Being a Manhattan resident, I think you did not give bugging out of or even within NYC enough attention. A fire in your or a neighbors home can be a bugout event. And before flooding becomes not a potential event, I'd want to be 200+ feet above sea level.

You're going to be 20 feet above sea level and are thinking of planning to bug, which is a good thing. Bugging out is a bad option but one that might be the best option, depending on circumstances. You seem to think you've planned bugging in, so I won't address that too much.

Suggestions:

1. Get the au pair on board with all plans. She should know how to take the kids and bug without you or your wife. Meet back up with them on the other side of Long Island Sound. Blast's binder is a good idea.

2. A well may not be an option for drinking water, but a well or a pump may a good idea for hygeine. Toilets flush and showers can be taken with salt water. Taking a shower with salt water, followed by a fresh water rinse works very well, and it saves a lot of fresh water. Salt water alone is tough on things, because the salt can dry and dry your skin, make your hair a funky color and harm fibers in clothing. However, I'd rather get clean using salt water than not get clean at all. Try to disinfect salt water used for cleaning, it's almost certain to be full of germs. Preparing to be able to use salt water as is for somethings is a good idea, it could save you in a black out.

3. Being able to convert salt water into fresh water is a darn good idea, but in to buy the equipment for large amounts it is expensive. There are a few ways in which to distill salt water, and most are expensive or provide little. It is probably worth having some ability to make a solar still, another kind of still, etc. If you got along with neighbors and had the technical ability to maintain is, then investing in a reverse osmosis unit as a community might be an idea. A solar still requires little and does not produce much. I think a regular still with a fire boiling the salt water might work, but distillation is something the government does not want me to engage in as I would like to do so. You could get a coil from a homebrew store, look for a wort chiller.

4. I'd take the Throgs Neck or Whitestone to bug out, but timing and traffic is a bigger issue. Also, heading in a direction other than north may allow you to avoid the trouble. In my experience, getting onto Staten Island is one problem and getting off of it is another. Consider different options for getting out. My plans include using the first choice of using a car, if I bug early and have time to get out. The plans also include Metro North, and DW has strict instructions (more like a suggestion) to take trains to certain destinations. I like the Harlem line. If that fails or is to busy to take people, then the 2 and 5 trains will get me to high ground in the Bronx, close to a Metro North station and near the Westchester border, where I can find some help from friends. If I can get north of White Plains, I can walk to my parents or friends in a day. But heading into New Jersey is also an option. Getting across the Hudson and heading west, south or north may be options in different circumstances. Plan different options. My standard thing to think of is the instance of a tsunami being caused by the Cumbra Vieja volcano in the Canary Islands and the worst forecats about that being true. If I can make it through such an incident, then I think there are few things I cannot live through. If you read the worst forecasts for such an incident, a one hundred and fifty foot high wave is mentioned.

5. Wildman is right about having lots of water and his comments about power.

6. The comments about being able to get home are also on. During the 2003 blackout, my entire office found ways to get home, and almost everyone lived well outside of the city. I was one of the closest in Astoria, and no one needed to stay at my place.

KC2IXE,,

I lived in the high rises @ St. George, SI; on the 15th floor.

The residents of a high rise building will continue to use water as they always have until,,,,suddenly, no more water comes out of the tap, because the tank on the roof has been emptied.

No electricity = no water can be pumped to fill the tank.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this score.

I did say "low rise" building under say 5 stories. Ebven the lower floors of High Rise building use a pump for the tank, and feed from there. Often there is a hose bib on the building that is on city water pressure, and I can guarntee you in the boiler room somewhere is a feed that comes off city water. The hydrants out on the street WILL have water. You may have to carry it up, but the problem isn't GETTING water, but in moving it up.

Basically, if you live in a 4 story or less building in NYC, you won't have water problems - taller, you may/will. One of the interesting "jokes" is that the water pump in most buildings is NOT that large, as the tank acts as a buffer - the pump doesn't have to meet the instantanious need of the building, just the average sustained need, plus some safety factor

Funny story from 2003 - I was sent out to do Comms for the Red Cross - That night, we had lots of demand for bottled water from folks walking home, until around 11pm. The next afternoon, I was sent to one of those "buildings without water" - seem when the electric came on in the early AM, they were still complaining about "we have no water" (BTW the Burger King and the Super Market across the street were working, and the super had a hose bib open) - I got there (circa 2pm-ish) an the water crisis was over - seems the super went through the building and had folks turn off their faucets for an hour or so - to allow the tank on the roof to fill. Something like 90% of the apartments left a faucet on to "know when the water came back" - they were draining the water tank faster than the pump could fill it

So - I'll say agin - storing "emergency" water in NYC isn't a HUGE deal - if you can get to ground level, you will get NYC water, by pure gravity - the only problem is getting water from street level to your apartment - and you only need to store as much as "how often you want to climb the stairs"

Thanks for the clarification Kc2ixe.

For lots of purposes, I might accept that, but I still think storing water and trying to have some means for treating brown or other water is a good idea, if only because having a contaminated water is a possibility. I know casualties can occur, and I simply do not want to place all my eggs into any one basket. I think the most likely thing would be something like a water main break. Also, I know how it would be very tough to introduce a contaminant into the water supply of any large city in amounts to have a dangerous result; the resevoirs are so big as to require really large amounts of any contaminant, and the systems after treatment are tough to attack. However, Also, if DW and/or I need to bug out, I like having some water to take with us.