Severe weather in my area has left up to 40,000 people without power. High winds have downed trees, blown over fences, damaged roofs, and caused other assorted mayhem. Heavy rains have caused several mud slides blocking many roads. Power went out at my home about 8:30 pm last night and was still out when I left for work this morning. Power was on here at work but had obviously went out at some point as all the computers were turned off. Hoping power is restored by the time I get home this evening, but if not we'll be feasting on leftovers from the fridge and cooking whatever was in the freezer as well.

On the bright side, this event has given me a chance to examine our preps.

- Emergency lighting: check (assorted candles and flashlights, as well as oil lanterns which we didn't need to light)
- Water: check (luckily, we have municipal water supply that doesn't go out when the power does)
- Backup power supply: no check
- Emergency family plan: no check

Lessons learned and/or things that need to be done:
- Double check current battery supply and buy better battery powered lanterns; it is amazing how quickly kids panic when the power goes out (especially when they are guests in your home) and how quickly a simple little LED light calms them down; I nearly forgot about the candle option on the old D cell maglites
- I noticed our stored water supply is WAY down so that has been added to the items to be stocking up on
- WRT backup power supply, I need to look into getting a generator again. Will probably check into something small and simple (i.e. read cheap) to start with. At least something to power the fridge anyway. Eventually we might invest in a natural gas powered deal that switches on automatically if the power goes out.
- WRT the emergency family plan, that needs to become a HUGE priority. Any suggestions here would be helpful and appreciated.
- Thankfully no downed trees in the yard as the chainsaw blade needs to be sharpened. I suppose I could get it done with the axe and bowsaw if absolutely necessary though. Also a few kukris and machetes amongst my collection of sharp stuff.

Thinking along the lines of the damage I saw on the way in to work, I am thinking some supplys of extra building materials (thinking hammers, nails, boards, etc) and some tarps might be nice to keep handy as well. Supplies of duct tape, maybe some heavy clear plastic to cover any broken windows would be good to have too.

Did I miss anything? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Mark... I'm to the south of you, but still in the Southeastern Conference...just started prepping for the upcoming hurricane season...couple of suggestions, and I'm sure there are archived threads on this board..off the top of my head

though not typical, heavy running water has excavated water mains here that were then contaminated... have containers for non potable water to flush toilets...some way to filter/purify large amounts of water... just got my Sawyer .1micron bucket filter, but haven't assembled it yet... extra Clorox bleach

solar shower.. I use a dedicated (no pesticide/herbicide)garden sprayer painted black

a quality 18v cordless drill with extra charged battery...packs of deck screws... possibly backed up by a hand held Yankee Screwdriver...hand saw, hammer/nails, blue tarps, firring strip, asphalt roof sealing mastic

have given up on gas chain saws, I have a 14amp electric that can run off the Honda 3500w generator...chainsaw file..length of chain to move any downed trees

have a couple of the 5 day Igloo coolers you can transfer still frozen food to if the power outage looks long term ...if the kids are small, caution them about opening the refrigerator and letting the colder air spill out

propane camp stove, catalytic heaters, adapter to fill 1# propane bottles from 25# tank

chem lights for the kids... possibly a necklace with a whistle and AAA LED light on it if age appropriate

sufficient chargers for the cell phones...non portable land line phone...portable radio with power options...digital hand held TV for news/entertainment

consider some battery powered fans for warm weather sleeping...citronella candle/bucket in case you have to open up non screened passages for air flow

a pretty comprehensive emergency plans/lists are on the "ldsprepper.com" forum

Sometimes it's the little things you need:
Rubber boots, gloves
Battery or hand cranked radio
Board games or something to occupy people (especially the kids) with now that they can't watch the boob tube!
Yard tools
Gas shut off wrench
Extra fuses
UPS on computer equipment
Powerbar /w overload protection on other equipment

Stuff in the freezer should be good for at least 24 hours (don't open the door to check either!) but stuff in the fridge definitely needs to be consumed or tossed.

Do your research carefully. A lot of generators won't run for more than a few days without needing major work.



You need a bug out plan, a bug in plan, a communications plan, a centralized repository of important papers, emergency cash, and good relationships with your neighbors for a start.



Tarps need to have grommets, on the sides as well as the corners. Cordage is essential.



You didn't mention anything about firearms.

Mark..how often do you get storms like this?.is it worth it to have so much stuff stored away? not much go's on around here so i would just fall back on our camping gear.

I am not a fan of generators. Better to just eat out of the fridge initially -keep the door closed as much as possible and you will be fine. Cook on your camping gear.

Your back up food stores should contain items that require no refrigeration - obviously.

For bucking up trees, I like a nice sharp bow saw; unless you are dealing with really large trunks, a bow saw can almost just as fast, a lot less disrupting, and generally a better deal than a chain saw.

Be sure you are in good shape with gloves, work boots, safety eye glasses, etc. and a good supply of first aid materials and training.

Tarps are wonderfully versatile items. Be sure you also have a supply of cordage to secure them.

If power outages are likely, rather than this being a one-off, then you may wish to consider a fixed emergency lighting installation in your home.

This is easily done, install an additional circuit, not connected to the mains supply.
Fit one or two wall or ceiling fixtures in each room, controlled by a wall switch.
Under normal conditions, this circuit is connected to nothing and will not function. When the blackout occurs, connect this circuit to a 12 volt battery, preferably a deep cycle battery, though a vehicle battey will serve.
The fixtures must of course be fitted with 12 volt bulbs, of low power.

Alternatively connect this extra circuit to a UPS, and insert standard 120 volt low energy lamps.
A 1,500 watt UPS should supply 150 watts for several hours, and 150 watts is a dozen smaller low energy lamps.

Hi Mark, Sorry about your situation. I live in North East Alabama and we went through the same thing.First, don't bank on municipal water not going out, ours' did and was out for 5 days along with the power. Apparently the storm took out the main lines from Browns Ferry and voila...


You can PM me if you'd like to hear some of the other things we did to get through.

I agree on all counts, and would add one thing about refrigeration: Keep the fridge and freezer full. If you don't have enough stored food to fill them completely, backfill with clean milk jugs full of drinking water or ice. This done routinely will help preserve your food for much longer in a power outage, save on your energy bill during normal time, and give you another source of fresh water should you need it.

Thanks for all the great info and ideas.

Les, that is a really detailed reply, just what I was hoping for. Some of what you mention I already have but there are gaps elsewhere. I did forget to check for any older threads on this subject.

Roarmeister, we got the board games covered. An entire closet shelf full of them. We were thinking of getting rid of some of them but maybe we'll keep them now. Got a lot of the rest of your list already too. Our gas has a lever on the shutoff so do I still need a gas shut off wrench or tool?

Chaos, good to know about the generators. For such a pricey investment, I will definitely do some more research on them. As far as firearms go, I am not really much of a firearm kind of guy but there is a mossberg pump action shotgun if needed.

Canoe, the storms were not as frequent many years ago, but here in the last couple of years, it seems they have increased considerably in frequency, intensity, and damage done. Summer of 2009 we had some pretty bad storms that caused 2 floods, one in may that did major damage, and one in june that did some more but was not as severe as the first one. That winter we had some major snow and ice storms that we hadn't seen in a very long time, caught the power company off guard as they hadn't been keeping the right of ways clear like they should have. The weight of the ice and snow caused downed trees and power outages were widespread, some were without power for over a week. The following summer, Summer of 2010, we had more bad storms that caused yet another major flood. No flooding of drastic proportions yet this year but there have been several storms with damaging winds, hail and so on. Of course we have our camping gear to fall back on, as well as our BOB's and personal kits. Up til now power interruption has been the only consequence but I am starting to wonder how long our luck can hold out. Luckily the floods I mentioned didn't affect our home and our power has yet to be out for more than 24 hours at a time.

Hikermor, I did forget to mention we keep supplies of canned and dry goods on hand that would keep us going for a while if need be (though I think this is another area we need to stock up on). I am also like you, I prefer a bow saw to a chain saw, but there are many large (and old) trees in our yard that would require a chainsaw to cut up if they were to fall.

Adam, that may be a little more extra wires and fixtures than DW will allow. For now, we'll stick to the candles and battery powered lights and lanterns. I've seen UPS mentioned a few times. What is that exactly?

6pac, what we experienced here pales in comparison to what you folks went through down there. We got hit by the same storm system, which produced damaging winds and hail but not the tornados that hit your area. With this last storm system that hit us, our area has been declared a federal disaster as well. We (me and my family) have been VERY fortunate compared to many others in our area and across the country.

Byrd Hunter, if there was room in the fridge I would do that. If we end up with some extra room I definitely WILL do that. Good advice, my mom and dad do that exact same thing with their extra freezer.

Thanks everyone, for all the advice here. You have given me a lot to think about as well as several things to add to the shopping list (DW won't be too happy about that though hehehe). As I said we have been VERY fortunate. In all of this adverse weather, our home has not been flooded, municipal water has not gone out, and our power has not been off for more than 24 hours at any one time, though admittedly the frequency of the power outages is more than I would like. This most recent one really made me think, and realize that even though we have been lucky up til now, we need to be better prepared for the day our luck finally runs out. Thanks again everyone.