June 1 marks the start of hurricane season. Now is the time to start preparing. It can take awhile to gather all the things needed whether you stay or evacuate.
The National Hurricane Center has a nice booklet that explains what a hurricane is.
Ready.gov has a list of items everyone should consider keeping in an emergency kit.
Recommended Items To Include In A Basic Emergency Supply Kit:
Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
Flashlight and extra batteries
First aid kit
Whistle to signal for help
Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
Local maps
Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger
Additional Items To Consider Adding To An Emergency Supply Kit:(My note: The following items are essential for preparing for a hurricane)
Prescription medications and glasses
Infant formula and diapers
Pet food and extra water for your pet
Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container
Cash or traveler's checks and change
Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container. You can use the Emergency Financial First Aid Kit (EFFAK) - PDF, 277Kb) developed by Operation Hope, FEMA and Citizen Corps to help you organize your information.(My note: If you live in an area close to beaches, rivers, etc take photo albums if evacuating and protect them in waterproof materials if staying)
Emergency reference material such as a first aid book or information from www.ready.gov.
Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. Consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-weather climate.
Complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes. Consider additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate.
Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.
Fire Extinguisher
Matches in a waterproof container
Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items
Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels
Paper and pencil
Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children
Some additional recommendations by me:
Have a phone that can be plugged in directly to the phone jack. When the power is out, you can still get a dial tone as long as the phone lines haven't had too much damage.
Save bags from the grocery store. These can be very useful in many different ways.
If you are not evacuating, have a propane table top grill. This will be useful for boiling water and having warm meals. A charcoal grill is good as well but if your power is out for more than three days, you will have to have a lot of charcoal on hand.
Instead of a three day supply of food and water, I would recommend at the very minimum a week's supply. After Hurricane Katrina, many stores were not able to reopen. If roads and bridges are out, it could take longer than three days for state and federal emergency management to get to you.
Make sure to fill your gas tank up. I usually fill mine up when any tropical system hits the Gulf of Mexico.
The most important thing is to rely on what local officials tell you. If you live in an area that is ordered to evacuate, do so. Don't rely on bench marks from prior hurricanes. Many people on the Mississippi Gulf Coast thought they were safe when Hurricane Katrina hit because they lived in areas that didn't flood during Hurricane Camille's storm surge.
Each tropical system is different and unique. Even depressions can cause major problems if there's a great amount of rain. You need to prepare for a tropical storm or a minimal hurricane like you would if a major hurricane was making landfall.
Also, if you are under a tropical storm watch or warning, pick-up loose items outside. When squall lines come through, those items can become airborne and can damage your home.
Showing posts with label Mississippi Gulf Coast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mississippi Gulf Coast. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Friday, August 27, 2010
Not Really
You really don't get used to it. You learn to cope and how to grieve and still carry on day to day. I still mourn all the people Katrina killed and the things that were destroyed. I have also found it awesome the number of people who came down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to help us rebuild.
We don't know how many years the oil spill will affect the Gulf of Mexico and how many years tar balls and oil will continue to wash ashore. We don't the full affects of the oil spill on the marine life.
But I can still marvel at pelicans floating in the air while the sun sets. This and the smiles on family, friends, and strangers keeps me going.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
A Walk on the Beach
My governor, Haley Barbour, keeps trying to insist that the oil spill is no big deal for the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Sure, we haven't seen the thick sludge hitting the shores of Louisiana. But as soon as the winds and tides are right, it seems like it is inevitable.
The oil is impacting the life of the creature that call the shoreline and the Gulf home. The air does not have that sweet clean smell along the beach. The oil smell, can at times be stifling. No longer do fresh breezes come from offshore. instead, the air smells stale. It is hard to describe really. It doesn't have that salty tang anymore.
Along the shore, there doesn't seem to be the same number of birds that where there in April. Even accounting for birds that are nesting, the numbers seem far fewer. I counted myself lucky yesterday when I saw four black skimmers, one pelican, an osprey, a handful of sea gulls, and a handful of plovers and sand pipers.
The beach also seems to have more dead animals. I see dead horse shoe crabs frequently. dead fish are more than normal. And I saw a dead baby stingray.
The area where the sand meets the water is being stained red.
There are fewer tourists. The situation does warrant the attention is giving the Gulf Coast area. People died when the well first exploded. People's livelihoods are threatened. Those that make their living fishing and shrimping are already having to deal with less income and a very uncertain future.
How many years or decades will it take to clean-up this mess? The Gulf of Mexico is being turned into a vast dead zone.
I feel a sense of sadness and bewilderment from the attitude of Governor Barbour. He did a stellar job after Hurricane Katrina so his nonchalance at what is awaiting the shoreline defies belief. Instead of going on picnics in New York City he should be meeting with President Obama.
But Barbour is hardly the only Mississippi politician I'm angry at. Congressman Gene Taylor sent me an email the other day. He's up for re-election and I guess he's feeling threatened by the opposition. His email did not say one thing about the oil spill. It show-cased the defense contracts he brought to Mississippi.
The uncertainity of the future because of the oil looming off the shore is more threatening than the rebuilding wefaced after Hurricane Katrina. You know how to prepare and you know how to rebuild.
How can a vast dead zone be brought back to life?
The oil is impacting the life of the creature that call the shoreline and the Gulf home. The air does not have that sweet clean smell along the beach. The oil smell, can at times be stifling. No longer do fresh breezes come from offshore. instead, the air smells stale. It is hard to describe really. It doesn't have that salty tang anymore.
Along the shore, there doesn't seem to be the same number of birds that where there in April. Even accounting for birds that are nesting, the numbers seem far fewer. I counted myself lucky yesterday when I saw four black skimmers, one pelican, an osprey, a handful of sea gulls, and a handful of plovers and sand pipers.
The beach also seems to have more dead animals. I see dead horse shoe crabs frequently. dead fish are more than normal. And I saw a dead baby stingray.
The area where the sand meets the water is being stained red.
There are fewer tourists. The situation does warrant the attention is giving the Gulf Coast area. People died when the well first exploded. People's livelihoods are threatened. Those that make their living fishing and shrimping are already having to deal with less income and a very uncertain future.
How many years or decades will it take to clean-up this mess? The Gulf of Mexico is being turned into a vast dead zone.
I feel a sense of sadness and bewilderment from the attitude of Governor Barbour. He did a stellar job after Hurricane Katrina so his nonchalance at what is awaiting the shoreline defies belief. Instead of going on picnics in New York City he should be meeting with President Obama.
But Barbour is hardly the only Mississippi politician I'm angry at. Congressman Gene Taylor sent me an email the other day. He's up for re-election and I guess he's feeling threatened by the opposition. His email did not say one thing about the oil spill. It show-cased the defense contracts he brought to Mississippi.
The uncertainity of the future because of the oil looming off the shore is more threatening than the rebuilding wefaced after Hurricane Katrina. You know how to prepare and you know how to rebuild.
How can a vast dead zone be brought back to life?
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Gulf of Mexico is Bleeding
I found the following video at Gulf Oil Slick
We need tighter and more effective government regulation over these rigs. We need to make sure that the oil companies have plans that entail more than just blaming each other for what goes wrong.
In Biloxi & D'Iberville Mississippi, in Bayou LaBatre Alabama, and in places in Louisiana, there are thousands who work in seafood plants who are now out of jobs.
There is a Deepwater Horizon Response facebook page. Today, about halfway down the page, there was an update on where people who have lost their jobs can go to get help. The link goes directly to the USDA website on food stamps. There are no special programs set-up to help those directly affected by the oil-spill. There are oil spill clean-up jobs available but not enough.
On the Coast, we know that the litigation will probably drag on for decades like it did after the Exxon Valdez. Haliburton, BP, and Transocean pointed fingers at one another without anyone taking the blame. BP keeps saying it is going to pay for the clean-up and yet the talking heads keep saying, "We're not to blame".
Right now, the oil spill is impacting those who work in the seafood industry. Soon, as the oil creeps ever closer to Gulf Coast shores, the tourist industry will start seeing a major impact.
The Gulf is bleeding very badly.
We need tighter and more effective government regulation over these rigs. We need to make sure that the oil companies have plans that entail more than just blaming each other for what goes wrong.
In Biloxi & D'Iberville Mississippi, in Bayou LaBatre Alabama, and in places in Louisiana, there are thousands who work in seafood plants who are now out of jobs.
There is a Deepwater Horizon Response facebook page. Today, about halfway down the page, there was an update on where people who have lost their jobs can go to get help. The link goes directly to the USDA website on food stamps. There are no special programs set-up to help those directly affected by the oil-spill. There are oil spill clean-up jobs available but not enough.
On the Coast, we know that the litigation will probably drag on for decades like it did after the Exxon Valdez. Haliburton, BP, and Transocean pointed fingers at one another without anyone taking the blame. BP keeps saying it is going to pay for the clean-up and yet the talking heads keep saying, "We're not to blame".
Right now, the oil spill is impacting those who work in the seafood industry. Soon, as the oil creeps ever closer to Gulf Coast shores, the tourist industry will start seeing a major impact.
The Gulf is bleeding very badly.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Oil in the Air
Yesterday morning when I stepped out to get the newspaper, the air was heavy with scent of oil. I live 12 miles inland!! The oil slick is inching ever closer to my beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast:
Sea turtles and other animals are already washing ashore dead:
High winds and rough seas caused the protective booms to break.
And there are concerns that the oil slick may become caught up the Gulf Loop and actually have more of an impact along the eastern shore of Florida, impacting from Miami to Jacksonville.
Where ever it hits, it will an ecological disaster.
Sea turtles and other animals are already washing ashore dead:
High winds and rough seas caused the protective booms to break.
And there are concerns that the oil slick may become caught up the Gulf Loop and actually have more of an impact along the eastern shore of Florida, impacting from Miami to Jacksonville.
Where ever it hits, it will an ecological disaster.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
A Manmade Disaster
Waiting to how bad the oil spill will be is almost as bad as waiting for a hurricane to hit.
Fighting Oil with Fire.
Update: 4/30/10
Five foot waves are overtopping the protective booms. The oil now drifting into the South Pass of the Mississippi River. The oil is expected to reach the Mississippi Coast on Saturday. I'm sickened by the thought of the potential loss of wildlife. Once the oil hits the marshes, it can linger for decades.
Click for more on the efforts to contain and clean the oil spill.
Update 2 4/30/10 Mississippi Gulf Coast cities declare a state of emergency.
This is going to be bad. We were just starting to see some positive recovery from Hurricane Katrina. This oil spill will affect everything from the shrimping industry, shipbuilding, casinos, and tourism.
Update 3 4/30/10:
NOAA forecast graphic
Fighting Oil with Fire.
Update: 4/30/10
Five foot waves are overtopping the protective booms. The oil now drifting into the South Pass of the Mississippi River. The oil is expected to reach the Mississippi Coast on Saturday. I'm sickened by the thought of the potential loss of wildlife. Once the oil hits the marshes, it can linger for decades.
Click for more on the efforts to contain and clean the oil spill.
Update 2 4/30/10 Mississippi Gulf Coast cities declare a state of emergency.
This is going to be bad. We were just starting to see some positive recovery from Hurricane Katrina. This oil spill will affect everything from the shrimping industry, shipbuilding, casinos, and tourism.
Update 3 4/30/10:
NOAA forecast graphic
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