Re: Totally OT - We're alive!

"Melinda Shore" <shore@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dg9jvu$nqt$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> You're an ostensibly middle-class guy, almost certainly
> white, living in the boondocks who sustained some wind
> damage to his trees. I'm sorry about the damage, but get
> real.

Yes, we were very lucky. I had all the trees (but one) that could have hit
my house cut down a few months ago, at a cost of thousands, which I had to
borrow. The one tree I left was relatively small, and when it went all it
did was crumple the edge of my roof.

Well over half the buildings here have big holes in their roofs from fallen
trees, and a number of them are crushed or had their roof blown completely
off. Not even half the power back on yet. The telephone company says its
service will not be fully restored until December.

Until the citizens in the rural areas fired up their chain saws, the rural
roads were impassable by vehicles. Those are the roads that are used to get
traffic into town, like from gas suppliers and grocery warehouses. Duh.

The utility workers, who came from all over the U.S., are living in tents
and sleeping in their vehicles because the motel rooms are taken up with
people who are newly homeless.

Farmers couldn't call the vet or buy feed.

Gasoline wasn't delivered, causing great anxiety for the local hospitals,
which were running on gas-powered generators.

No phone lines meant that grocery stores, when they finally opened, wouldn't
take food stamps or plastic - big problems for the food stamp recipients and
those who didn't keep cash at home. The Governor issued several edicts on
the radio about how grocery stores were supposed to handle this, but it
should have been passed into law beforehand. There were food riots before
people found out where FEMA and the Red Cross were (they had trouble making
rounds until the roads in town were cleared).

You still can't call the cops, an ambulance or the fire department.

People got sick because the local officials couldn't figure out how to tell
the citizens there was a water boil order (most of the area, even rural, has
piped-in water).

The banks didn't open for a week, and one of them closed a couple working
days before the hurricane hit, and those customers couldn't get cash out of
the ATMs for fully 4 days before the storm. The post office STILL isn't
delivering mail to many areas.

You ever seen hundreds of square miles with about 80% of its trees lying
flat or blown in half? Got any idea what that does to the infrastructure?
Sheesh.

Now, yes, compared to New Orleans and the Miss. Gulf Coast, we didn't
sustain nearly the same amount of damage. But that doesn't mean the damage
we got was, pfft!, easy to fix and to live with.

In order to prepare for Katrina, where I live, you'd have had to:

Own a vehicle, and always have a full tank of gas (or live within walking
distance of everything). Be able to patch flats, or have several spares.
Have plenty of gas for your generator, if you've got one, and also necessary
farm vehicles.
Always have a month's worth of Rx drugs on hand. If anyone in the household
has to rely on powered medical equipment, be prepared to power it for weeks.
Meds for animals/livestock.
Plenty of cash. Hundreds, if not a few thousand.
Have at least two week's worth of canned and/or non-spoiling food for all
people and animals in the household. Better have extra, in case your
neighbors need help, unless you want to make lifelong enemies of them.
If you're confident because you've got a well-stocked deep freezer, you
better know how to preserve that food or it's gonna thaw and spoil in a week
and you're SOL.
Own a firearm and plenty of bullets. There's been a big crime wave even in
the rural areas. Also, after a disaster every Tom, *** and Harry shows up
in your driveway wanting to examine your damage and fix it; some of them
will leave only when shown the business end of a shotgun.
Be prepared to live without any communication, including to emergency
personnel, except by word of mouth, for weeks or maybe months.
Have a water source with enough for all people and animals (a stream, a
swimming pool, a well), and know how to purify it.
Be prepared for an unscheduled, unpaid vacation.
Be prepared to fix damage to your house to keep it livable. Have big tarps
and lumber on hand, and appropriate hand tools. Be able to make enough
plumbing and gas line repairs to keep your dwelling safe and sanitary.
Lots of DEET.

You can't start the preparations a couple days or a week before the storm,
because by that time there's a run on food and gasoline and prescription
meds and other supplies, and you might not be able to get 'em. You have to
be ready for it, all the time, every single day.

flick 100785



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