Have you thought about it?

[Boxcar]

I'm sure many of you have considered this. I'm am certain some have actually had to act on this.

I, however, have never really given it true thought.

What would you take if you were asked to evacuate in five minutes? What would you grab? Do you have anything pre-prepared? Is there an evac. kit for your pet? What about clothes or important papers?

What would you take if you had more time? What if you were given an hour or thirty minutes? Do the items change?

I could easily have been asked to leave my home at a second's notice. Five minutes is a long time compared with what some of the people had. It just made me really think. If it wasn't a flood evacuation, it could be a fire in the house or a hazardous spill on the expressway...

What have you done or what do you think about all this? Are you pre-prepared?

I never considered my area "high-risk". So, I never really thought about it. Have you?

[teacher5]

As my wife and I watched the terrible devastation of property in the Texas area last week, I posed the same question. She said we should probably set up and leave a couple of overnight bags at the bottom of our clothing closet. In it we should put a couple of days worth of clothing, bottles of water, back up meds, a list of all important account #s like car & homoeowners insurance etc. Also, she made up a small bag for the family dog. I don't live in a flood zone, either. The worst storm ever to hit my area was Hurricane Gloria in 1985. I lost a couple of big old trees in my backyard. I watched one move up and down during the storm, and luckily it fell away from my house and went down slowly. It's been over 20 years since that event. I almost forgot about it until last weekend. I guess you can never be completely prepared.

[seastarmath]

I would go down this list and continue to gather until there was no more gather time.

1. PEOPLE
2. Emergency flash drive: I keep all important numbers on this.
3. Cell phone
4. Pictures: those I have not scanned and put on the emergency flash drive.
5. A change of underwear (he he! Mom would be proud of me.)
6. Clothes.

Nothing else matters.

Nothing else really matters.

[MissTeach]

Living in tornado and grass fire country, I have put a lot of thought into this. I have my photo albums where they can be reached. All our important records are in a safety deposit box. I carry a jumpdrive in my purse (which is always close to me). I also have backups of everything for school at home and for home at school. Of course both places could be wiped out in a tornado, so the most important info is on the jumpdrive in my purse.

My sister lives in forest fire country and she gets evacuated every year at least a couple of times. She keeps a bag and a food basket by her front door. She also keeps a couple of all her important records in a safety deposit box at the bank.

[Boxcar]

Putting pictures on an emergency flash drive is something I didn't think of. I have an external hard drive (a cute portable one) that holds all my backed-up files. I could sesily scan in important pictures as well. Great idea!

One thing I did think of was chargers for electronics. For example, grabbing my phone charger. My phone has lots of important numbers in it, and it would be essential to have them. I also plan on getting an extra battery and just sticking it inside my purse.

There were people at church when the evacuation went out. Some couldn't go back at all. I can't even imagine what that would be like to hear that announcement at the close of the service...

[War_Eagle]

I was born and raised in L.A. (that's Lower Alabama, not that other, smoggy L.A. out west) where hurricanes and tornados are common events.

Naturally, my first concern is to get my family and animals to a safe place (the chickens are still on their own).

In our family, my sister is the record keeper. She has copies of all of our important documents and we have the originals in a fireproof lock box.

All of our photos are back up on the computer and the negatives are also in the fireproof box.

All of our software for the shop and the farm are backed up on the computer and that's also in the box.

I always keep a change of clothes in my truck.

Now, if you mean personal things, I'd take:

1. My Bible
2. My guitars
3. My saddle
4. As many of my tools as I can

[kingrichie]

That's a great question. I have talked to family about a meeting place, but never about what to take. Probably a gun.

[mercygate]

I keep a roughed-out emergency supply closet. All my insurance and other important info is in a loose-leaf notebook that I can grab. It has maps & family phone numbers.

I keep a couple of hundred dollars in cash in the emergency cupboard. In the event of a fast evacuation, I would have SOME supplies but I'm not really up to date. I'm sure my batteries would die in 5 minutes, and I only keep a couple of gallons of water.

Generally, I never let my gas tank go below the half way mark.

[sgaestel]

I'd get my dog and my phone and my purse (I keep my keys inside my purse). What else do you really need? Granted, I would hate to lose pictures and things of that nature, but all that is really necessary for me to save are those three things.

[SiobhanMarie]

Australia and where i live around queensland has many incidents of bush fires...

It's good to see this preparation with many people and I often think about it but I haven't yet gotten around to arranging something like this. I don't want to wait until something happens until I do either. Thanks for the reminder!

I guess I would grab my shoulder bags as it contains pretty much everything; wallet, phone, medical. I don't know what else; I don't know where my photos are... I'm going right now to get prepared.