Additional 72 Hour Advice

Nita from South Carolina posted these hints in Comments. I thought they were so good, I'd place them here.

I also completely forgot about our beloved furry friends in the last post. I speak from personal experience, if you have cats or other small pets...always keep their pet carrier where you can quickly reach it. We had a car fire when our cats were just a couple years old. The car was in the driveway but the fire department evacuated our house. We could only grab hold of one cat and that one scratched us while we were holding it (their front claws are declawed, believe me their back claws work!).

Also, we put our cats in their kitty carrier during tornado warnings. For dogs, make certain you always know where their leash is so you can clasp it to their collar. Make certain you figure in water for them in your 72 hour preps, as well as food (and litter for cats). I'm afraid my experience is only with cats and dogs!

Here are Nita's comments...excellent!

Hi Brenda!

I'm going to share some of my own suggestions, gleaned from the personal experience of living on an island on the coast of South Carolina (ie, Hurricane country!)

1. At the first sign of a problem, fill up your car with gas. Gas pumps can't function during a power outage. Also, everybody else in the world will be at the gas station if there is a possible evacuation, and you don't want to waste gas sitting in line waiting for gas!

2. Other items to add to your supplies:
-paper plates and cups, plastic utensils - to avoid wasting water washing dishes.
-baby wipes - can be used to wash hands and faces, even bodies for a day or two.
-if you have children, keep a few small, new toys hidden away. If you have to evacuate, a new toy can keep them distracted and they might not pick up on Mom and Dad's concerns about the situation.
-a very large pot that can go on top of a grill - we were without power for 11 days in 1989 after Hurricane Hugo. We had water, but had to heat it up on the grill to take baths. It will take forever to heat up enough for a bath if you're using a saucepan!

Hurricane season here is June 1 through the end of November. In November I usually rotate unused supplies into "general use" and replace them about May.

Finally, make sure there is some sort of contact person (family or friend) in a different location, and make family members aware of that person's identify and phone number - so if there is an evacuation, everyone knows to check in with that person, and that person can keep track of where everyone is.

Hope these tips are useful!
Nita in South Carolina