I remember watching the news and seeing the devasting effects of Hurricane Irene. Homes being destroyed, people not having enough to eat, families being broken apart, and the catastrophic overall effects of lives being lost. I remember thinking to myself, “This can not be happening.” I instantly donated that day to the Red Cross and tried my best to help these people out in one of the worst catastrophes I saw in my 33 years thus far.
I remember taking a step back that day and realizing that in case of emergencies. one really should have a plan of action in case of emergencies. However, I had the mentality, that I would never live through a Hurricane so I kind of brushed off my action plans as an afterthought. That is till August 2012 rolled around and my home state of Rhode Island, was hit with a class 2 Hurricane.
We did receive notice of Hurricane warnings on the news so I ran out to get the necessary food and related toiletries items. However, I didn’t anticipate the true extent of what a Hurricane to do. We were without electricity for 8 days- that is correct- 8 long days! At this point, I had an almost 3 year old and a 6 month old. We ran out of batteries!! We ran out of milk!! We were not prepared for the major impact of the hurricane. The kicker of this all was there was no way to get out as the hurricane caused trees to block all entrances to major roads. We were stuck. Luckily, I did have a stash of emergency food supplies as well as powdered milk that I kept in my pantry.
There are great services out there such as Prepare Wise that will help you with all your long term food storage in case of those emergency situations. There are so many emergency situations that arise, that food is a second thought in your mind but a necessity, nevertheless. If there is a death in the family, a sick family member, a natural disaster- you tend not to worry about food. However, food is necessary for survival. Prepare Wise offers a wide array of sustainable long term food storage solutions. They make dehydrated and freeze-dried foods that are kept in airtight nitrogen packed Mylar pouches and can be kept in storage for 25 years. How great it is to know, that you will have food in case an emergency arises. These delicious and nutritious meals can be made in minutes and are encased in durable, stackable containers for ease of use.
It is so important to be prepared when an emergency arises. You can never be too prepared is now my new motto!
* This is a partnered post. All my opinions are my own and not swayed by outside sources.
We lived through last year's tornado hits in our area with a week of no electricity, so I agree, it's quite important to be prepared! Great post!
Great post, I remember this hurricane like yesterday! We live in Connecticut and I was 39 weeks pregnant!! Thank God I didn't go into labor and we didn't lose power! Our house was used by many to come in and shower/charge cell phones!!
95% of our town lost power…we were the 5% that didn't!! I did run out and grab batteries, candles, water, canned food items as well! It was scary! I like your motto that you can never be too prepared! That is for sure! Prepare wise has some great tips!
I was prepared. Hurricane Party at our house. Can you tell I live in Louisiana where we have a party for just about anything. Joking aside I felt real bad for what Irene did to everyone. It's great that you put this out there. It's good to be reminded of just how serious mother nature can be.
It is definitely important to be prepared, we were hit in Massachusetts also and we were struck by a tornado and the October snowstorm which was devastating. Many people in our area were without power for over a week. There was so much damage due to trees still having leaves on them. On the upside – we've had a nice mild winter so far….
We thankfully didn't sustain much damage after Irene but it sure was scary!
Being prepared is extremely important and something we try to work toward all the time. We really got hit with the flood this past summer. Hoping this year is better.
Thanks for the reminder…Spring will be coming and we never know what Spring will bring. Wisconsin I don't think has ever had a hurricane ..be we do have a tornado season. One of my projects next week will be to make sure all of our emergency items are in good condition. We have a shelf in the basement with everything..but I often forget to check to make sure everything works.
I was at a Blogging Conference in Washington, DC the weekend of Irene. On Monday of that week I was trying to come up with a way to get my two dogs to Washington with me because the Hurricane was supposed to hit Miami where I lived at the time. Then by Tuesday it was going to hit the middle of Florida and as I sat there watching the tracking it kept moving closer and closer to Washington. So many people decided not to attend or had to leave early to get back to their homes and family. People got stranded at the hotel after the Hurricane hit because the airports were closed further up the North East.
This is the topic I avoid thinking about, but know gotta be ready -Thank You for the reminder
Luckily being in the UK hurricanes are something we dont (yet) have to worry about!! Although your right about any emergencies happening and we all should be prepared. I can imagine people preparing themselves with all the material things to protect themselves and keep them going and then forgetting they have to eat aswell, something I would do, what a great idea to get round this problem.
We were so lucky not to loose power here. This sounds like a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
I am in Indiana, so I could only watch from afar. I did donate to the red cross both in money and in blood (which I do whenever my Iron lets me). But I had no idea how bad it actually was until they did a special on the news one year after it happened. My heart cried for those families. Such a terrible tradgedy
I am really not prepared for something like this. I need to be!
thank you for this reminder. This is something that I don't really think about until it happens! This makes me think.
Thanks for the reminder. Being "land locked" we've never experienced a hurricane, but we ALWAYS are on the watch for Tornado season.
These are things that everyone should have on hand. Being on the west coast, I am always on guard for the next big earthquake to hit. We always have a large supply of canned foods, charcoal for the bbq, and we make sure our water tank is always full. I was in the Landers quake of 1992, and we really learned to be prepared after that.
We had the rain storm type effects from this hurricane. My whole basement flooded and insurance didn't cover it. I live in the house owned by my mom but since she's "mom" we still pull our weight here as if we own it. We had to spend months to get the basement dry and the boys room was horrible down there, had to rip up carpet and still we haven't finished the floors – it's all sub flooring. Thankfully our upstairs was safe and we didn't have to find new shelter.
It's always good to be prepared. We keep lots of batteries and with my couponing, we always have a big stockpile of food. I should get some powdered milk though – thanks for the reminder!
Wow that must have been scary!
That's scary! We live in the Midwest, so we don't worry about hurricanes.. but tornadoes are crazy too! I definitely need to get my emergency stockpile built up.
I'm in the Midwest, too. We need to be prepared year round because we have tornadoes in the summer and huge snow storms in the winter. Of course, I'm not prepared…
Great post! We do not get the "Water/wind Storms" but we do get SNOW lots of snow. And we always make sure we have flashlights and plenty of food and water to get us through a couple days of being housebound.
I'm from the south; even with tons and tons of tornadoes every year, you can still get caught unprepared!
Here, here! My grandparents lost their lifelong home in Hurricane Katrina…they left everything thinking it was just another false alarm…they were wrong. We now have nothing of their's–no family history or family heirlooms and they were without a home for months and months trying to decide if they should stay in New Orleans or move elsewhere. We really all need to be prepared…even me who lives somewhere where nothing really happens…I guess someday somehow we could get a drought or something….
I definitely need to be more prepared in case of an emergency!
You can never be too prepared! Hurricane Isabel flooded our home and work
Luckily where we are, Hurricane Irene didn't do too much damage. The only scary thing was that we had an Earthquake a few days prior. Earthquake and hurricane in the same week? Headache!
I have been through every type of weather catastrophe but not an earthquake; tornados, hurricanes, blizzards, wind storms etc. It is so important to prepare for the worst because you just never know. Having supplies on hand for long term is necessary. Like you said 8 long days without electricity is frightening!
This is why I am so glad we live here in WA and won't ever have to deal with a hurricane.
Growing up in Houston, I've seen more hurricanes than I would like. It's a scary thing, but it's always good to be prepared!
I, thankfully, have never experienced a hurricane or any disaster of that magnitude, but I have recently started an emergency food and water supply for my family! It's a wonderful idea regardless.
We definitely were not ready for the week without power during Irene.
I live in Central FLorida so I understand the importance of Hurricane preparedness yet somehow I'm never prepared.
Lee
thank you so much for all you share, melissa! you always write about such important subjects.
i'm so sorry your family had to endure such a trying time. 8 days! i truly can't imagine!
it really does make you think.
gosh, if we had a hurricane, we'd have wine, condiments, pasta and sauce to live off of at the moment! eeks! lol
thank you again for sharing <3
xoxoxo
maria
I remember this, and all the precautions we took as well, but we were hit with minor damage. Girl, I could imagine what you went through! thank you for this post. xo