Hurricane Evacuation – This Is Suzi’s Story

Some people will never experience a hurricane.  That does not mean you should not prepare for one.

Hurricanes are not always predictable.  When you hear one is approaching, panic often sets in, especially if you have never experienced one before.

Much of the emotion and panic can be prevented with proper planning.  People that prepare are in a better position to make quick decisions.

One way of preparing is to learn from those that actually experienced hurricanes before.
They can tell you what they have done right as well as the mistakes they have made.

Suzi is one such person.  She documented her experience for others to learn from.
You may not agree with everything she says, but it is worth comparing her lessons with your own evacuation plan.

She also deals with pets, which of your vehicles to take and much more.  What do you think of her suggestion about what time of day is best to evacuate?

On August 28. 2005, My family did something we had never even considered doing before. We evacuated for a hurricane. After seeing the path of devastation Hurricane Katrina did to our beloved city of New Orleans and in particular our home, we know we made the right choice.

Hurricane evacuations are different from many other types of evacuations. If you live near the coast, every year you should make a plan to evacuate at the beginning of hurricane season. We are preppers. This should be on your list of preparations.

Most people are safe to shelter in place for most hurricanes, but you need to have a plan in place if you are facing an above average storm.

What we did right in both hurricane evacuations

1. If you are going to evacuate, DO NOT just go to Aunt Betty’s house an hour or two down the coast. These areas are going to take some damage as well, and the cities do not have the infrastructure to care for evacuees in addition to their own citizens. Go inland. Not just an hour inland either. Go at least a 4-5 hour drive inland.And that’s a normal-traffic 4-5 hour drive, not 4-5 hours in painfully slow evacuation traffic. (See #8, below.)
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2. Of course, grab your BOB, important papers, and family photos, but assume you will be gone for a few weeks. Don’t reach for those pretty suitcases. Grab a laundry basket or two.……..

6. With the exception of fish, take your pets with you. If it isn’t safe enough for you, it isn’t safe enough for them. Your snake may only eat once every week or so, but your grandma doesn’t want to find it crawling around the house when she helps you clean up (This happened to a family I know). Our tropical fish did fine.

7. Grab your prescription medications. ………….
8. Leave either very early or late at night.Very few people are ready to leave quickly. Even less want to drive at night. We left our home early in the contra flow process, but left around 11 p.m. We had no traffic the whole time on the road. Being prepared to begin with will reduce the amount of time needed to leave your home.

What we did wrong

1. When you are grabbing the family photo albums, do NOT ignore the family photos hanging on the wall. They may be too big to take with you, but take them off the wall, put them in trash bags and put them somewhere high and safe.………….
2. Empty your refrigerator.Do not assume you will be back in a day or two. ………

Both of our evacuations were major growth points for our family. Our family grew closer and stronger, knowing that we were in this mess together. Thorough preps were a big bonus, and made our evacuations more comfortable. I hope that you never suffer the major damages that we did, but I hope that this will help you.

Read the full article in Survival Mom

Source: The Survival Mom
Image Source: Wikipedia Commons