This topic contains 11 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by 
corsaire 1 year, 7 months ago.
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I’ve been watching disasters for a long time, and Hurricane Michael was shockingly awful. It literally wiped towns completely off the map. And it seemed to come up far more suddenly than most hurricanes.
Here’s a very sad article about it.
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This is the first time I read that there are 250 people missing. Obviously some of them are deceased. The stand your ground mind set was a big mistake in this situation. It’something folks must consider in their planning.
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Yes definitely. There aren’t too many homes that can stand up to Category 4 winds.
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Friend in Florida and I were just discussing hurricane season again.
Last year they were evacuated two times, the first was actually ended up for two storms.
We’ve been going back and forth chatting about trailers versus mobile homes (bus) for evacuating.
Personally I’m looking at picking up an older camping trailer and rebuilding it to fit our needs.
By leaving it stocked with the basics and some long term provisions, I can literally back up to it, hook up and drive off able to set up “house” elsewhere.
We had a pretty decent fire here this summer and if the wind had been coming from the opposite direction, it could eventually have made it to my place.By having a trailer packed and ready to go, all I would have needed to do is grab the “essentials” and scram. We would have still had a place to sleep even if the house got damaged.
In his case, they ended up with family, two states away. He would have been much more comfortable with more of their own stuff, in case the worst happened, and they had to rebuild or relocate.
The ability to pull over and get some sleep without paying jacked up hotel prices would have been nice also.I look at these storms and while I understand not wanting to abandon your home that you have worked so hard for, there is enough warning with them that you can still get out and survive which is the most important part. You have to be alive to rebuild.
In my friends case, they evacuated and the power was out for two weeks. They lost a couple hundred dollars worth of frozen food that they had just gotten.
Since then we have discussed several different ways to minimize even that.Me, I am looking for a functional and affordable travel trailer to rebuild the way we want. Between upcoming travels to visit kids in college and hunting trips as well as just getting away, it will pay for itself quickly.
Add in emergencies and it only makes even more sense. -
Whirlibird, I have recently been considering a camper / trailer of some sort, as well! I have always been a hunker down minded person, but have recently started wondering how far am I willing to endanger my family with this mindset. Fires, whatever may come with climate change scenarios, etc…. Thank you for your post! It helped solve my questions as to whether I was taking it all too far!
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Campers are great ideas. They’re like rolling bug-out bags.
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AnonymousI lived through Hugo and it taught me a lot at a very young ago. I evacuated with Floyd and when it turned to go to NC instead of where it was going I was beyond ticked. 14 hours on a greyhound bus that was overbooked, with a child in cloth diapers who nurses. No TP, no food, no water, no stops, no smoke breaks. I was beyond over it and swore I would never do it again. Never leave again. Then my family in Louisiana got wiped out in Katrina, my grandmother passed after the second evacuation from Rita, and every year the storms seem to be getting stronger and faster and deadlier. I have kinda, sorta changed my mind on the leaving part, it’s an option that is back on the table for sure. We are 43 feet above sea level so flooding isn’t a major concern, getting blown off the face of the earth or being crushed under huge trees however is.
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Life has taught me never to say never to any option that preserves the family. The prudent person tries to plan foremost eventualities. I’m the disaster response coordinator for my congregation. One of the things that I keep running into everywhere I go and listening to people is that it cannot happen here mindset. I think this latest hurricane down in the Florida Panhandle and Georgia and even into SC and beyond tells us it can.
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I have watched all those tropical storms on the Doppler Radar site. I watch weather daily…helps to know what to plan for outside activities. That site gives a lot of data once you get familiar with it. That weirdo Atlantic storm Leslie …did the oddest and longest dance and then roared up to hurricane and whacked Portugal, Spain, France?…
Around here we have wildfires and massive ones leave little choice if they head your way. County asks for your dental records if you’re choosing to stay…. >.<
OldMtWoman -
I’m from a coastal state and moved a bit further inland because I just didn’t feel the love for the flooding and destruction that comes with those storms. Like OldMt Woman, wildfires have been more the problem where I live. My husband and I have talked about the RV thing, too. We’ve settled on a tiny house instead. We’ll be empty nesters in a couple of years so when disaster gets close, we’ll just hitch up the fifth wheel tiny house and move to safer pastures.
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I suggested to a friend in Delray Beach, Fla. that he invest in a small enclosed trailer and keep it stocked with non-perishable supplies and ready to evac. should the need arise. Two problems for him.. 1. He has a HOA that bans trailers of any type, and 2. Trying to travel north through the state during a mandatory evac over-crowded with tens of thousands of others on the interstates would likely be impossible. Its not only the coastal areas. I live in south-central Virginia where six people lost their lives last week from the remnants of Michael. Theres been lots of others starting in my memory with Hurricane Hazel decades ago. In ’69 Hurricane Camille dumped 25″s of rain as it stalled over our mountain communities. Friendly little creeks turned into raging monsters, washing away entire families and communities in the dark of night without warning. It pays for each of us to do a risk & hazard assessment to ID those harmful things that might, and likely will, impact us.
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James Mitchner, You are absolutely correct about traveling north through Florida during a mandatory evac. There arent many roads, as the everglades and the lake take up a good chunk of real estate.
I live in South Florida BTW.
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