Family Emergency Preparedness

Thought last year’s hurricane season was bad? Well get ready for this year as it may be equally as bad or worse.

I can assure you that if you are not prepared you could meet the same fate as hundreds of people did during Katrina. NO scare tactics just the truth!

First of all you need to have a water supply on hand for at least one week for each member of the family.
I suggest one gallon per day per family member as the MINIMUM! Sure the people in New Orleans were surrounded by water but it was totally unfit to drink.

Next you need a supply of food that can be protected from rising water.
You need to put it in LARGE plastic waterproof containers. You should have food for at least a week in the form of MREs and typical staples like peanut butter, jelly, honey, crackers, and can goods of baked beans, vegetables, soups, Spam, tuna, sardines, Vienna sausages, salmon, chicken, etc. Don’t wait until the hurricane is upon you to get these items!

Next you need for EVERY member of the family to have a Preparedness Travel Backpack
Include clothes, a pair of sneakers, socks, underwear, a protective hat/cap, good quality poncho, an individual NASA blanket and or sleeping bag (these are folded so tight in their packages that you can easily get them in the backpack) and most importantly ID papers and documents.

You will need a well equipped first aid kit.
One of these can be kept in one of the backpacks along with an emergency radio that can be manually wound up. Put in a LARGE supply of matches that have been waterproofed. SEVERAL flashlights that feature the new LED lights that can be either shaken or wound up. Also make sure to have a supply of FRESH batteries of every size that you will be needing NOW not later!

If you are traveling by vehicle.
Your vehicle should have FDA approved plastic containers for your drinking water and several others for your vehicle to keep it from overheating. You need GOOD quality plastic 5 gallon GAS containers filled up NOW. Keep a supply of oil and transmission fluid in the car along with several cans of those tire inflating aerosols. If you don’t have a high quality tool kit for your vehicle get one NOW! Also have some form of emergency flashers available.

Having a family tent in the vehicle is also recommended. How many people did you see during Hurricane Katrina that had to wait for FEMA to provide tents?

Certainly you have fire extinguishers at home. Well do you also have one for each vehicle? If not, get then NOW!

You are going to need to have your food supplies mentioned above in BIG plastic containers that can be moved to the vehicle without taking the time to stock it up. Do that NOW!