I came across an interested video clip on YouTube recently that I found quite entertaining. My wife didn’t think so and I know there are those of you who after watching this video will also question how I could enjoy watching such events. Nevertheless, I’ve always enjoyed seeing Hollywood’s depictions of end-times scenarios. I get a kick out of seeing just how overwhelmingly devastating they can create each scene with the aid of today’s super CG effects. It really is quite amazing and realistic.
This video has taken clips from twelve such movies and put them together. There’s very little voice-over during the video, but the first sentence you’ll hear is what I would classify as a very accurate statement. Something I struggle with constantly and wish I had the answer to. A young girl is heard saying, “Everyone was warned, but no one listened. A rise in temperature, ocean patterns changed and ice caps melted. They called it extreme weather. They didn’t know what extreme was. In the year 2019, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and droughts unleashed a wave of destruction upon our planet.”
First of all, based on many of these clips, living near a coastline doesn’t appear to be the safest place to reside. That solar flare deal didn’t look too appealing as well. Not sure where you could find safely in a situation like that!
But back to the underlying reason I wanted to share this video. I believe that such movies actually have the opposite effect you may think on the surface. One might think that the viewers would be incentivized to evaluate their preparedness levels and possibly commit to doing better to be prepared to confront and mitigate the effects of such devastations.
I believe it does just the opposite. I believe such movies, in spite of their entertainment value, have a tendency to marginalize such potential events. In the movies, these events are depicted on such a grandiose scale that it becomes very easy for viewers to believe such events will never really happen – it’s just the movies. These events appear so over-the-top on the reality scale that’s it’s somewhat like old time cartoons where one character is constantly being shot, blown up, smashed or thrown over a cliff just to reappear in the next scene as if nothing ever happened.
That’s the underlining problem – these films foster the belief that such things will never really happen.
So such movies simply turn potential future events into a wild roller coaster ride that temporarily scare and excite the riders. Then it is all quickly forgotten as other interesting and distracting activities present themselves. Nevertheless, I hope Hollywood keeps making such films – I really enjoy them!
Now let me be clear – I personally don’t believe that such major natural disasters will present themselves in the manner depicted in these films. If they did, there would be basically no need to prepare as everyone would be totally wiped out. I do believe however, the frequency and magnitude of earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and droughts will increase.
It’s been concerning to watch the increase of wildfires this summer. I can’t remember a time when there’s been so many large and devastating wildfires in the western states. California alone has had 18 such wild
fires with many deaths of fire fighters reported along with millions of dollars of property damage and loss.
I believe such events will become more and more prevalent. Even though I don’t believe California will fall off into the Pacific Ocean as a result of a major earthquake, I do believe earthquakes will present themselves is a fashion that could cause power, gas and water disruption for many weeks or months. The same could happen with hurricanes and tornadoes as well.
What if the water lines had been broken or the water supply contaminated, how would you survive?
Just think about what it might be like if you couldn’t flush your toilet for a month. What would you do?
Once the shelves have been cleaned out at the local grocery store, where are you going to go to feed your family?
If there’s a medical emergency and calling 911 or heading to the hospital isn’t an option, are you prepared to provide the medical care needed?
I’ve talked with people who have the attitude of “just let me die” or put the target on the roof of my house so if bombs are dropped, one will fall directly on me and I won’t have to deal with the aftermath. I do believe there are those who are serious about choosing death over tribulation. But when it comes right down to it, I also believe the overwhelming desire to survive will trump such feelings. That’s why water-boarding is so effective. People will do anything to avoid the feeling of drowning.
The facts are that most of us will survive the initial effects of natural disasters or other catastrophic events. The question of survival really hangs on how long after the event we will survive. When food, water, shelter and medical supplies are limited in supply or are used up in the first few weeks – then what?
Military experts in the field of a potential EMP attack (electromagnetic pulse caused by a nuclear explosion at high altitudes) have calculated that within one year after the national grid goes down, 80% of the U.S. population would have perished, primarily due to starvation. It wasn’t the EMP that killed them, it was being unprepared for the after-effects.
So it will be for the majority of natural disasters, wars, conflicts and collapse scenarios – the events themselves will indeed cause much damage and some deaths but it’s the weeks and months thereafter that will prove far more catastrophic in deaths and disease due to basic unpreparedness.
So please, enjoy Hollywood’s end-of-the-world movies but view them as entertainment, not accurate predictions of how things will unfold in the last days. Yes, things will continue to get worse and more problematic as it relates to our day to day lives. It may unfold like the old fable of how to boil a frog. If you put the frog in cool water to keep him from jumping out and slowly turn up the temperature, eventually the frog will get cooked, simply because he becomes comfortable and complacent with his surroundings until it’s too late.
Let’s not be like the frog, let’s allow ourselves to be uncomfortable enough to take action now before such action is no longer an option. Remember the statement, “Everyone was warned but no one listened.” Let’s both listen and then act.
Experience is an excellent teacher but often the cost of such experience can be extraordinarily high and even catastrophic. So rather than having to personally deal with each potentially devastating consequence of every possible personal experience, we can show true wisdom and learn from the experiences of others.
Unfortunately, far too often we catch ourselves saying, “That would never happen to me” or “I’d be smarter than that” or “What’s the big deal? Can’t people just take care of themselves?”
Even though there is an overabundance of examples of individuals and families experiencing terrible consequences of their poor decisions or lack of good judgement in the preparedness aspects of their lives, far too few of us take heed and try and learn from such experiences.
One prime example of this deals with the devastating wildfires that are sweeping through many areas of California. As of the date of this blog, there are 16 wildfires raging throughout the state of California. The city of Redding has been hit especially hard where 90,000 residents have had to evacuate due to the wildfires.
According to local officials, “Thousands have fled a terrifying wildfire, the so-called Carr Fire, as it tore through an area of northern California after tripling in size to 28,000 acres. Late yesterday, crews found the body of a bulldozer operator, who had fought to contain the fierce blaze. The wil
dfire crossed the Sacramento River and now threatens hundreds of homes on the western fringes of the city of Redding. ‘It’s just chaotic. It’s wild. There’s a lot of fire, a lot of structures burning,’ said Scott McLean, a Cal Fire spokesman for the crews battling the wildfire.”
As individuals, there’s not a whole lot we can personally do to stop a wildfire. It is far beyond any one individual’s ability to control such a devastating event. So what can we learn from the experience of others who are caught in such a difficult situation?
According to some reports, “Roads out of the city were jammed with motorists trying to escape the flames, social media postings showed. Thousands of residents were forced to flee the blaze.
Residents of western Redding who had not been under evacuation orders were caught off guard and had to flee with little notice, causing miles-long traffic jams as flames turned the skies orange.
‘When it hit, people were really scrambling,’ McLean said. ‘There was not much of a warning.’”
That last line should cause us to evaluate our preparedness levels. “When it hit, people were really scrambling. There was not much of a warning.”
In most cases, there is very little warning that extreme danger is imminent. We usually assume such events would unfold like the forecasting of an approaching hurricane where one might have several days to prepare. I happen to live in earthquake country and unfortunately, there will be no warning before an earthquake strikes – one must simply be prepared assuming it could take place at any minute.
Many of those who fled the wildfires in the Redding area lost everything as their homes were consumed by the fires. Even though “things” can be replaced, there are items of sentimental value as well as medications, important documents and survival essentials that could all be lost if proper preparation and practice are ignored.
What would you do if you had only ten minutes to evacuate your home? What would you take? What would you leave behind?
Under stressful, panic circumstances, ten minutes may feel like 60 seconds and as a result, precious lifesaving preps may be left behind never to be used. Now there is little that can be done to alleviate or remove the stress that will naturally occur when such a sudden event takes place but one can make the few available minutes far more productive in taking the items that are most important and potentially lifesaving.
There are two basic levels of emergency evacuation preparedness that each individual and family need to understand and embrace if we are to learn anything from the experience of others.
1) Essential life-sustaining bug-out-bag. This is a project where you can take the time to make sure all the essentials are safely packed away in a backpack for each family member. The items would include water, food, emergency light and heat, shelter and first aid just to name a few of the basics. Each kit should have enough food and water to last f
or at least 72 hours. Personalize each backpack to the needs of the individual.
What is equally critical is where you keep your bug-out-bags. If you store them away somewhere in the basement or garage where they eventually get covered up by stored Christmas decorations or miscellaneous “junk” we accumulate over time, under a panic scenario, we may not be able to locate them.
Make sure they are in a closet or room close to an outside door and check them often to make sure any expired items are replaced and they are easily accessible to everyone in the household. Now everyone knows exactly where to go to get and take the essentials of survival.
2) Important and meaningful documents and items. This area can be quite a bit more involved and time consuming depending on the number of items you choose to include in this category. This is definitely an area that cannot be left till the last moment of you will potentially spend all your precious little time trying to locate just one or two items.
The best method I’ve seem is an old-school approach that can easily be modified or updated to reflect what’s most important to you. It all revolves around the simple 3X5 cards we’re all very familiar with.
This is how it works: Enter each room of your house and list on a 3X5 card the items in that room that if possible, you’d want to take with you. Now you have to be careful and keep the list very brief. Remember, almost everything in your home can be replaced. So on you 3X5 card, list only the critical items in order of importance so if there’s only enough time to grab one item, the most important one is at the top of the list.
Make this a family project. Get everyone’s input and make sure everyone’s in agreement as to these additional important items. Review the location of each item. It may be helpful to list the specific location of each item on the card as well.
Now it’s essential to keep this card in its specific room in a location where’s it’s easy to find by everyone. Over time, you want need to update the items on each card. Every three to six months, it would be wise to go through a dry run with your family to make sure everyone not only knows where the bug-out bags are but understands how the 3X5 card system works.
Now, should a stressful emergency evacuation be required, you can with confidence assign each family member to be in charge of one or more rooms of the house and gather the items on the list. This will significantly increase your ability to remove all the most precious items from your house in the most organized fashion possible.
Don’t forget the gear bags! The last thing you want to have to deal with is how to carry all the additional items out of your house. You shouldn’t have an issue with your bug-out-bags as all of your survival gear is neatly packed inside a backpack. But what about all the other miscellaneous individual items you’ve listed on your 3X5 cards. You need a way to easily pack them up and haul them out of your house.
Keep an appropriately sized empty gear bag in each room that is designed specifically to hold the items listed on the 3X5 card. This will greatly speed up the process of gathering and removing everything that’s important to you.
Through the tragic events of these wildfires, we have one more opportunity to learn from the experience of others so we don’t need to deal with the painful consequences of not being properly prepared ourselves.
If you’re reading this blog, I’m assuming you have some level of interest in preparing for uncertain times. You may not consider yourself a “prepper” but none the less feel it’s prudent to carry a food insurance policy the same way you have life, health and auto insurance.
Even though inside you may feel yourself leaning towards becoming a prepper, the unfortunate sometimes negative connotation that term congers up in some people’s mind may be dissuading you from ever wanting to identify as such.
You don’t want to be looked at as a fanatic or a doomsayer. You simply want to do what you feel impressed to do by way of preparing for the potential of very difficult times ahead. If this is your goal, you must get the rest of your family onboard if you want your prepping to truly make sense.
Here’s a very important fact: you might think that you can take care of your family by yourself, but you can’t. At least, you can’t do it without their help. One person by themselves, trying to take care of a family of four or five people who don’t have a clue about how to survive is too much for anyone to take on.
What this means is that when that survival situation comes, family members have to actually help, not just sit around complaining because their smartphone isn’t working or because the Wi-Fi is out.
They’ll need to become active parts of your survival team; preferably active parts who actually know how to do something.
It’s About Attitude
Survival is more about attitude than anything else. If you look at any military manual on survival, it’s going to start out with a chapter or two talking about attitude. Think about that for a moment. The US military, which can spend whatever they need to in developing survival manuals, starts out by talking about attitude.
Why is that? Because they recognize the importance of attitude in survival. We see this in elite military forces as well, such as the Navy Seals. While Seals are superbly trained and honed to a fine edge, their biggest asset is that they don’t know how to quit. The Seal motto of, “The only easy day was yesterday” enshrines this attitude. They know that they go into the hard situations, because it takes a team with their dedication to get the job done.
Granted, you can’t make your family have the attitude you want to. That’s just not possible. Their attitude comes from their innermost being, and you can’t control that. But you can influence it; and you should. You should do whatever you can to impress the importance of survival and being ready to survive on them, without going so far overboard that you shove them away.
Start with a Family Meeting
A good place to start is with a family meeting, where you lay your cards on the table. This is where you want to make sure that they understand why you are a prepper (or maybe still a closet prepper). They may not like it; they may not want to be part of it; but they need to understand why.
Avoid getting overly dramatic in this meeting. Talking about simple disasters, like hurricanes, is much more effective than talking about the end of the world as you know it. Your goal is to get them on-board with the idea of being ready when any disaster strikes.
Train Them
You may never be able to convince your entire family to make the financial commitment necessary to start prepping. I seriously doubt that there are many teens in America today who would rather receive a survival kit or bug out bag for Christmas, than their favorite video game. You might get them excited about a new gun or even a hunting bow, but I doubt you’ll get them excited about a month’s worth of freeze-dried food.
But that’s not anywhere near as important as getting them interested in learning the necessary skills for survival. The right skills trump a huge stockpile any day, even though that stockpile can be very useful. In the long term, survival is more about knowing what to do, than having the stuff to do it with.
Many survival skills are actually fun and interesting to learn. Hunting, fishing, camping – those are all things that people enjoy doing.
Get Them the Gear
As I mentioned earlier, your family might not be as excited about you giving them survival gear and supplies as a gift. I’m not going back on that. But there’s nothing that says you can’t give them the survival gear and something that they’ll like as well.
I’ve given all my adult children emergency kits to keep in the trunks of their cars. I’ve also given them various small pieces of survival gear as stocking stuffers every year. In doing so, I’m getting them a little closer to being prepared. But I also give them other things, that I know they want, so that it’s not just about giving them what I think they should have.
Get Them Involved
I said something earlier about avoiding the drama. I’ve always tried to do that. Yes, prepping is a big deal and if we are ever faced with another disaster we have to survive, that will be a big deal too. But that doesn’t mean I have to make it a big deal before the fact. All that will do is alienate people who I need to get onboard.
My softer approach has gotten everyone in my family involved in prepping. We’re all in this together. It has taken time, but bit by bit, I’ve gotten them involved.
There are many interesting things in prepping; things that can even interest the non-prepper. Gradually, they’ve all been bitten by the prepping bug. It has taken time, but thank the Lord, we’ve had that time. Now I don’t have to just depend on what I’ve got here in my home to take care of my family, they’re starting to get with the program too.
When Will Your Family Be Ready?
Let me wrap this up by saying something you may not like. That is, your family is never going to be fully ready for a disaster. There’s really no such thing as being totally ready. Part of that is because none of us know what disasters we’re going to face.
All you can do is work on getting ready and getting your family ready, hoping that when the time comes, you will be ready enough.
Real life isn’t like an adventure story. You can be sure that when the time comes, you’ll find that there are key items you didn’t stockpile. But with enough training, you’ll be able to overcome that lack and still find a way to do everything you need to do.
So don’t worry; just do the best you can. That goes for your family as well. Don’t worry about how ready they are or how much onboard they are. Just do whatever you can to get them ready. The rest will happen, when it need to happen, whenever that might be.
Being prepared for an uncertain future is much more than just having a little extra food and water stored. There are so many possible trigger points in today’s world that preparedness needs to become a mindset and not just a something to check off your to-do list. When one embraces the need to make preparedness a life-long process and not just an event, then one truly becomes an asset rather than a liability. I’m afraid far too many are relying on the government or others to rescue them in times of need. It may be helpful to take the time to consider possible events that one could face in the next five years.
Natural Disasters (weather related)
Hurricanes
Tornadoes
Heavy thunder storms
Flash flooding
Mud/rock slides
High winds
Hail
Severe winter weather
Avalanche
Extreme high heat
Drought
Wildfire
Natural Disasters (non-weather related)
Earthquake
Volcano eruption
Tidal wave/Tsunami
Man-made Disasters
War (conventional, biological, chemical or nuclear)
Toxic material emission or spill (from a train, semi-truck or nearby plant)
Riot or other civil disorder
Nuclear plant melt down or other nuclear disaster
Terrorism Fire
Government action against you
Stock market crash
Severe depression
Plague or disease outbreak
Personal Emergencies
Kidnapping
Mugging, robbery or other criminal attack
Unemployment
Financial disaster
Death in family
Home destroyed by fire
Random acts of violence
This is certainly not a definitive list of possible events that could create a need to rely on your preps, but it’s a good starting point. As you consider these possibilities, you may also want to consider the underlying purpose for your preps – that of basic survival. If your preps will not provide the essentials of basic survival, you will want to re-think your priorities.
When it comes to survival, it can be reduced to “The Rule of Three”. You may be military, firefighter, law enforcement, rescue worker or just plain folk with an inordinate amount of common sense. Regardless, it never hurts to revisit the basics. And all of the basics can be summed up in ”The Rule of Three” which says, absent sudden death (such as an accident) or terminal illness, your survival is generally contingent upon you not exceeding:
3 minutes without breathing (drowning, asphyxiation)
3 hours without shelter in an extreme environment (exposure)
3 days without water (dehydration)
3 weeks without food (starvation)
Starvation
Most preppers‘ are stocking food. You will note that starvation is the slowest form of death among the Rule of Three. You would likely have three weeks before you starve. Your level of physical exertion has an impact on the body‘s caloric requirements. Personally, I might survive starvation for five or six weeks as I‘m carrying a lot of extra weight (just in case!). Don‘t call me over weight, call me prepped! Keep in mind, your survival strategy must consider the likelihood of you being separated from your food supply in an emergency. When that happens, stay calm, focus on any immediate threats or hazards and remember that you have three weeks to implement Food Plan B or Plan C. You do have a Food Plan B and Plan C, don‘t you?
Dehydration
Dehydration occurs much more quickly than starvation. As such, water supply is much more critical to address in an emergency. Consider that in a temperate climate and without exertion, the human body requires approximately 2.5 liters of fluids per day. In extreme heat this requirement goes up significantly. Diarrhea can lead to rapid, catastrophic dehydration as well. Given that water is far bulkier to store and/or transport than food, and that dehydration is potentially a far more pressing concern than starvation, your ability to procure water in an emergency should supplant food in your ranking of survival priorities. Stated simply, water is far more important than food. What is your home-base plan for water? What is your mobile plan for water?
Exposure
Exposure occurs far more rapidly than dehydration. Hot or cold, you could find yourself unable to function in less than three hours. Immersion in cold water, such as breaking through ice, could reduce your time to act down to mere minutes. So what‘s your shelter strategy when you‘re away from home-base? In the north, temperatures can fall to minus 40 F in the winter. If you have an accident on a slick road late at night in such conditions, you will likely not be waking up ever again unless you have prepared for such an eventuality. Exposure kills in hours, or less. Countering exposure is your number two priority for survival in any emergency situation. Yet most preppers are not thinking about exposure while stocking their pantries. Prepare for exposure.
Asphyxiation
Asphyxiation kills in three minutes. This is the emergency situation that gives you the least amount of time to react for your survival. This is your Priority One survival issue. An interior fire is the most common cause of asphyxiation. Do you have a home escape plan in the event of a fire? If not, make one – it might save your life. Unless you‘ve been in a burning building, I guarantee that you cannot imagine how blinding the smoke is nor how quickly a structure can become fully engulfed. If you have children, periodic rehearsal of the escape plan is mandatory. In the unthinkable event of a fire, panic is inevitable. Rehearsal helps to moderate the flight reaction, which might otherwise lead to death.
While fire is a common cause, there are other causes of asphyxiation worth your consideration such as carbon monoxide poisoning – usually from a combustion source in the home. This has also occurred in vehicles stranded in snowstorms. Vehicles were left running so the heaters would work and accumulating snow shrouded the tailpipe resulting in vehicle exhaust entering the passenger compartment.
Other poisonous fumes can cause asphyxiation as well. Tanker trucks, rail cars, chemical and other industrial plants often have hazardous materials that, in an emergency situation, could cause you grave bodily harm if exposed.
Take some time with your family and review “The Rule of Three” as it might relate to a variety of emergency situations. Assuring our families have the understanding and skills necessary to survive life threatening occurrences will provide peace of mind that we’ve done what matters most as we continue with our life-long process of being prepared.
The top reasons why people don’t prepare are because they think it is too difficult, too expensive, and too time-consuming. But, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, putting together a basic family preparedness plan with a bug out bag for each family member can generally be done in an evening.
In an effort to help you and your family prepare, Food Insurance® has put together a list of essential items to help you as you put together your own DIY Bug Out Bag:
Continue reading “Essentials for a DIY Bug Out Bag”
Despite popular belief, tornadoes are not reserved for Tornado Alley in the mid-west. Venturing out of their habitual territory, tornadoes have been a common occurrence recently in many places that aren’t considered “tornado states.” In fact, areas as far-flung as northern California, Utah, Florida, and upstate New York have all experienced tornadoes of varying degrees of severity over the past year. A tornado, sometimes called a twister or cyclone, generally travels for several miles at speeds of less than 110 miles per hour – though occasionally more in severe cases – before dissipating.
In July, there were tornado warnings across 19 counties in Maryland. The National Weather Service was advising residents in vehicles or outside to head indoors. A severe thunderstorm expelled hail one inch in diameter, which is roughly the size of a quarter, along with winds of 60 miles per hour.
New York was not as lucky as Maryland and did not receive a reprieve. On July 8th, New York was hit by five tornadoes, killing four people in Madison County. In 2014, New York has been hit by a total of eight tornadoes thus far, which is rather high considering 10 tornadoes hit New York every year on average. The unpredictability of tornadoes was demonstrated by this recent hit to New York. Madison County was not in the tornado warning area and forecasters were unable to properly warn residents of the coming natural disaster. In its entirety, the tornado lasted four minutes and took Madison County citizens by complete surprise.
With these records of tornadoes crossing into the northeast, many should consider preparing an emergency kit for natural disasters. Gather necessities like three days’ worth of food and water as well as a battery-operated radio, flashlights and first aid supplies. If you receive warning of a tornado, seek shelter underground or in a room without windows. Mobile home residents should leave and seek shelter in a building. First and foremost, understand the severity of weather warnings. A severe thunderstorm can turn into a natural disaster quickly and emergency preparedness can save lives.
This summer, television viewers were reintroduced to their favorite ex-CTU, now rogue agent, Jack Bauer, the troubled protagonist of 24. This time Jack Bauer was in London, saving the world from drone attacks and perhaps a few old enemies from seasons’ past. If the ratings are any indication, we haven’t tired of Jack Bauer in the slightest.
The reason for this may rest in our own fears and distrust of those who are supposed to be protecting us. In the world of 24, Jack Bauer’s is often hindered by diplomatic ties, cumbersome bureaucratic rules, and turncoats within his own ranks. He is often forced to act alone or go against the status quo to save the day.
The very fact of the matter is that there are dangers and threats out there that can affect our daily lives. We have seen countless natural disasters, like Sandy on the East Coast, wildfires and drought in the West, and tornadoes in the Midwest. These disasters made some people homeless, others jobless and all affected in some way
We have also seen an economic downturn this century, which caused many to lose work. Some saw their 401K and savings become depleted, and many others were forced to scale back and focus on the bare necessities. Our economy is far from fully recovered and remains a major fear most Americans share.
And terrorism is always a threat as well. 24 premiered two months after 9/11, and although we haven’t seen a terroristic attack to that degree on our soil, the threat is always there as individuals and groups seek to destroy our way of life.
Given these factors, it makes sense that Jack Bauer is still a popular part of popular culture. Although Jack Bauer is not real, many of his principles are. Jack will stop at nothing to ensure that those who he cares for are taken care of and protected against any possible threats. He is always prepared and is proactive rather than being reactive. He depends on no one, but, rather, focuses on his own actions to get the job done.
You have the opportunity to be like Jack Bauer in a sense by preparing for any of these possible threats, which could affect your way of life. We encourage you to check out our wide selection of emergency survival equipment, food storage plans, and more, so you’re ready in the event that a disaster was to occur.
While 24 may be winding down, the possibility of these threats is far from over. Stay ready with the help of Food Insurance.
Hurricane season is here and since the short time since it began, there has already been activity in the Eastern Pacific. Almost as quickly as she formed, however, Christina abruptly veered off course and dissipated into a tropical storm, just another media has-been.
In fact, most of the predictions for the season are for a relatively quiet hurricane season; 11 named storms and five hurricanes, two major, are potentially queuing up for 2014. There most likely won’t be a repeat of the 2010 season, which spawned 19 named storms and 12 hurricanes, but it only takes one hurricane making landfall to cause massive devastation. Hurricane Sandy came ashore as a Category 2 storm and caused over $68 billion in damage as she carved a path across the Caribbean Islands before finally walloping New Jersey, New York, and New England.
So, regardless of what the weather models are predicting, if you live near the coast in an area that has seen hurricane activity in the past, you should be prepared for the worst (think Katrina).
Here are several ways you can do that:
When it comes to hurricanes, don’t let the conservative predictions for the 2014 season fool you. One of those named storms could develop into the next Camille. Get ready now; preparation is the key to survival.
Summer is great for vacationing, lounging on the beach, swimming, and jogging outside. But it’s also a great season for something else that not many people think of – preparing for disaster.
Summer and disaster. The two words don’t go together so well. In fact, they seem like complete opposites. But this is exactly what makes summer prepping so attractive. Due to the lack of harsh, cold weather and the blooming environment, summer is great for entry-level “disaster trainers.” Warm-weather preparedness activities can be really fun, too. Almost like camping.
But how do you prepare for disaster? Where do you go and what do you need? Continue reading “Prepare for Disaster with This Fun Summer Activity”
Definition
What are tornadoes really? The simple explanation is that they are a very powerful rotating column of air. But where does that power come from, and how does the spiral form? A select few factors need to be present in the right place at the right time for a tornado to form. It takes just a current of low, warm moist tropical air foiled with cold polar air to create the perfect storm. It is the combination of these factors that incentivize tornado-forming supercells to come out and play. Supercells are giant thunderstorms that often precede tornadoes. These thunder clouds rival your typical angry rain cloud as they can get grow up to 50,000 feet in height.
Continue reading “Tornadoes 101 – Basic Information for Recognizing and Understanding Tornadoes”
