Tag: Emergency preparedness

ECONOGAL > Emergency preparedness

Updating The GO Bags

Posted on by Econogal

Emergency Preparedness

Watching the coverage of Hurricane Helene prompted me to pull the GO Bags out of the front closet to check for needed updates. Quite a few were needed. To be honest, it has probably been close to two years (or even more) since I last checked these important evacuation items. So, this morning’s chores included a shopping trip to replace a few key items in the bags.

Essentials for GO Bags

Clothes, medical items, food, rescue equipment and toiletries make up the bulk of what goes into the GO Bags. Additional items might fall under entertainment. These may end up being very important if you have children in your family.

It is important not to overload the backpacks. One might need to carry the load for a distance. A key item not on the list is water. I keep that in a separate rolling bag.

Clothes

Clothes for the GO Bag include gloves socks T-shirt and sweat shirt
Clothes

I have the following packed in my bag:

  • 2 pairs of underwear
  • 2 pairs of socks
  • 1 short sleeve T-Shirt
  • 1 pair of leggings
  • 1 hooded synthetic sweatshirt
  • Rain Jacket
  • 2 pairs of gloves; one cotton, one wool
  • 1 pair of ankle supports
  • 1 LL Bean beanie with head lamps

The lights in the beanie still work, unlike the small flashlight with similar LED technology.

Medical Items

Both prescription and non-prescription medicines are in the bag. I only have a week’s worth of the two medicines I take daily. Additionally, the following over-the-counter items are included:

Align Probiotic             Thera Tears     Tylenol              Benadryl Cream         Airborne

Neosporin       Aquaphor Lip Repair               Ricola Cough Drops

 

Food for the GO Bags

This is a bit tricky. Perishable goods are not great in storage, so rotation is important. I limit myself to what fits in a one-gallon plastic bag. And I include plastic utensils. Currently, the following items are available:

  • Variety of powdered drink mixes
  • Clif Bars
  • Beef Jerky
  • Trail Mix
  • Nut Butters and Jelly
  • Individual packets of instant oatmeal and hot cocoa

Rescue Equipment

My favorite piece of rescue equipment is the Four Function Whistle by Coghlan’s. Click here for their website. The four functions are a whistle, a compass, a thermometer and a magnifier. I also include:

  • Matches
  • Mirror
  • Handwarmers by Grabber
  • Dryer Lint

Since there is room left in the quart sized bag, I also store mosquito wipes and sunscreen here. The lint is stored inside a recycled medicine bottle.

Toiletries and Personal Care Items

Within the GO Bags, another one-gallon storage bag is chock full of hand selected items to make life a little better if I must evacuate. A combination of wants and needs as follows:

Wash Cloth     Bandana          Toothbrush and toothpaste      Floss   Feminine Products              Comb

Toilet Paper     Band Aids and Tape   Kleenex   Cotton swabs Nail file             Head Band

Cotton Rounds           Hand Sanitizer              Shampoo        Deodorant

Organization of GO Bags

I use quart and gallon sized bags, clearly labeled for everything except the clothes. A drawstring bag holds the clothes in a tight bundle. Then the bundle and most of the other containers go inside a waterproof zipped storage bag. This zipped bag was recycled from some purchase long ago. The Food Storage bag is kept separate.

Since space is still available in the side pockets, other items such as spare reading glasses, a map, a sheet of paper with contact phone numbers, extra shoelaces and a belt are added. The last two items are a small hand sewing kit with buttons and a small fabric bag with cash in mixed denominations. Just beware of the overall weight. Mine weighs about twelve pounds. This falls into the guidelines of staying between ten and twenty percent of my body weight.

Hopefully, I will never need to use a Go Bag. But if a natural disaster heads my way…I am ready to go.

 

Blowin’ in the Wind

Posted on by Econogal

Spring Weather

This time of year, everything is blowin’ in the wind. Dirt and pollen and pollen and dirt. And that’s just the normal wind. Unfortunately, spring weather also brings in tornadic activity. So, now is time to review some emergency preparedness. Here on the high plains one of the greatest dangers is blowing dirt. Farmers, just like other occupations range in abilities. Fortunately, good stewards of the land incorporate practices to keep fields from blowin’ in the wind. For example, farmers can leave stubble and plant cover crops.

No Till Farming

Long ago, leaving stubble in the field was considered lazy. Now the technique is known as no till and actually has many benefits. Edward H. Faulkner posited the theory in his work Plowman’s Folly released in 1943. Thus, the text is a reaction to the Dust Bowl Days of the 1930s. Tillage is thought to be a main contributor to loss of topsoil. And loss of topsoil means dirt flying through the air.

Blowing dirt is extremely dangerous for those travelling through farm country in the spring. Even Interstate and divided highways can be shut down from loss of visibility due to flying dirt. But most dangerous are the two-lane highways used as alternates. Unfortunately, fatal crashes occur.

Blowin’ in the Wind

Gale force winds not only blow dirt, but also bring down tree branches and entire trees. In turn, the trees can bring down power lines or block roadways. Unfortunately, a repercussion of downed power lines is the potential to spark a wildfire.

Now as a precaution, high winds in areas with trees and above ground power lines translates into electric companies turning off power for hours at a time. When these hours stretch into a day or more, businesses and homeowners suffer consequences. About the only thing you can do about power loss is to have a back-up generator.

Tornadic Activity

In my opinion the worst part of the spring season is the tornadoes that epitomize blowin’ in the wind. Entire towns can disappear if the cyclone is wide enough and strong enough. The destruction is incredible. Survivors can be haunted the rest of their lives.

Emergency preparedness measures for tornadoes can be accessed from the FEMA website by clicking here. Keys to preparedness include weather radios, safe rooms, basements and common sense. The funnel cloud I videoed was almost five miles distant and moving away. Any closer and I would not have captured it. If the radio says seek shelter, do it now.

In our county last year, a farm family received a reverse 911 call telling them they were in the bull’s eye of a tornado. They retreated to the basement. After the storm everything was gone. Don’t fool with Mother Nature, seek shelter when you are in the direct path of one of these storms. So, sign up for reverse 911 calls. Even cell phones can receive these messages.

Prepare for More Blowin’ in the Wind

Severe storms go hand in hand with the season. Fortunately, my corner of the world has not revisited the straight line 100 M.P.H. winds from a few years ago…at least so far this year. I am prepared for power outages and debris clean-up from wind damage, are you?

The Prepared Home Book Review

Posted on by Econogal

Relatable Author

The Prepared Home by Melissa George is a good resource for getting a home and family ready to face any natural disaster. George is not a doomsday survival type. Instead, she runs a common sense, ready for anything household. This book came out in 2021, partly as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

I found George very relatable. Perhaps because we ran out of the same item during the 2020 lockdown-trash bags. Another reason is her desire to keep an organized home. (I am a work in progress.) Most of all, I liked her positive and pragmatic attitude. Far from being anti-government, much of her work stems from FEMA guidelines for emergency preparedness.

Prepared Home Strategies

The Prepared Home Book Cover showing storage.In a prepared home, organization rises to the forefront in a common sense fashion. George recommends keeping a binder. Many things go into that binder. Emergency contact numbers, non-disclosing financial information (name of bank-but not account number), “restaurant menus” for home cooking and an evacuation plan-only if necessary- are a few sections suggested.

But most importantly, the author provides thorough information on FEMA’s recommended 72-hour emergency guidelines. Then she goes beyond. Because disasters such as hurricanes, floods and fires may carry the emergency longer.

Ten chapters encompass the strategies to meet an emergency head on. They include a much needed chapter on evaluating your own risk. And then planning accordingly. For example, I live thousands of miles away from either coast. So, I will not experience a hurricane. However, as discussed in recent posts, hurricane strength winds can sweep across the High Plains.

So, my planning needs to revolve around high winds, blizzards and wildfires. And an occasional tornado as we live just west of tornado alley. The Prepared Home helps one evaluate their risk from Mother Nature.

Food, Water and Power

Key chapters involve food and water storage and back-up power. Again, George addresses all three from a preparedness stand. Not hoarding. She specifically talks about how a prepared home keeps one from the tendency to empty the aisles as seen on news channels prior to any major weather event.

Water storage is also important. And to me, the most difficult aspect. We can go months without rain in my locale, so rain barrels would not do me much good. But many of her other suggestions were viable.

Finally, The Prepared Home offers quite a few suggestions on how to mitigate power loss. Again the author breaks the suggestions into short versus long term needs. Power loss can transition into loss of connectivity. So, George covers this possibility as well.

When all else Fails-Evacuate

The author makes a case for staying put in a prepared home as the best possible scenario. But we have all seen the natural disasters of the past few years forcing thousands out of their homes. And George addresses this type of situation. Prior planning provides positive outcomes. She stresses life over loss of belongings. Something we all should remember.

The Prepared Home- A Beautiful Approach

Pictures throughout the book demonstrate preparedness is not hoarding. George suggests and shows stylish storage containers. A key is to get rid of clutter and only keep necessities. And of course staying on top of everyday chores. For example, if the power goes out and laundry hasn’t been done in ten days, there will be trouble.

Same with the kitchen sink. As suggested in the review of Cleaning Sucks, an empty sink is an everyday step toward organization and that leads to preparedness. I believe The Prepared Home belongs in every home library. Kudos to Melissa George for wisely using her lockdown time writing instead of worrying.

Organized Kitchen Cabinets in Prepared Home
Organized Kitchen Cabinets
Storage units under a bed
Storage Under the Bed
Laundry Room
Water tucked into Laundry Room