For you Floridians

colryn · 05-24-2005, 3:02 PM

Well,
It's that time of the year AGAIN. June 1 starts hurricane season. I was wondering if any of you have prepared for the coming season. I know last year I said to myself I will be ready for the next season. Well, I was wrong. I have not done anything.

I have started to put together a list of items that are a must and some items that are a nice to have. I was hoping to get a Honda generator but other commitments has stopped that - new house and bike payoff. So this weekend I plan on buying some necessities. I know I cannot complete my list all in one shot but it's a start.

So what is on your list?

smkeatr · 05-24-2005, 9:05 PM

My list is very short. I'll most likely be locked up at work again if we get another direct hit and we have a station generator, running water and a big ice machine. The ice machine came in handy to save my home fridge.

Losing power for a few days isn't really a big deal. It's hot but we slept down stairs and brought in the solar yard lights for some indoor lighting. We also have a small battery operated B/W TV for some late night news and updates. I never did board up the windows. Wish I did though, my new home had 5 windows that needed re-glazed after the last hurricane. One leaked pretty bad but luckily I was home to prop a support in place to prevent it from blowing in.

Maybe some batteries for the flashlights but the ones from last year probably will do just fine.

In some small way, I'm looking forward to another active season, the overtime came in handy for the new home.

We were extremely lucky last year and I honestly feel for those less fortunate than us. I did spend several days, lots of sunburn, delivering ice and water to those in need. The local fire departments and police will, should be, more prepared this year to handle the **** storm.

colryn · 05-25-2005, 7:42 AM

That's an item that I need. A battery powered tv. I also want to get one of those radios that all you have to do is crank on a little handle. No power needed. I think you can find them at radio shack.

Also, I hope that fire and police dept went through a lessons learned briefing from last year. I did think they did you a bank up job last season though.

BDA116 · 05-25-2005, 10:31 AM

Forget the hurricanes, you guys have this stuff to deal with:
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs..../50524006/1075

colryn · 05-25-2005, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BDA116

Forget the hurricanes, you guys have this stuff to deal with:
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs..../50524006/1075

X10

smkeatr · 05-25-2005, 1:10 PM

Only in Fl.

snowman · 06-06-2005, 8:14 AM

You can say that again!

EDDIE110171 · 06-06-2005, 12:03 PM

Doesn't surprise me at all. They closed down 826 in Miami last year during rush hour because, a piece of pipe fell off a plumbing truck and "resembled" a pipe bomb.

colryn · 06-10-2005, 9:02 AM

We are now in the season. There is a storm out there all ready. It is going to hit the panhandle, AL, and LA. I have started to gather up some much needed supplies. I got a battery powered tv/radio and cooler this morning. I have batteries, water, candles, can food, duct tape, tarpe as well. From all of the reports, this is going to be a busy hurricane season again. I was hopping to get a generator before now but that has not happened.

I now reside in a new house with improvements due to last season. The builder got some lessons learned from last season and made modifications on how they build new homes. I guess I am thankful for that. I do not know if being in the middle of the state is any better than being on the coast as I was last year. Orlando received some pretty heavy damage as did Melbourne. I guess all I can do is prepare and pray.

Just some thoughts I had this morning. Sorry for the babble. ....

smkeatr · 06-10-2005, 10:54 PM

Your new home should hold up well. Mine was almost finished when Charley came through. The old house had a tree in the roof, not too bad, but I had already sold the house and was leasing it back until the new one was done.

The new house sustained Charley with the house next door still under construction and none of the debris on the site was a problem. Frances gave us some water in the roof vents. For Jeanne, I stuffed the roof vents with tarps from the inside from up in the attic and that helped out a great deal since those vents are on the east side of the house. Your home will hold up just fine. The longest we were without power in this area was about 4 days so it won't be like last season where you were on the coast. Pack your freezer and fridge with ice and you should be able to save the contents in the case of another long outage. The worst was when the water heater ran out of the hot water and a cold shower was all we had. Luckily that only happened once.

I have the luxury of going to work with a building generator so a hot shower and a large ice machine are at my disposal.

The chance of another storm hitting us this far inland is slim to none (knocking on wood) but the worst was really the damn heat without A/C.