up comming Super storm......

[NSP64]

Other than going to do more than obammy to jump start the ecconomy, I was wondering about our members on the right coast and their preparedness for this.

I think I am going to start getting some long term food stores and was wondering if anyone has stored some and the best ones to get?

Seems like everyone sells them now, so the water has become cloudy.

Also, does anyone know how long tap water stores in containers before it becomes unusable?(city water, well water is there a diference in shelf life?)

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Tap water...
back during Y2K, I had several 5 gallon jugs of "City Chlorinated/treated" water stockpiled. A year later it had the same nasty/chemical flavor as when I put it in the jugs.

[Wayne Smith]

Not a big issue for us. We have rain and wind, maybe as much as 7" of rain and tropical storm force winds. Thanks to the wisdom of LOML we are out of all but the 5000 year flood zone, and all the area is in that one. Our kids (Son, daughter-in-law, grandson) are in Poquoson, an area that floods all the time. They are about 7 feet above mean sea level and that is about all it gets there. They have stocked up on food and moved their cars to higher ground. They just bought the house, this is their first storm. We'll see how it goes for them. For us it is hardly excitement.

[scb]

"They" are saying that there might not be power in some areas around here for election day. That should make things interesting.

[Olevern]

Got plenty of food and water, wood for the woodstove, candles and lanterns. And, I voted early. I'm good to go!

[keyhole]

To everyone in harm's way, I hope you get through this OK.

...from the left coast

Keyhole

[WILCO]

Also, does anyone know how long tap water stores in containers before it becomes unusable?(city water, well water is there a diference in shelf life?)

Read this link:

http://www.safetykitstore.com/bleaching.html

[WILCO]

Got plenty of food and water, candles and lanterns. I'm good to go!

Same here.

[292]

Wind and rain for us, not as much rain as I thought based on weather forecasts. Good day to play on the computer, maybe do some reloading and cook a pot of soup.

[gray wolf]

We are prepped 24/7 have to be.
As for the storable food we have some.
If any one wants info on good places to shop for long term rations, LRP, freeze dried,
dehydrated and MRE . PM me and Julie will steer you to some reputable dealers,
no connection here, she just knows the good places.

[cdet69]

We are far enough inland but not far enough. Last year hurricane Irene blessed us with over four feet of water in our basement. Hopefully we do not have the same problem or worse. Realy do not feel like having to put a new furnace in again. We havea sump pump but with Irene it just could not keep up with the volume of water.

[Bill*]

We've got some supplies and gear put aside, but if it's as bad as they say (it usually isn't) then we could be smacked pretty hard. I'm on the coast of NJ where it first juts out about 30 miles below NYC. (just east of Red Bank) We'll see.....

[Wayne Smith]

We are far enough inland but not far enough. Last year hurricane Irene blessed us with over four feet of water in our basement. Hopefully we do not have the same problem or worse. Realy do not feel like having to put a new furnace in again. We havea sump pump but with Irene it just could not keep up with the volume of water.

At least you have a basement! Very rare around here. If I dug a basement I'd have a swimming pool almost immediately. We almost always have lamps and oil and candles, at least two different ways to cook without electricity, and can and have lasted a week without it.

[koehn,jim]

Let me add my thoughts to those hoping the East coast comes thru this with minimal injuries and damage.

[imashooter2]

At ~80 miles inland and on high ground, the only thing I'm worried about is widespread power failures. We have food for a week easy, but probably not enough water. 3 days or so before we start getting uncomfortable.

Of course the neighbor has a pool and I have plenty of fuel to boil water...

[starmac]

Fill everything you have that will hold water, coolers,Ice chests, large pots, pressure cookers,etc. That is what we ever did anytime we had any kind of notice that power would be out and we depended on it for water.

In NM we had a late, wet heavy snowfall one year. It snapped over 3,000 lifgt poles. Some of the people in outlying areas had no storebought power for over 30 days.

[JeffinNZ]

Hold on tight guys and keep us updated.

[starmac]

Quakes and tsunamis on the west coast, hurricanes on the east coast, maybe somebody is telling us something about the upcoming election. Like maybe hold on for the ride.

[hiram]

just got back from gassing up, watering up, and a couple cases of soda. So it shouldn't be a total loss. my wife got 4 tops in Macy's so she could look good if we lose power.

I have to keep my knish happy.

[Bob Krack]

Water is THE most important internally used supply you can procure. I store five gallons of water in "Clorox" bleach bottles with just a few drops of bleach added. I also have more than one brand of water purification filters. If ya want the name brand, just holler.

As far as foods go, any foodstocks that just need water or just heated. In my case, tuna, Spam (or generics), rice, beans, canned soups and vegetables.

Please make certain you have a safe heat source.

3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food can be lethal.

Bob

[FISH4BUGS]

I am 25 miles inland. According to everything I can tell, we will get somewhere between 3-5 inches of rain in 24hrs, and a fair wind of about 60-75 mph. Gusts could be higher. I am going with 50mph winds with gusts to maybe 65. Any way you slice it, it is going to be a storm that will do some damage.
I have 50 gallons of fuel for the generator. Using it sparingly we could last a week or more. Run it 4 hours on and off 4 hours. During the last ice storm we got into a rhythm and made the fuel last.
Food is in the freezer and pantry. We ciould survive for a month if we had to. The freezer and refrigerator is stocked. The gutters are all cleaned of leaves. The generator is hooked up and ready to run. I tested it again this afternoon. Cars are gassed up to the top. Got the last of the fuel before they sold out.
The generator runs the well pump (240v - 600' deep well), the sump pumps, the furnace (propane fired) refrigerator, freezer and a number of circuits in the house. We have to cut back a bit when the power is off but we have plenty to survive quite nicely.
Heat, hot water food, propane stove, and all the drinking water needed. Lots of candles and lanterns, matches, flashlights, etc.
I actually have my casting furnace wired into the generator circuit so I could cast even if the power is out. (jeez....how's that for dedication to your hobby?) I cast during the Great Ice Storm 2009 when we had no power for almost 10 days. It does cause the generator to lug a little and use more fuel, but how long the power is out for determines whether or not I cast during the outage.
Gotta cnserve fuel. The big problem during the last Ice Storm was getting fuel. THAT was a bit unsettling.
I'll lose phones and internet. Crane weather radio ready to go. Otherwise we are really good to go. My friends know that they can come here if they lose power and water. The woman with chickens next door is welcome to water here if need be. She supplies us with eggs so we are happy to help her with the chickens.
I am just concerned that trees will come down, maybe endangering the house. Last storm brought down a maple that produced a cord of great firewood.
Bring it on.....we are ready......
Everyone stay safe.

[gray wolf]

Your bathtub will hold a lot of water in an emergency. We don't have one so we use clean containers. Don't worry we don't smell, got a shower.

[starmac]

Yep, we always filled the bathtub, if nothing else you can use it to flush with.

[Wayne Smith]

Jim, it looks like you and our West Virginia folks are looking at a white Halloween! Just saw that map on the news.

[tward]

Weather for my area is 6-10" rain, winds 40-50 with gusts to 75. Not too worried about water damage, I'm about 100 feet above the Genesee river and Lake Ontario, but loosing power is always possible. Got gas and water and canned food. I'll hope for the best! Good Lord willin and the crick don't rise! Thanks for all the good wishes and prayers. Tim

[MtGun44]

Who wants to bet that the reality will be much less of a problem than the hype?

Good luck all in the NE, but I expect that only flood prone areas and the extreme coast
will have much to sweat.

Bill

[FISH4BUGS]

Who wants to bet that the reality will be much less of a problem than the hype?

Good luck all in the NE, but I expect that only flood prone areas and the extreme coast
will have much to sweat.

Bill

MtGun44 (Bill):
I see that you live in eastern Kansas. I lived there for a number of years, at Fort leavenworth and Leavenworth. Graduated from Leavenworth High School in 1966.
We ALWAYS paid attention to the tornado warnings and severe weather warnings. The vast majority of times the storm missed us, but we did get hit a few times over the years. To NOT pay attention is foolish. I remember the names of a few communities that were devastated by a tornado while we were there.
I think you might be right, and I hope you are right, but we are prepared nontheless. I think we will have rain and wind. Winds look ike 50-75 mph range, but that may well keep up for two days. Even the strongest trees can give up after that kind of beating.
We have our fingers crossed.

[Jim]

Jim, it looks like you and our West Virginia folks are looking at a white Halloween! Just saw that map on the news.

Yup, started snowin' just a bit ago. Kinda' windy here, so it's all over the place, but I'm watchin' it through the east window.

[Sasquatch-1]

Here in the Eastern Panhandle of WV it has been a steady sprinkle of rain all night. At present winds are low.

By the look of the weather map it looks like the majority of the rain at present has headed right for the D. C. and surrounding areas.

My wife spent the night at here mother's house, which is about 5 miles outside the Capitol Beltway and had nothing serious there at this time. Of course the powers that be have shut down everything of significance in the D. C. area. Schools, govenrment offices, commuter rail and the like.

[gbrown]

As a life long resident of the Gulf coast area I have been through a few of these. None should be taken lightly. If you are not well prepared to sustain yourself and loved ones for at least 7 days, leave. That includes food, water, electricity, and especially medicines for serious medical conditions. No one can help you in the middle of the storm. I left for Rita, but stayed for Ike. The serious problems come from unforseen places, something you would never guess would happen. The high winds can cause tornado like action that will rip the tops out of trees and such. May God have mercy on those in harm's way, especially our first responders. Our prayers are with all of you.

[walltube]

From our family and friends here along the MS and Lower SE LA Gulf Coasts, we wish you all in Sandy's path, G-D's Speed and protection. To those living near shore's edge we do hope you have taken heed and headed inland to higher, safer ground. Katrina's storm surge pushed inland some five miles in Hancock and Harrison Counties, MS.

With best wishes and safe haven to all,

Wt.

[montana_charlie]

Here in Montana we don't have any worries from hurricane Sandy, however the winter storm that is supposed to make her more severe passed through here a few days ago.

A hurricane is something to be wary of, of course, but I get a kick out of how 'bad' everything is if it impacts the southern part of New England. The weather people on TV just can't stop wetting their drawers when anything bigger than a healthy sneeze is headed for the New York/Philadelphia/Washington D.C. 'glass jaw'.

I was just checking the wind readout on my wireless weather station to determine if it is worthwhile to do some target shooting.
While there, I checked the stored 'memory' for wind readings.

At 1041 on 2-12-11, the system recorded a gust of 86 mph.
You can be certain that little storm never made it to Foxnews ...

[starmac]

I have been through a lot of high winds in NM, Ks,Co, Ne,Wy, and all over the west. I was raised on the gulf coast, the two different kinds of wind are not comparable, there is a vast difference in swirling wind and the straight blows in the windy parts of the country.

[FISH4BUGS]

We lost power at about 3 pm today (eastern time). We are running off the generator now. We did NOT lose phone or internet (Metrocast Cable). That is the first time that has happened.
Trees down but not too bad overall. Rain comes in sheets......raining so hard you can't see, then it stops for 5 minutes. Wind maybe gusting to 50 mph now. Supposed to get a bit heavier wind tonight. Wind is out of the north but seems to be shifting to out of the east.
The house is rattling but she is a solid old girl. Original part of the house built in 1790, then added on in 1860 and again in 1905. All windows locked and tight as all get out. The first thing we did was replace all the windows with really good ones. New back door tightened up the house very well.
Hangin' in there. It may be a long night.

[30calflash]

It's 5:50 pm in central Ct. Raining, light to moderate. Winds have picked up throughout the day, gusting to 50-60 as best I can tell. Lights have been flickering over the last 15 minutes.

Some places are out of gas, will be leaving work shortly to drive a few miles home. My boss left earlier and said no problem with driving, just the wind.

[smokemjoe]

I guess we are so lucky in the mid west here, I pray you all do well, Joe

[Wayne Smith]

Here in Virginia my wife just got a call saying all State offices state wide are closed tomorrow. Not sure if I will have a schedule tomorrow. Seacost not to bad, I guess the snow in the west part of the state had some effect.

[montana_charlie]

I was raised on the gulf coast, the two different kinds of wind are not comparable, there is a vast difference in swirling wind and the straight blows in the windy parts of the country.
I was on the Gulf Coast for Betsy in 1965 and for Frederic in 1979.
I guess I know about hurricane winds.

CM

[starmac]

Then I reckon you know the difference, I hate them both. lol

[L1A1Rocker]

Other than going to do more than obammy to jump start the ecconomy, I was wondering about our members on the right coast and their preparedness for this.

I think I am going to start getting some long term food stores and was wondering if anyone has stored some and the best ones to get?

Seems like everyone sells them now, so the water has become cloudy.

Also, does anyone know how long tap water stores in containers before it becomes unusable?(city water, well water is there a diference in shelf life?)

I went with the Thrive brand dehydrated food. Most all the companies that have dehydrated food have some sort of pack like "3 month supply for two" or some such. I found however, that such packs are often weighted with stuff that is not very filling, like soups and powdered drinks. Also, they will sometimes play games with the portions to make their "packs" last longer on paper than they really will.

What I did was went through the Thrive site (it's very good in how it is divided up) and selected stuff that I would actually like and eat. The end was more $'s but I didn't get stuck with a bunch of soup that would not fill me for any length of time. This also alows you to set up meals rather than an all in one goop kind of stuff.

Another advantage of doing it that way is it allows you to put away the things needed for baking, frying, and living some sort of normal eating habit. Of course this is more catered to "bugging in" rather than "bugging out".

Also, don't buy stuff from these companies that you can put away yourself. Beans, rice, wheet berries, spices, etc can all be vacume packed (with O2 scrubbers) in mylare bags and sealed in 5 gallon buckets. OH, and don't forget the salt!

[starreloader]

Sitting here waiting for the back half of Sandy to get here... Center of the storm is with us now, and the back half is suppose to be here betweem midnight and 1am... A lot of rain all day today, some gusty winds but no damage that I know of... Suppose to be getting alot more rain and much more in the way of gusty winds later tonight into tomorrow morning... Have plenty of water, food and gasoline if things turn bad.

[L1A1Rocker]

Sorry, forgot the water question. When I was in an appartment down in Corpus I had a 55 gl food grade water barrel. I bought it in 99 at the garden center of the local super Wallyworld for around 25 bucks. IIRC I treated that with 3 tablespoons (uncented) bleach. It was kept inside as part of my hurricane supplies. I rotated that water out every 5 years.

Now that I'm up in the hill country I've got a 1500 gal rain water collection tank. I'm not treating that water as it is used in the garden. I'm planning on a .02 micron water filter system for it should I ever need it for drinking water.

Edit to add: I also keep 30 gallons of stabilized gasoline on hand.

[badge176]

I'm "temp on-call, intermitent" employee with Fed DHHS - Security Spec. for a Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) which is at it's most rugged a Tent Emergency Dept. with Doc, RNs, RTs, EMTs and a pharmacy. At it's most relaxed, it's a "surge relief" for hospitals impacted either directly by storm or by influx of displaced persons (especially all the hospital and nursing home folks who get moved out of the storm's path).

As with all government service it's a lot of "Hurry up & Wait".

We are on 4- hour alert to have bags packed and be ready to report to area Airport to depart on call. Depends on weather and if hospital infrastructures are distressed or damaged.

Meanwhile I got the Jack-O-Lanterns carved with the kids in case i gotta go before Halloween, and damn all if my Deer season doesn't open on this coming Sat!!!:groner: We get sent for a max of 2 weeks, often less if area rebounds well (NOL after Katrina did NOT rebound rapidly)...

[L1A1Rocker]

Sitting here waiting for the back half of Sandy to get here... Center of the storm is with us now, and the back half is suppose to be here betweem midnight and 1am... A lot of rain all day today, some gusty winds but no damage that I know of... Suppose to be getting alot more rain and much more in the way of gusty winds later tonight into tomorrow morning... Have plenty of water, food and gasoline if things turn bad.

Glad you are prepared. I hope you've got some solid neighbores and won't have to defend what you've got.

[imashooter2]

Well so far the heaviest of it has passed just south and west of us. But we thought we were out of Irene unscathed before a late Sunday gust put a maple through the roof. I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch this time.

[starreloader]

Been prepped for sometime now.. You can call it being ready for anything that comes along..

5 of my immediate neighbors are all prior military people... And for some reason we all kinda of think alike.... 2 Airforce, 1 Army, 2 Navy and the me.... And all of us are "pissed" about what happened in Libya ( not making a political statment here)

[gbrown]

Been prepped for sometime now.. You can call it being ready for anything that comes along..

5 of my immediate neighbors are all prior military people... And for some reason we all kinda of think alike.... 2 Airforce, 1 Army, 2 Navy and the me....

There you go. It's a mindset, like a bug out bag (BOB). You gotta think of all angles, everything you might need, like water, food, etc. 2 days before Ike, I had a 5KW generator, 20 gallons of gas, oil, a chainsaw, tarps, food, and all the tools I needed to survive. After Ike passed, I noticed a problem with my elderly neighbors roof (they had evacuated). A 12 inch tree top went right through the center of their roof. Another neighbor and I removed it and covered the area with a tarp. Lucky we did, the next night a front moved through with a half inch of rain. I took digital pictures of the damage for their insurance claim. I emptied their refrigerator and freezer (with their permission) and took all the food to the local fire station to use. (They were very grateful, as they had a bunch of MRE's) Went back into the house during down time and cleaned the floor of water and such, later. Had to drive 60 miles 2 days later for gasoline.

[Sasquatch-1]

Well, It looks like I survived so far basically unscathed. Have not been out to check the siding and gutters and shingles but the rook is still on and the electricity didn't go out.

I hope I am not speaking to soon.

After looking at the weather radar this morning it looks like the center of the rotation of the storm has moved down to D. C. so I am hoping we don't get another strong wind storm if it passes over.

[Jim]

No power loss here. It's a wonder, what with how the wind howled all night. That would explain why it snowed all night and there's none on the ground. It's all in the next county!

I wonder if my shooting table and target stand went through somebody's window across the river.

Forecast for today is 100% snow, high winds and 40*. Lovely.

[Pb Burner]

We did ok here, light rain and windy, nothing severe. Power loss was our biggest concern after the wind storm we had in june. Snowing out now but not much expected here.
I hope everyone that got hit hard gets through it as safely and painlessly as possible.
Tonight is trick-or-treat here and my 3 1/2 year old grand daughter has really been looking forward to it. Wind chills predicted in the 20's this eve. I think she is going to be bummed out.

[FISH4BUGS]

10:45 a.m. on Tuesday. Overnight winds at 60-70 mph. No real damage here. Trees down and laying across the road and took down wires but no structural damage whatsoever.
Flooding at the coast. Power is out. Public Service says out for maybe two to three days. No biggie. Generator provides enough electricity for the casting area (you don't think I would forego my casting and reloading would you? - priorities you know), heat, lights, water, freezer, fridge, sump and septic pumps. Just a minor inconvenience at this point. 50 gallons of stabilized gas in the barn so we are set.
For some bizarre reason, we have phones and Internet but no power. I'll take that any time!

[imashooter2]

Looks like our luck held. Everything heavy went south and west of the homestead. Just checked all the structures. One bit of loose siding and the rain gutter in the same area needs to be rehung. I call that pretty light damage.

A very good friend has a house in Brigantine, NJ. I heard that the ocean met the bay down there. I hope he comes out alright.

[imashooter2]

I just got back from the PO and a little ride around the area (SW Philly suburbs). Minor flooding in the usual areas but nothing extensive. Lots of small branches and leaves in the roadways. Very slick conditions. Saw a couple of large limbs down and one road closed with a power pole leaning about 30 degrees across it. I didn't see any major structure damage.

Yep. We were pretty lucky.

[Ramar]

My house is usually 100+ yards to the ocean on an island in the Atlantic but now it's in my shop under my house. I didn't evacuate; wind forecast was less than 100mph. Planned for 3 foot of water in the shop and only got 2 foot. Pictures of shop/ garage at 1foot level. I've had worse, in '93 when I lost everything in the shop. That was $100K and flood insurance didn't cover any of it. I had 2 gun safes and 30K ammo go under then and didn't get them opened for over 30 days. It wasn't pretty when opened. That was a big minor heartbreak.(everybody was safe then and now!)

Ramarhttp://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_21540509108edc35a9.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7225)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_21540509108edc35a9.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7225)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_21540509117a8e6aba.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7227)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_21540509117a8c9dc7.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7226)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_215405091191c17f00.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7228)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_21540509119c56bb31.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7230)

[imashooter2]

A collection of pictures from the UK's Daily Mail. Makes me realize just how lucky I was.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2225112/Superstorm-Sandy-Death-toll-hits-FIFTY-damage-set-50BILLION.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter