Local CHTF: Why Prepare

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There are a lot of people that make fun of preppers. That is until something happens that shows just how important preparedness can be. There are tons of people that believe that all preppers are worried about a global or national calamity. While there are a few that are focused only on the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI), most are just interested in making sure their family is able to weather whatever is thrown at them. Many in the preparedness world call it SHTF. I like to keep my blog and podcast as close to rated G as possible. So what does CHTF mean? It means the Crap has Hit The Fan. This doesn't have to occur to everyone at once or even the same way, as you will see.

Local disasters are much more likely to occur than a world changing event. Local disasters can change a person's life just as dramatically as a national event. How we prepare and react to localized emergencies determine our outcomes. I am going to tell you a story of how an event can change the lives of some and leave others completely unscathed.

Wednesday December 23 the weather people were calling for severe storms. Luckily I was at home and didn't have to work. My wife was at work, but things didn't get bad till after she arrived home. The storms came and there wasn't much damage where we were. There was damage further north and further south. We were right in the middle and all of the really bad stuff just parted around us. We were blessed. There were people who lost a lot. Some even lost everything. If that were the end of the story that would be bad enough, but it was only getting started.

The severe weather as far as tornadoes and straight line winds had passed, but the rain remained and boy did it remain. We had three straight days of heavy downpours mixed with breaks in the rain. The ground was already saturated, so there was no place for all of this water to go except to build up and start running to anywhere and everywhere that was lower than where it started out.

Remember this started the day before Christmas Eve. Lots of people were traveling to visit family and friends. Christmas Eve we saw more rain, but we were able to go visit family and get home without any incidents.  Christmas day was when the troubles started. We woke up and fixed our breakfast. All of our gifts had already been given with the exception of the nephews. My sister in law came over with one of the boys. While she was here is when the real rain hit. Now I want to tell you, we knew it was going to rain, but no one could predict what the outcome would be.

The first flash flood warning came just before 3 pm. My sister in law stayed a while thinking that she could wait till the rain passed and then go home. Nope. The warnings just kept coming and kept being extended. She finally decided that she was going to try to go home. We decided that we would follow her. She had to make three or four detours to be able to reach her home. At this time is when we received the news that several counties where closing roads. Again luckily we live on a hill and if we see flooding things are really bad for a lot of people, but getting home was another matter.

We were able to get home without too much trouble. Again we were blessed, others weren't so lucky.

Now you may be wondering why I am talking about this at all. Here is the reason. There were people who couldn't get home and there are people who can't leave home. Not only that, there are some people who don't have a home to which they can go. Every part of a preparedness plan is applicable to someone in this event. Those who can't go home needed to have a backpack or as many people call them a bug out bag. Those who can't leave home need to have food storage. And those whose homes are now underwater needed to have an evacuation plan as well as a backpack and several possible routes planned.

For many this is not a short term event. It is not over today and it won't be tomorrow. There are several that will be dealing with the effects of this storm for weeks, if not longer. So you see preparedness is not just about the zombies marching to the human buffet line. It is about things that happen every single day.

Have a plan for each of these possibilities. As you can see it is not paranoia, it is being responsible.

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Getting Prepared for Beginners #11 Travel and Communication

Before we get started I really hope you are enjoying and learning from this series. I hope at the very least it has gotten you started thinking about being more prepared for the things that we are most likely to face. I always appreciate your feedback.

In this edition we will be covering travel and communication. So, something has happened. A tornado, flood, wildfire, hurricane, earthquake, or something. Something that given a little time things will get back to normal. You are alive and hopefully uninjured. You have your basic supplies ready. Now what?

Once something has happened or even started to happen a decision must be made. Are you going to shelter in place or evacuate? In most situations nearly all of us would prefer to shelter in place, but there are times that this is just not an option.

Travel

The reasons a person might want or even be required to evacuate ttheir homes are many and vary in severity. You could be required to evacuate your home because of a gas line leak, a semi truck wreck that is now spilling chemicals, plus all of the natural disasters that we have talked about. With so many reasons that could happen it is best to have a plan.

If you will look at the examples I have given you will see that zombies are not listed. These are things that happen somewhere everyday. If you have to flee your home, know in advance where you would go. Depending on the situation you might want to simply go to a hotel or spend time with family until the event is over. No matter what your choice,  everyone in the family needs to know what your plans would be. Directions and meeting places should always be understood.

We have a great example of the need for planned meeting places. If something were to occur we would most likely go to either my dad's or my wife's aunt's. Two different directions entirely. It needs to be understood by everyone where we will be going. It would not be good for my wife and I to go one way and our children to go another.

Even if we are all headed to the same location odds are high that we may be at different locations when such an event occurs. If my wife and I are both at work and the children are at school each of us will have to take a different path. From my work to my dad's is 22 miles. From the kids school it is 34 miles to my dad's. My wife's work is 43 miles from my dad's. If something were to happen we would all be traveling different paths to reach the same destination. At some point along the way we have a meeting place. This keeps us from going the entire way and then having to turn back in search of a member of our family.

Note: While writing this I realized an area in which I have fallen short on our  evacuation plan. Each vehicle should have maps with clear directions from all of the various places that person might be and have meeting places clearly marked. I will be fixing this for us this weekend.

Communication

Communication will be critical to ensure that every member of your family arrives safely at the same place. Problem is when you are desperately trying to get in touch with your loved ones so is everyone else in your area. This massive increase of traffic will quickly overwhelm communication lines.

This problem is not new. I remember the recorded message on the telephone "We're sorry all circuits are busy now.Please try your call again later". The same situation occurs now with our cellular phones.

There are several ways that you can try to stay in touch with family members. I am going to cover a few with the benefits and drawbacks of each.

Ham radio: Ham radio can have incredible range. It does not have to have a high cost of access is you are handy with electronics, but if you are not it can get a little pricey and quick.

Benefits: DC powered units are the norm so if the power goes out you are still able to communicate. Excellent long range capability, this means you can get news about what is going on from outside your general area.

Drawbacks: Unless in a real emergency you must have an FCC license to operate a ham radio. The units that have long range ability are not very portable. The portable units cannot pull long range.

CB Radio: also called citizen band. CB is not regulated so anyone can use it.

Benefits: Very portable. Low cost of entry. No need for large antenna. No need for license. Very easy to use.

Drawbacks: No privacy (there is little way to avoid someone listening in on conversations). Short range two miles is a really good reach. Some channels can be very congested.

Two Way Radios: You know the ones, they look like small walkie talkies and claim a range "up to 42 miles".

Benefits: small and very portable. If you get the rechargeable ones and you have an inverter you have unlimited power. Decent range of up to about 5 miles depending on terrain. Due to the fact that these have several channels and each channel has sub frequencies you can be fairly sure to have  a good level of privacy. I love these for hunting or large events where people could get separated. In fact the set above is on my want really bad list.

Drawbacks: not a long enough range for all of our needs. If someone has a scanner they might be able to listen into your conversation. Really that is about all I have negative to say about these radios.

All of the devices I mentioned above are backup systems. For most people the primary source of communication is their cellular or mobile phone. In our family we are no different. We did away with a land-line telephone long ago. But as I said before, just when communication is needed most is when everyone else is trying to get in touch with someone too. How do you use a cell phone to maximize the probability of keeping up with your family?

We have already covered how the circuits can get so jammed with traffic that getting a call through to someone is just a shot in the dark. I have heard that the cell service was locked up in a town after a major sporting event, just imagine how much more the call traffic would be in the event of a major storm.

Text Message: Everyone seems to be texting now a days. There is even a whole new language that has been developed by texters. But the truth is sending a text message takes up a lot less bandwidth than a call. Based on my research it takes 290 text messages to equal a 1 minute call. That dramatically increases the likelihood that your message will go through.

Email: An email takes up a little more bandwidth than a text message, but it has one major advantage. Any email that is composed goes into the outbox folder and just sits there until there is enough bandwidth available to transmit. This is a way to insure that your message gets sent. It may take some time, but your family will receive the information.

My List: Call first. If I am unable to get a call through after a couple of tries then text. If text fails a couple of times then email and wait 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes have passed, check to make sure the email has been moved to the sent folder. If the email is in the sent folder your family member will receive it when they have enough bandwidth to receive.

Like I said I really want the two way radios, but they are really more for communication within the less than 5 mile range. Have a predetermined channel and sub channel that your family will use. Actually have at least 3 and make sure you family knows what order to tune in which channel. Once you know your family is on the way you can keep checking with the two way so you know when they are close. 

I hope this has gotten you thinking about what you would do in the event that you couldn't go home. If you will start working on a plan with your family you will be helping to insure that all of the members of your family are safe and make it to where you are. I want you all to be able to realize your

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More Posts in this series:

#1 Why Prepare

#2 The Preparedness Mindset

#3 Priorities List

#4 Getting to My Family

#5 The Backpack

#6 Food Storage

#7 Basic Energy

#8 Water
#9 Security
#10 Medical
#11 Travel and Communications
#12 Fuel Storage
#13 Keep It Quiet aka OPSEC
#14 Building Community and Helping Others
#15 Skill Development (Home)
#16 Don't Fear the Reaper

#17 A Case for Long-Term Preparedness

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