Tips on how to prepare for a hurricane:

[Miss Marty]

Know the difference between a
hurricane watch and a hurricane warning.

A watch means hurricane conditions are a threat within 48 hours,
while a warning means they are expected in 36 hours.

Create a disaster emergency kit with a first aid kit, food, water, flashlights, a battery powered radio, medications, a multi-purpose tool, cell phones and chargers, extra cash, baby and pet supplies, extra clothing and sturdy shoes, sanitation items, extra set of car and house keys, family and emergency contact information, copies of personal documents, and tools to secure your home.

Talk with family members and make an evacuation plan.

Turn the refrigerator and freezer to the coldest setting so that food will last longer if the power goes out. Turn off propane tanks and unplug small appliances.

Learn about your community's hurricane response plan and plan routes to local shelters.

 

[Miss Marty]

Tips on what to do after a hurricane:

Drive only if necessary and avoid flooded roads
Keep away from loose or dangling power lines and report them to a power company.

Inspect your home for damage and take pictures of the damage for insurance purposes.
Use flashlights instead of candles in the dark.

Avoid drinking water or preparing food with tap water until you're sure it's not contaminated. If in doubt about whether food is spoiled, throw it away.

Be careful when cleaning up damage to avoid injury
Watch animals closely.

Source: The American Red Cross

 

[MommaBear]

I got the essentials- water, batteries, generator, lanterns, beer, wine, chocolate and ice cream. The ice cream will be sacrificed first in any power outage. I think actually I should eat it tonight to avoid any potential hazards.

Seriously, I hope everyone is safe, knows that their loved ones are safe and that there is a minimal amount of damage done.

I want to stress that peopel should carry at least two weeks of medication with them, as if computers are down it will be hard to verify prescriptions.

 

[loafingcactus]

Bring in porch furniture and yard decorations so they don't take out your neighbor's windows (why dont they ever take out the windows of the person who left the junk out?).

Do all the dishes and laundry while life is easy. Buy lots of a cake and a little booze. Top off the gas tank in the car and the propane tank.

And, seriously, one thing I did learn from actually being in two natural disasters, have a stash of small bills. After a real disaster, credit cards don't work and no one has change.

 

[pedro47]

Shop early for bread, ice, snacks and canned goods

 

[carl2591]

all good advise.

also remove screens from windows.. it make looking out easier and keeps them from getting torn off during high winds.

last but not least... LEAVE TOWN.. head to vegas.. hard for hurricanes to get there.. :whoopie:

 

[pgnewarkboy]

Evacuate if ordered. You cannot save your home and belongings. You can save your life.

 

[Ken555]

My advice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAp9sFVdERQ

 

[ricoba]

Carl, you are right, there are very few natural diasters here in Vegas. No earthqaukes, no hurricaine, no tornado etc. Just the flash floods that occur in the Monsoon season (Late July, August, early Sept.) Overall this is a pretty safe place to be to escape regular severe acts of nature. :whoopie:

Now, our other residence, Los Angeles metro...well that's whole different story!

 

[dougp26364]

Reality for Tornado watches and warning in the midwest.

Tornado Watch: Ignore it and go about your business. If it's not raining to hard, you can probably still get a round of golf in.

Tornado Warning: Step outside and see if you can get some decent video that might make the 10 O'clock news.

 

[ricoba]

Reality for Tornado watches and warning in the midwest.

Tornado Watch: Ignore it and go about your business. If it's not raining to hard, you can probably still get a round of golf in.

Tornado Warning: Step outside and see if you can get some decent video that might make the 10 O'clock news.

Hey, can I come to your house during tornado season and we can drive around and try and take video's of a tornado? It would be especially cool if you had a big modified armor plated SUV for us to use!

But seriously, I'd like to do one of those tornado tours sometime.

 

[geekette]

Hey, can I come to your house during tornado season and we can drive around and try and take video's of a tornado? It would be especially cool if you had a big modified armor plated SUV for us to use!

But seriously, I'd like to do one of those tornado tours sometime.

be sure to get trip insurance. It ain't gonna look like Kansas when the tour is done ...

 

[ScoopKona]

Evacuate if ordered. You cannot save your home and belongings. You can save your life.

That's great. But when I lived in the Keys, we were ordered to evacuate every other week, it seemed. And then once you leave, you're stuck away from home until they take the roadblocks down.

So I never evacuated. If they only ordered evacuations for Cat-3 or above, that would be one thing. But the NWS gives the order before they even know where the storm is going. They've ordered evacuations based on "it might strengthen to a hurricane."

And who can forget the "boomerang evacuations" where residents fled the Keys for Andrew, and ended up right in the middle of the worst of it? That happens more than they'd care to admit.