I haven't had to actively practice it here in Florida, but I'm sure there alot of those "nuts" telling everyone "I told you so!". Everyone in Florida has been awakened to the reality of interruption of essential services and products. Even those that planned for 3 days, 7 days or 14 days, are starting to find that their cash and supplies are running low. Items such as gasoline, water and ice are all a precious commodity (pretty much ice and water are taken care of here where I'm at, you don't have to hunt as much).

Next year, you can bet more Floridians will have hurricane shutters/plywood, generators, water, and gasoline all ready when a hurricane hits.

What is most surprising to me is the fact that homes in florida - a place where hurricanes are common - don't require extensive storm-proofing, storm shelters and so forth. I was even more surprised to hear that hurrican Charley destroyed not only seven firehouses, it also took out an emergency operation center and some shelters. If these buildings aren't built to withstand a Cat 5 storm, I guess it's too much to expect an ordinary home to take it either.

Storing gas and such for a MONTH might be in order given that they've found that we may be entering a period where 3-4 major storms a MONTH will be common in Florida!

The Charlotte County EOC was the one that was hit. It's roof came off. Theirs was a "normal" building, where as the EOC in Brevard is truly a bunker. I have some concerns about the big old tower out front (everyone keeps telling me that 120mph is about the best towers can handle, yet alot of guyed towers in Charlotte survived).

Looks like Florida _might_ be spared Ivan. I hope so!

Don't prepare for one potential threat by creating another. If you store gasoline do it safe. I will never forget a friend offering me a ride home during the first gas crisis. A 1964 Dodge Dart with a 20 gallon trash can where the removed back seat was, with a hose running out the window to the filler outlet was a bit much. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Heheheh well put Chris. I second that. If you blow yourself up or set yourself on fire then you wasted a lot of time and money preparing for the hurricane. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

good point chris, and atleast it wasnt a pinto.

It seems like it would be nice to have a 100-gallon gas tank buried on your property. Unfortunately, I'm sure there are tons of regulations and safety concerns about that. Be interesting though, a tanker showing up to your house! They'd probably be concerned you were making napalm or some other "security" problem.

I'm not an environmental law specialist, but there are "underground storage tank" (UST) laws & regulations that are extremely stringent (see EPA website ) ....

Yeah, I figure there would be, but it looks as though your link doesn't apply to gasoline tanks:

280.10 Applicability

(b) The following UST systems are exluded from the requirements of this part:

(1) Any UST system holding hazardous wastes listed or identified under Subtitle C of the Solid Waste Disposal Act, or a mixture of such hazardous wastes and other regulated substances

(4) Any UST system whose capacity is 110 gallons or less

But looking at the Solid Waste Disposal Act doesn't help either, because it specifically mentions "solid waste", nothing about "liquid" gasoline. Assuming that it's not covered there, it would be covered "here", and it's under 110 gallons! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

When in doubt consult your local attorney and regulatory agency. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Recently I spent a lot of time researching the local building and zoning codes online. Thank you US Supreme Court. Apparently, I can't store gasoline in greater than 5 gallon containers on residential property. It might be standard BOCA language, but I'm not sure.