Lessons from Alabama

If you watch the news at all, then you probably heard about the devastating tornadoes that hit Alabama recently. If you don't know what I'm talking about, see some pictures of the after math here. Things like this always scare me, but this particular natural disaster really hit home for me because my brother, his wife, and two children live in the Huntsville area.

The evening of the first day of tornadoes, my brother reported on Facebook that their house sustained damage (downed fence, broken window, and having their shingles torn off the roof), and the power was out, but they were alive and doing okay. However, the tornadoes continued through the night and due to communications being down we had no further contact with him for the next 24 hours. Thankfully, he did finally contact us and everything was still okay considering. However, they did have to go into survival mode due to the fact that there were no utilities for about a week. This is the first time someone close to me has actually had to deal with this type of situation, so I was really interested to hear what advice my brother had when all was said and done. He has a lot of great insights, so I thought I would share them with all of you.

Lesson #1 Know what natural disasters could occur in your area, then make a plan. (If you don't know the risks in your area check out http://www.ready.gov/ and you can get all the info you need.) You should consider what you would do if something did happen and you were at work, school, home, etc. In my brother's case, he was at work, so he was herded into the tornado shelter on site until it was safe to go home and survey the damage. My sister in law was at home with her two kids plus their son's friend. Once she knew of the tornado danger, she spent the next few hours in the closet on the ground floor of their house, which they had determined beforehand was probably the safest place to be, with the three kids listening to windows break and destruction ensue. She had a plan, and thankfully, it kept them safe.

Lesson #2 Be prepared for looters. Hide valuables, arm yourself if possible, have materials to make signs to deter the looters, and if you are leaving, ask a neighbor you trust to watch your house. Within hours of the end of the actual tornadoes, people who had someplace better to go left, and some of them were smart enough to ask my brother to keep an eye on their house. It had only been over for a few hours when looters arrived. My brother lives in a suburb far from any area he considers dangerous. It was broad daylight, kids were outside riding their bikes, neighbors were chatting, etc. yet the looters still came! Two threatening looking men approached and began trying to enter one of the houses my brother was keeping his eye on even while my brother and some other men stood in the street talking 2 doors down. My brother approached them and asked what they were doing while the other men he was with were ready with guns to back him up if need be. The men said the house was theirs and they were going to take what was in it. Somehow, my brother talked them down and they left once they heard that police were going to be getting involved (although that part was a bluff). His advice in confronting looters, if you must, is to speak with authority, but don't do anything to escalate the situation such as yelling or visibly pulling out a weapon. Chances are they are armed as well and probably more willing to use their weapons on another human being than you are. Try your best to reason with them and show them how they will be better off just leaving. Pretending you are the owner helped a little as well, although not as well as mentioning law enforcement. After this incident, the people who were left in the area then formed a neighborhood watch and posted this sign, which my sister in law made with a sheet and some paint:

The sign says, "Neighborhood watch in effect. Looters NOT Tolerated!"

It seemed to do the trick, so be sure to have supplies to make such a sign in an emergency. This could also be useful if you need to summon emergency help from helicopters overhead as many did during Hurricane Katrina.

Lesson #3 Know your neighbors. Part of the reason for this is apparent in Lesson #2. Luckily my brother has good neighbors. You'll want to know if there is anyone to watch out for in this type of situation as well though. Another reason to know your neighbors is so that you know who to look for and rescue if needed (or so people know to look for and rescue you!). In the neighborhood of my brother's friend they were hit hard. Most houses were leveled and it was up to the safe neighbors to be the first responders/search and rescue for the neighbors who were hurt or trapped. Yet another reason is so that you can work together and pool resources until life gets back to normal. Having friendly neighbors helped my brother because they were able to share food and shelter, make calls for one another when they were headed to one of the few phones that worked, and help return the neighborhood to a livable area.

Lesson #4 Keep a good emergency food and water supply. My sister in law works at a grocery store and the lines there were long and the selection was sparse. Don't count on anyone but yourself for food and water and then you can avoid that whole situation. As soon as you know you are in trouble, fill every single thing in your house with water--bathtubs, sinks, cups, pitchers, etc. Hopefully you also have water stored, but the more water you have, the better off you will be.


Lesson #5 Have the right supplies to deal with all of the aftermath. My brother had some particularly interesting insights in this area. Below is a list of items that he thinks are important to have. If you don't learn something new from this list, I'll be surprised. You should have:

• Everything you need to go on an extended camping trip (because that's what it feels like living in the aftermath of a disaster):
• water (see FEMA's water storage guidelines here)
• non-perishable, high calorie food that tastes good, and that you are used to (this prevents indigestion and ensures that kids and elderly will actually eat.)
• medication -- I forgot to mention my nephew is diabetic. Thankfully they had enough to get him through and were able to keep it at an acceptable temperature. Having some instant ice packs would be a good way to keep certain medications cold once ice melts.
• flashlights/lanterns
• blankets/sleeping bags
• tent
• first aid kit
• Things to fix up your home until it can be done the right way. Anticipate what damage the natural disasters you are at risk for could cause and prepare accordingly.  In their case they needed to cover their roof as much as possible and secure their broken window, since another storm was coming.  His list of essential supplies is:
• staple gun and staples
• tarps
• duct tape
• extra shingles
• tall ladder
• boards
• hammer and nails
• Means of communication
• Walkie Talkies -- these were useful because cell phone service was nonexistent to spotty.
• Ham Radio--There was one man that was having a heart attack, but the phones were down. Someone used a ham radio to call out that there was an emergency and give their location. Someone in a totally different region was able to contact 911 and the man got the help he needed before it was too late.
• battery operated, solar, or hand crank radio to stay updated on what is happening
• 10-15 gallons of gasoline--just like groceries, people will line up and wait for hours to get some and for some the wait is in vain because the gas stations run out. Keeping your tank at least half full will be helpful as well.
• Sunscreen and hats-- he was surprised how much they needed these things
• Charcoal grill, emergency stove, sun oven, or something you can cook with using wood like this camp grill. In an emergency one thing you can most likely count on is wood to burn.
• lighter, matches, fire starter
• A lot of batteries! He suggests about 40 of each kind that you will need. Make an inventory of what type of battery all of your emergency supplies take and stock up! Or you can get rechargeable batteries and a solar battery charger like this one.
• Solar garden lights-- you know, the ones people line their driveway with or use to accent their yard. This one caught me off gaurd, but if you think about it they make total sense. You just stick them out all day and bring them in at night so you don't have to waste all of your flashlight batteries. They also stuck them in windows of abandoned houses at night to make them look lived in and hopefully deter looters. Plus, this isn't a waste of money because it's something that you can use all the time, not just an emergency.
• Solar phone charger--my brother used his Blackberry to update us all on Facebook (he only got reception in the middle of the night or he would have called). You can keep your phones and other devices charged with one of these solar chargers. I'm adding it to my wish list. Here are links to a few options from all price ranges:

• Goal Zero Nomad 7m

• Goal Zero Scout 150
• Crank LED Flashlight w/ Cell Charger
• In house home security system:  I'm not talking the kind that links up to a monitoring company, but one that you put in your doors and windows that alarms when they are opened.  This will help you relax a little, especially at night, by alerting you to a break in/looters in time to hopefully stop them.  It might just scare the criminal away as well.
• Cash! You need a good supply of money on hand. When the power is out stores do not deal with credit and probably won't trust checks. Make sure a good amount of that money is in smaller bills because you never know if someone will give you change or not.

So there are the lessons learned in Alabama.  Thank you Jonathan for letting us all learn from your experience.  I hope to hear my sister in law's point of view in the future, so I will add a follow up post once I've been able to talk to her.