Creative Ways to Prepare for a Hurricane

In a previous article, I wrote about how to prepare yourself during the year for a hurricane. When hurricane season is upon you, you must also take some measures to prepare. In this article, I will discuss the things that one must do when hurricane season is impending.

You will want to make sure that you have all of the supplies in your emergency kit ready and well stocked. Make sure that you have inflated air beds that are in good working condition. Canned foods will be important if a hurricane hits, so make sure that it is on date and able to be eaten. Find out if your batteries are in working condition or not.

If you have a hot water heater, then it probably has close to fifty gallons of drinking water. In only one hot water tank, you can live for a month from the fresh water. You will want to attach a hose to tank and run out the water to make sure than any sediment leaves the bottom of your hot water heater.

If you do not already own one, go out and get a generator. These things have enough power to run your essentials, such as a refrigerator and a couple of lamps. Most normal generators will not run your air conditioning system, but a heavy-duty one can be purchased to handle that. These should be kept in case of extreme emergency in order to run the bare essentials.

Go out and get quite a few five-gallon gas tanks. When hurricanes come around, people will go nuts and buy up all of the gas in your town. During this time, the prices will soar and they will probably run out of gas. If you have many of these fuel cans filled up already, you can avoid the long lines and aggravation. If you want to store this gas for an extended period of time, then you must buy some fuel stabilizer to protect the fuel.

A nice alternative for a generator is a simple DC/AC converter that can operate in your car. In the case of a hurricane, your car can be a portable generator for some things. These converters are pretty cheap and can be found in most automotive stores. If you have a power cord that is long enough, you can power some of your in-home appliances from your car.

Make sure to keep your car in good condition in the case of a hurricane. If an evacuation is called for, you will need the car to be in good shape. Is your oil in good condition? Have you changed the filter? Are your tires good and can you count on your battery to crank? Consider these things going into the hurricane season.