Has anyone here been through a hurricane recently. My dad and i rode out Rita here in grand lake, louisiana. its about 18 miles from the Gulf of Mexico as the crow flies. i would just like to hear other expierences people had and share my own. (i know it was stupid and we had plenty of time to evacuate, but you try getting a stubborn 51 year old to leave his house of 31years and i was not about to leave him here alone)

When Frances and Jeanne hit, my family and I evacuated. I returned shortly after to work amateur radio communications for a red cross shelter. Here is my take.

The town was a mess. We did not take a direct hit, but the eye missed us by at least 40 miles or so. But Frances lingered off the coast for days, so my town took a constant beating for a couple of days. Here are the things to keep in mind.

1) If you are in an older house, consider evacuating. My personal opinion is that I would ride out a cat-1 (my house is 25 years old). For a cat-2, I would cross my back yard and hunker down in the in-laws house, which is two years old, and 30 yards away. For a cat-3 or above, I am leaving.

2) If you stay, consider staying in a shelter. Some people have bad opinions of shelters after New Orleans. All I have to say is that a building that is still standing is better than one that has had its roof ripped off.

3) It goes without saying that you should be prepared. Have at least three days of water saved up, and a way to purify water after that. Keep enough food on had for a week, and a way to cook it without electricity, if necessary. Have a tent handy (as well as all other common camping gear), as you may be camping in your back yard if your roof is torn off.

4) The neighborhood and the yard may very well be a complete mess, even if the structure of the building survives. Having a basic selection of tools, such as saws, would be handy. An electric-powered chainsaw may be useless.

5) Driving may be out for a day or two. Trees and telephone poles will be down everywhere. This is assuming that you have gas to get somewhere.

6) Location, location, location. Once streets are clear, you could wait two hours to get gas, or drive two hours to a town unaffected by the storm and stock up.

7) You may very well be days, or even weeks without power. Frances left my house without power for around two weeks.

8) Communication will be a pain. Get a radio that can be cranked, or at least is frugal on batteries. Of course, you have batteries for your flashlights, right? A pair of FRS radios might be able to help keep in touch with your neighbors. Be sure that any FRS radios run off of AA or AAA batteries, and NOT rechargable lithium cells. Getting an amateur radio ticket would be ideal. Also, be sure to have an old-fashioned corded phone hanging around. Cordless phones do not do well without electricity.

I am sure that I missed a LOT of stuff, but this is just what popped into my head. Fortunately, I did not even loose power last year. I hope that I am spared this year.