Wondering if anyone had any great ideas, incase there is a nextime....I know I have heard over and over again to have flashlights and batteries on hand if your power goes out, and I have 5 flashlights on hand, so everyone in my household has one. This time however we had a camping lantern (battery opp.) that worked great, it certainly gave off much more light than a flashlight.

My emergency equipment consists of camping equipment and includes coleman propane lanterns and stove - gets to serve double purposes.

I don't think I will do anything different other than maybe make sure we have supplies so that we don't have to scramble at the last minute. But even then it wasn't that big of an ordeal to get supplies and we waited until the night before the hurricane was supposed to hit to stock up on food.

Heather, you were really lucky this time. Supplies are often impossible to get immediately prior to a storm, and you have to face big crowds, stand in long lines, pay exhorbitant prices, and settle for different items than the ones you really wanted. It makes so much more sense to stock up at the beginning of hurricane season and have the peace of mind of knowing that that your supplies are in place no matter what happens. What I'll do differently next time? I'll put aside a few cans of gasoline so I won't be stuck in long lines after the storm. Also, I'm thinking about purchasing a generator. For the most part we adapted to life without electricity, but doing laundry by hand for a family of four really stinks. And Wilma was followed by a cold front, so we didn't suffer too much from lack of A/C. But in previous storms and possibly future storms, I'd like to at least be able to run a fan.

I agree with you we are very lucky that it turned and we didn't get a direct hit. What I keep telling people is that we are far enough inland that we really wouldn't have been in danger. We don't live in Galveston on the coast. We live almost 50 miles from Galveston. Yes all the stores were closed for a few days after the hurricane but if you looked real hard you could find places that stayed open. It was alot harder to find gas stations open but I found a place the night before the hurricane hit that had gas and I didn't have to wait in line. I pulled right up to the pump. the media over dramatizes everything. Houston is a big city and most of the population would have been fine and didn't need to evacuate.

Until two weeks ago, Heather, I might have agreed with you. But I found out with Wilma that being 150 miles from landfall didn't offer us much protection from the storm. Because power and communications were out after the storm, I really don't know what the windspeeds were when Wilma hit my area. I know it was a category 3 when it hit the west coast of Florida, and I imagine the winds must have decreased as they crossed the state. I live on the east coast. I know the eye went over me, because in the middle of the storm there was a period of absolutely clear weather. But I still don't know the exact storm path, only that the devastation was incredibly wide spread. In my neighborhood EVERY home is damaged to varying degrees. There are big piles of rubble where some of the homes used to be. Around the corner from my house there is one home that the left side is standing and the right side is standing, but it looks like an enormous buzz saw cut right through the middle. I don't know what things look like in Collier County where the storm first hit, but I imagine it must be even worse than it is here. So I have to tell you that if you're really in the storm's path, and fortunately you weren't with Rita, being 50 miles inland isn't going to protect you much. Please take that into consideration when making your hurricane plans. I know you don't want to evacuate, but I'd like you to be safe.

Putting in a generator can affect the value of your home by quite a margin. Florida is alot like Arizona in the respect we both get alot of old people and some have medical problems which require equipment like Concentrators for Oxygen. One of the big problems is that when the power goes out, these things quit working. To have a generator capable of running the needs of these machines, which is easy to start by the way, then that helps sell the home. Out here in Arizona I could have spent $20,000, more or less, on a big generator to run the whole house and installation and I was told the home would increase in value by about $40,000. The generator supposedly was set up to kick on after the electicity was off for so many minutes.. or so I was told. Nice set up, eh? lol

To any who are missing the news, they are covering the fact that FEMA is not yet in KY and IN to help with the newest tornado disaster because they have yet been given permission by the governors to enter with aid and supplies they have ready to go. Ann, oh Ann - are you watching?

LOL

btdt, I've looked for this story on the net, and haven't found it yet. This doesn't mean it's not there - I just haven't been able to find any reference to FEMA in any of the tornado stories I've read thus far. I'd be surprised that FEMA would be ready to go, since there wasn't any warning that a tornado was coming, and it is uncharacteristic for tornados to hit the midwest this time of year. The other thing I can't understand is why a governor would hinder FEMA's efforts. I know it happens; we watched it in Louisiana. But I don't understand...

I can see why the governor didn't call in the Feds right away, the answer is the governor of KY and IN needed time to "get their act together". I also been checking the news for this and the written articles seem like they were all written by the same person.. all of the articles seemed to be word for word copies of the other articles. However the one article did say the National Guard were sent in.. maybe the states can handle this with out Federal help? We'll probably get a better feel for things by tomorrow.

Abby, I was listening to Fox news about FEMA. It likely will show up. They were saying FEMA was pretty much waiting at the gate - had bi-lines at the bottom about it as well. It sounds reasonable that they would have a small number of trucks with water and those meals scattered around, not enough for something major like NOLA but enough for something like this. And considering all the flack they have gotten, it also makes sense that they are making sure to be there on a ASAP basis. As to governors hindering, I'm not so sure I would use those words. I've mentioned the story of Jeb Bush offering to send search and rescue teams to Haley Barbor right after Katrina passed. Barbors response was, no let him survey the damage first and see if he needed them or not. Jeb had sent his teams into position before the storm, assuming there would be damage somewhere in that part of the coast. Jeb told his teams to move in anyway and see for themselves if anyone needed help. It's logical that a governor would think he needed to see first and not call a false alarm or ask for too much, not enough etc. The problem is it takes time for him to break from all the phone calls, catch a helicopter, tour, get back, request help, help then mobilize and move in. I think Jeb showed his brains by telling search teams to get on in without all that. If they are not needed, fine. But if they are, help is not delayed for hours. I use to hear talk years ago before George's presidency that Jeb was the smart one of the family and the better qualified for presidency. I was reading on Nagin and Blanco - neither of them has been in office that long which means they have never dealt with a crisis. Blanco was a school teacher, then in the state legislature for a while before becoming governor. Nagin was an accountant, business background only. Both of them took over offices from bad/corrupt predecessors. I am not trying to defend them but only to be fair that some of their limitations are understandable, though not all.

I use to hear talk years ago before George's presidency that Jeb was the smart one of the family and the better qualified for presidency. ---------------------------------------------------------- I think those stories were right. If Jeb ran for president, I'd vote for him and I'm not a republican. I think being proactive is an essential quality for a leader. Jeb clearly demonstrates that quality. You're right about Nagin and Blanco. Neither of them set out to bring harm to their people. But they didn't have the experience or the knowledge base to prepare for this kind of situation. As a result, they were reactive - not proactive, and always one step behind. Outlooker, can you explain what you mean by the governors needing time to "get their acts together?" I would think that if FEMA is available to help people, it certainly can't do them any harm to let FEMA in. Am I missing something?

Let's see: I was looking at the Bush family and found that George H.W. and Barbara Bush had George W. Bush (b. 1946), Pauline Robinson Bush (b. 1949, d. 1953 of lukemia), Jeb Bush (b. 1953), Neil Bush (b. 1955), Marvin Bush (b. 1956) and Dorothy Bush (b. 1959). Doro married a Koch, btw. From what I know of the boys, I think Jeb is the most intelligent, or maybe Marin is because one rarely hears of him. lol I also think Jeb is the better politician. About Nagin and Blanco, I don't think it matters if they set out to harm people.. I think the emphasis should be placed on how well they did and how well they adapted. That is why I am not as hard on Blanco as I am on Nagin for Blanco seemed to learn where Nagin really didn't. BTW, I don't think Michael Brown or Bush or anyone in the US Government set out to harm anyone either.. so that sort of puts everyone on an even keel, doesn't it? What I mean is that tornadoes are spontaneous. Unlike Hurricanes a tornado strikes out of nowhere, basically. The people who monitor tornadoes do not know what intensity a tornado will be until it developes. So there is really no prep time before a tornado strikes, not like there Normally is for a hurricane. The tornado struck around 2 AM, which meant the Governor's were most probably asleep. I think the one news article said the hurricane lasted only about 45 seconds, but I am not sure if that was how long it lasted in Evansville or if that is the whole length it lasted total. Sometime after 2 the wheels of government began working, I would imagine. It probably took 30 to 60 minutes minimum for the news to get to the Governor of these states. That's a guess on my part, but it does make sense that the lower agencies of government would wake up and be working to gather information in order to present to their leader. Why wake the Governor's up when they mostly will just sit around waiting anyway, or worse.. get in the way of progress because they have nothing to really occupy their time. Might as well let them sleep for they most probably will be working late anyway. No matter if my scenario is right, wrong or somewhere in between.. the fact remains that these Governors have to know the scope of the damage before they make alot of their decisions. A part of their making decisions usually lie with getting meetings together and discussing what needs done and what the priorities are.

About Nagin and Blanco, I don't think it matters if they set out to harm people.. I think the emphasis should be placed on how well they did and how well they adapted. That is why I am not as hard on Blanco as I am on Nagin for Blanco seemed to learn where Nagin really didn't. BTW, I don't think Michael Brown or Bush or anyone in the US Government set out to harm anyone either.. so that sort of puts everyone on an even keel, doesn't it? ---------------------------------------------------------- You're certainly right about that. No one set out to do harm, but negligence crept all the way up the chain of command, didn't it? I'm curious that you find Blanco less culpable than Nagin. It was Blanco who called up too few National Guard troops, and who up until Friday (after a Monday storm) couldn't decide whether or not to let the feds in. Blanco was the one who refused to allow relief shipments to go through for fear that it would encourage people to stay. She may be a better person because she can take responsibility for her own mistakes and learn from them, but her performance during this disaster cost lives.

Out here in Arizona I could have spent $20,000, more or less, on a big generator to run the whole house and installation and I was told the home would increase in value by about $40,000. ******************************************************* Those generators are great, they run on propane and don't need to be refilled for 30 days. But that is a chunk of change for something you don't know if you will ever use it again over the next 20 years. We bought a 15000 watt unit (after Charlie) and my husband can backfeed it into the house and it will run are air cond.,water heater, water pump, because we have a well,and the fridge and outdoor freezer. It is great, but the set back is you have to have gas. We had 30 gallons on hand, but it takes about a gallon an hour to run it, luckly the gas stations opened right away.My main concern was keeping my food frozen, but the hot shower was a bonus!

Good point, but remember the power goes out for more than just hurricanes and for people on oxygen or who may have other ailments, the cost may be well worth it.. even if it does only fire up an hour or two at a time, 2 or 3 times a year. Not everyone can afford a generator, but for those who can it could be a great thing to have. :) Even if you only turn it on for a few hours at a time in order to just keep your food cool enough to not spoil too fast.

WOW!! I want one of those. I don't care - I'd take either the $20,000 one Outlooker described that kicks in on its own after the power goes out, of the 15000 watt unit Kitt Kat described that runs the whole house. Just imagine - a hot shower after a hurricane! WOW!! Sadly, I can't afford either, but I can dream... I was just talking about buying a $500.00 generator that runs on gasoline and could power a laundry machine. If I could plug in a light and/or a fan, it would be a real bonus. I really didn't need the refrigerator - all the foods I had stocked up on were non-perishable. And they were all my favorite foods, too. One of the best things about the hurricane was that I could get away with serving peanut butter for breakfast, lunch and dinner :^O

There more to hot showers than power for the Water Heater. Next we gotta figure a way to make sure you have water. lol I always say I want one that can run the TV for the TV can provide information. :) Or one to operate the computer. lol

So true, Outlooker. The first thing you need for a hot shower is water. I had running water after Wilma, but we were under a boil water order and since there was no way to boil our water we couldn't drink it. I had plenty of bottled water, in fact I went overboard. I still have 25 gallons of bottled water left! The need for communication is so great after a disaster. And the biggest problem with the lack of power is that it cuts off all means of communication. A lot of people I know used their generators to run television sets. But cable was out, so the reception was pretty bad. Now that I think about it, some of people had satellite tv. I wonder if they were able to get better reception? I didn't ask. The same was true for computers. Even if you could get the computer powered up, internet service and phone lines were down. That's why I was so happy when I found out I could communicate by text messaging on my cell phone. My internet service and phone lines are still out, even though power has been restored. But fortunately for me, I can get on the internet from work. Newspapers were available pretty quickly after the storm. The only problem with them was that the print was so small I couldn't read it by flashlight in the dark. I still came home from work every day with my paper and tried to read all I could before the sun went down, but I never could get very far, LOL.