I have always been concious of the need to prepare for emergencies. My father is a fire fighter and my mother is a worry-wart. You could say it's in the genes. I am the type of person that is at the gas station filling up the tank the moment I hear there is a hurricane or large snow storm coming. I stock the cabinets with non-perishible foods. I have bottled water always stocked. When Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast, I said "Bring it on!" I was completely stocked and ready to go. Boy was that storm an eye opener. I learned quite a few lessons from Sandy. Some I learned first hand and other lessons were through the expeirences of others around me, but each lesson will not be forgotten.
The storm itself wasn't even the real problem - it was the power outage, gas shortage, and freezing temperatures that ensued that proved to be the real obstacles. Luckily, my husband and I had filled up both our cars with gas before the gas shortage struck. You'd think this is a no brainer, but some people didn't even bother to do that and there were a ton of people that were stranded. My youngest sister was one of them - both her and her boyfriend ignored the iminent storm and were each left with less than a quarter of a tank of gas. There was panic filling going on at every gas station that was open and gas lines were countless hours long. There were times when people would take the gamble to wait on the gas line only to find out the gas station ran out of gas before they got to the front of the line. Not really a gamble you want to make on a quarter of a tank of gas. And what's worse, the gas shortage wasn't a minor inconvience for only a day or two - the shortage lasted almost two weeks! That's quite a long time to be left stranded somewhere. Lesson #1 from Hurricane Sandy - always make sure the gas tank in the car is filled when a major storm is forcasted.
Thanks to Sandy, thousands of people were left without power. Here on Long Island, LIPA (our power company) was reporting a 90% outage across the board for their customers. We were told right out of the gate that we were going to be without power and it was going to be a long time before power was restored. The power company simply couldn't keep up with the amount of reported outages. They weren't kidding when they said it was going to be a while before power was restored - our power was out for 12 days! The power outage came with the usual inconviences: food in the fridge spoiled, no tv, lights, or electronics to entertain the kids, etc. Our kids are both under the age of 4, so keeping them entertained was a full time job with the electricity out. But all of that was a minor inconvience compared to the fact that we had no heat in the house thanks to the power outage. Since the storm hit us a few days before the end of October and the power outage lasted into November, it was cold outside and no power or heat meant that it was cold inside now too. That was the biggest challenge with this storm for us personally. We had enough food and water to last us over a month (like I said, I like to be prepared), and thankfully we have natural gas in our home so we had plenty of hot water, but we had no way to heat the house. All we could do is bundle the kids and ourselves in layers of clothing. At first that was enough, but as the days wore on it got colder and colder. There were some nights that the temperatures dipped to freezing. Thankfully, right before the nights got really cold, friends of ours offered us their generator. They were lucky enough to have their power restored and they no longer needed it. It wasn't a large generator, but it was big enough to power space heaters for each of the bedrooms and one for the living room. That was enough for me! Now that we had the generator, we still had to deal with the gas shortage, since it ran on gasoline. The gas stations had seperate lines for people filling up gas cans, but even those lines were extremely long. Lesson #2 from Hurricane Sandy: Get a generator. Lesson# 3: Make sure it runs on natural gas.
Through all of it, despite the lack of electricity and heat, I still counted my blessings. There were others that weren't so lucky. We heard on the radio about an entire community that was destroyed in a huge fire. Every home went up in flames. One hundred twenty homes were destroyed. All their memories - gone. I couldn't even imagine. There are some things that Home Owners Insurance just can't replace. Lesson #4 from Hurricane Sandy: Get a fire/flood proof safe.
In Nassau County, the power outage was causing a problem with a sewer treatment plant. The surrounding area was put on an immediate water conservation order and thankfully they avoided water contamination. The situation opened my eyes to the need to have clean water on hand at home. Sure, we had three cases of water and a few gallon jugs, but with 4 people and the dog, that wouldn't last more than 20 days. Lesson #5 from Hurricane Sandy: Find a way to store or procure fresh water.
In the weeks and months that followed Sandy, my husband and I began drafting our "Never Again List." I quickly realized that though we were more prepared than some, there were quite a few more things we could be doing to be more prepared in the future. On our list were a lot of the lessons we learned above, as well as a few other things - food storage, water storage, survival packs, etc. I used to think you had to be a conspiracy theorist to be a "prepper". I've watched that Doomsday Prepper show and laughed about insane the people sounded. But after Hurricane Sandy, I realized, it doesn't have to be some great conspiracy like a Chinese takeover on our power grid to plunge us into darkness for weeks on end, it can be something as simple and run of the mill as a hurricane or snow storm that does it. Now, I'm not advocating for everyone to start building bunkers in their houses, but I know my family is taking emergency preparedness a lot more seriously after enduring the storm.
Looking back on it, I realized very quickly that we were lucky enough to know the hurricane was coming before it arrived. We were able to shop for food and water before the hurricane hit us. But what would happen if something struck us that we weren't warned about before hand? What would happen if we had to fend for ourselves with only the supplies we had on hand in the house? What if something happened to the house and we had to get out immediately? Those who know my husband, know he has a lot of theories as to what the "something" might be that could strike without warning. To me, the "what" is not important. To me, being prepared is what's important. I don't care what the "something" might be, so long as my family is prepared to withstand anything on our own. And that's what this blog is all about, making ourselves prepared for whatever may strike. Why a blog? Because it's the easiest way to convey any information or research or expeirences about preparedness with those I love. I don't want just my family to be prepared, I want everyone I love to be prepared too. Anyone else that I can help through this is just a bonus. I think it's all time that we start preparing for emergencies, no matter what they might be, and as the old adage says, there's no time like the present.
