Hurricane tips for your first storm
Post updated 9/21/08
I did a bit of poking around in to Texas hurricane history. Houston has only take two direct hits, one from the unnamed storm of 1900 and Alicia in 1983.
I think most of Houston’s residents have not been through a hurricane. Few have hit here and many of our transplants come from areas of the country that do not experience hurricanes. It is also clear the local government has little hurricane experience or the city would be able to withstand a category 2 hurricane with out losing power for weeks.
Causes of death during a hurricane do not include starvation. Drowning by fresh, then salt water are the leading causes of death. Which should give you pause if you are running to the store to purchase water. Too little water is not a problem in a hurricane.
Low lying areas flooding, trees landing on homes and taking down power lines are the largest problems if you live more than a mile from the coast.
Now remember that a tree has 360′ in which to fall. Your home likely is in less than 10′ of that circle. Even if the tree falls the odds of it hitting your home are slim.
I’ve been though at least six hurricanes up north, in three of them the eye passed directly over my home.
You do not need water. If the water supply is contaminated you can stick a bucket out the door or boil some. Stocking up on beer is usually a better plan since you’ll likely lose internet, tv and lights. You can fill your bathtub if you think you might lose water. This will give you more than enough water for flushing toilets and drinking should the water go out. Many people fill containers with water and store them in the freezer. This way if power goes out for a short while the freezer stays cold and you can melt the ice for a cold drink later.
You do not need food, once the trees are cleared from the road ( usually in less than 24 hours ) you can go to the store. I found you can purchase MREs online by the case. They are cheap and can be kept in a closet for years. I put two cases up after Rita and have yet to need them, but it is nice to know they are there.
You do not need a month’s worth of canned goods. How much Dinty Moore can you eat before starvation looks like a better choice? This is however a great chance for the grocers to clean out the outdated unwanted junk no one would otherwise purchase.
If you buy fresh meat and vegetables the power will go out and it will all rot in your freezer. Don’t stock up.
If you want to make money and friends you will need a pickup truck, a chain saw and some rope. Anybody with those items is a very popular person immediately following a storm.
Anything light weight in the yard should be moved into the garage. Your neighbors will not thank you if your lawn furniture comes through their windows.
Boarding windows is not necessary if you don’t live on the ocean. If you tape your windows and do not remove the tape before the sun comes around, the tape will become a fixed part of your window glass. There is little to no evidence tape does any good.
Fill up your gas tank. In Houston the electric might be out and so the gas stations can’t pump gasoline. It will be a few days before the roads are clean and stores reopen so there is no where to go and you shouldn’t need a tank of gas. Who knew Houston would be with out electricity for so long?
Charge your cell phones. It is very likely you will be with out electricity and cable/dsl internet access for a few hours. Days if you are especially unlucky. Weeks if you live in Houston. We purchased a converted for your car. It can be hooked to the car battery or in a ciggarette lighter. It has two plugs on it. We ran two lights for reading, two laptops with Sprint data cards and two cell phone charges with little to no drain on the battery.
Texting is far more likely to reach friends and family than phone calls. Lines jam quickly. Make sure the old folks know how to send and receive text messages.
When the storm first comes in the winds build slowly, bands of rain come through. Pine trees will bend in half the tops touching the ground and then spring back up repeatedly. Weeping willows are the ones most likely to fall.
If the eye passes over there is no way to tell how long the break will last. Stay very close to the house, a few steps away at most. When it ends you’ll have little warning.
The second half of the storm is the least destructive. It is likely if you made it through the first half fine, you’ll be fine.
Friction very rapidly slows storms down. The further from the coast you are the less of an impact the storm will bring. Storms often go from hurricane to tropical depression in a hundred miles or less.
If you live on the coast and do not evacuate, we’ll be happy to submit your name to the Darwin Awards.
