Living on the Gulf Coast: How My Family Prepares for Hurricanes

Our family has watched the tsunami reports from Japan on the television with a mix of horror and perhaps some fear that what happened there could easily happen right here, on the Gulf Coast of Texas. We live in a small Houstonian suburb almost exactly halfway between Houston and Galveston Island, not even a fifteen-minute drive to the ocean.

This coastal area of Texas has been hit by several historically damaging and devastating natural disasters. The most recently memorable are Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike.

Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Coast

While Katrina focused much of her attention on the Lousiana, Mississipi and Alabama area, the Gulf Coast of Texas was hit with flooding, heavy rains and winds. Houston and Galveston, however, ended up receiving most of the homeless and transplants from the most severely damaged areas. These evacuees, not-so-politically-correctly called 'refugees' of the damaged, near war-torn like areas of the Southern States on the Gulf, filled homeless shelters, stayed in special shelters made for storm victims, and completely filled to overflowing capacity, the Houston Reliant Center, which is more commonly known by many as the Houston Astrodome area. Houstonians and relief workers came to know that area as "Reliant City".

Hurricane Rita and the Texas Gulf Coast

Hurricane Rita decided to dump her wrath right along the same path as Katrina. The difference, this time was twofold: 1) Rita hit Texas much harder than Katrina ever thought of doing and 2) Rita came on the heels of Katrina, that had already filled ground water to overflowing, sopped soil to saturated, and filled rivers, inlets and lakes. So when Rita dumped her waste, it was on land already devastated, making the flooding and destruction even more severe.

Hurricane Ike and the Gulf Coast

So when Hurricane Ike rolled around several years later, the area should have known what to do, been prepared, right? Well, sort of.

Ike was expected to be worse than it was, but even so, Ike did a lot of damage. Fortunately, with Katrina and Rita being so recent historically speaking, and with Louisiana and Mississippi residents still living in the Houston area, people were better prepared when Ike hit.

How My Family Prepares for Hurricanes

I did not live in the Houston or Galveston area of Texas during any of these hurricanes, but I do live here now. My best friend, however, has lived on the Texas Gulf Coast area for about fifteen years, and she worked disaster relief after two of the biggest storms, as part of the local Red Cross.

Water Supply

She has helped me learn more about how to prepare for hurricanes in the Gulf Coast. The biggest issue after the storms for her was fresh water. With flooding and sometimes sewer damage, there were problems with water and water pressure. Also, when the electricity is out, the utility companies have very limited generator capacity, so water was down longer than most services. Even when it came back up, the area was told to boil water prior to use for three months afterward, just to be sure.

We keep plastic jugs, filled with water and a drop of two of bleach, in the garage. The bleach to keep it safe and clean while it sits. When a storm is imminent, we can always put fresh water in them, but we keep them filled, just in case.

Generator

We have an electric generator. It's not big, and it won't run our entire house, but what it will do is keep vital things running-such as a refrigerator and a fan for the humid heat-while also allowing things to charge, like cell phones and computers. If internet cable is working, it also allows us to connect to the internet to receive updates on emergency services and warnings. I consider it a must-have, especially if anyone in the household has a medical condition that heat and humidity or no electricity could harm (such as those on oxygen, using CPAP and BI-PAP machines).

Gasoline

If the electricity is down, gasoline will be hard to find. My friend drove all over the city trying to find a small store that had any gas pumping. She finally was able to find a station on the other side of Houston, and gas prices were quite expensive. It's not supposed to be increased, but when it costs more to get the gas to them, they have no choice but raise prices.

Keeping at least a few gallons of gasoline in the garage is a great way to prepare for a hurricane or bad weather in which services might be down. If you have a gas-powered generator, you'll want some extra gasoline to run that too. There are gas stabilizing products such as Sta-bil, that will keep the gas from separating or going bad while it's stored. Be sure to store it in an approved container.

Medical Needs, First Aid Kits

I take a lot of medication, and if electricity were to go down and the roads flood, it could take several days to a few weeks to get things back to normal. Being sure to refill medication in advance of a storm to ensure no one has to go without life-saving or needed medication is very important.

First aid kits are a great thing to have handy too, since minor emergency care clinics will likely be closed and hospitals will likely be full during emergencies. Have wound cleaning supplies, gauze, bandages, alcohol, antibiotic ointment and more is necessary for getting through a disaster. Our family has a back-pack full of medical stuff, along with room in the pockets for our meds, so that if we have to leave the house quickly, we can put the meds in the bag and grab it and go.

Securing the House

Of course, if at all possible, you want to secure your home, cover your windows, bring in lawn furniture or things that can blow away, reinforce the fencing if you can, bring in pets and small animals, secure large animals safely or board them in safe locations.

When all else fails, evacuate and take your pets with you. Move away from where the danger exists, and stay as long as you can before returning, so those who were unable to evacuate can get back to as normal as possible.