Disaster Survival

Hurricane

The 2006 hurricane season was the classic "good news, bad news" situation. The good news was that the forecasters were wrong. After they spent all spring predicting an even busier hurricane season than the catastrophic '05 season of Katrina, Wilma, and Rita - it turned out not a single hurricane ended up making landfall in the continental United States. From the White House to Bourbon Street, countless people breathed a huge sigh of relief. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers got another year to shore up the levee system in New Orleans. The other battered communities along the Gulf Coats got time to move the refugees of Hurricane Katrina from tents and mobiles homes into sturdier residences.

So what's the bad news? The forecasters were wrong, and now from Maine to Corpus Christi, millions of Americans are bound to be a little more complacent - and a little less prepared - for 2007.

People's memories are short. But before you and your family fall prey to hurricane amnesia, you'll want to consider the following:

  • Only twice in the past 50 years have we had two successive years in a row without a hurricane making landfall in the United States.
  • If you look at the overall number of hurricanes for '06 (10, two of them major) it was actually at right about the 50-year average. It's just that by a freak of nature, otherwise known as El Nino, most of those storms got pushed harmlessly out into the Atlantic by El Nino. That's right, El Nino - the same legendary easterly flow of jet-stream air that brings added rain to California, and lower-than-normal winter temperatures to the northern United States - tends to dampen hurricane activity along the Eastern Seaboard. Enjoy it while it lasts. The current El Nino cycle is slated to end next spring, well before the '07 hurricane season.
  • The experts at the National Hurricane Center still have every reason to believe that we're in the middle of a multi-decade period of more-intense-than-normal hurricane activity. The last two such periods lasted 20 to 30 years. The current one just started in 1995, meaning we at least 10 more years left.

Bottom line: Best to think of 2006 as an anomaly, a "hurricane leap year," if you will … and get busy preparing for '07. After all, you wouldn't want to press your luck.

Hurricanes: Mostly a Florida and Gulf Phenomenon? Think Again

In recent years, most of the hurricane activity in the U.S has center on Florida and Gulf Coast. But there was a time, just about 50 years ago, when nearly every major hurricane for an entire decade made landfall somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast. How can that be? Meteorologists believe that the tracks of hurricanes tend to follow cycles roughly corresponding to changes in ocean currents. In other words, Northeasterners who've grown used to thinking of hurricanes as "someone else's problem" could be in store again soon for a wet and wild few years. And the worst part about it: The experts can never be sure from one year to the next when a new cycle is about to start.

Special Equipment

  • Lights, Action If there's one disaster that's just about guaranteed to be accompanied by extended power outages, it's hurricanes. You can almost set your watch by it, says Ft Lauderdale hurricane veteran Pat Jordan. "You're following the storm come, you're following the storm, and then, 12 hours before it hits - boom! - the lights go out." Don't let yourself get caught in the dark. In addition to an ample supply of sturdy flashlights and batteries, you'll also want to stock up on headlamps (Look, Ma, no hands!), hurricane lanterns, and (the Jordan's favorite) sticky-backed counter lights.

To watch a clip of Pat and Susan Jordan's complete set of battery-operated hurricane lighting, click here.

  • Transistor Radio … and TV Ask nearly anyone who's ever weathered a major hurricane and they'll attest to the importance of a transistor radio for weather updates and storm damage and recovery news. Some, though, actually prefer a portable battery-operated TV. As National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield says, "It really seems to help some people to be able to see where the storm is." He should know: During the 2005 hurricane season, while he was hunkered down at the office in front of his giant computer screens, his wife stayed glued at home to her little $15 black-and-white set.
  • You Can Almost Never Have Enough Water When the electricity goes, usually the pumping stations go, too. Given the difficulties involved in storing enough of it, that's why a strangely compelling case can be made for 55-gallon water drums. All you need is a garage, storage shed, or reinforced basement (filled the drums weight 400 gallons each), and you can create your own personal reservoir. But don't forget a hand pump. Because even with proper chlorination (1 teaspoon of bleach per ten gallons) you need to empty out and replace the water every year.
  • Sat Phones and Email The Your Survival Secure Family Communications plan will at least help family members remain in contact with another through the inevitable communication breakdowns. But to make sure your calls and emails go through, you may want to resort to your own satellite uplink. Consider getting a few neighbors together to go in one sat phone for the block. Or look into the latest internet service from your satellite TV provider. Such a service in combination with a well-charged laptop as close to hurricane-proof as you can get. Just remember: You'll need to temporarily take down your dish before the wind starts blowing.

Do You Need a Generator?

This is one of those hot-button disaster-preparedness issues. Some people swear by their generators, while others take into account the expense, the fumes, the noise, the need to stockpile gasoline - and decide they're more trouble than they're worth. Our suggestion: Start by deciding how important it is for your family to keep the refrigerator and other appliances running. Families with special medical needs (a spouse or child who's diabetic and needs to keep his or her insulin cold, for example) are among those who may want to make it a priority. Or here's a compromise: Pool resources and spring for one generator for several households. Generators can run anywhere from about $480 for a basic gasoline-powered Coleman to $2,000 to $4,000 for a Coleman, Generac, or Onan standby system hardwired into your home's electrical system and powered by your town's propane or natural gas lines.

Hurricane-Proofing Your House

Most hurricane-proofing strategies are centered on protecting your house from the 100 to 160 mile-an-hour-winds of a Category 3 or 4 storm. There's perception that such winds can blow your house down. But that's not quite true. What they really do is get inside the various openings and weak points around your house and blow your roof and walls out. Your challenge then is seal up your house as best you can, and add a few strategic supports that will hold together under these intense pressures and keep it from ripping apart.

What About Flooding?

Unfortunately, aside from putting your house on stilts (as some New Orleans residents are now being required to do) [link to stories about the new building codes in New Orleans], there's little that can protect your home from the sort of massive flooding seen in Hurricane Katrina. All the more reason to make sure you're fully up to date on your flood coverage, as outlined in the Prepare Now section.

Hurricane Shutters
The standard "shutters" are really just 3/4-inch sheets of plywood that you use to cover your windows in the hours before the hurricane hits. Simply measure each window and have the boards cut so they'll fit flush against the exterior frame. Fastening can be done either by screws or dead bolts. Another relatively inexpensive option is to get shutters made of polycarbonate plastic (which have the added advantage of letting you see out during the storm). The price can range from $300-$400 to outfit your whole house with plywood shutters to about $2,000 for the polycarbonate.

Hurricane Clips
These 3-inch metal plates are nailed into the corner of your joists to improve the stability of your roof. Talk to your contractor about installing. Depending on the size and design of your house, he shouldn't charge more than about $TK0 to $tK0.

Hurricane Straps
Similar to hurricane clips, except they extend downward from the roof into your walls, helping to anchor the joists and resist any updraft. Again, talk to your contractor. The price of installation should run about the same as for the clips.

H-Rated Roof Shingle
Actually, it's not just the shingle, but the whole little system that goes with it: heavier-grade tarp paper; special ring-shank nails virtually impervious to being pulled out; and, finally, shingles with extra adhesive backing. On average about TK more costly than the standard roofing materials.

H-Rated Garage Door
One of the most common weak points in many homes - and one of the simplest to fix. A hurricane-rated garage door costs on average about TK percent more than the standard model.

Pruning and Paring
Hurricane-force winds can also make a shambles of your yard. The key here to make sure the wind can blow through things you want to protect. Well-pruned trees stand a better chance of remaining standing than ones with thick clumps of overgrown branches; a vine-covered open-air pergola is better than a metal or vinyl awning.

For a more detailed look inside a house built up to the country's most stringent hurricane building codes, click on this clip here.

To Stay or Go?

Those who live in the path of an approaching hurricane often have an agonizing decision: Is it better to hunker down at home, or to evacuate and take your chances with the traffic jams and unfamiliar conditions on the road? This simple checklist will help you make up your mind - and make the best of the situation whichever option you choose.

  • If the authorities say to go, you need to go. Emergency management officials aren't perfect, but they probably know more than you do. Defy a mandatory evacuation order and you alone will bear responsibility if anyone in your family is hurt, stranded or killed.
  • Run from water. If you live in a surge zone or flood plain and a hurricane is coming, there are no ifs, ands, or buts - you need to leave. During Katrina the only people who survived in the surge zones along the Mississippi Coast were the insane few that managed to grab onto tree limbs.
  • Hide from wind. Ironically, if you don't live in an area subject to flood or mandatory evacuation, your best bet is probably to just stay where you are and hide inside your own home. Of course, this depends somewhat on how sturdy your house is, how exacting the building codes are in your area, and how much hurricane-proofing you've done; but assuming everything is up to snuff, you'll be just as safe there as at any shelter or hotel. And you'll have much easier time getting back afterward to check on your stuff.

Now If You Go…

  • Leave early. It's axiomatic that the earlier you go, the less traffic you'll face.
  • Leave at night. This is a trick savvy Florida evacuees have known for years. For some reason, lots of people are scared to away from hurricane at night - which just makes for emptier roads for you.
  • Don't go farther than you have to. The longer you're on the road, the more chance you'll get stuck in traffic, and the longer it'll take to get home later. A 10- to 30-mile drive inland will usually get out of the areas at risk for flooding and the heaviest winds.

Or If You Stay…

  • Top off supplies. Are you sure you have enough canned goods and batteries? Is the car fully gassed? This is your very last chance to fill in any gaps on your Prepare Now list.
  • Load up on ice. Rush out and get as many bags of ice or ice packs as you can find and stuff them in your refrigerator and freezer. This will keep the perishables in your fridge cold for about 24 hours and the food in your freezer cold for about three days.
  • Stockpile more water. Even if you've stockpiled enough drinking water, you'll still need even more water for bathing and flushing the toilet: Buy new plastic trashcans and fill them to the brim; also, get some clear plastic caulk, caulk up the drain of your bathtub and fill up the tub. (To flush a toilet without running water, you just fill the tank every time you need to flush.)
  • Put up hurricane shutters. Don't put this off; you don't want to still be struggling to with these when the wind is blowing at 80 mph.
  • Disable missiles. Take a quick tour around your property and bring inside anything that could go airborne, such as your grill, hanging pots, patio furniture, and your satellite dish.

Your Hurricane Earliest-Warning System

Forecasters have gotten pretty good about tracking the paths of storms as they approach the Eastern Seaboard. But for those who want to get further out ahead of a curve, the NOAA has a satellite feed that picks up the storms from the instant they form off the west coast of Africa. Makes for a great disaster compound screen-saver.

Weathering the Storm

Once you've made the decision to ride out a hurricane, you've drawn your hurricane shutters, and hunkered down inside, there's not a lot left for you to do except wait. And then wait some more.
  • Stick to the most secure part of your house. In most cases that's going to be somewhere in the interior ground floor, which will be somewhat less subject to less wind than the second or third story.
  • Stay out of the basement. You never know if you might get some flooding down there.
  • Stay tuned. In most hurricane areas, the forecasters on your radio or battery-operated TV will even report on when every band is about to pass through. So you you'll have clear sense of what to expect at each step of the way.
  • Do NOT go out and watch the eye. Sure, it's tempting, but if especially if you're on the perimeter the eye can zip by in just three or four minutes, which could easily leave you stranded outside as the wind goes from zero back up to 120 or 130 miles in a matter of seconds.
  • When to regroup. In the unlikely even you start to see your doors bowing or hear your house start breaking apart, head to a small interior bathroom or closet. It'll be more likely to hold together than rooms bordered by wall directly exposed to the wind.
  • When to abandon ship. If you or the authorities have badly miscalculated and you start taking in substantial amounts of water, you need to scrap all of the preceding advice and immediately move to a higher floor. On the way, grab whatever basketball, inflatable mattress, or improvised flotation device in case you need to bail out.
  • Wear thick-soled shoes. After a hurricane the ground is bound to be strewn with nails and other debris. So when venturing outside, wear your thickest-soled shoes.
  • Watch out for downed power lines. Make sure no one in your family goes anywhere near them.
  • Steer clear of moving water. If for whatever reason you're on the road and come across floodwaters, do not try to walk or even drive through them. Water weighs 60 pounds per cubic foot. All it takes is four inches of fast-moving water to knock off your feet; 12 inches can sweep away your car.