The only "disaster" situation I've experienced was an ice storm a few years ago. I (and the whole town) had no power for approximately three days. That meant no stores were open, no restaurants, and no way to cook food at home. I thought maybe it would be helpful to share what I learned during this situation. A lot of it is obvious but I just want to reinforce these items for everyone. Also, some of this is situation-specific but is the most likely situation (large storm) that we here in Indiana are going to face.
- Get a landline phone that has a cord. The cordless phone is great until you can't charge it for three days. My cell phone is also great but without a car charger it was useless after day two.
- Keep plenty of blankets at home. It got pretty cold in my apartment those nights.
- Keep plenty of flashlights/candles around. It was "country dark" in the city limits for the first time I could remember. I was surprised at how many simple tasks required sufficient light, i.e. taking out my contacts, finding clothes, etc.
- Keep some canned food around and a camp stove to heat it with. Soup/beans/chili are great canned food items, but not so great to try to eat cold. Granola bars were handy in this situation too. It's hard to imagine not being able to go to McDonald's or to throw a pizza into the oven when you're hungry.
- Keep plenty of bottled water. I can't remember whether the sink worked, but I sure wouldn't have trusted the water coming out of it. Bottled water is also handy for brushing your teeth or washing your face/arms/hands/etc.
- Keep spare batteries handy. Flashlights take batteries, light is your friend. MP3 players, Nintendo handheld systems, and lots of other little goodies will need to stay charged to keep you sane for three days of nothingness too. Having a few good books around is always good too.
- Keep a gun and a flashlight nearby. I know this one is obvious to INGO members but it's worth the reminder. I lived in an apartment on a college campus at the time so most of my neighbors just went home to their parents' house. The idea of criminals seizing the opportunity to do some "shopping" under the cover of complete darkness, police overload, and mostly abandoned apartments kept running through my mind those nights.
- Keep plenty of gasoline in your vehicle. If it comes to the point of having to get out of Dodge, you need to have plenty of gasoline to do it. At this point, good luck at a gas station that lacks power.
- Get a generator. I worked at Sears during this time and we had to start taking numbers for generator sales. Our manager contacted every store in the region and was trying to get all the generators he could find trucked into our store. It still wasn't nearly enough. Every other store that was still open at the time (we were working out of a tent in the parking lot powered by...a generator) was out as well.
- Keep a chainsaw and shovel handy. There was A LOT of debris laying on cars, houses, roadways, driveways, etc. It looked like a war zone, or at least what I imagined a war zone would look like. Some of the roads nearby were impassable due to large trees or limbs laying across the roads.
- Most importantly, DON'T WAIT. They warned people a day or so in advance that this ice storm was coming but not many expected it to be as bad as it was. When the power went out, everyone had the same idea. The moment you realize you need something, so does everyone else.
I'm sure I've missed some things (it happened five years or so ago) but those were the main things I remembered. Of all the SHTF situations people prepare for, this one is probably the one that will actually happen to most of us at some point. Hopefully this has helped someone!
- Get a landline phone that has a cord. The cordless phone is great until you can't charge it for three days. My cell phone is also great but without a car charger it was useless after day two.
- Keep plenty of blankets at home. It got pretty cold in my apartment those nights.
- Keep plenty of flashlights/candles around. It was "country dark" in the city limits for the first time I could remember. I was surprised at how many simple tasks required sufficient light, i.e. taking out my contacts, finding clothes, etc.
- Keep some canned food around and a camp stove to heat it with. Soup/beans/chili are great canned food items, but not so great to try to eat cold. Granola bars were handy in this situation too. It's hard to imagine not being able to go to McDonald's or to throw a pizza into the oven when you're hungry.
- Keep plenty of bottled water. I can't remember whether the sink worked, but I sure wouldn't have trusted the water coming out of it. Bottled water is also handy for brushing your teeth or washing your face/arms/hands/etc.
- Keep spare batteries handy. Flashlights take batteries, light is your friend. MP3 players, Nintendo handheld systems, and lots of other little goodies will need to stay charged to keep you sane for three days of nothingness too. Having a few good books around is always good too.
- Keep a gun and a flashlight nearby. I know this one is obvious to INGO members but it's worth the reminder. I lived in an apartment on a college campus at the time so most of my neighbors just went home to their parents' house. The idea of criminals seizing the opportunity to do some "shopping" under the cover of complete darkness, police overload, and mostly abandoned apartments kept running through my mind those nights.
- Keep plenty of gasoline in your vehicle. If it comes to the point of having to get out of Dodge, you need to have plenty of gasoline to do it. At this point, good luck at a gas station that lacks power.
- Get a generator. I worked at Sears during this time and we had to start taking numbers for generator sales. Our manager contacted every store in the region and was trying to get all the generators he could find trucked into our store. It still wasn't nearly enough. Every other store that was still open at the time (we were working out of a tent in the parking lot powered by...a generator) was out as well.
- Keep a chainsaw and shovel handy. There was A LOT of debris laying on cars, houses, roadways, driveways, etc. It looked like a war zone, or at least what I imagined a war zone would look like. Some of the roads nearby were impassable due to large trees or limbs laying across the roads.
- Most importantly, DON'T WAIT. They warned people a day or so in advance that this ice storm was coming but not many expected it to be as bad as it was. When the power went out, everyone had the same idea. The moment you realize you need something, so does everyone else.
I'm sure I've missed some things (it happened five years or so ago) but those were the main things I remembered. Of all the SHTF situations people prepare for, this one is probably the one that will actually happen to most of us at some point. Hopefully this has helped someone!