In April of 2011, my area was hit by a tornado. It was a very scary day to live thru and it has taught me the importance of being prepared.
One thing that is very important to have is an emergency box. This can be a tote under the bed, a cabinet in the kitchen, a bag in the closet. Whatever you have to store items in that you need to get to quickly in thunderstorm, tornado warning or power outage will work. These aren’t items that you need to sustain your family for days on end, it’s just items you need to get use during a storm (about up to 5 hours worth).
In that box, you need the following items (feel free to add to my list):
- Candles
- Matches or 2 lighting sticks (in case one doesn’t work)
- Flashlight with extra batteries
- A corded home phone (if all you have is operation in your home are cordless phones)
- Water
- Snacks
- Emergency radio (I purchased this one on Amazon)
- Shoes (or put your shoes on as soon as you know there is a tornado warning)
Also if you are under a tornado warning, put bicycle helmets on your kids to protect them from falling debris.
Don’t depend on your smart phone to help you keep track of the weather. During the tornado, 3G and 4G were knocked out. Our cable was out. Our power was out. We blind to the direction of the storm. Lesson learned. We now have a hand crank radio.
If you want to take it a step further, I suggest you purchase a tarp or two and a ladder. Those 2 things were impossible to find in our area after the tornadoes hit. You might also want to stock up on bottled water, easy to make foods and batteries.
If you are new to Couponing, you might want to take a moment to read more in my Getting Started Couponing series.
Everyone has great ideas. I am horrible about doing this. I should get on the ball!!!
As an Emgergency Management Specialist, I have had the opportunity to help lots fo families and businesses build these kits. Here are some must have items:
It is IMPERATIVE that there is medical information for each family member. The information should include chronic illnesses, allergies, and prescribtion medicine informations such as name, dose, and frequency it should be taken.
Add some cash to the kit. When the power goes out, ATM and credit card machines will not work.
If you store all of your phone numbers in your cell phone, you will not have them if the battery dies and you can not charge it. Add a list to your kit!
Don’t forget your family pets! Stash some food away just in case. I always keep a leash for each dog and the cat carrier stored close to the front door in case we have to leave in a hurry. No matter where you live, create a plan for what you will do with your pets in case you have to evacuate. Do not assume that emergency workers will take care of them or that you will be returning in a matter of hours.
Finally, create a family disaster plan and make certain that every family member knows it and you practice it!
This one is expensive, but after we were hit hard with a hurricane two years ago, we invested in a chainsaw. You’d be surprised how hard one is to find when you need it.
Living in Northwest Indiana we often get hit with snowstorms that knock the power out, so when winter gets close I always make sure we arestocked up on the no power items and make sure all our blanket are ready. Make sure we have canned food and a can opener,and those hand/foot warmers.. We also make sure there are things to keep the kids occupied. We also make sure we have a snow pack in the car incase we get stuck on the road(last year I got stuck in a drift for 3 hours on my way home from work, never did make it home for 3 days and was only about 10 minutes from home) I keep a shovel,blanket, pillow, food, water(even though it may freeze I can warm it up with the warmers), hand/feet warmers. This year I am putting a zero gravity chair in my car so that if I get stuck at work(we had 2 storms last year where we had people stay at work for like 3 days) I can take it into the locker room and sleep instead of trying to sleep in the dirty mill.
We keep bicycle helmets, shoes, and a radio in our safe place. That way they are already there and we don’t have to look for them.
I just got a battery operated 7″ digital TV to help me keep track of the weather during a power outage. I have a weather radio but during an outage last summer I really wanted to see the RADAR. We live in the boonies & I wanted to know where the storm was & where it was heading in relation to me.
I might suggest a battery free flashlight. These usually have L.E.D. bulbs and never need batteries……to restore power to them all you have to do is shake them. There is also an app. or a service that I saw on the national news. I cannot remember the name of it, but perhaps someone with mad googling skills can find it. This service will keep texting and trying to call your family, in the event of an emergency (tornado, earthquake, etc) to let them know you are okay. I forgot exactly how it works, but something along the lines of they have a computer system that will keep trying and trying until they can get a connection to let relatives know. I do believe it is a nationwide service. Insurance information (card or copy of card) (homeowners) and medical insurance info in the emergency kit might be helpful. A motorcycle helmet with a face shield would probably be even better than a bike helmet, but most people probably don’t have a motorcycle helmet.
We have crank flashlights in our box. At menards they are often free or really cheap after rebates.
Whenever we get a severe storm/tornado warning I make sure everyone had tennis shoes on and keeps them on until it is over. I also keep a cheap pair in with our emergency kit if something happens during the middle of the night, so that if we were to get hit I would not have to try find shoes to get us to safety.
A good place to get tarps is Harbor Freight. I wanted to have a few for hurricane season and was able to get 5 for under $10 with a coupon.
Our newspaper gives out 20% off a single item coupon every week. We’ve used those to get a discount on tarps when they weren’t on sale.
Lindsay is right that you need 72 hours worth of items-why? The government has said that it will take them up to 72 hours to reach any disaster area, so we should be prepared to fend for ourselves for that long. You can check out http://www.ready.gov for lots of good information and tips. When we lost power and water for a week (some were out longer) in October, bottled water and MRE’s were not given out for 72 hours. There is so much information out there on the web about being prepared. Thanks for getting people to think about this Kristen!
That’s a good point. I think tomorrow I’ll cover what you should have in your disaster stockpile.
Having a 72 hour kit for each family member is a great way to be prepared.
Use backpacks for easy carrying (super cheap at Goodwill, etc.) and put in change of clothes, flashlight, “comfort items” like small toys, duplicate of fave blanket, books, cheap mp3 player, water and food for 3 days. (cereal boxes, energy bars, dried fruit, etc.) Adults should include cash, meds, etc. Easy to grab-and-go in an emergency.