What if......

[LovingKayla]

It seems only logical that everyone has fire and flood drills ready.

Just for the sake of a discussion, what would you do if say a horrible storm were to wipe out most of Texas. Over night we lose access to electricity and gas and food. I used to keep two air tight containers of food matches etc in the basement and attic. Katrina changed me.

For you that live in the city, what's your personal first move? No one ever talks about what they would actually do. Do u remember how many folks died in Katrina waiting on the government?

[joe bloe]

I'm pretty much unprepared. I just read in the Houston Press, a couple of weeks ago, that the two giant reservoirs that protect Houston from flooding (Addicks and Barkers) are dangerous and could fail if we get extremely heavy rains. They were built back in the 40's and were rated as sufficient for one thousand year rains; now they're are rated as sufficient for 25 year rains. The Army Corps of Engineers rates the two damns in the top ten list of most likely to fail. If these damns fail, the flooding in Houston will make Katrina seem like nothing.

http://www.houstonpress.com/2012-07-...s-barker-dams/

[CJ7]

I'd pretty much be screwed in the event of an entire statewide disaster

however, I dont mind living far enough away from H town to miss a couple antique of dams sealing my fate.

[TheAntichrist666]

I keep some Mres in my garage just in case the Shtf.

[instfixer]

Well during the great Houston evacuation...

One has to decide if they are a 'goat' or a 'sheep'

Went on a 'unapproved' road [Hy 59 south to Corpus Christi]
Made it in the normal amount of time this is thinking like a 'goat'

Or are you going to listen to politicians then only take the approved routes where you get to sit in traffic until your gas runs out?? this is thinking like a 'sheep'

[LovingKayla]

Scouting ahead of time would be the key. I agree fixer. Avoid all roads the masses will take.

Then there's always.... Who eats? Folks w the food or the guns. I personally prefer to have both. It would be really scary n the city during something like that.

You city guys thought about food insurance . Com?

Better than MRE's by far. Worth it to have some backup. What if you lost your job?

Lighters are also a forgotten biggie.

Rope. A good knife. Solar blankets. Flashlights and batteries. Water. Water. Water. 3 drops of bleach per gallon will keep it fresh.

I'm very open to more ideas. It's time I repacked the emergency boxes.

[pyramider]

How would we hobby without phones, internet, email, ATMs .... Oh the horrors!!!

[I B Hankering]

Originally Posted by LovingKayla

Scouting ahead of time would be the key. I agree fixer. Avoid all roads the masses will take.

Then there's always.... Who eats? Folks w the food or the guns. I personally prefer to have both. It would be really scary n the city during something like that.

You city guys thought about food insurance . Com?

Better than MRE's by far. Worth it to have some backup. What if you lost your job?

Lighters are also a forgotten biggie.

Rope. A good knife. Solar blankets. Flashlights and batteries. Water. Water. Water. 3 drops of bleach per gallon will keep it fresh.

I'm very open to more ideas. It's time I repacked the emergency boxes.

Kitchen matches in zip-lock bags in addition to lighters (I have flint and steel also). Steel wool, charred flannel and Fritos corn chips make good fire starters. A generator. A machete (w/file), a camp stove (w/fuel) and a lantern (gas and/or electric). A lantern is easier to do work with than a flashlight. And . . .


Emergency Crank Radio with Weather Channels

[CuteOldGuy]

I can't remember the title of the Twilight Zone episode, but there was one where there was a nuclear attack being launched against us. The one guy in town who had a shelter and stockpiled food all of the sudden became the most popular guy in town. If I remember right, people were practically killing each other, and wanted to kill him to get to his stuff.

I guess my point is that it is possible to be over prepared.

[Submodo]

Originally Posted by LovingKayla

For you that live in the city, what's your personal first move? No one ever talks about what they would actually do. Do u remember how many folks died in Katrina waiting on the government?

If you live in a city, do you think any first move is anything but futile?

Houston is what, 4 million? Buy all the guns you want, you and your family going to defend your home against thousands.

If your in the city when SHTF, just pick your way to die. Fast, or slow.

[CuteOldGuy]

Why are we having this discussion? FEMA will protect us.

[JD Barleycorn]

The people is New Orleans just waited for someone else to do what they needed to do. That is their fault. They were stupid and unmotivated. I still laugh when I see the fat woman standing in the rain with an umbrella saying that there was no water to drink. She was standing in the rain???
They were told to get out by Bush and Nagan but they waited for a limo to drive them to...somewhere else. Then the governor played with their lives when she played politics.

What if Texas were destroyed? Well there goes the unemployment rate and the loss of taxes would be immense to Obama's government. I suppose that Mexico would invade to take back the Alamo (you know a relief effort). We could send the unemployed to Texas to fight.

Now if it happened up here in Kansas (a cluster of tornadoes); I have a bug out bag with food and supplies next to the door. I have a box of goods in my mini-van that will last about two weeks. I am well armed and have a couple of pre-selected places to go. I understand some people are really prepared that live in the country side which is a goal of mine.

[Sidewinder]

We lived out that scenario last year in North Alabama. Some places got wiped. The whole north end of the state lost electrical power. It took about a day for the stores to make arrangements for portable power, ice, and food that didn't require refrigeration. Telephone service failed after about a day.

We didn't actually get any of the weather in Huntspatch, so it was just a MAJOR nuisance. I learned I could sleep without the CPAP, but it wasn't good sleep.

I was not nearly as prepared as I should have been, but it wasn't a catastrophe. One of the things on my list of things I need to do is assemble a solar array and some batteries, so I will have power to run the nebulizer and my ham station. (At one point, a day or two into it, Sprint came to life for a little while, long enough for me to phone relatives and tell them I was OK.)

I really need to buy a battery-powered AM/FM radio, ideally with rechargeable batteries that can be charged off of the solar panel.

Funniest thing I saw was what looked like a family with about twenty (it seemed like) various devices all charging at the local Wal-Mart, once Wal-Mart had gotten portable power in. Wal-Mart had a big sign up saying that charging stuff was perfectly OK with them.

[billw1032]

I think it depends on the scenario: natural disaster (hurricane, widespread rain/tornados, earthquake) or manmade (terrorist nuclear attack). It's easier to prepare if you have an idea what you are preparing for. Generally hurricanes cause the most widespread severe damage, but it's hard to imagine that being much of a factor here. Earthquakes maybe next and possible here, but again seem unlikely. Massive terrorist attack seems the most scary, or perhaps widespread civil unrest.

What to do depends on whether you have property and possessions here to protect or everything is wiped out. While living in Houston I survived hurricane Alecia, and although the eye of the storm passed a couple of miles from my house it didn't have much impact on me. Lost power for about 4 hours was all, but I had friends camping in each others apartments for days because they had no power. A few years ago, after moving to DFW, I was in Houston when an evacuation happened. Tried to leave early, stay off the most crowded highways, but it was still a nightmare.

I think a terrorist attack is the scariest possibility. But, if you don't have to stay and protect property, and short of nation-wide civil unrest, it's hard for me to imagine a scenario where a full tank of gas, a checkbook, and a credit card wouldn't get you to somewhere safe. Back in my younger days, when the Russian nuclear threat loomed large and Civil Defense was a big deal, they used to advise everyone to keep their car gas tank at least half full at all times. I never do that, but it may be worth thinking about.