Storm Survival Necessities

Preparing for a hurricane can be some hectic business, but compiling a list of things that you will need during the storm if you are planning on staying home is the easiest way to sort this mess out.

The most important thing you will need is clean water to drink. You can purchase bottled water at the grocery store if you need to, but a cheaper way to do this is to save old milk jugs and fill them with tap water before the storm begins. As long as you have somewhere to store the milk jugs, you should not have a problem with this method. If you do not have anywhere to store them, you can buy water at the store just before the storm begins, but be aware that they might not be able to meet the demand.

After the storm begins and you are shut up inside your house, you should not drink the tap water or even really bathe in it because of possible contamination. It might be fine to bathe in sea water, but you never know what the local water supply may be contaminated with. It could be sewage, chemicals, soil, or any one of a number of different things. Try to have enough clean water saved up to bathe a little with while the storm passes.

You will also need plenty of non-perishable food to eat. This should include pre-packaged food that does not have to be cooked, since there is a good chance that the electricity will go out, depending on how far you will be from the hurricane’s landfall.

Another item you may want to have on hand is a hand crank radio. This is something else that you will need if the electricity goes out; it will allow you to keep in touch with what is going on in the outside world and if there is anything that you need to know about. It can also help keep you from getting cabin fever, since you may be trapped by the storm in your house for a few days or longer.

Batteries for anything that you may need should also be available, especially for a flashlight.

Having a first aid kit on hand is always a good idea whether a natural disaster is imminent or not.

A rain coat and some heavy rain boots should be kept in case you have to go out for any reason.

You should also make it a point to keep some cash on you, since your local ATMs and banks may not be available for a while.

Hurricane Water Sanitation

Hurricanes and typhoons occur in different parts of the world, but the effect of both is typically the same. Flooding, high winds, extremely heavy rain, and often casualties occur during both of these kinds of storms, even though one type occurs in the Atlantic and the other occurs in the Pacific. They are similar in not only this way, but also in the way that you need to prepare for them.

Both of these storms can do serious damage to your local water supply and contaminate it with leaves, sticks, other debris, sewage, and sea water. This means that your local water supply is not safe to drink until your local government says that it is safe to do so after the storm is over. You should never drink the water out of your faucet while the storm is still going on outside and if possible, you should always evacuate your area if you are worried that your home could be flooded by the storm or the collapsing of surrounding dams or levees. The catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 showed what can happen when levees break, so if you live in a similar area and a hurricane comes to town, take whatever you can carry and get out.

If you are not worried about your home flooding during this storm, then you will still need to save up as much water as you can to ride out the storm in your home. As mentioned earlier, drinking your tap water after the storm begins is not an option. You can boil it if you need to, but the bad thing about this is that boiling does not remove any chemicals from the water that it may have been contaminated with. You can purchase bottled water before the storm gets to your house or you can go the cheap way and save tap water in rinsed milk jugs. This is the easiest and cheapest way to do it.

Consider just how much water you are going to need. This amount will go up with the number of people that will be staying in your house and the amount of time you are expecting to be locked up in it while you are waiting for the storm to end. Each person should have access to one gallon of water for their use per day. The last thing that you want is to run out of drinking water, so if it is looking like your water supply might not last, forego bathing until the storm is over.