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

[stevie_d_64]

-Once a hurricane enters the Gulf of Mexico NOAA can only tell us that it will hit some where between Brownsville and Tampa
-Hurricane models shift north at night and revert south in the morning
-Living near a sewage treatment plant or pump station is a good thing...you get your power back first, if you lost it at all
-Corporate America is more concerned with keeping the store open as long as possible and could care less about your personal safety
-Your wife and mother-in-law will not top off their tanks unless specifically told to do so
-Hurrication- the act of making the most out of an evacuation. heck, if you've got nothing to return to you might as well live it up
-Save all your receipts
-MRE's aren't all that bad...stay away from the short bread cookies though.
-Evac more than just 100 miles
-FEMA allocated the cell-phone bandwidth...lesson learned from Rita (cell phone service didn't get bad unitl after 5pm Saturday). Text messages are the only way to communicate
-DishNetwork works in 80mph winds, Directv craps out at 30mph
-There is no such thing as too much bottled water
-If you take a cruise out of Galveston in the Summer months let a cab drop you off at the terminal and leave your car at home (all those people on that cruise lost their cars to the surge)

You are a very wise Sage...

[stevie_d_64]

Summary:

I think that those of us in the zone, weathered this one as best we could...This is about as bad as it could get...The loss of life is tragic, and some of it could have been reduced, but that was those peoples decision...

Anything more powerful than this, with a direct hit some of us took, would probably get a few more of us moving out, regardless of what "zone" you live in in these parts...I believe we now have a good network of folks here to check in with, and maybe even coordinate with in any future event...

We are really a great bunch of prepared and supportive people around here!!!

I'd "Hunker Down" with any of you...

[Rugrash]

Just a few things and I'm sorry if this is redundant.

* Have a specific tub/container with all hurricane supplies (I had everything I needed for the most part, but it was all scattered in different places...maybe buy a larger cooler and
store everything inside for next time)
* Buy more jerry cans (I now have 6) I never once had to wait in line for gas as we had 3 vehicles filled.
* Generators do make things easier when the power is out for multiple days (I was w/o power for 12 days. I borrowed one, plus 2 window A/C units. My new generator is supposed
to ship next week along with the transfer switch)
* Need to buy a wind-up lantern (My original Bay-Gen radio and flashlight were invaluable)
* Need to buy an Old Smokey type of BBQ pit.
* Need to get a case of MRE's (We had plenty of non-perishables, but MRE's might be easier if we were on the road. My parents had to survive on them in Galveston for
a week or so)
* Need to get ICE beforehand.
* Need to freeze some bottled water to double as cold packs.

Thanks to all the other posters for their suggestions.

-Rug