Episode # 457, How To Be Prepared For A Natural Disaster, and Why Texas Issued A Solar Eclipse Warning
How To Be Prepared For A Natural Disaster, and Why Texas Issued A Solar Eclipse Warning
We have two segments for you today.
After a natural disaster, there are several items that many people may not have on hand but may be needed for survival and recovery. That's the first segment.
In the second segment, we are going to address the warning that Texas authorities gave to their residents in the path of the total eclipse on April 8, 2024. It panicked some people, so we are going to dig into that.
Here's our exercise Scenario:
It's one day after a Cat three hurricane – (but could be any number of natural disasters)
We have some damage to the house, but we’re able to safely stay in it
Area wide flooding, but not inside our house
Flooding has contaminated the water system
Power is out, internet is out, and natural gas service has been shut down.
Cell service is out.
Power crews are arriving
Disaster relief agencies have been activated, and will arrive tomorrow.
Red Cross food delivery will start the day after - remember, we said it takes a while for help to arrive. Even the government says be prepared to be on your own for three days.
We are on our own.
Having these items we are going to talk about today, on hand, can significantly enhance preparedness and resilience in the aftermath of a natural disaster, and these things can help us navigate the challenges of recovery more effectively.
WATER
Clean drinking water may become scarce after a natural disaster due to contamination.
Have a case or two of bottled water for "grab and go”
Good to have while working, or even sharing with "helpers”
Store water – 1 gal per person per day, minimum
How long do you expect it to take for water system to be restored?
Aim for that amount or more
Skill & knowledge of water purification
Boiling, chemical means, bleach,
Water Purification Tablets
Water filters
Have a means to transport water
Collapsible Water Container or Five gallon bucket
allows you to transport additional water for drinking, cooking, and hygiene purposes
Toilet flushing - from collected rainwater if system is completely shut down
Can use "flood water" for the toilets
FOOD
Store what you eat, so you can eat what you like
Probably don’t want to be eating exclusively the 25-year storage foods
Minimum 2-4 Weeks for your family
Have a means to cook food
Portable Stove or Camping Grill
Gas grill, smoker, solar oven
open fire, rocket stove
Have a Means to cook food - Hot meal is so welcome after disasters
POWER OPTIONS
Portable Generator: provide electricity for essential devices and appliances when power lines are down.
Battery & Inverter
Car battery if necessary
Run medical devices such as a CPAP
Charge cell phones
Power banks, and/or Solar-Powered Phone Charger:
Communication is vital during and after a disaster.
Have a way to charge your cell phone – they may work, may not
Text message may get through better than voice
Power banks can charge phone a couple of times, have multiple
Solar charging bank take a long time, but viable option – have multiple
Use your car charger
Some require the ignition to be on, but don’t have to run the engine
Some wired Direct
Emergency Cash: ATMs and credit card systems most likely unavailable
Earliest opening stores may be cash only
Especially mom & pop community stores & gas stations
EMERGENCY REPAIR ITEMS
Tarps and Plastic Sheeting:
Temporary shelter
Covering damaged roofs
Wood strips for attaching tarp to roof
Keeps it tighter and less likely to pull away from the nails
Duct Tape: Duct tape is incredibly versatile
Basic Tools and Repair Supplies:
wrenches, screw drivers, hammers, saw, nails, screws
Multi-Tool or Swiss Army Knife:
Handy on-body tool
Tightening, cutting, opening cans, and performing minor repairs.
Can save a trip back to the tool shed
Lights Out Kit
Chemical Light Sticks, flashlights, LED or Propane lanterns, headlamp
Extra batteries
Personal Protective Items
Insect Repellent:
Especially after hurricanes
Sunscreen
Working outside a lot during the recovery process
Your house, your neighbors
AVOID that sunburn
Sturdy shoes or boots
Not to time for tennis shoes or flip flops
Lots of nails and broken glass
Heavy Work Gloves – moving boards & roofing with nails
Not the brown cotton gloves – good for gardening, not debris removal
Safety Goggles: debris, dust, and other hazards
Masks for dust or mold
Hand Sanitizer: Hand sanitizer can help disinfect hands when soap and water are not readily available.
Emergency Blankets:
Designed to retain body heat
Maintaining body temperature during outdoor sheltering or emergencies
COMMUNICATIONS
Emergency Whistle: signal for help if trapped or in need of assistance
Emergency Radio with NOAA Weather Band:
NOAA weather radio is crucial before event
Weather updates and emergency
AM/FM battery operated radio included
Kaito KA5000
We'll put that on the Featured Items page of the website and the link in the episode notes in case you are interested.
( https://www.practicalprepping.info/featured )
Two way communications
Cell phone – often down right after event – could take weeks to come back
Radio
HAM radio, GMRS, CB
Contact someone outside the impact area
Neighborhood radio plan
GMRS, FRS
Social Media
Emergency Contact List & Plan
All of our family contact info
Name, address, phone number
Email, ham radio call signs & repeaters
Add: FB, X, Instagram
Whatever way you can contact
Who calls who
Segment 2 (Starts at 31 min 25 seconds)
Warning By Texas Officials Relating To The Eclipse
Texas authorities warned people to “stock up” on gas and groceries if they are along the “line of totality" or the path of the total eclipse on April 8th, 2024.
There's a map at science.nasa.gov that shows you the path of the eclipse, and when it starts and ends.
We'll put that link in the show notes and on the Facebook page.
The warning has some folks a bit panicked about what may happen.
And...some conspiracy theorists are blowing it up, too.
With things like "this is the beginning of the end"
or they expect a major attack during the eclipse
It’s a solar eclipse! RELAX! It has happened many times before and will happen many times in the future!
Let's address what the warnings really mean.
Many of the cities and towns along the path of the total eclipse are under 15,000 in population.
Many of those are expected to swell to 60K – 100K for the eclipse.
The duration of the total eclipse is three and a half to four minutes, but it’s really spectacular few minutes. The duration of partial eclipse will be around two and a half hours along the path of totality.
What is going to happen is that there will be a huge influx of people:
Serious Traffic delays
Two lane roads serve many of these small cities and towns, coming in and out.
Stop signs and traffic lights will cause it to back up even more.
Even a small fender bender could tie it up for quite a while.
There could be some delay in EMS response
The additional traffic,
The increase in call volume
Interruptions of cell service
Designed for a population of 15K
Suddenly 60K-100K trying to use their phones
The cell towers WILL become overloaded.
Be patient
Use text messaging - less band width, keeps trying until sent.
There will be gas stations selling out of gasoline
Due to the influx of vehicles
There may be some temporary shortages in the grocery stores.
Many may want to buy sandwich makings
If they are camping or staying in a RV they may plan to get groceries.
There will be some overcrowding of restaurants, hotels, camp grounds, and public spaces.
If we had a camper and the time off, we would probably find a place to watch
There will be some impact on public services.
We mentioned EMS, but also on law enforcement. Managing such a large influx of traffic can be difficult on LE.
This will lead to some strain on the local budgets with overtime for some of the city services, including trash collection. Most people will be placing trash in appropriate trash bins, but even those are likely going to be filled over capacity.
Texas officials are telling local folks to have what you will need, before all these folks get to town. They aren’t saying stock a months worth of food. They are saying have enough to get through until the shelves are restocked - maybe a couple of days.
They aren’t saying people need to store extra gasoline. They are saying have a full tank going into this. There will be outages, but they’ll get resupplied.
So, here’s a good game plan.
Top off your fuel tank.
If you are a prepper, you should already have enough stored to get you through at least a few days, but top off with what you might want, if you're not a prepper, go get groceries for the week around April 5th.
If you are doing an "eclipse party" or bar-b-que, get your meat and supplies early.
If you can, stay off the roads and enjoy it in your back yard with your favorite snacks and drinks.
If you go out to eat, expect some long wait times. It's going to be crowded.
It’s an eclipse! Nothing new, but if you’ve never seen one, it's pretty cool.
Oh, and speaking of cool, expect the temperature to drop 15-20 degrees during the total eclipse. That was quite interesting.
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