Here is a link to "Survival Lessons Learned from Three Hurricanes" which was posted on "The Survival Mom" blog.
Part 1 of 3: http://thesurvivalmom.com/2012/06/29/survival-diary-from-3-hurricanes-lessons-learned-part-1-of-3/
Here are things I learned from this article written by Stephen Clay McGehee:
Your area could be affected by multiple disasters in a row, like Stephen's was. Hurricanes Frances, Charley, and Jeanne all came through his town in 2004. How will you cope with one horrible situation right after another?
Having a good supply of clean water is CRITICAL. Think how much you need to drink when you are hot, and there is no power for your air conditioning.
Buy rubber stoppers for all your bathtubs. Using the stoppers that come with a regular bathtub will slowly drain the water away. (It would be best to just buy "Waterbobs" for all your tubs. Here is a link to these very useful water storage tanks: http://www.waterbob.com/Welcome.do;jsessionid=2F3A707AC0EE7CC646372A1F9BDC51BD )
He suggests having at least two plastic dish pans, to use for face washing, etc. I will go farther than that. I say get a stack of Rubbermaid totes of all different sizes. You can store water in them, or do laundry in them, or use them for dishwashing. A friend just gave me two different sized ones, without lids. She said she just throws them away when the lids get lost or broken. I disagree, I think they are useful with and without the lids.
How would you use your water bobs? During an emergency, how do you anticipate filling it? At there certain scenarios you recommend it for specifically? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, I don't own a Water Bob yet. What I am picturing is filling it when a hurricane is on the way, when the city water is still good. Of course it would be highly inconvenient to have one in your bathtub at any other time, but when a hurricane is coming your way, you would put up with the inconveniece in order to have more stored water.
ReplyDeleteI recommend a Water Bob only as an additional water storage, not your main water storage. With the exception of hurricanes, most disasters come with no warning, so you wouldn't know to fill it up in time.