Severe Weather Planning

With tons of outbreaks this season already, it’s important to make sure that you have a plan in place. Here are some suggestions when you are making your weather plans.

First thing that you should do is practice your plan. This is a good way to see if there is anything that either needs tweaking, added or taken away. When your plan is in place, you should talk it over with your children so that they understand why you are creating this plan. This is a good way to help get your children involved in the planning process, and it can also help ease the anxiety when the actual weather event occurs.

Now that you have your plan in place, what type of things do you need to have just in case that you are without power for a few hours or even days? Suggestions that I make to friends and family is the following:

1.      Fully stocked first aid kits with items such as bandages, alcoholic wipes, etc.

 2.      Bottled Water (Average 5 or 6 bottles per person. This can be for drinking and/or boiling if you have a gas range)

 3.      Snacks (For kids and adults) Fruit snacks, crackers and drink pouches or boxes are great items to have.

4.      Canned Foods such as canned fruit, meats, etc. These must be things that you can eat out of a can if you have lost power and do not have a gas stove.

5.      Blankets (for sleeping where you are sheltering-in-place)

6.      Pillows (for sleeping, and even covering your head to prevent injury from flying or falling debris)

7.      Books (This is a good idea for children and young adults. It will help pass the time and keep their mind off of the storms)

8.      Games (This is also a good idea for children to have in the shelter to pass the time and keep their minds off the storms)

9.      Toilet Paper, Paper Towels, Plastic Forks/Spoons/Knives. Can openers are a must!

10.  Paperwork such as copies of birth certificates, parent and children’s insurance cards (if applicable), copies of social security cards, health information.

11.  1 or 2 emergency sets of clothing. (These can be placed in an air tight bag for safe keeping)

12. Weather Radio. These can be purchased at Kroger. Last time I checked they cost $29.99. You can check out additional information by going to your local Kroger Store or checking on the WSBTV website that shares this information. I have a weather radio/scanner and it actually will make a very annoying noise when there is a severe weather warning or tornado warning in your area but it has woken me up so that I could seek shelter immediately. It is not very difficult to program. The mentioned above website will again, give you further instructions.

Now you can add or subtract from the above list if you wish. I really do suggest that you make copies of any medical information, certificates, etc. This way you will have additional copies of these items in case of damage to your home and this information is lost or damaged.

Now that we have a list of things to place in your emergency kit, you have to have a place to put all this stuff right? So here is what I suggest. Go to either Big Lots or Wal-Mart and pick up a large plastic tote. This can be any color, but make sure that you mark on the tote what it is. Use a black permanent marker.

Now this may be a little expensive to do, but trust me, this will save your items that are in your emergency kit. I am sure that most of you have heard about the space saver bags. These are the bags that you can suck the air out of them and will reduce the risk of your contents from getting damaged and wet. This is also a good way to be able to fit more into your tote.

If you have small children, you may want to share with them the importance of preparing for a storm in advance. You want them to understand that this is part of mother-nature, and that while storms won’t happen all the time, they are especially prone to occur during the spring and summer seasons. Let’s your children help with the planning process as well. This might help them feel better about things when the storm comes around. Let them choose the clothing that they want to put in the box for them in case a storm comes. Also allow them to choose a toy or 2 that they will take down to the basement or into the storm shelter. This will hopefully make them at ease having something that they are familiar with when you are all taking cover to shelter from a storm.

I hope that this has given you some ideas that you might want to consider while planning for storms. Remember that the season is nowhere near being over, and I want you, your children and your families to stay safe during this weather season.