We Are... Safe And Sound Emergency and Disaster Community » Blizzards

Building to Withstand Hurricanes

abrown — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:46:29 +0000

ScienceDaily (June 7, 2010) — Rima Taher, an expert in the design of low-rise buildings for extreme winds and hurricane, hopes her phone won’t ring much this hurricane season. It’s already been busy with requests for information about best building design and construction practices to reduce wind pressures on building surfaces. Read the remainder of Building to Withstand Hurricanes.

Amazing Survival Story or Need for Preparedness?

Guest Blogger — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:31:00 +0000

http://tinyurl.com/yhx6ufw

It is always difficult to criticize as an armchair quarterback but the only way others learn sometimes is by example.

This story on Fox News 2-18-10 about a fellow named Jason Pede on a business trip stranded 73 hours on a snowpacked Colorado road because of a wrong turn or bad directions is a good example. We are relieved he made it out alive....let us use his example to help others.

Some background:
Pede was operating a Lincoln Navigator - A large SUV with plenty of room. He was a professional driver by trade. He was admittedly out of shape and only had high sugar content soda and sugar wafers in his car for food. He was given directions on the road that may have been wrong and his GPS may have provided incorrect directions as well.

Pede was 7 miles away from any assistance when he became stranded and no one knew where he was. His wife lost contact with him as his cell phone battery may have died out or was out of range or both. He got his truck stuck in hood high snow when he tried to turn around.
His decision to not walk out (ok decision actually) was because Mr. Pede was out of shape (not a good decision). He managed to make fire "during the day"which melted his truck panels.

He "survived" by drinking Mountain Dew and eating Sugar Wafers until he ran out of gas for his truck. He then decided to walk out to seek help. Was he lucky?

As we have repeated here for 5 years....knowledge in an emergency is critical. More so than high tech gear.

He admitted now if he knew to only run his vehicle 10 minutes per hour to stay warm he would have conserved fuel and could have stayed in the truck.

Critique:
Ok. What might YOU have done differently?
Some of these items below may have been in play already. We have detailed these in a training memo last year which is on the website.....

Some suggestions:
Notified someone (wife in this case) of your new route via cell phone.
Mark Route on paper so contact knows it - and so rescuers can start an effective search
Carried at least one emergency evacuation/survival kit on board.
Flares/Lithium Powered LED FlashLights or Headlamps
Spare Batteries/Chargers
Aerial Flares/Rescue Strobe Light (Marine or Military- not toy versions)
Survival Food for 3 days - minimum
Water 2 1/2 gals - not sugar loaded soft drinks
First Aid Kit
Alternate Heat/Cooking Gear - Alcohol Based OK
Survival Candles - Long Duration High Density - Can be used for Cooking /Heat
Backpack
Sleeping Bag or Mylar Reflective Blankets - 1 per occupant
Parachute Cord
Survival Knife
Spare Warm Clothing Appropriate for Inclement Weather - Hats/Gloves
Portable Shelter (aka Tent/Tarp)
Snowshoes/Boots
Shovel
Tire Chains as required by State Law in many instances
Road Map
Firearm for Protection if licensed
Been in Better Physical Condition
Don't rely on your phone as your only survival tool.
Left an emergency survival manual in this large vehicle.
This would have been an actual bonified good opportunity for using OnStar (GM still knocks those of us who can't afford it and are personally prepared using ICE)

We will add more as we go forward...... He could have stayed put with this gear.

Lessons Learned From an Ice Storm, by G. in the Zarks

Guest Blogger — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:28:50 +0000

While watching the local weather over the last few days, it has become apparent that a winter storm is heading for our part of the world, bringing with it the distinct possibility of not just snow, but significant amounts of ice. As I pondered this, it brought to mind our recent experiences with ice storms over the last few years, most notably in January 2007. I thought some of our “lessons learned” were worth sharing with others. We had been blessed with several years of reasonably mild winters leading up to the 2007 storm. Unfortunately, the good times often seem to lull people into a state of complacency, characterized by an artificial sense of well-being and overall lack of awareness. This is, of course, what the late Colonel Cooper referred to as Condition White. Read the remainder of Lessons Learned From an Ice Storm.

Preparing Your Organization for Disasters, by N.C.L.

Guest Blogger — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:08:05 +0000

Where will you be when the earthquake happens? The tornado? The riot? The terrorist strike? The (fill in the blank). If you work or go to school, you spend about 40 hours every week in a non-home environment. Probably more if you count commute time, shopping, recreation, library time, extra-curricular activity time, and so forth. Even if you are a serious prepper, that means about 25% or more of your time each week is spent in environments away from your primary support systems. That also means that there is about 1 chance in four that a disaster will happen while you are in one of these other environments. You will have access to what you have with you and what someone (employer, school, etc.) has put in place for you in such emergencies. Having been employed for 40 years and a student for 20+ years before that I can tell you these other environments have virtually nothing in place to provide for the survival, let alone comfort, of those on premises. Read the remainder of preparing your organization for Disasters.

Winter Survival! 10 Essentials You Should Never Leave Home Without.

Guest Blogger — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:42:00 +0000

As I sit down to write this short article, it is 23 degrees outside in Austin, Texas, with an overnight low forecasted to hit a record-breaking 15 degrees; the television is humming in the background with non-stop chatter about the winter blast that is sweeping the central and eastern United States and trapping hundreds of motorists in white-out conditions, and there are reports of unseasonably cold weather from around the globe. So far more than a dozen deaths have been attributed to the harsh cold of what will no doubt go down as one of the most frigid winters in record. And we are only two weeks into the official winter of 2010… Read the remainder of Winter Survival!