STORY BY

Karen Krakower

One of the great movie teaser lines ever: “Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water...”
...(you hear the JAWS theme pumping through your head.)

It’s been nearly two years since Hurricane Katrina sunk one city and Hurricane Rita chased another out of town. Those who have survived flooded homes, sunken cars and 28-hour road trips to escape storms are black-belted Ninja hurricane veterans who carry loaded duct tape—and know how to use it.

"Print this out and keep it handy. It is the combined wisdom from those who have weathered true weather, " says Dr. Robert "Safety Bob" Emery, assistant vice president of Environmental Health and Safety at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Before you see the funny-looking weather maps

Long before the weather reports start crawling along the bottom of your TV screen, have these items on hand in your home:

• Gallon of water per day per person (about three days worth.)
• Three-day supply of all daily medications.
• First-aid kit (and check for expired contents.)
• Readily consumable food that doesn’t require cooking.
• Handheld can opener.
• Thick-soled shoes, preferably rubber-soled or rubber boots.
• Rain gear and sturdy work gloves.
• Fresh batteries and flashlights.
• Fresh batteries and portable radio.
• Charged cell phone and charger for both car and home.
• Duct tape, duct tape and perhaps duct tape.
• A reasonably full gas tank during hurricane months.
• Fire extinguisher that actually has been recently tested.
• A recently checked insurance policy if you are concerned about “rising water.” Most homeowner/renter policies do not cover rising water damage. They do however cover “driving rain”, hail and wind damage, including water damage from roof leaks. Only federal flood insurance, offered by FEMA covers flood damage.

Leaving a paper trail

• Cash, Traveler’s Checks and some money in coins.
• Take valuable original documents to a safe deposit box.
• Put copies of valuable papers in freezer bags and put them IN the freezer (that’s right--it’s fairly fire, flood and wind-proof.)
• Make copies of your prescriptions or place empty medication bottles in the freezer, too.
• Extra toilet paper (don’t laugh—it’s the one item you’ll wish you had.)

Who ya’ gonna call ?…

• Add to your “freezer file cabinet” phone numbers of family members/friends located in another geographic area in case phones are out and you need a point of contact (Alert friends and family that if you can’t be reached by phone, they are to call your out-of-area contact. Use this number as a check-in station.)
• Know your area’s evacuation routes, shelters and emergency numbers, including FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
• Have your insurance agent’s numbers handy.

Planning ahead for that rainy day

• Know how to turn off your electricity, water and gas. Remember that you’ll need a professional to turn on your gas after the storm.
• If you’re at work, have back-up plans to retrieve kids from camp/school/day care.
• Arrangements for pets—they need food and water stockpiles, too.
• Keep a backpack loaded with extras: medications, hidden cash and coins, personal hygiene supplies, change of clothes, sweater, comfortable shoes, extra socks, packaged snacks, bottled water, deck of cards, notepad and pen.
• Make a mental note to move to high ground any cardboard boxes sitting on the closet floor or under your bed. Items “out of sight” are often forgotten. (In other words, your baseball card collection is worthless once it is sopping pulp.)

When the TV reporter is soaking wet and windblown:

Once the National Weather Service has issued a warning and your area must evacuate:

• Grab cell phone and chargers for car and electrical outlet.
• Grab your map of evacuation routes and contra flow routes.
• “Freezer file cabinet.”
• Emergency backpack.
• Bed roll if you have room in your car, in case shelter runs out of mats.
• If you’re evacuating by car, move items like flashlights and emergency flares from the trunk to the back seat before you start driving.
• Towels.
• Pets, pet food and water and pet leash.

‘Fleeing in place’

Lessons learned from Rita

“If you are one of the million-plus Houstonians who found themselves going nowhere fast during Hurricane Rita,” says David Bates, executive director of Media Relations in the UT Office of Institutional Advancement, “you know what ‘fleeing in place’ means.”

It means, Bates explains, that confidence is high that you will sit in a steaming car in gridlock traffic longer than you had planned if your major city must mass-evacuate. Add these items to your list:

• Plastic misting bottles: not only will a mist of water cool you down if your car’s air conditioning must be turned off to conserve gas, you’ll also save the life of your pet and the health of elderly passengers. Pets, particularly cats, might not drink in a moving car or when nervous. Spraying them down will make them lick their fur. Ill or very elderly passengers may only be able to take in fluid through a misting spray.
• Dignity takes a back seat to a 26-hour traffic jam. If you are concerned about restrooms, learn from your children—or childhood: take along diapers.
• Gasoline is safe to carry in your trunk if it is in a certified gasoline container. Check with your hardware store before hurricane season.
• Restock on vehicle road emergency kits: canned tire patches, coolant, tire jacks, flashlights, center punches (for breaking windows in rising water.)
• Above all else, know your gas mileage before you evacuate. If you can’t get to your chosen destination on one tank, you’ll need an alternative plan.
• Make sure you have hats, sunscreen and good walking shoes in case you need to leave your car.
• Don’t depend on your car’s radio: take your battery-operated weather radio in the car.

When the TV reporter is blowing sideways:

If your area has been advised to shelter in place and/or your neighborhood streets are already flooded or winds make it too dangerous to leave your home:

• If you still have electricity, stay tuned to weather coverage and charge your cell phone.
• Alert your friends/family list that a hurricane is headed your way and you might lose contact by land line.
• If you’ve lost electricity, turn on your battery-powered radio.
• Tape your windows in an “x” to mitigate glass breakage and shards from wind, hail and driving rain.
• Secure patio furniture, sun umbrellas—anything that can be picked up by strong winds and turned into a missile.
• Duct tape window edges at the sills and sides if you believe driving rain has a point of entry there.
• Watch for downed power lines in your yard.
• Have an interior room/hallway/bathtub cleared in case you need tornado coverage.
• Make a list of items by priority that must be moved higher should your home begin to flood, such as computers, valuable documents, photos, electronics.
• Put candles and matches in a high dry place.
• Do not slosh through your flooding neighborhood streets: fire ants, roaches and snakes are also looking for things to cling to, like a sloshing leg.

When you see Dorothy grabbing for Toto…

Tornado tips and clues
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/NWSTornado/

Tornados, those twisted byproducts of hurricanes, give little warning even to weather experts, so this is what to look for:

• Dark, often greenish sky.
• Wall cloud.
• Large hail.
• Loud roar; similar to a freight train.

If you are in your home (and do not have a basement):

• Go immediately to an interior room/hallway/interior doorway.
• Or the bathtub, with pillows or a mattress pulled over you.
• Get away from the windows.
• According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it is a myth that you should open two windows to avoid a negative pressure build-up (and house implosion). They advise you to keep windows closed to avoid debris. They also say that most “explosions” occur from large debris crashing into structures.
• Do not use candles. Broken gas lines could ignite.
• Keep your head down and your mouth closed to avoid debris entering the throat.

If you are in your car:

• As difficult as this may seem, leave your car for an underpass or building, if possible.
• Do not try to outrun the tornado. You cannot predict its direction.

UPDATED: 06-20-2007

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