Hello my friend and welcome back! I have to say that I was shocked, to say the least, when the recent Louisiana Flood hit without warning. It seems I had planned for what I thought was everything but flooding. In today’s post, we are going to look at a few ideas you can use to help make sure you are not caught off-guard in the same situation. So, grab yourself a cup of coffee and have a seat while we visit.
It was a normal Saturday morning and we had just woken up. I had grabbed my first cup of coffee and had a seat to check out today’s weather on the Weather channel. When I had gone to bed the night before, I had looked out the front door and while it was raining, there was no standing water and I wasn’t living in a flood plain. No worries right?
My wife got up to take our little dog out to do her morning business. I was on about my second cup of coffee when she opened the door and let out a scream. Almost spilling my coffee all over myself, I immediately jumped up to see what was wrong. Going over to the door where my wife was still standing with a look of horror on her face, I looked outside myself. I was dumbfounded to say the least. You see my front door is a little over 2 feet above the ground and the water had risen so much that we had only minutes before it began coming in the house.
Turning to look for my emergency plan book, it dawned on me that flood is something I had not prepared for because I believed there was no possibility of it occurring. Now what do I do? Looking around inside my home I began to ask myself how can I protect as much as possible in the shortest amount of time? Where would we go to get away from it and how could I help anyone else that might need it?
You see, without a plan, when an emergency strikes, you are almost as screwed as if you had no preps stored up. The panic that ensues will make your head spin and it is for exactly that reason, you must plan for disasters, even though you think there is no chance of them ever happening. You need a plan for each type of disaster you can think of.
We have a three-ring binder that we call our emergency book. In it we have what needs to be done first and the steps we need to take to survive it as best as we can. Everyone should have one of these. They are simple to make and when the time comes and you are filled with panic, having thought out, step by step instructions of what to do will make all of the difference in the world.
Making one is easy; just find something to keep the pages in like a three-ring binders or folder to start with. These must be on paper because your computer will not be available in all situations. We use the page divider tabs separate each Disaster and make it easy to go straight to the one you need. Then all you need to do is to take each Disaster that you can think of and start working yourself through them and writing down what you should do in step by step instructions. Be sure to keep it up to date so when you need it, it will be there and you won’t have to figure out what to do while in a panic.
You need to make a plan and be sure you have covered everything you can think of. Take it from experience, this is not something you will be able to finish in one day and may take months as you think of new things and revise what you have to that point.
Many states including the one I live in have actively started encouraging people to make a plan and prepare for disasters. The website address for it is: http://www.getagameplan.org/ . If you can’t find one for your state, then maybe this one would give you a few ideas and make you aware of some of the local resources that may be available to you, at the time. You can google it to find one for your state as well.
The bottom line here is to make a plan and be prepared to act as soon as any on them happen. Plan for everything, not just the ones you think are the most likely. Do this and you will be well on your way to avoiding the challenges I and my wife faced when we didn’t plan for a flood.
Disasters you may want to consider are: Forest Fire, House Fire, Biological Emergency, Drought, Dams, Flooding, Hurricanes, Hazardous Material spill, Nuclear attack, Cyber attack on the power grid, Tornado, Terrorist attack, and Winter weather. These are only a few of the disasters you should consider planning for.
Well I guess that’s it for today and I sincerely hope you have found this post informative. I want to once again thank all of those who sent prayers and donations to us when we were in a bind for the flood. Your kindness will never be forgotten! Until next time, stay safe, stay strong and stay prepared. God Save America!
-Sarge-
Sarge.
Like you I thought I had prepaired for every senerio possible. Man was I wrong, I awoke to looking out my back door at acers of water. I was able to get a few things lifted Android important items out to safety. Food and water were not a problem. The mistakes made were not having gas cans full for the atv’s, BOB’s are a great idea for your car or truck. But no one ever thinks of having just a bag with a few changes of clothes and toiletries to go along with your BOB. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay with neighbors, and lucky enough to have time to grab some clothes before having to bug out.
Just some food for thought and my experience with the flood. Good luck and may God Bless
Great advice sarge! This past winter,we experienced unprecedented flooding In north Louisiana. I never dreamed the bayou,which is 2 miles from me,could get within a few hundred feet of my front door. When we attempted to leave town,all the roads out of town to higher ground,were impassable because of high,rushing water. It was a frightening thing to realize I had planned for everything except evacuating. It caused me to re-examine every aspect of my preparedness plan. Im off to Texas to do a little work. Have a great day!
Thanks Buddy! Please stay safe!
-Sarge-
would be interested to hear your flood plan now you have gone through it in real life.
Mike,
While everyone’s plan mat be different, I can give you a few rules I uses as guidelines for creating my new plan for floods. (1) You may only be able to take what you can carry in one trip. If you plan for this and find you have a little more time, then you are ahead of the game. (2) Bring a waterproof document bag containing all of of your important documents like Birth Certificates, Marriage License, Social Security cards, and especially insurance paper. I keep all of mine in a small fireproof safe ready to go at a moments notice. (3) Your bug out bag should have a few pieces of clothing in them and be ready to go so I would grab it next. (4) Make sure that items you can’t carry and that are important to you are placed on shelves as high as possible in hopes that the water will not reach them. (5) don’t forget to pack a go bag for your animals as well and if you have an animal in a cage or on a chain outside then you will need to release them so they don’t drown. Like I said, what you add to your plan will depend on what you have and what you deem as important. I hope this helps and best of luck making your flood plan.
-Sarge-