Scott Family

One year already?

I have had so many people ask me what I learned about emergency preparedness from last year's tornado devastation here in Alabama. I'm going to quickly recap our day and then let you know what I think is necessary to have.

That morning was pretty routine. Chris was working a 12 hour shift in Falkville as a police officer, and I took Hailey to preschool at 9. The weather was gloomy, her teachers just told us to watch the weather in case we needed to pick up early. After dropping Hailey off I made my usual run to Hobby Lobby in Decatur. When I pulled into the parking lot the weather sirens were blaring so I had to stay in HL (darn) until that front passed.

The preschool was celebrating Hailey's birthday that day and I was invited to have lunch with her. The teachers rushed through lunch and a happy birthday song, then quickly moved everyone to their appointed "safe places". I was directed with Hailey's class to a very small prayer room in the center of the building. However, it was too crowded for my claustrophobic self and I ended up in the hallway watching dark clouds and crazy funnels form from each side of us. Luckily, the storms split and went around our town. Hailey and I went home and I tried and tried to call Chris, since I knew he would be out storm watching and have the most local information.

That afternoon, the power went out...and stayed out...for 5 1/2 days.

So...what to do? First we freaked out! Where are the batteries? candles? flashlights?
Second, we accumulated flashlights and such that would help us get through the long dark nights. The BEST thing I had were glow sticks left over from Halloween. They made the best night lights and occupied Hailey from thinking about how dark and quiet it was. (This year after Halloween, I bought bags of these glow sticks while they were clearanced at $0.15 each.)

Now to food....YOU WILL EAT WHAT YOU HAVE IN THE REFRIGERATOR AND FREEZER FIRST! Canned goods are all fine and good, but be prepared to eat your cold stuff right away. That means you will need a gas grill, and always have an extra FULL tank of gas for it. Also stock your freezer with bread and hamburger buns so you don't have to eat plain hamburgers over...and over. My sis-in-law were indulging in chocolate cake and cookies that were stashed in their freezer. :) We (luckily) have a very small generator, but it was enough to run the freezer for a few hours every day. The biggest problem???? We had very little gas in our gas cans and NOWHERE to get more.

Also, stock food that does NOT NEED milk & butter to prepare. The Macaroni & Cheese with the prepared sauce packet is fantastic to have! All you have to do is boil water. We (as LDS) have always been taught to stock up our food storage. For most people that means canned foods. In 5 days we only used 1 can of chili. We have cans of corn and beans for our "storage" that we thought we be a great addition...NOT! Again, we cooked steaks, hamburgers, heated frozen soup, etc from our freezer. If you have an extra jar of peanut butter and freeze a loaf of bread, you are pretty set for easy lunches. That is what I would suggest...DO NOT BUY MORE CANS OF FOOD THAT YOU DON'T WANT!

My suggestion: invest in a generator, run a tank of gas through it every 8 months so that it will work when you need it to. Don't expect to find generators (or batteries, pop tarts, toilet paper, diapers) in stores for the next few weeks to months after you need it! Get it now! Also, for my smoking friends...it might be a good idea to have some "patches" or an extra carton around. That became the hottest item in town! Our neighbors had to drive 3 hours to find a store that had any available. Maybe this is a good reason to quit! (Wink Wink) Also you need to have CASH in SMALL BILLS on hand. If and when stores do re-open most are Cash only INCLUDING GAS! No pay at the pump :)

I'm sure that there are 100 things I've forgotten to tell you that will be important to know. I will also add that as boring as waiting for the power to come on, everyone (including your children) feel the stress of the situation. Stock up on non-electronic activities for them. You will not be able to recharge the Nintendo DS.

Also, if you have an electric water heater...showers will be awfully cold...really cold....frigid cold. Baby wipes might be a great thing to have as well. Chris made us a make shift shower in the backyard using solar water heating bags from his scout camping supply. If the wind hadn't been blowing it might have been ok since the water was warm.

Finally...be prepared to work! An unbelievable amount of people lost everything in these storms. Put your self pity that you have no power on hold and find what you can do! The amount of volunteers and donations were incredible! One of the ladies at the command center 3 days after the storms, cried on my shoulder about how many people just kept coming to help. People from all over the country that had a back hoe, tarps, roofing skills, or like me..just there to clean up... were more than willing to help. They were also being sent back to Tuscaloosa to help because there were so many volunteers in our area!

I've had people ask me questions about our "survival". All I can say is that NEXT TIME WE WILL BE READY. One thing we all learned here is that it isn't IF an emergency happens it is WHEN it will happen. One last note I just thought of...be prepared to protect your property and your family. Take that any way you want, buy extra locks, safes, whatever. Too many people that take advantage of these situations.

Enjoy some of our pictures ( I didn't take many) and locals...feel free to post your comments about that day and any suggestions as well. I cannot find for the life of me the pictures of our make shift shower in the backyard. If I find it I will put it on here too. That was probably the thing that made me laugh the hardest during that week.