Preparing For a Hurricane
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Preparing For a Hurricane: Day 1
Hurricane. Just the sound of that word elicits groans from the residents of Southwest Florida. When a hurricane is approaching, there is so much work that has to be done at the last minute in order to prepare. Residents of the Gulf Coast of the US have to keep an eye on the weather during August and September, which are the most likely months to spawn a hurricane.
Correct Hurricane Preparation
A hurricane kit
When we first moved to Florida, 16 years ago, we attended a “Hurricane Seminar.” These are put on by the local TV stations and are usually held in the auditorium of one of the local high schools.
We learned that the correct way to prepare for a hurricane is to assemble a hurricane kit. You take a new garbage can and stock it with canned goods, bug spray, cash, batteries, flashlights, a battery radio, a first aid kit and water. Then you close it and seal it all up with duck tape.
The cars should be filled with gas and you should have plenty of tarps and roofing nails. Just in case.
This should be done by June 1, which is the start of hurricane season. Every 2 years, you change out the cans and water and reseal the garbage can.
How The Locals Prepare For a Hurricane
Well after 16 hurricane seasons, we consider ourselves to be locals, by which we mean hurricane slackers. Here is how the locals prepare for a hurricane. When we hear that a hurricane is approaching, we go to the supermarket and buy up all the water and bleach. We aren’t really sure why we need the bleach, but we all get some. We also get some canned goods, even though we no longer know where the manual can opener is now living.
Then we try to find the lanterns we have stored and we dump out the dead batteries. Next, we go to the pharmacy and buy batteries which we forgot to get at the supermarket. Oh yes, and ice.
After that, we go and sit in a long gas line where all the other hurricane slackers are trying to fill their gas tanks. Then just before the hurricane hits, we put up the storm shutters- a job that takes approximately a bazillion hours because we can’t remember how they go on.
( An exhausted Floridian who is beaming with pride because he got all his hurricane shutters to go on the right way. He probably started last month.)
Since we have no basements here, most of the locals use their garages for storage and frantically try to make room to put at least one car in the garage along with all the stuff from the lanai (AKA porch) like barbeque grills and lawn chairs. Since we can get both cars in the garage thanks to my husband’s creativity, we put our lanai stuff in the living room.
With the hurricane shutters up and grills and stuff all over the living room, we run into things a lot in the dark. But it’s all ok because we are now prepared for the hurricane.
Blessings,
Marty
PS Want to learn how to write blog posts like this one? Want to make money from your blog posts? Check out the Ten Ten Formula training. The most cutting edge marketing training on the internet.
PPS Click here for a video which explains more about the Ten Ten Formula
Marty Simons is an internet marketer, mentor, blogger and trainer. She’s a Christ-Follower, the happy wife of Ross and is also a professional singer and songwriter. She has a passion for helping others start successful internet marketing businesses. Click here to find out more about The Empower Network, a new “done for you” platform for internet marketers.