As everyone who lives here knows, southern Ontario was hit very hard with an ice storm that started on Thursday. I was startled to see on the news today that the storm took down miles of hydro poles leaving hundreds of homes without hydro. Some of these unfortunate people are still without power and it might be quite some time before they have it restored. I was happy that we only got a touch of this storm and never lost our hydro, but friends and family not too far away were not as lucky. This question goes out to them. How well did you manage? and what has this taught you so you will be ready for the next time?
How prepared are we for an event like this to happen? I've said I am definitely not a Prepper in the sense that we see them on the TV, however, I do believe we should all be prepared for Mother Nature in a bad mood. Huricanes, tornadoes, floods, blizzards, and just plain thunder or snow and ice storms can all leave us without the comforts we take for granted every day.
A lot of what I am going to post here is from a blog I found recently. I recommend this blog if you want a real honest read. She writes about all aspects of her life as an American but it applies to us north of the border as well.
This post says we need to have all of our core needs looked after if we lose our basic services. These core needs are food, water, heat and sanitation.
Having a pantry full of food is not going to help you if you can't open a can or heat up the contents. And are you going to bed as soon as it gets dark or are you prepared with extra candles or even better some of these little homemade oil lamps. And when all that technology isn't available how will you pass the time. I think a few books or a deck of cards might come in handy.
Water is pretty easy to store. Everyone needs at least of couple of litres of it per person per day, and we often take it for granted because it is so accessable. I know they recommend that you fill your tub if you are in a storm watch situation. You can use this for washing or flushing. I rinse my 2 ltr plastic pop bottles with bleach and then refill them and store them in the top of a closet. They will keep for quite some time this way if you use clorinated water. If not just add a few drops of bleach to each bottle.
It also says that we should always use the rule of three. If I understand this corectly that means we should all have at least three different ways to cover our core needs. For example I would have my furnace as my number one way to heat my house. If the power goes out I have my wood stove for backup, and if for some reason I couldn't use that I would need to find a third way to keep warm, which might be a lot of blankets or some other alternative. I will have to think about this one.
There is no "this is how it is done for everyone" list here. Everyone has different needs, and different living conditions." Someone in the country may be able to build and outhouse as an alternative toilet, but how does someone living in an apartment in the city cope if you can't flush for 3 days. One way would be a five gallon bucket lined with a sturdy garbage bag and a seat. These might be items that you need in your emergency closet.
With all these things in mind I am going to make a list of the things I would need to get through a week without services and start getting those things together where I will be able to find them. Food, water, heat, and sanitation. A designated emergency closet is sounding like a really good idea. What are you going to do? If you have some good ideas for these please share.
Have a good day everyone and stay safe and warm.
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