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Re: [RC] More evacuation options-survival advice - Truman PrevattA lot was learned because of Andrew. First tag your animals. For horses large plastic collars on which you name and cell phone number appears. A micro chip is also a good idea. Have pictures of your horses. In FL we now are going to digital Coggins with pictures on of your horse. Make sure you keep your horses documents - coggins, registration or any other form of identification in a safe place because you might need it. A major problem after Andrew was a lot of horses that were loose had no Id. They didn't want the "killers" to come in claim a bunch of horses and head to the nearest slaughter house.The bottom line - be able to identify your horse and prove it. The guidance on evacuation has changed over time. In 2004 when Francis hit the FL East coast - gas stations ran out of gas so people were suck without fuel on the roads. High profile vehicles, of which horse trailers are one don't do well on the road in a major storm. If you are safe where you are - stay put. If you are not - go inland but you don't have to drive to Atlanta you probably won't get there anyway. After Francis - the state has taken steps to insure sufficient fuel. To put horses in or leave them out. That depends. If the whole barn goes in a tornado spawned by a hurricane and 6 horses are in six horses are dead. If they are out they could most likely avoid it. Flying debris is a major threat. Keep you place cleaned up for anything that could take to the wind and become a deadly missile. Such things as outdoor chairs, outdoor tables, etc. should be brought in. The thing (and in my opinion the one of only two things ) a swimming pool is good for is to sink stuff when a storm rolls through to keep it from blowing. The second thing is 20,000 gallons of water. When Francis came through in '04 it got to my place as a Cat 1. It stopped right on top of me and sit there for three days as the steering currents were changing. We lost power of course and didn't have it for 8 days. After the storm cleared brought the LQ living quarters up to the house and parked it right outside the back door. It has a 60 watt solar panel. We hand lights and we had a refrigerator - running on gas. We were without power for 6 days after it cleared and the LQ really helped. We could take a shower. We had put out all sorts of stuff to catch the rain - enough to keep two tanks, 65 gallons and 25 gallons full of water. We had prefilled them prior to the storm. We had three days of rain so we could catch a lot of water. We let the horses choose. Most of the time they preferred to be in the field (we have large hill to our East and it blocked the wind from the hurricane) except when a feeder band came through with torrential rain. We let them choose. If they came up to the barn to seek shelter under the overhangs - we put them in with water and hay. When the rain let up a little we let them out. We really didn't have anything else to do :-\ . The good news was while we were without power we were so because the feeder lines for our house came through 10 miles of woods to the west of me. Of course limbs and trees were down and the line had to be completely rebuilt. However, we were at the end of that line and for anyone living east of me - the feeder lines came across cow pastures. While we were out of power - not everyone was. That's when people banding together and helping each other pays off. Have batteries and a radio. We had the LQ with solar power so we had communications. We could keep our cell phones charged. Communications is important. The thing I did learn is shutters - shutters - shutters. We have a hill to the east of us that will block the wind on the ground level of the house (basement in the back) and the first level. However, the wind field on the second level was ferocious and Francis was only a cat 1. If the storm came from the West it will impact the west end of the house on the first floor. Every window that could be impacted now has hurricane shutters. If we leave in the summer for a period of time - the shutters are closed. If a storm is coming - the shutters are closed. A house is normally not "blown down" it is damaged when it is breached and the wind can get inside. Shutters I think are essential - at least for peace of mind. I read this morning that some people refused to evaluate Galveston and of course there is no way rescue teams can get in to help them. I think that's caller Darwinism. My thoughts are with all those in the Houston area. Truman -- “The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.” Friedrich Nietzsche =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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