Anyone NOT see this coming?:
Storm sets off frantic rush for supplies across East Coast
My wife, a former resident of North Carolina, pointed out that when hurricanes would approach people would rush out for bread, milk and eggs. “It’s like they all suddenly want French toast!”, she observed.
As Ryan over at TSLRF pointed out regarding the ideal level of preparedness , “Somewhere between getting ready for a short term natural disaster and Red Dawn is about the right place.”
Our own level of preparedness has been steadily marching along. So much so, in fact, that a trip to CostCo was called for yesterday for yet another set of steel wire shelving. We have, for now, plenty of shelf space for more stuff. Do we need more stuff? Eh…some yes, some no. I took advantage of the opportunity to re-inventory things. 95% of the spreadsheet was accurate…there were a few items that were off by one or two. I also switched at least a half-dozen items from DNI (Do Not Inventory) to ‘inventory item’ status. DNI’s are things that we bought a bunch of but don’t plan on buying more of or replacing. For example, the missus finds a product she likes, and buys a case of it….halfway through the case she discovers a better product. The remains of that case go into storage as a DNI and the new product she likes becomes an inventory item. Hey, it works for us.
I have at least one friend whose house is, I believe, sitting right in the muzzle of Hurricane Sandy and Im interested to find out how he fares. Anyone from the east coast with interesting stories, feel free to tell ‘em in comments.
ETA: Gangs Plan Hurricane Looting Spree Via Twitter
It appears Rule #870 may be in effect 
I’m just south of Philly – and Sandy’s path looks like it straddles us. We are fairly well prepared, but I headed out yesterday to top off propane (spare for the spare), and used the opportunity to rotate out my diesel stores into the truck and generator and refresh (with Stabil) the Specter cans.
Longer than usual lines at gas stations – but no station was out that I noticed. The local grocery store had clearly stocked up in advance. While I was there I noticed them twice moving more pallets of bottled water to the front where they had been cleaned out. There several more 8×8 pallets of water waiting in an aside area. Milk, eggs and general food all in good supply – although the milk stack was thinner than normal. Banana’s were the only item I noticed where the shelves were almost bare.
I drove by the Target and it was hust short of mob scene with a very full parking lot and streams of people going in an out. I suspect many people left it for late – in fact, I should have refilled that tank a while ago rather than wait for a storm to prompt me.
So far we have lost power for 1 hour, It’s back for now but I’m sure we will loose it again given past history. I didn’t bother with the generator – just lit some oil lamps and the wife started a fire for heat and cheer. However I’m watching the line voltage fluctuate considerably as I type.
Cheers,
Clarke
I’m in NJ, right in the path of the storm. We already lost power this morning for about two hours, but it recently came back on. My wife has never been a big fan of my prepping, until now. The generator, supplies, and most importantly know-how have helped a lot, and put her much more at ease.
Southcentral Pennsylvania – Wow Prepmogeddon!!! Generators gone! All Power/Extension Cords at Lowes, Wal-Mart Gone! Bottled Water Gone! D size Batteries Gone! Gasoline in plentiful supply, but Gas Cans Gone! Cans of soup Gone! It was almost surreal watching the Masses scurry about. Easy to see what would happen if the SHTF and how desparate people will get. Was a good “field test” for the ballon going up
Cuz, ya know, they’ve NEVER HAD HURRICANES on the East Coast! Ever!
Dumb people pay my bills, so I never complain about them, but they’re sure fun to watch.
I also expect that if all was quiet and well-ordered, the ratings leeches and hairdos at the local TV station would throw bags of dollar bills at the market just to film the ensuing bedlam.
So do let’s remember that quite a bit of the initial reports of chaos and disorder initially reported in Katrina turned out to be wildly exaggerated or wholly fabricated.
My personal experience of 2 hurricanes and 3 typhoons is that the wind blows real hard, it rains a lot, and then the sun comes out and folks clean up. Unless you live in a treehouse on the beach.
And fer crying out loud, 3 days’ warning gave you time to drive to Chicago or Kansas City, where I assure you there isn’t a hurricane today. Some folks should lock up, batten down, get a grip, and just go visit their relatives.
Regards,
-Aesop
We’re stocked up on supplies. Been buying up meat at the store’s “2 for 1″ sales the past few weeks, vacuum sealing it and freezing it. I fueled up the truck, the car and refilled my 15 gallon jug and 5-gallon jug with gas. I already have 15 gallons of kerosene and about 20-gallons of diesel. On top of that my skid car has a full tank of fuel that I could drain if I need which would be another 15 gallons of fuel.
I also had my wife swap out our two propane tanks for new ones.
If things get really bad my Mom’s house in NC is far enough away that we can go there to escape. The truck’s fuel supply is more than enough to make it there and with the extra I have on hand we could make an 800 mile trip if we had to.
Our natural gas generator will keep us up and running with electricity as long as the pressure in the gas line holds.
So far things have not been that bad, although the wind is getting a bit annoying.
Yawn. Got a good night sleep. Power was off and n then finally died at 8pm. I resorted to the generator about 10 to keep the refer running. Power came back on sometime before 4am. Went out in the wind and rain to turn off the generator and switch back to land-line power then back to sleep. Woke up to more rain and winds – but nothing storm like.
A walk of the neighborhood shows one tree down across a driveway and a few limbs or branches down elsewhere.
I’d put this one into the “not a big deal”. Only real problems seem to be flooding and storm surge – of which I made sure aren’t an issue where I chose to live.
About 1/2 the people I work with are without power.