FLOOD WATERS! You will become ill, you can become ill even if you just fall down in the water and swallow some. Then you are trapped by or dealing with flood waters and sicker then you have ever been in your life!!!!
Know the threat of flood in your area. The information for most areas can be found of the internet. Heck if you go outside and look at the land around you, you can figure out where the water is going to go; if your home is at the bottom of the terrain guess where the water is going to end up.

Plan ahead, watch or listen to the local news and be ready to leave before it is too late. During an emergency is the wrong time to plan, under stress you will make mistakes and please USE SOME COMMON SENSE!!!!

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!