Matthew came by where we live. We are fine and still have power and water, although some in our city do not. There have been a LOT of road closures due to water exceeding banks of rivers and streams. Those storms bring a lot of rain!!
School is cancelled tomorrow and my husband would have been off anyway due to Columbus Day holiday. We are keeping ourselves busy at home and off the roads.
Just before the storm arrived we did stock up on water, non perishable food, batteries and a new lantern. I was able to use gift cards at Target and Home Depot for the purchases. We earned them from one of our credit cards. We have not used any of the items. I plan to keep them all packed away until we do need them. A survival kit of sorts. I'm sure next year we may need to pull things out and evaluate if we want to replace them.
I've heard from news reports of many people looking for ice, and fuel now that the storm has past. We honestly don't have that much food in our home that would even need to be iced if we lost power. We would just eat it before it could go bad.
Our cars have full tanks of gas in them and we have extra fuel from our lawn mower we could use. We also don't own a generator, so we wouldn't be trying to run something like that!
Are you prepared for a natural weather disaster?
Survived Matthew
October 9th, 2016 at 07:10 pm
October 9th, 2016 at 08:07 pm 1476043678
October 9th, 2016 at 09:10 pm 1476047455
We are fairly prepared for a disaster, at least I hope so. Here in Central Illinois it is usually tornadoes. We do have some food stockpiled and some extra water and some extra batteries for flashlights and a radio. In 1978 we had a horrific ice storm and my area of town was without power for over a week. My mom got a hold of some dry ice for the freezer to save the meat (we had butchered pigs and a calf), but we ate pretty well as we cooked any meat that was in the freezer in the ice box. The radio was our means of communication and fortunately we had a fireplace. It didn't get super cold then. In 2006 we had an ice storm and it was cold. We only lost power about a day, but other parts of town were without it for almost a week. As winter approaches, I've been stocking the pantry with canned goods as well as non perishables in case we can't get out.
October 9th, 2016 at 10:46 pm 1476053181
October 10th, 2016 at 12:15 am 1476058526
I saved some of my food by putting in a trash bin that i buried in snow in a shady section of driveway. The food that wasn't completely packed in snow and had air pockets is the food that went bad.
I used outdoor solar lights indoors for light at night. I memorized the phone number for the electric company.
October 10th, 2016 at 12:45 am 1476060341
October 10th, 2016 at 04:25 am 1476073507
There is one item i am saving for: a solar generator. With that i could be quite comfortable and keep a few things running.
I do keep two emergency "kits" in my home. One for a true emergency and one of meals and supplies for when i get activated for an emergency and i have no time for grocery shopping. This happens at least twice a year where i am activated for a month of 15 hour days.
Solar lighths are a great idea and can be charged even inside with strong sun light.
October 10th, 2016 at 06:28 am 1476080890
Winters can be so severe here, it's imperative to keep an emergency kit in the car in case you slide into a major snow bank. You could be stranded in blizzard conditions for hours until a tow can get to you. Things can get dangerous quite quickly, most years a few people die by making poor choices. I wish everyone would create a protective action emergency kit for each member of their family.
October 10th, 2016 at 01:20 pm 1476105658
October 10th, 2016 at 09:00 pm 1476133203
October 11th, 2016 at 06:01 pm 1476208887
October 12th, 2016 at 05:14 pm 1476292473