Being a Kansas native, we would typically prepare for big storms by making sure we had shoes on in case our house blew away after running to the basement just in time. Luckily, we never had to go through an actual tornado in the 30-plus years living in Kansas, but it was always a scary yet exciting ordeal when we saw the thunderheads start to build up and roll in from the west.
Once I moved to the east coast, friends and family would comment that I would be giving up tornadoes for hurricanes. I always thought that at least with a hurricane, you would have ample warning and I would be sure to have my shoes, handbag and dog close by. In a lot of ways, a hurricane warning is worse since the media hype starting in the month of August will make every small disturbance in the Atlantic Ocean near Africa the "next Katrina." I fell hook, line and sinker because I have spent the last 2 days watching The Weather Channel and the previous 2 days going from store to store collecting the essentials for Irene. All of the locals downplayed what was about to happen to a light breeze and a little more than a drizzle so I was torn on which camp of experts to believe. My biggest fear is that I would be the person sitting on the roof waving at the news chopper after the storm surge while waiting for a kayak to come pick me up, handbag and all. As I don't put much trust on the media with the weather not to mention any other "breaking" news story or "unbiased" journalism, I was rationalizing that if Irene wasn't as damaging as was predicted, I could always sell the high ticket preparation items on Craig's List to some other poor sap for the next hurricane...which is now possibly brewing in the mid-Atlantic.
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| Fine time for a leisurely stroll! |
What follows are SOME of the many things I spent 2 days checking off the many to-do lists found online in preparation for my first hurricane which ended up being a day of rain and wind while I camped out on my couch.
Honeywell 5500 Generator
This was the one thing that seemed to be the holy grail for people preparing for Irene. I was thinking that I would not want to loose all of my food in the refrigerator as well as my AC in the event we did not have power for about a week, which was the common opinion of locals that had been confirmed by the media hurricane experience. So on Thursday, I strolled into Lowe's to pick up a generator. I walked into chaos and a stressful energy only found if you knew nuclear war was immanent. No later than 2 PM, there was a line of about 20 people forming at the front of the store of whom were waiting for a shipment of generators that were due out of Georgia sometime after 6 PM. As previously mentioned, I do not wait needlessly in lines so I grabbed a cooler and 3 cases of water and high tailed it out of that mess. In the end, I decided to stay off the beaten path and went to a mom and pop hardware store at the beach that had a shipment due at 7AM Friday and got the last one upon my arrival at 7:10 AM.
Large Cooler and 7 bags of ice
In the event that I would not be able to get a generator in time, I wanted to have a plan B for the food in my fridge. I thought I could continue to pour the rapidly melting ice over the food I wanted to keep from spoiling. Also, I wanted to be able to sit in a bathtub of ice if it got too hot and sweaty. Looks as if I will be having a snow cone party sometime in the near future!
Portable AC Unit
Gas Cans
On Friday morning, I purchased 2 gas cans that were the last in the store. There were people commenting they were going to follow me home to steal them. Being at friendly neighborhood store, I was really glad I did not wait too long and have to go back to Lowe's again as I believe the customers there are not as friendly than the common thieves I encountered at the hardware store at the beach where everyone knows everyone.
Trying to not go home right away and making several left hand turns making sure no one was following me home to steal my gas cans and generator, I pulled off to fill my extremely valuable gas cans. I stealthily double checked that my generator was in fact gasoline powered, and not diesel. I quickly found out they had put the generator in my car with the Spanish translated side of the box facing outward. I do not know the translation for "diesel-powered" in Spanish, so I rolled the dice and hoped that what I was reading did say regular gasoline and made a mental note to learn better Spanish in the future.
Three cases of bottled water
Since I am a Brita owner and wasn't sure that Brita could filter the crap that could spill into our drinking water, I went ahead and got some bottled water as well. Guess I will be back to bottled water for a few weeks...hopefully, my using Brita for 6 months allows me to be less conscious of the environment for a little while and I won't be stoned to death by local tree huggers.
Floating flashlight
Even I am embarrassed that I spend hard earned money to purchase a floating flashlight and even more so that I got an extra one for my unconcerned neighbor that has experienced upward of 10 storms since living in VA Beach. The thought never occurred to me then that if I were in a situation where I would need a floating flashlight, I wouldn't be using one of my two hands to save what couldn't be replaced by holding a floating flashlight. I didn't feel so bad when I found out one of my other friends walked around and slept with a headlamp strapped to her forehead starting on Friday night through Sunday morning. I made sure to put that one on my shopping list as I thought that was probably a pretty good item to have around the house for a multitude of emergency and non emergency scenarios!
Patio Furniture
Starting Thursday evening, I moved all patio furniture through my freshly cleaned house to the garage along with all of my planters and very heavy umbrella. I did feel as if I had worked in a really good workout that day despite all of the errands and preparations I still needed to make. I decided that I may need to take up moving heavy furniture in my workout routine moving forward just to keep things interesting.
Filled both bathtubs with water
Apparently, you do this in case you lose water supply and was the first time I have heard of this level of preparation for a hurricane. They made it very clear online that this is NOT FOR DRINKING WATER (thanks for that clarification!)....it is in case you need to flush toilets and for cleaning purposes ONLY. I got right on that as I had never thought that would be an issue and definitely didn't want to be without the ability to flush my toilets for a week. I ended up draining my huge 3-person tub on the third floor as I began to get worried about the weight becoming an issue after a few days....I would just have to pray that the normal size bathtub would be enough water for toilet flushing.
Cooked all frozen and uncooked meat
I made sure all of the chicken, turkey burgers and bacon that wouldn't keep in the freezer or for very long in a cooler was cooked. I figured that I wouldn't be able to keep up with "freezing" food for very long even with a generator or in a cooler. This turned out to be very enjoyable as I ate several meals and snacks of bacon strips! I may start doing this on a regular basis as well...
Beer and Vodka
I purchased copious amounts of both for obvious reasons! I knew hurricane parties were popular and, even though I wasn't willing to go to the oceanfront during the storm and find one to fit my needs, I didn't want to miss out on the one past time where you don't need electricity! Turns out, this was probably the most useful emergency item to have during hurricane season...
In the end, we got a lot of rain, a ton of swirling wind topping 60-mph and lost power for about a day....Although it was my first of what promises to be many hurricanes in VA Beach, we were very fortunate that there wasn't more damage or flooding. My thoughts and prayers go out to those who lost life and property and will be dealing with flooding and loss of power for much longer than we did here in VA Beach. Although I am relieved to have experienced my first hurricane without any notable problems, I am also reminded of how powerful mother nature can be and why we should always respect her temper tantrums....regardless if you are watching media coverage or talking to locals that have been through many storms before the one heading your way.
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| Pre-Irene: 7 PM Friday |
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| Irene at High Tide: 6:30 PM Saturday |
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| After Irene: 7:30 AM Sunday |
Please let me know if anyone needs anything at all and I am happy to help in any way I can. The one thing I noticed during the preparation process as well as after the storm is the incredible outreach of our community to help complete strangers as well as binding together to try and keep everyone safe. The American spirit is alive and well here in hurricane country!
Be safe and always be prepared to help yourself and others....I know it is hard to believe but, it is a much better feeling than even shopping can offer!
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