Emergencies are happening all around us—Hurricanes, wildfires, of course, a Pandemic. This time of year always brings the hurricanes, but also needing to be prepared for a pandemic is even more stressful. And earlier this week, in my city of New Orleans we were facing two potential hurricanes in the gulf at the same time. And as the devastation from Hurricane Laura, which hit Louisiana on Thursday, becomes clear, it leaves most of us thinking about emergency preparedness.
If you check out my emergency planning post here EMERGENCY PLANNING-PART ONE, you will see where I discuss trying to be prepared for so many facets of emergency planning including—having a family emergency plan, emergency contacts, a grab and go kit, your vital documents file, computer back-ups, a lights-out kit, and I also go through my emergency planner.
I spent the better part of this year so far putting together an emergency center in the garage to make sure I was ready for any COVID-related issues, including some kind of second wave in the fall/winter. But then, here come the hurricanes……
Emergency Center
Earlier in the spring I was determined not to be caught off guard again by COVID-19 again. We had gone on a cruise the last week in February and by the time we go back home, unpacked, and settled in, the sh*t had already started to hit the fan. Okay, lesson learned. The things I needed were not ANY of the items I had prepped for my other emergencies. Therefore, I cleaned off a shelf in my garage and got busy. Here’s the shelf now:
My goal is for this one shelf to include all supplies for any and all emergencies that may arise. The items on the shelf include:
• Toilet Paper• Paper Towels• Kleenex• Clorox• Pine-Sol• Box of Gloves• Box of Masks• Hand Sanitizer• 2 bottles of Soap• 2 Bottles of Laundry Detergent• Bottled Water• Wise Emergency Food Supply• 4 Camping Lanterns• First Aid Kit• Virus Kit• NOAA Weather Radio• Flashlights• Emergency phone charger• Can opener• Ziploc Bags• Trash Bags• Maps (can’t rely on GPS and cell service)• Wash n Dry towlettes• Clorox Wipes
Virus Kit
Also I put together this virus kit. Easy to grab if someone starts to get sick and it has everything you need already inside of it.
COVID Kit
I also made this COVID kit. The container is from TJ-Maxx. This is just a portable kit of COVID supplies containing hand-sanitizing wipes, and a mini-supply of masks, gloves, & bottle hand-sanitizer. We would grab this for traveling or evacuating in the car.
Other Handy Tools
Two finds from the web that I love and want to share with you. First is this hurricane prep checklist from the housemix blog. I especially love her to-do list that goes over everything you need to do if you know a storm is headed your way! Check out her post here-The housemixblog for all the details and a download of this checklist below:
And finally I love this emergency evacuation checklist. Use this to give you the ideas for your own list. When you really do need to evacuate, it becomes difficult to remember everything. Think through all of it before-hand.
What’s on your to-do list for emergency planning? Leave a comment below and let me know.
Stay Safe everyone and pray for those in Louisiana and Texas suffering from the impact of Hurricane Laura.
Brenda