Disasters

Tornado Survival: No Shelter, No Basement, No Problem

December 28, 2020 / 36 Comments

For an entire week leading up to the April 2011 storms and tornados that devastated parts of my town and Northern Alabama in general, the local weather forecasters gave us warnings. Suddenly, tornado survival became a hot topic in our household and we discussed the safest place to be during a tornado if you don’t have a basement. We were told to be ready for tornado survival because they saw the emerging weather pattern as it traveled across the country …

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Where do you start when everything has been lost?

May 28, 2020 / 14 Comments

Again and again, whether by fire, flood, or natural disaster, individuals and families face the challenge of starting their lives from scratch when their homes have been destroyed. Piles of debris are all that remain of homes and lifetimes of memories.  In the initial hours and days following such a disaster, what do you do?  Where do you start when everything has been lost? In a crisis, it’s easy to lose perspective and fear causes us to, quite literally, not think …

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emergency kitchen

Prepper to Prepper: How to Set Up An Emergency Kitchen

May 28, 2020 / 3 Comments

With all of the disasters that have happened lately, many families have been without electricity, and experiencing the joys of cooking and serving meals to their families in spite of the challenges. Others have electricity but not a full kitchen to work in. Their homes may be safe enough to live in, but without electricity, they can’t use some of the appliances in the kitchen. I asked my Facebook readers to share their experiences and advice about setting up an …

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What Most of Us Don’t Think About When Staying in a Hotel Room

May 28, 2020 / 2 Comments

When I used to travel on business, as a woman and alone, it often crossed my mind what I would do in an emergency situation, especially hotel room safety. Hotels are generally safe for women travellers, but I always took precautions to learn about the surrounding neighborhood. Once when I was in Baltimore staying at a beautiful waterfront hotel, we were warned to not go out alone after dark. Naturally, I took that advice to heart! While there’s no need …

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Do’s & Don’ts for comforting someone who has just lost everything

May 28, 2020 / 12 Comments

Everything was lost. Ruined by tainted flood water, with no hope of salvage. I drove by my friend’s beautiful home that Hurricane Harvey had ravaged and stared at what was left, piled high outside on his front yard. It wasn’t my own personal loss, and yet, I felt very deep sorrow all the same. I wasn’t there when a convoy of dump trucks arrived to unceremoniously load up ruined carpet, furniture, flooring, toys, and mementos and drive away, as though …

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Wildfire Season: Harden your Home to Survive a Firestorm

May 28, 2020 / 3 Comments

Brutal Reality As I write this article, Washington State is experiencing the largest wildland fire (Carlton Complex) in the state’s history; California’s drought stands like a Grim Reaper, unleashing over 200 wildfires a week statewide; and Colorado recently observed the one year anniversary of a fire that slaughtered the majority of an elite firefighting crew. Wildfire (also called “wildland fire” or “wildland-urban interface fire”) is a natural process that periodically renews forest and semi-arid landscapes, and allows certain plant species …

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3 questions to ask about your school’s safety plan

May 29, 2020 / 3 Comments

Disasters can happen anytime, including when your children are at school. Do you know exactly where they will be if it strikes? 1. Where is my child in the building? Ask your children or their teachers where the students will be during any type of drill – fire, tornado, earthquake and lockdown drills. Think through where the children would be when they are in different parts of the building, too, such as lunchtime and specials. Keep a copy of your …

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year without summer

Could You Survive A Year Without Summer?

May 30, 2020 / 3 Comments

Most of us dread the dog days of summer. We look for relief at the summer pool with a glass of cold lemonade. Back in 1816, the summer was different for those living in Northeastern America and Northern Europe. They did not have the warm summer weather they were accustomed to, and the results were devastating for people around the world. What happened that year? What we can learn from it and how we can prepare for these kind of …

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Carry These 11 Items In Your Car to Survive a Wildfire

May 28, 2020 / 7 Comments

I’ve been watching recent video from the horrific wildfires in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Friends of mine owned a home there, now destroyed by wildfire, and many other friends and acquaintances enjoyed the area during family vacations. As of this writing, there hasn’t been much relief in the way of rain to put an end to these firestorms. This video gives a vivid picture of how quickly these fires grew, as this man drives through them to safety. Wildfire safety is no …

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define your disaster

Define Your Disaster

May 28, 2020 / 15 Comments

Until I seriously became a prepper, the most likely disasters in my life involved my nail tech quitting or my husband insisting on a homemade dinner! How times have changed. Now when I think of disasters, I’m thinking more along the lines of The End of Days scenarios with an unsettling feeling they could happen now, in my lifetime. For which disaster, or disasters, should I prepare? These days of hard, uncertain times it’s a little like playing the odds. Hmmmmm, should …

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