Last week’s highly unusual (for Texas) weather led to me getting some use out of various emergency precautions. For the most part everything went smoothly, with no serious problems. The power was out for 75 hours, but the water never stopped working. I did learn a few things which will help me prepare for the next emergency situation, though.
1. Have at least a few days worth of food that doesn’t taste terrible when eaten cold. Just a few weeks before the storm I’d replaced two cases of Mainstay Emergency Food Rations with freeze dried food from Mountain House. The freeze dried food lasts six times as long, and tastes better as well. However, if weather conditions keep you from going outside to boil water, freeze dried food rehydrated with cold water tastes terrible. I ended up a ordering a few days worth of the Mainstay food just for situations where freezing rain prevents use of the grill.
2. Make sure you know where all your emergency equipment is, even if you’re sure you won’t need it. It took me a day to figure out where my warm wool cap had gotten to, and my sleeping bag had gone missing entirely during a previous move. The lack of a sleeping bag was the biggest source of discomfort, as even warm blankets just aren’t as comfortable for sleeping in the cold. Ironically, some of the equipment that I had expected to need (my Katadyn water filter and AN/PVS-14) remained unused.
3. Make sure you have a way to power all the electronics you’ll need. I used a Voltaic 19.2Ah battery pack and 10W solar panel to keep my Kindle, iPad Mini, and a couple of neighbors’ cell phones charged. However, I hadn’t thought to buy adapter cables to use it with my fifteen year old handheld radios. I had to use them very conservatively so that I wouldn’t be out of power if I really needed one. My HF radio was useless as it simply can’t be run from the battery pack. That was somewhat embarrassing as I have a huge, awkward HF field antenna that I keep around for just this sort of situation.
4. Be prepared for flooding from burst pipes. This wasn’t a problem in my apartment complex (built in the 1970s), but the neighboring complex (owned by the same company) is one of those modern big ugly box type complexes and their fire sprinkler pipes burst and flooded most the building. A good ground cloth and tent would probably be sufficient for camping out in a flooded apartment, or else outside the building if the water is too deep.
5. If you drive, buy tire chains and learn how to put them on. There were an awful lot of abandoned minivans on the sides of Austin roads due to unprepared drivers. Chains are so cheap that there’s really no reason not to have a set in your vehicle.
