Disaster Preparedness Wellbeing

If you live on the east coast, no doubt you've heard about the pending storm Hurricane Sandy converging with a winter storm from the west. There's all kinds of media suggesting that we could be out of power for days and that it's a storm of "historic proportions." It's weird to think about, because the weather has been calm and pleasant the last couple of days. That said, it's good to be prepared and have a plan if the power goes out or if you live in a high risk flood or wind area.

My family grew up with disaster preparedness as kind of a game--it was always fun & exciting to me, mostly because my dad used to respond all over the world to the aftermath of disasters, providing medical care. When we lived in both Kansas and Oklahoma, tornado warnings seemed to be a pretty regular occurrence. To this day, I still love looking up at the sky and predicting rain, snow and other storms just by looking at the clouds. I remember once, my dad responded to a flood in Missouri and then we had a mainland hurricane in MD on my birthday. We lost power, I still had my birthday party and after the storm was over, we played in our flooded backyard. It was an adventure.

Now I'm not trying to downplay the negative affect of huge storms like this. I know they are destructive to people's lives. I'm simply offering a positive outlook on preparing for storms, and making it fun, especially if you have kids.

Here's a couple of things I do to get ready:

1. Find my flashlight and extra batteries. Stock up on candles and have a lighter or matches.
2. Buy a loaf of bread, some peanut butter, and a can of beans, just in case.
3. Get a bag of ice and find my cooler. Of course, keep ice in fridge until you need it.
4. Get some crafts, a crossword book, a new book to read or something to keep you entertained if you do get homebound for a couple of days.
5. Download a weather app and keep track of the alerts in your area.
6. Know where you will go if the storm does get really bad--for example. I live on the second floor of an apartment building with a ton of windows. During that crazy derecho back in July, all my windows were opened and I woke up to things flying across my apartment and all the doors in my apartment opening and closing on their own. At first, I thought it was a tornado, so I got in the bathtub (that was humbling!)   :) Then I sat on the floor in the most central part, away from the windows.

This is just what I do. I encourage you to have a plan of your own. Here is a great resource with more tips!