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Surviving A Hurricane

With the current carnage of Hurricane Charley still fresh in our minds, I was wondering if anyone else has been through a hurricane and what they did to get through it. Having lived in Florida for a while, I have been through one hurricance (Erin) and countless other warnings of potential hurricanes. In Trinidad we also had the potential of hurricanes hitting us but while I lived there we were lucky to not have experienced one.
You hear the news reports of what should be done to prepare for a hurricane:

Canned foods
Battery operated radio, flashlight, etc
Board up windows
Bottled water
Packed suitcase with clothes/essentials in case of evacuation.

Tell us your experiences with hurricanes, if any, or what you would do if threatened by one.

Hurricane Surviving

Well, I live on the New England SeaCoast. We get hurricanes here as well, but usually they are not as bad as in the Southeast. However, when I was in the Marine Corps stationed in Okinawa we had 5 Typhoons (just another name for Hurricane) hit the Island directly. That was an unusually active Typhoon season. We were confined to our barracks and had sea rations for food. We moved our wall lockers against the windows after first taping them.

Now, in New England when a hurricane is coming, I make sure I have food and batteries. I don't live directly on the coast so the danger to me is not as great. However, tree limbs and power lines still fall down as a result of the heavy winds. When we have a hurricane coming, I make sure to put away any lawn furniture or anything else I might have out in the yard so it doesn't get blown in through the windows. I don't think we have had a serious hurricane come up here since around 1991. For that one, I did get a little water in under the shingles on the roof and lost power for about 4 hours, but that was the extent of the damage I personally suffered. However, some people I worked with lived in communities closer to the coast and they lost their power for close to a week!

Surviving A Hurricane History & Civil Business Politics

When I was young, my parents had a house right by the beach in the Philippines. The country is always hit by hurricanes ( or we call it there typhoons) and I have experienced a couple major ones.

Whenever there is a typhoon coming, my parents would stock up on food and water, batteries for flashlight, kerosene for lamps and also candles.

In 1998 a strong typhoon hit the islands and completely wiped out all the houses on that beach including my parents' house. Most of the townspeople whose houses were hit especially those living by the beach moved to the schools. There were rations of food and clothes and some also got financial help from the government to rebuilt their houses. My parents on the other hand made a decision not to rebuild their house there instead they bought a land away from the beach to build their house. A couple years pass and another typhoon hit and again it wiped out the entire coast. My parents were lucky they made a good decision.

Hurricane Surviving

I have never experienced a hurricane before but we are in hurricane season right now in Trinidad. I already prepared two of the 72 hour kit. I have canned food, first aid, water, important documents, candles, etc.

Hurricane Surviving

I've been through a couple of hurricanes. Even some of the tropical storms have been hair raising. Last hurricane that really affected Brevard County (FL) was Floyd in September 1999. My husband, Patrick had to be at work that night at the local newspaper, Florida Today, since most of the night shift called in sick. He doesn't drive, so I had to drive him up there, then safely navigate my way back home. This was an hour round trip, plus our first son, only about 9 months old then, was in the car. We made it back to our apartment safely, thank goodness. Floyd raged through the night. Water kept seeping in under the front and back doors. I did a lot of mopping and wrung out a lot of towels.

Pat ended up having to stick around the plant until one brave soul agreed to give him a ride home. By then the storm was so horrible that they ended up getting a sheriff's escort down US-1.

Preparedness? For Charley I stocked up on jugs of water, milk, soft drinks and juices, canned goods, instant coffee (yuck, but better than no coffee) and powdered creamer, bread, snacks, cat food, batteries for the radio. I topped off my gas tank and got everyone's meds filled. We already have a well stocked first aid kit and plenty of candles. I disinfected the bathtub and filled it with water just in case. A few days before I defrosted the last of the meat in the freezer and cooked it just before Charley came. I also boiled up all the eggs, several pounds of potatoes and pasta. I figured if we lost power at least that stuff could be kept in the cooler. Plus we wouldn't lose money on food simply rotting in the fridge/freezer. One thing I miss is having a gas stove for just such situations.

Surviving A Hurricane

In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all of the world's nuclear weapons combined.