What did you learn from Ike? Share your Ike experience.

[Stupid]

1. must have a land line. Cell phones are useless during this period. Still remembered that i argued with my wife that we should go completely without land line in the new century of technology. Man, was I wrong!!! I was RIGHT to get a regular old style phone that does not need battery.
2. need a bigger UPS battery to charge cell phone and blackberry
3. need a radio that requires little battery power and last long time
4. need some multi-vitamin
5. Blackberry is handy to check information but need to be charged.
6. more water and batteries, never thought power outage could last more than a week.
7. having a gun is handy. It never occurred to me that calling 911 would be such a huge problem during/after hurricane. Having two, if you can.

[G.C.Montgomery]

1. must have a land line. Cell phones are useless during this period. Still remembered that i argued with my wife that we should go completely without land line in the new century of technology. Man, was I wrong!!! I was RIGHT to get a regular old style phone that does not need battery.
2. need a bigger UPS battery to charge cell phone and blackberry
3. need a radio that requires little battery power and last long time
4. need some multi-vitamin
5. Blackberry is handy to check information but need to be charged.
6. more water and batteries, never thought power outage could last more than a week.
7. having a gun is handy. It never occurred to me that calling 911 would be such a huge problem during/after hurricane. Having two, if you can.

The wife and I moved to Katy on the Saturday before Ike hit. Perfect timing and a blessing because I'd gotten my parents and her mom to come stay with us. We only lost power after the second set of storms rolled through on Sunday and that outage lasted only a few hours. It has long been known that plain old telephone systems are now among the last utilities to go in major storms. Because the line can and does provide current to the circuit, the old style, "wired" phones will continue to work so long as the hard line is not compromised. And there is the rub and lesson reaffirmed by Ike: In areas where phone and power lines are hung from a pole, it may not matter whether you've got an old school phone or not.

Other lessons include:
1) Learn to use the text messaging feature on your cell phone or PDA. This service usually continues to work even when large portions of a providers network are down or otherwise congested.
2) If practical, keep at least one, fully-charged, extra battery on hand for your cell phone or PDA. (iPhone users are out of luck on this one)
3) If you own a car, buy the automotive/travel charger for you cell phone/PDA as this will provide at least one additional charging option should you lose power in your home.
4) Crank radios are cheap and work without batteries.
5) If you have friends or family living within a mile or two of your location, two-way radios beat cell phones hands down!
6) I won't start next hurrican season with half-dozen jerry cans full of fuel, I'll have a full dozen to provide at least a week worth of fuel for both our trucks
7) A standby generator that runs on natural gas, if you can afford one, is preferred to portable models that run on gasoline.
8) Make sure the wife understands her shopping list should include only non-perishable items (beans, bullets and water) and enough of each to last at least three days
9) Need to keep rope and gags on hand for parents to keep them out of the way sometimes.
10) Still need to work on making myself expendable at the office and making the wife far more self-sufficient and less of a Democrat...It's hard to manage emergencies at the office when you are trying to deal with them at home too.

[Lodge2004]

Five days without power during Rita taught me some hard lessons (many were reminders of lessons I had forgotten). I've spent the last 3 years focused on not going through that again. Some of the items that worked are:

• A gas grill is a lifesaver, especially if you have a side burner for boiling water. Keeps the heat out of the house and provides an escape for dad to perform necessary chores in peace.
  
  Batteries are your friend. You can't have too many.
  
  Bottled water. Put a few cases in your freezer before the storm and, after they freeze, they may hold the temperature down for a few extra days. Once they melt you can add them to the stockpile for consumption.
  
  Everybody needs a flashlight. Give everybody their own cheap LED flashlight for bathroom runs at night. Place the larger ones strategically around the house so you always have one close by for emergencies.
  
  Hurricane lamps are great. I used one nightly for reading (always read before going to bed). Much more efficient than a flashlight although they do give off heat.
  
  A generator is a must in Houston. I went the first 8 days without one and then another 8 with. Never thought I'd go 16 days without power, but Centerpoint had other plans.
  
  Inventory and check your stuff occasionally. My 2-way radios did not work and my wife had been camping with friends and I was missing my wind up radio, several extension cords and a large circuit protection bar. Luckily my daughter had a battery powered radio and I had backups for the other items.

All in all it wasn't too bad. I'll be better prepared for the next one.

[flb_78]

I learned the Amarillo is a hurricane safe zone.

[boomerang]

1. I can comfortably go without AC power longer than I can comfortably go without running water.
2. SMS works when you can't make a voice call.
3. Flashlights are good. LED flashlights are very good.
4. Wet wipes and Purell are great when there's no running water.
5. Dining alfresco is a nice change of pace.
6. A home defense shotgun is a comfort in uncertain times.
7. I wished I was able to open carry my pistol that weekend.
8. Network TV is irrelevant. I'm not buying a digital TV.
9. Adversity brings out the worst in some people and the best in others.
10. It's nice to get more than 8 hours of sleep.

[MoJo]

1. The weather channel is entertainment not information. Trust your local weather guessers and NOAA.

2. A Generator is your friend buy one and keep it maintained.

3. Text messages get through when voice won"t.

4. Buy a cell phone charger that will recharge your phone from a AA battery. ($10-20)

5. Get a wireless broadband card for your laptop.

6. There are things that go bump in the night that aren't falling tree limbs and other debris. An ar15 and/or shotgun is a comfort.

7. The next time around won't be as difficult. (I am a Rita Veteran.)

[KD5NRH]

7. The next time around won't be as difficult. (I am a Rita Veteran.)

Hopefully not; there was nothing worth watching on TV, and the rain we got was just enough to make the car need washing.

[KBCraig]

1. must have a land line. Cell phones are useless during this period.

So are land lines, when there are no lines.

[Stupid]

I put a whole bunch of hurricane stuff in a box after Rita - knife, tape, plastic bags, G+A, flashlight and a whole bunch of batteries. This time, I just pulled it out and I was ready to go. So I thought. My wife reminded me of "gas grill" and propane cans, which came really handy. Even during the hot weather, still nice to have warm food. I am going to put some more stuff in the box.

Apple last much longer than peach. :-)

My standard emergency food is 1.5 can of salmon mixed with olive oil and an apple.

[sbb]

1. Gasoline to power the generator costs $250.00 per week
2. I get a chill when the temperature falls below 80 at night
3. The smoker and grill are quite sufficient for 3 meals a day.
4. A day's limit of dove feeds two quite well.
5. Fresh vegatables are worth their weight in gold
6. The labs are better at home protection than I thought
7. Centerpoint should have trimmed the trees two years ago
8. I really can survive 14 days without my spouse ( it was not enjoyable)
9. I don't want to see a catagory 5 storm.

[quidni]

10. Gallon zip-lock baggies are your friend. Seal a day's worth of clean underwear in a ziplock; pants/blouse in another. Remove as much air as possible from the bag. You can pack several days' worth of clean clothing in a small space this way, and just pull out a bag instead of having to rummage through your rucksack to find everything. Plus, it stays dry and clean until needed even if the ruck gets damp.
9. Yes, I can live out of a ruck for a few days (see #10). Things that aren't needed as often go into the duffel and are left in the truck.
8. Top the tank every chance you get, even if you've only used a couple gallons since the last time. (I put over 3K miles on my little pickup since Labor Day. She turned over 200k halfway between San Angelo and Camp Bowie.)
7. If you don't have good cell phone coverage, you're not likely to have good air-card coverage for the laptop. Take the cell phone and the laptop anyway.
6. If I'm tired enough, yes I can sleep anywhere.
5. A camper shell beats two tarps and a cargo net every time when it comes to keeping gear dry in a wet weather deployment.
4. Take every chance you can to call family, even if you have to leave a message. The last thing they need on top of the stress of the disaster is not knowing how you're doing.
3. Yes, my husband can get along without me for 2-3 weeks. He can even get groceries if he needs to, and yes, he'll remember to let the dog back in when he lets her out.
2. It's good to have prescriptions through a nationwide chain like Walgreens.... you can get a refill almost anywhere in an emergency.

And the most important thing I learned from Gustav/Ike:

1. NO, WE ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT MOVING ANYWHERE CLOSER TO THE GULF COAST.

[jamey]

1. Almost any normal generator can be easily converted to run on natural gas or propane while keeping the ability to use gasoline. I converted mine 3 years ago after Rita, and after Ike I was able to keep my generator going for 2 weeks straight (except for stopping it daily to check the oil, change it at the appropriate intervals, and leave it off at night when the temperature was cool enough). You'll need a little do-it-yourself ability for the conversion and the natural gas hookup, but it sure as heck beats worrying about your gasoline supply, especially with the shortages and long lines we had after the storm. Plus at the current prices for gasoline and natural gas, it's cheaper to run it on natural gas. See http://www.propane-generators.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or http://propanecarbs.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for more details.

2. A small 5000 BTU window unit AC is cheap and makes a huge difference when the family can all sleep in one cool dry bedroom at night when the temperature and humidity are high. I bought one the day before the storm on a whim and it worked out great.

3. Many of your neighbors might not have generators. A couple extra long extension cords can be a big help to them by letting them keep their refrigerators/freezers running a few hours a day on your generator. You can keep a few houses worth of fridges running by cycling the extension cords around on a schedule. You will create a lot of good will and get to know your neighbors better, plus you never know when you'll need their help or services.

4. As mentioned before me, text messaging is great when the networks are having trouble. Texting worked 99% of the time, while voice coverage worked less than 50%. My personal experience and those of my family/friends showed that Verizon had better coverage after the storm than T-Mobile, Cricket, or Sprint/Nextel in the Houston area.

5. Natural gas clothes dryers will work on most generators, while electric dryers are too much demand for typical 5000-8000W home generators. Keep that in mind if you're shopping for new washer/dryers.

6. Water pressure can be almost non-existent when power is off for extended periods. A bathtub full of water is the normally-suggested means for keeping water on hand for flushing toilets, but if your bathtub drain won't hold the water like mine, then a couple trash cans outside filled with water before the storm and a bucket work well.

7. Power outages take out cable TV/internet immediately. Satellite works as soon as your generator is running. DSL woks as long as land phone lines are working, which is a higher probability than electricity or cable. I'm considering switching to Dish/DSL because everyone I know had theirs working while my cable was dead.

8. If you have your internet working because of your generator, consider temporarily changing your wireless router (if you have one) into an open network to share with your neighbors. It's an amazing feeling to be able to connect with the world again when you've been without internet for a while. Helping your neighbors connect will be greatly appreciated -- I know because it was a great feeling when I was able to get in touch with my family and see some of the local news coverage when my neighbor opened up his DSL wireless router.

9. Call people that you know who were affected by the storm to make sure that everything is okay. Small things like that can make a difference in people's crazy day-to-day lives after the storm, and people really appreciate and remember who called/emailed to check on them.

10. If you are in a mandatory evacuation area on the coast, get out. Do not think that you can outsmart the experts and ride it out. See this story about 2 people on Bolivar that survived, but ask yourself if you want to try to beat the odds like they did. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6027456.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[retrieverman]

1. must have a land line. Cell phones are useless during this period.

So are land lines, when there are no lines.

That is the truth! My land line is STILL down, but my cell worked through the entire storm (just not as good of a signal).

[Stupid]

yeah, couple of days without Internet, people get reallllly edgy. *laugh

[rm9792]

1. must have a land line. Cell phones are useless during this period.

So are land lines, when there are no lines.

Really should have both. Most people dont realize a cell tower just takes the signal to the same office as a land line. We put generators on a lot of towers to keep them up so cells were working where land lines were down. We even took portable cell towers to Galveston. Heck, there werent even poles there!