Real life: Would your planning have survived?

Posted by: TeacherRO

Real life: Would your planning have survived? - 11/05/17 08:30 PM

Would your plan (GHB, bob, evacuation plans, etc.) have been successful in the recent hurricanes? (Texas, Florida or PR) The California wildfires?
What are you changing in light of these?
Posted by: LesSnyder

Re: Real life: Would your planning have survived? - 11/05/17 10:51 PM

my evacuation plan did not change for Irma... I had planned to shelter in place through a CAT 3 and evacuate a short distance to a post Andrew code residence of a relative for a CAT4 or 5...luckily Irma was around the projected 90mph when it reached me here on the west coast of Florida.. had my plans been for an out of state evacuation, I was faced with a fiat accompli, as by the time the track changed to west coast landfall the evacuation north/south routes available to me (mainly I75)were jammed, and fuel not available....we are limited in the direction of evacuation routes...

I have two gasoline powered generators... a Honda 3500w unit and a smaller 2200w Chinese inverter generator... I did not have either for the long 9 day outage in 2004... they are definitely my plan for the future...water was not interrupted, and power on in about 3 days... no problem with food or LED lighting... food was cooked on a single burner propane stove with a water bath used to heat soup in its own container to help with cleanup, and cook hot dogs for lunch...

my 12v deep cycle battery let me down... it had been on a float charger, and when I placed it on a regular charger, it indicated a short, so I was not able to use my portable TV... I ran the inverter generator to power the internet, TV, and ceiling fan for about 3 hours nightly... luckily the first powerless day was overcast, light rain, and cool....
Posted by: hikermor

Re: Real life: Would your planning have survived? - 11/05/17 11:19 PM

I have two likely situations - wildfire or earthquake. I plan to leave in case of a wildfire, carrying only essentials (the house and contents are insured). We won't have to go very far-it is less than a mile to the Pacific Ocean.
With an EQ, I will probably elect to shelter in place, camping in the back yard if the house is uninhabitable. I have a lifetime accumulation of outdoor gear to support this strategy. Biggest issue could be a postEQ conflagration with no hydrant water. In that case, see plan A. Basically we are set to either stay or go, depending upon what occurs.
Posted by: haertig

Re: Real life: Would your planning have survived? - 11/05/17 11:24 PM

As far as hurricanes, yes my plan of "get out early, before it hits, and before the traffic jams immediately prior to it" would have worked. Not that I really expect to have to implement that hurricane plan here in Colorado.

For a wildfire, ... I have no plans. I don't live in a forest or in the middle of sweeping grass planes. Chances of a large scale wildfire requiring evacuation where I live are about zero.

Large scale disasters are not something I really have to worry about at my location. Hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, earthquakes, hazardous material rail shipments ... we just don't really have those things here. Wildfires in general, yes we have those in Colorado, but not at my location. I suppose someone could send a nuke our way intending to wipe out NORAD (which probably wouldn't work anyway since it's buried in a mountain), and in that case I'd be toast.
Posted by: CJK

Re: Real life: Would your planning have survived? - 11/06/17 01:12 AM

TeacherRO... did you see my Hurricane Irma-Aftermath. Discusses my changes.