Sunday, October 27, 2024

Sunday With Blackthorn -- Today We Discuss Hurricane Prepping -- Hurricane Milton Part 1

 Today's Blog Post is by way of regular contributor Steve Forester. Steve resides in Sunny, but Hurricane/Tropical storm prone Florida. He recently had to deal with both Hurricane Helene and Milton. I'm sure many of you guys have read magazine articles and online advice from Prepping websites about how to prepare for and deal with natural disasters like Hurricanes before, all written by people who are considered subject matter experts. 

Now there's nothing wrong with that, but Steve thought that it might be a good idea to actually give a first hand account of the lead up to, and execution of an actual "Bug Out" plan. The description of the situation as it progressed and the the decisions that were made are from his posts at a small forum that he belongs to. you will see dates and time at the beginning of each post.

I will be presenting these accounts in a 3 or 4 part series over the next week or so. Hopefully, you'll all get something out of Steve's experience.


Part 1

Before The Event

Oct 5, 2024 at 1:12pm  

The tropical disturbance that was in the Caribbean yesterday and not expected to develop, is now in the gulf and expected to rapidly intensify and track right into the west coast by late Tuesday!  

So, now the age old question: do we stay or do we go?

This one looks pretty nasty, and not a lot of time to decide. If things stay on track I-75 N will be a parking lot by Monday in the PM. Maybe earlier. Should really leave tomorrow, but must prepare the house for the storm, pack, etc.

Fortunately, being prepared, I have a checklist to follow on preparing the house, and bug out bags already packed.

I was watching Jeff Anderson's video on preparing yesterday, and he emphasized being ready to take fast, decisive, action.  Even though hurricanes normally present much warning, not always! I didn't expect waking up this morning to be preparing the house this afternoon, and then hitting the road tomorrow.


Oct 5, 2024 at 8:43pm  

This thing has the makings of a perfect storm. A CAT 2/3 which could mean a 4/5. Coming straight into the coast at 90 degrees, and looks like it will arrive at high tide.
This could be worse than anything we have ever seen before. Whoever is in the Right Front Quadrant is going to be in for it good and proper.


Oct 6, 2024 at 9:07pm  

"Do we stay or do we go?" is not an easy decision to make. People do not want to abandon their homes and their belongings - especially when quick action may be required. But, it is better than dying in place. We got a hotel on the opposite coast and will be leaving early tomorrow, but it was a tough call.

Bottom line is if you wait till it is obvious you should evacuate, it will be too late. If you leave and not that bad, the neighbors will sneer at you and call you a 'fraidy cat. If you leave and all hell breaks loose, you are the hero.

Here are some things I know for sure:

1) No one ever said: "I regret I evacuated early".
2) No one ever said: "I wish I had prepared less".

I would rather be over prepared than under prepared.

Speaking of that my hours/days/weeks of hurricane planning paid off. My plans were made. My checklists done. It was just making the decision to stay or go that was painful. And nothing can be done about that.

But, once that decision was made, I only had to execute my pre-made plan, and the check lists were invaluable. I could feel the low grade SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System) stress kicking in and just having to go down the checklists helped to keep it low grade.

This is the key, I think.

I will keep everyone posted. Thought you might be interested in real life prepping and execution rather than reading an article in some magazine by someone who has never done it.

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