Lifelong Philadelphia resident, Marathoner, Photographer, Blogger, Muse.
You can contact me at midnightbluesays (at) gmail (dot) com 
Lessons Learned from Hurricane Sandy
While New Jersey and New York City clean up and restore in the wake of Hurricane Sandy there are a few lessons that can be distilled and shared.
1. If in the path of a hurricane or any other type of super storm take the evacuation order seriously and evacuate. Your most valuable possessions are your life and the lives of your family and pets.
2. If you haven’t done so already, now would be a good time to organize a family plan in the event of a disaster. You can find information and download a pdf file to help organize your plan and information to share with family members. Don’t forget planning for your pets!
3. Major sporting events should be cancelled if scheduled to be held within a week at the site of a natural disaster event. The sooner the better – yeah I’m looking at you – Mayor Bloomberg.
4. Three things to stock up on PRIOR to any storm: Water, Food, and Fuel for the automobile. Especially fuel or have fun waiting 6 hours in the fuel line. Also, you might want to invest in a BioLite CampStove you can heat water and charge your cell phone at the same time. A good item to have for extended periods of power outage.
Have I missed anything? Let me know in the comments section.
 |
It’s always a good idea to have a bug-out bag in your vehicle. At the least it should contain a couple of changes of clothes.
For sticking around (if you are not in a situation where evacuation is mandated) perhaps a small generator and fuel for it. It’s also a good idea to have a propane stove; charcoal grills are OK but their fuel takes up a lot of space and they are nowhere near as useful.
Have some iodine tabs on hand for water purification.
Great points, PapaMAS. An emergency bag or ‘go bag’ is essential part of emergency planning.