Preparing for a Tornado

I'm currently sitting in my basement waiting for a storm to pass by.  It looks like the worst of it will not hit us but just an hour down the road was hit hard. 

As I was preparing to head to the basement, it dawned on me that many people do not know what to do in a tornado.  I happen to live in an area where tornadoes are a bit too common. 

Growing up my family did not have a good place to use as a storm shelter in our house.  The people behind us had a basement though and would leave the back door unlocked any time there was a threat of a tornado.  For this reason, my parents always had us sleep with our shoes by our bed when there was a possibility of bad weather.

My husband thinks I'm crazy because every time there is a tornado threat I make everyone get their shoes on.  I realize we have a basement now but having gone through a tornado that caused some damage to my house, I know how hard it can be to find what you need in the aftermath.  Wouldn't you rather have a safe pair of shoes on instead of walking through debris in bare feet?  So, my first tip is to find your shoes.

In this wonderful day and age of technology, I also suggest charging your electronics (cell phone, laptop, etc) if weather is supposed to get bad that day.  It really helps in keeping in contact with others and you never know when you will get a chance to charge electronics again.  I spent most of my evening tonight on Facebook and Twitter getting up to the date news from news outlets and friends.  As an added bonus, it was kind of fun to get to bond with others over such a stressful event.  

I also suggest having a few flashlights and candles nearby.  Make sure the batteries work and/or that you have spares near by. 

Finally, to keep my kids entertained I also bring snacks and a few toys or games to our storm shelter. Anything that helps them take their mind off what is going on is a huge help.

By the way, round one has passed us now and we are safe and sound.  There was a beautiful double rainbow after it all passed.  If you have any tips to share on how you prepare for a tornado, please share them with others in the comments section.

Tornado Tips

It is tornado season around here and unfortunately that means we will be taking shelter quite often.  Last week alone we had to take shelter once and were warned we might have to on another occasion.  Taking shelter with a small child can be interesting as they are either super scared or can't figure out why you took them away from their play time.  I've gathered a few tips over the years so I thought I would pass them along.

Wear shoes.  Ok, this is my mom's tip.  As a child, we always had to run to the backyard neighbors house when the sirens went off.  If a storm was even predicted we had shoes nearby or on.  I have a basement now but I still put shoes on everyone in case something does happen so that we won't be climbing out of ruble barefoot.

Bring snacks. You may only be in the shelter for a few minutes but it could turn out to be a long time in there.  Bring a sippy cup and a few snacks for the little ones and a bottle of water for you because a snack can always help pass the time.

Keep your laptop handy. If you have a laptop, keep it charged so that you can use it during a storm.  When the kids are occupied I use it to watch the weather and keep up with friends on Facebook.  If the kids aren't distracted though I find games for them to play online.  My oldest recently discovered what a tornado was and he now freaks out every time he hears the word.  Last week I got him interested in a game and he completely forgot about the tornado while we were hanging out in our shelter.

Prepare for a long night.  If it looks like it is going to be a long night of storms, bring pillows and blankets to your safe area.  I realize some of you are hanging out in a closet and there isn't really any room to sleep but I suggest keeping the family together in a nearby location so that it is much quicker and easier to get in your shelter when needed.

Do you have any tips for surviving a tornado and/or keeping your family entertained while you take shelter?  Feel free to leave a comment with some of your favorite tips.

Lessons I Learned In The Dark (aka Surviving a Blackout) Part 3

This is the final installment on living through a longterm blackout. This issue focuses on the aftermath and how to restore your life back to normal.

Clean out the fridge and freezer. If you have not done this while without power, completely clean everything out of the fridge and freezer. While it is empty, give it a good wipe down. Before adding food back, give it time to return to a safe temperature.

Laundry. I'm sure you have tons of laundry to do if it has been several days without power. Sort everything, including all of the blankets and sheets that were used and start tackling this chore. Laundry can easily run while you are doing other things around the house.

Put everything back in its place: Items get pulled from every nook and cranny of the house during a power outage and they need to find a home once the power is back on. Do not fall into the trap of thinking you will do it later because 6 months down the road, the items will still be sitting out. I'm talking about the extra blankets, radios, games, etc that were pulled out just to survive.

Enjoy a warm meal. Take time to enjoy having a warm house, warm shower, and warm meal. After days of living off fast food and peanut butter, try to cook something nice in those first few days. That meal will taste 10x better than normal after the random eating of previous days.

I hope you have enjoyed this series on living without power. I would love to hear tips from others as I know there are plenty more out there. The biggest lesson I learned from going 9 days without power is to be prepared.

Quick Update

This is just a quick update to let you know we never lost power. Our friends south of us in Arkansas were not so lucky though. Please be praying for them as many have been without power since Monday. I will finish the final installment of my series on living without power tonight or tomorrow. Part three focuses on the aftermath.

Lessons I Learned in the Dark (aka Surviving a Blackout) part 2

This is part 2 in the series on how to survive a long term power outage. I had planned on spreading this out over a week or two but since we are currently in the middle of an ice storm, I thought my local readers might benefit. I'm sitting in a silent house right now and I can hear ice coming down. It reminds me very much of what it sounded like back in 2007 when I went 9 days without power. Hopefully the trees have been trimmed and we are in better shape than before but time will tell. In the meantime, we have our stockpile together and our blankets, lanterns, etc all sitting by our fireplace just in case. Today's feature is on what to do once the power goes out.

If possible, get one hot meal a day: It will help your mood greatly to have one meal that isn’t highly processed food. This may come through an emergency shelter area or a restaurant. We were lucky that McDonald’s is very close to us and they had underground power.

If it is cold out, food will last for days in an ice chest: If there is snow on the ground, put your ice chest in the snow and it will last even longer. Obviously this tip does not apply to a hurricane but it can help in the winter. We lost all of the contents of our fridge after a few days. Our freezer was stuffed full and we only lost a few things. After about five days, we were able to move our frozen goods to two other freezers.

Pretend you are camping: Pull out the sleeping bags and hang out in front of the fireplace. Get out the camping stove (if you have one) and make warm meals over it. If you have leftover coffee, use an old coffee cup and reheat it over a candle. I do not recommend doing this with a full cup, but when desperate for warm coffee, it works.

Gas fireplaces are your friend: On the Sunday we lost power, everyone hung out at our house all day because they still did not have power either. Our gas fireplace in our basement kept the house warm enough. In fact, those sleeping by it were a little too toasty. With a few extra blankets, those upstairs were just fine. The only bad part is that with a fireplace running for nine days, we had to repaint the mantle as the heat discolored it.

The nights can be long, plan ahead: If you have oil lanterns, this will help greatly with the long, dark nights. You will be able to read or possibly play games with one. The radio is helpful too. For entertainment one night, we drove around town to see who had power and who did not. It was amazing to see major areas of town completely dark.

Lessons I Learned In The Dark (aka Surviving a Blackout) Part 1

This is part 1 of the series on surviving a long power outage that I have promised you. An ice storm is currently on our way and planned to hit our area by Monday afternoon. For all of my local readers, I apologize for not getting part one out to you earlier. This section focuses on preparing for the storm. Later, we will get into actually living through the blackout.

In January 2007, our city experienced a major ice storm. This left us without power for nine days. Our power originally went out on a Friday night but came back on Saturday morning. Everyone else we knew had lost power by Saturday morning so our house became headquarters for friends and family (and even a few new friends). Very early in the morning on Sunday morning, we heard a loud explosion and lost our power again. It was a transformer that blew and since most of the city was without power, we were at the bottom of the list. By the time they came to us, they were out of transformers and had to wait for the next shipment to come in. It was nine days from that explosion until we received power again. Luckily, most of the city had power back on by this point so we were able to get a hot shower and decent food after a few days. The following are a few lessons I learned on how to prepare and live through a long term power outage. Warning, some of these are quirky but it helped lighten the mood at the time.

Keep a stockpile of food & water: When a storm is coming, most people rush to the store to buy water and shelf stable food. By working on your stockpile year round, this will not be a problem. Peanut butter, Chex Mix, nuts, bottled water, fruit snacks, dried fruit, cereal, protein bars, etc are all great things to have on hand. Keep extra bread in your freezer and you will have fresh bread for days.

Stockpile supplies too: Luckily, my husband collects oil lanterns and we had an abundance of candles at that time too. People were waiting at Wal-Mart every day for the truck to pull up with oil, batteries, and lamp wicks. We had enough supplies but had to restock very soon after power came back on. We now keep an extra bottle of lamp oil and several extra wicks just in case. We also keep batteries that fit our radio too since the radio was our only source of news.

Have an emergency fund: This is not a time where you need to pinch pennies. It is all about survival at this point. By having a little padding in the bank, you can buy supplies as you need them and afford a meal or two out a day.

Gather supplies in one area: When news of a storm is approaching, begin forming a game plan as to how to keep everyone warm. Designate an area of the house where the family can gather once the blackout occurs. Body heat will help keep the area warmed if everyone is in the same room. In that area, fill it with warm blankets, extra clothing layers, a few bottles of water, a flashlight, a radio, etc. Items can be replenished from your stockpile as needed, but it helps to know everything is in one place and everyone knows where to go to.

Check on what your insurance covers: We had a minor flood in our basement due to our sump pump backing up. Insurance did not cover it because it is an extra rider. Luckily, it was minor damage and the cost to repair was minimal. The contents of our fridge were not covered too. We have a new insurance company now and our rider for the fridge contents is only about $15 a year. Trust me, this is much cheaper than replacing everything in your fridge.