With the 6 month anniversary of Hurricane Katrina having just passed and hurricane season only 88 days away, I was wondering if the Katrina aftermath has changed anyone’s long term preparedness plans.

Here are some of my concerns and changes –
1)Taking a harder look at my flood and wind insurance. I need to increase coverage. That is going to hurt as our premiums are set to go up big time anyway.

2)Fuel storage. Last year the flooding from Wilma almost put my 6-5gallon Blitz cans underwater. I’ve picked up a suitable 30 gallon drum and will pick up 4 new MFC’s from Davidsons.

3)I’ve made a concerted effort to make copies of all my papers and am getting them to my MIL at our bugout location.

4)I still need to get a scanner and start copying our family pictures to CD.

5)Plan on giving our shingle roof a coating of Koolseal. That stuff really locks those shingle tabs together and keeps the temperature down.

6)I hope to put in a transfer switch for the jenny but may have to make do with extension cords again.

I've wrote plywood into the budget, but now I actually have to buy, cut, and paint it. I also need to get a ladder and assorted hardware to hang the stuff.

I also want to add some 2x4 bracing to the roof trusses to make them more wind-resistant.

We do pretty good with having food on hand though I'll probably add some more canned stuff to the stockpile. Then again, we just finished the last can of diced potatoes from my Rita buying splurge. <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

As for water, we have four 7-gal water carriers plus two bathtubs, my water purifiers, and assorted nearby water sources.

Batteries: loaded
Radios: working
Flashlights: many!
Cooking stoves: triple-fuel Colman, gas grill (with two propane tanks), assorted backpacking stoves.
Back-up power supplies: ready
Great neighbors: yep!
Scanned copies of important papers: done, I think...

Koolseal? That sounds interesting.

-Mark

I'm not sure if its official, but Florida's Hurricane Prepardness Sales Tax Holiday has been moved to the entire month of May. No sales tax on approved items. Might want to do that for the high ticket items, and do some preparation before the "rainy" season. I really think the holiday should be in March, but that's just me.

Swiss Army Vehicles has some of the very sturdy Jerry cans at a good price. I have a number of these cans from a different source and find them very useful. They seal tight and are designed to float with the air chamber behind the handles this chamber also has a tube that allows the can to pour fuel with out sloshing and gurgling fuel every where.

Well, in the interest of accuracy, Koolseal is not recommended for shingle roofs. I used it on an older asphalt shingle roof anyway. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> I worked great for at least 5 years and several hurricanes. I lost NO tabs in Hurricane Georges, while houses around me lost a bunch. There are other elastomeric roof coatings that are listed for asphalt shingle

SOMAY ROOF MASTIC can provide HURRICANE PROTECTION for your roof. It is the ONLY ROOF COATING which stood up to the 175 m.p.h. winds of HURRICANE ANDREW on August 24, 1992. During Hurricane Andrew, roofs protected with the SOMAY ROOF MASTIC System stayed on, even in the middle of Homestead, Florida, in south Dade county, which received the most severe winds, while other roofs which were NOT protected with SOMAY ROOF MASTIC were peeling off and flying away, leaving houses exposed to the sky, the wind and the rain. ONLY SOMAY ROOF MASTIC has a proven record of providing superior HURRICANE PROTECTION for your roof!

SOMAY ROOF MASTIC is an excellent SOLAR HEAT INSULATOR. Based on independent research by the Thermophysical Properties Division of Battelle's Columbus Laboratories, SOMAY ROOF MASTIC has a thermal conductivity rating similar to that of wood or insulating firebrick, and 1/100 that of steel, and 1/1000 that of aluminum! Conclusion: SOMAY ROOF MASTIC is "considered a very good thermal insulator" ... i.e., it is a very poor conductor of heat.

*sigh* The SOMAY ROOF MASTIC looks great but I doubt my homeowners association would allow it. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

-Mark