Lessons learned from Ike

[agbullet2k1]

I just wanted to see if everyone who had to evacuate had a plan in place prior to the event, and also if all went according to plan. Figured we may be able to help each other out in refining our methods if (God forbid) any of us should be put in the same situation again.

I've only had to evacuate twice, with Rita and Ike, and I found my plan for Rita worked very well then, but was very ill-suited for Ike. A lot of things changed in 3 years, including getting married, and therefore I had more things to consider when packing. So here's what went wrong this time, and how I plan on fixing it for the future.

1) I now have 2 cars. We both agreed that we didn't want to seperate, so we had to choose which car we left behind. We decided to take the SUV for cargo and to leave the Civic. Upon returning, we learned that the water level got within a few inches of possibly totalling the Civic. It never even occured to me that there was an insured 3 level parking garage within a couple hundered feet of our place, with weekly rates. Next time I'll be parking it there.

2) Last year I stocked our emergency food bins with a gourmet selection of canned beans, beef jerky, peanuts, peanut butter crackers, canned fruit, granola bars, and canned tuna. I estimated that we each had enough to eat comfortably for 2 weeks. I forgot to pack a can opener. Luckily, the Walmart close by our temporary hotel residence seemed to have plenty of those lying around.

3) During Rita, I lived in a place with a gas stove, and I never lost the ability to heat stuff up. Now we have electric, and boil water alerts are great assuming you have electricity to boil with. I never thought of getting a camp stove beforehand, so trip #2 to Walmart landed me the last camp stove in the town we were staying in.

4) During Rita, I went to Memphis to stay with family, so I didn't have to think twice about bringing my guns along. My dad just made room in the safe and that was that. Well, this time we decided to do the hotel thing, since a 22 hour round trip didn't sound appealing. The in-laws said they would get some rooms starting Thursday night. Well, no one thought to tell me until we got there that Thursday night didn't work out, and that we couldn't get the room until Friday, and therefore needed to stay with my brother-in-law in Fort Hood that night. Now, I don't know how many of you have thought about taking any sort of weapons on a military base, but I'd suggest against it. It became the biggest debacle of the whole trip trying to figure out where to store them. The in-laws aren't a very big gun family, so they weren't too cooperative trying to help me. Finally, my brother-in-law's wife (from a hunting family) found out about the story and took me to her friend's house off base where there was a gun safe. It's really nerve-racking having to leave 3 generations worth of rifles and shotguns, plus a few pricey handguns in the safekeeping of a total stranger, but I didn't have much choice. Sure enough, when registering at the base's Visitor's center, I got flagged by DPS for having a CHL, and got "randomly" searched at the gate. The dog must have smelled the gunpowder, because they looked through everything. Next time, I am not going to trust anyone to make living arrangements except myself. I am also going to make sure that wherever I stay has safe deposit boxes or a vault.

5) I never really ran short on gas, but I was nervous for a few days that gas would be hard to get once we got back. I don't have gas cans, because I can't store them in the cabin of the SUV. Next month, I'm getting a hitch installed and a cargo rack to throw a few 5 gallon cans on.

6) We never thought to clean out our fridge before leaving. It would have been nice not to smell rotten milk, eggs, lunch meat, and cheese when coming home.

7) I know everyone says pack your medicine in your hurricane kit, but medicine isn't exactly something you can just store away in a closet with the rest of your food, clothing, etc. If you need to take medicine with you, odds are you need them before you leave, too. It was really a hassle rounding up what we thought we needed at the last minute, because we used the stuff up until the point of leaving, and therefore it wan't packed and ready to go.

Actually, looking at this, it seems like I only thought I was prepared. So does anyone else have any lessons learned from evacuating this time?

[bdickens]

Important to remember one of Murphy's Laws of Combat: No plan survives initial contact with the enemy.

I have also learned that even though unfolding events will always destroy your plan, it is much easier to modify your plan on the fly if you have one in the first place. It's people who have no plan that usually end up the worst off. (I'll sit here and wait for someone to rescue me is not a plan!) People who have some sort of plan, even if not perfectly thought out and executed, usually fare far better.


I'm reminded of a joke:

After heavy rains, the flood waters along the river were rising fast. Old Joe said to himself, "I'm not worried, God will save me from this calamity." And he began to pray for help from God.

As the flood waters rose, a police car drove by. The officer shouted out to old Joe, "Get in the car so I can drive you to safety!"

Old Joe just said "I'm not worried, God will save me from this calamity." And he continued to pray for help from God.

The flood waters continued to rise until they were about four feet deep. Just then someone in a boat rowed by and called out, "hurry, climb in the boat and I'll row us to safety!"

Old Joe just said "I'm not worried, God will save me from this calamity." And he continued to pray for help from God.

The water continued to rise, forcing old Joe to get on the roof of his house. As luck would have it, a rescue helicopter flew overhead right then and the pilot saw old Joe desperately clinging to the roof. He hovered over old Joe's house and one of the rescue workers threw down a rope ladder and called out. "grab onto the ladder and we'll fly you to safety!"

Again, Old Joe just said "I'm not worried, God will save me from this calamity." And he continued to pray for help from God.

Well, the flood waters continued to rise and swept old Joe off the roof and he drowned. He died and went to Heaven. Once there, he approached God. "God, how could you let me die like that? I've been a good Christian all my life!" By now, old Joe was furious. He continued on, "I prayed and prayed for you to save me, but you never did! Why? I had so much faith and this is how you reward me?"

God replied softly, albeit wearily, "Who do you think sent you the police car, the boat and the helicopter?"

[barres]

I do not live particularly close to the coast. A little over 100 miles from Galveston, in fact. Still, Ike was a Cat 1 still when his eye passed over my house. The greatest lesson I learned from Ike: I have some wonderful friends.

Most of our friends got power back on before we did, and they all offered to let us come take hot showers, eat hot meals, and/or sleep in air conditioning. God has blessed us with some wonderful friends. For that and His protection during the storm, we are eternally thankful!

[FlynJay]

Also; when you clean out your fridge, unplug it and leave the door open. This will keep it from getting mold growth inside during extended periods without power.

[aardwolf]

Check the flood zone maps before moving.

[old farmer]

Check the flood zone maps before moving.

Morn'
The information in flood zone maps and hurrcane size... oh, yes ...it is goverment information...my goverment is never wrong..
Ike was cat 1 about 200 miles in land.

[Excaliber]

Important to remember one of Murphy's Laws of Combat: No plan survives initial contact with the enemy.

I have also learned that even though unfolding events will always destroy your plan, it is much easier to modify your plan on the fly if you have one in the first place. It's people who have no plan that usually end up the worst off. (I'll sit here and wait for someone to rescue me is not a plan!) People who have some sort of plan, even if not perfectly thought out and executed, usually fare far better.

Thinking that you'll be able to come up with a plan in time when a situation develops is a huge mistake. Under the pressure of time and breaking events, this never comes close to what you can do if you plan ahead, even though that plan will have to be adjusted some during an actual situation.

[FlynJay]

Check the flood zone maps before moving.

Morn'
The information in flood zone maps and hurrcane size... oh, yes ...it is goverment information...my goverment is never wrong..
Ike was cat 1 about 200 miles in land.

Hurricane force winds rarely cause death and destruction (Cat 4 & 5 excluded). Most of the damage caused by the less powerfull storms are caused by storm surge and flooding. Therefore the only people that really need to evacuate are those that are in areas that are susceptable to storm surge, areas that typically flood during moderate rains, and weaker structures (moble homes, manufactured homes, etc.)

You may lose power but your house and property survives.

[Jeremae]

No matter how responsible he acts, never give your gun to a monkey.


Shameless Stolen from a Demotivational poster I first saw on the Gun Counter Forum during the week after Ike

[bdickens]

No matter how responsible he acts, never give your gun to a monkey.

Yikes! How did you find that out?

Never mind. I don't think I really want to know/1

[seamusTX]

Don't keep ammo near ground level.

I've always kept range ammo in the garage -- on the floor, on a low shelf, or in the trunk of my car. I got about two hundred rounds inundated that way. I rinsed it with fresh water within hours of the flood water receding, but it was already corroding.

It will be interesting to see how it performs. Obviously I will use it only for plinking. On a positive note, I may get some failure practice, which I have never been enthusiastic about.

It would have been a few hours' work to build some more elevated shelves. I built some shortly after we built the garage, but they quickly filled with junk that we just couldn't live without.

BTW, we now have electricity, Comcast cable TV, and Internet here in our corner of Galveston Island (mid-town). The city water still isn't drinkable, the telephone land lines went out today, after working for about a week, and we won't have gas for the foreseeable future (probably about a month).

- Jim

[barres]

God be with you, Jim, and the rest of you hit hard by Ike!

[bryang]

It is so good to hear from you, Jim. I thought about you many time during the storm and was praying for you and everyone else that had to go through this disaster. God Bless you each and every one and may the Lord be with you, and give you the strength to make it through to the end of this mess.

-geo

[seamusTX]

Thanks. The prayers were answered. We're on the mend, but it's going to be a lengthy process.

- Jim

[dlcrouch]

we hunkered down in Pasadena - a little roof damage,4 days w/o power, but nothing we can't handle. A couple of things we didn't have
1) Roof patching materials - 3 or tarps, plastic cap nails, roll of roofing felt, 1 x 4's
2) More gas. I was lucky enough to find a generator at the last moment, but waiting in line for 4 or more hours is a pain. By Weds, the gas line weren't too bad, so next time, i'll try to have 4 days worth.
3) Rabbit ears - we got the generator going, but didn't have any rabbit ears. I'm sure i dumped 3 or 4 pairs in the last year or so. Fortunately, a neighor loaned us a set.
4) Small window unit - my mother-in-law (who stayed with us) had one at her house. Made a real difference in getting a good night's sleep. Don't forget to top off the generator before you go to bed.
5) Yellow pages - i threw all ours away because we got the Internet; which went out with the power on Friday night.

One thing we were blessed with - good neighbors. Everyone pitched in on cleaning up storm debris, patching roofs and just checking on each other.

Oh - one more thing. Those metal storm clips you use for boarding up windows are great!!!!