Best Hurricane Preparation is Now, not When

Preparing for a hurricane is like preparing for a car accident. You know it's likely to happen but your not sure when. It could be this year or next year, it could happen more than once in a season. Of course yes you do have a little more time to think about a hurricane than a car accident but preparation can only take you so far.

You've heard all about the proper ways to prepare, storm shutters, canned foods generators, water, water, water. Everyone knows how this works if you live in a hurricane sensitive area you have had these ideas pounded into your head so many times its like tying your shoes.

For us long time Floridians (my mother is a Ft. Myers Native) you know when to prepare and when to wait. You know to buy extra can goods periodically as they sale throughout the year assuring plenty of non perishable food without having to buy out the store 3 days before a storm. You know to keep an extra can of propane fuel for your gas grill year round rotating one as it runs out and refilling the other so you don't have to fight for one a week before a storm. You already have a safe location for your generator picked out away from the garage and any open windows as far away from the house as you can get it, I recommend buying a thick chain and lock to keep the generator fastened to something like for instance we chained ours to a phone pole, well after the storm had passed. This will help keep the generator from walking off in the middle of the night.

All of these little things are not the typical of what you hear on TV and Radio and the problem with that is if you want to prepare for the possibilities they should be talked about year round. We should be telling people to buy things they can buy throughout the year. Catch them on sale and on buy one get one deals. The best way to be prepared is to always be prepared; it takes a lot of stress out of things when you don't have to scramble around for food, water and energy needs.

Below are a few things you may or may not have thought of a some obvious things and ideas I have already mentioned:

* Bottled water (this one is easy because it never goes bad and places like Walmart and Target run sales on cases year round.) Buy it early you drink it anyway just keep rotating out the older for the new as you use it.

* Batteries (Again keep them some where room temperature and you'll be good.) Keep rotating them out as you use them using the oldest ones first.

* Battery Operated TV and or Radio and know where your stations are.

* Can goods (everyone uses canned goods in some form or another buy extra on sale and rotate, rotate.)

* Generator (Have your safe place and way to secure it ahead of time, one less thing to think about when your trying to assess the damage or what to do next.

* An extra propane tank for your grill or an extra bag of charcoal (This is easy to store and doesn't need a lot of space.)

* Eat your frozen meats! (When the news starts to point a storm in your general direction don't run out and buy more frozen food. In fact don't buy any, eat what you already have make room for ice. This was if the storm does hit you will have less perishable food and more storage for ice. If the storm doesn't come then you can buy more meat and frozen food after the threat had gone by.)

* Know when you and your family want to evacuate and when to ride it out. Make this decision right away you can always decide to stay but some times waiting too late to leave can be a disaster. (This is a personal preference and no one else should make this decision for you unless it's the government.)

The biggest problem with last minute planning is it creates excessive stress and stress leads to panic and neither of these emotional elements are healthy or helpful and they often can make a scary situation a dangerous one. So plan now and plan well, know what you are going to do before you have to then take a deep breath and a cold drink and watch the news.