Will you be prepared when disaster strikes?
In mid-December, I spent the past four days digging out fromWinter Storm Gail. While it appeared to millions to be just an ordinary winter snowstorm, Gail unleashed her fullwrath on a narrowband ofNew Hampshire, dumping up to 48 inches of snowin just 12 hours. Much of thewater Gail gulped and slurped fromNantucket Sound she spewed onmy roof, my driveway, and 8 frozen feet of it onmy front porch.
You can read all about my saga at http://go.askthebuilder.com/gail.
I know, you might be dealing with 39 inches of sunlight today, and you mightwear flip flops in January on the beach. Or maybe your typicalwinter is a light jacket, and once every five years you get a dusting of snow. Perhaps you only see snowfroma distance coating the tops of mountains near your home. But trustme, this column has your name written all over it. It’s going to save you agony as well as copious amounts of money. Itmay also save your life or that of a loved one.
I’m going to domy best to convince you in the limited space I have that you need to prepare for the unexpected and become a disciple of self-sufficiency. You might be one of the tens of millions of homeowners who are fumbling around in the fog of complacency.
In a nutshell, when the storm hit, all I really neededwas two gallons of gasoline formy snowblowers. Fortunately, I purchased this invaluable liquid whileGailwas still 800miles southeast of NewHampshire.
Butwhat about you? What is that tool or prod
uct you’ll wish you had, or the job you’ll wish you had done, when the you-knowwhat hits the fan?
I’ve seen a deeply disturbing trend develop over thepast 15or 20years, and you might have been sucked into this vortex of coddling and comfort. Youmay be a person who thinks nothing of calling 911 when something goes sideways. Youmay be one who thinks nothing of calling your contractor friend when you need this or that. What happens when 10, 100 or 1,000 people call 911 or that contractor all at the same time?
Stop. Think. What happens when that monster storm, wildfire, earthquake or pandemic hits and you can’t get what
you need? What are you going to do? Are you going to curl up in a ball? Or are you going to be like some in your neighborhood who react and protect themselves and their property with the few simple tools and materials they need to survive until such time as things get back to relative normal.
Here’s an example. When Iwas a small lad, I used to helpmymom rinse and fill empty white Clorox bottles with clean water. Thiswas decades before bottledwaterwas sold in stores. We had about 15 of them stored on our basement floor. It became a running joke, andmy mother endured all sorts of teasing about these bottles ofwater until
that cold winter day when thewater main outside our house broke andwe had nowater. That 15 gallons ofwater saved the day. God blessmyMom!
Do you owna simple and affordable pipe wrench? Do you knowhowto turn off the valve at your gas meter? Do you even know where your gas meter is? Do you knowwhat the shutoff valve looks like?
The same is true for your water shutoff valve. Do you knowhowto prevent your home from being flooded with thousands of gallons ofwater if a pipe should burst?
Do you have the skills, tools and materials on hand, even a simple fiberglass tarp, tomake emergency roof or window
repairs? Is there a person in your neighborhoodwho has these skills in case you don’t?
Do you charge your cellphone each night? Do you have storage batteries that will allowyou to charge your phone multiple times if you lose power for days?
Do you keep your car or truck gas tank filled all the time allowing you to travel 300+ miles nonstop? What happens if you need to evacuate and the gas stations are clogged with frantic people and the station runs out of gas because the tanker trucks can’t refill the station?
The list of simple tools you need to survive and help yourself is not that big. The skills you need to survive are not insurmountable. There are hundreds of YouTube videos you canwatch now before your cable line is taken down by a tree limb.
Nowis the time to have a simple neighborhood meeting to seewho has what skills. One ofmy neighbors is an ER doctor. Do you have a doctor who lives near you? Make an inventory of who has what tools and who can do what.
Remember, when disaster strikes, your housemay be the LEAST IMPORTANTthing in your community. Your first responders will be busy saving community assets, not your house that no one but you cares about. This is the paramount reason why you need to learn to help yourself. It’s that simple.