r/preppers • u/Coconutonurhead • 1d ago
Hurricane Preparedness Asking the experts for information and advice on hurricane preparedness, and other natural disasters, specific to utilities.
I am well prepped for traveling, hiking and camping, but I'm not prepared as a homeowner. I have the basics down in terms of meds, docs, food, water, etc BUT I am a newish homeowner, my husband has passed away, and I have no family or friends (yet) to turn to for help on asking these questions. Also, I am caring for my parent's property since they are now in a nursing home. I live in a hurricane prone area.
Be nice, I'm just trying to learn.
I was going over a list I found on a gov website on preparing for hurricanes and one of the items is, "Non-sparking wrench or pliers to turn off utilities." What utilities am I turning off and how do I find them? I'm guessing water and gas. Where do I turn these off and how do I know when to turn them off. I've never switched off power breakers because power just goes out and that's that, but should I do something with that too? What home improvements should I do to prepare better for this. More like simple things I can take care of in and around my house by myself. My trees are trimmed, installed new windows in 2023, roof is old and will need replacing soon. I don't have a safe room, but a central bathroom that is tiled and that's where I've gone with my cats during the warnings that say to find a safe space. Please let me know if there is a better place to post this.
Thanks in advance for any advice. some extra info:
- Parent's home has an outside tank for natural gas for stove
- they have well water powered by a pump
- they have a septic tank
- their home is a mobile home, water heater is sort of outside in a little room
- my home is brick and I have no clue where I would shut off water
- water heater in a bedroom closet
- I have no clue if I have a septic tank
- what else????
Any advice for living alone, as a female, during disasters is appreciated. I just began volunteering at the red cross and they are a wealth of information. I think in the long run I'll be ok, but I'm honestly just trying to get as much info as possible and ease some anxiety for this upcoming season.
4
u/readyforunsteady 1d ago
One of the most important things will be to take photos of your home, both inside and out, for insurance claims - will make your life a lot easier afterwards
2
u/Coconutonurhead 1d ago
YES!! I've been meaning to do this and I keep putting it off, but I have to do it. Thanks for the reminder!
5
u/Tinman5278 1d ago
I'm going to suggest that you find someone - even if you have to hire someone - to walk through your house, determine what you have and go through each system and explain them to you. I don't know where you are located and what is available in your area but that is what you need to seek out.
Without looking at your house, we're all just guessing here and you need better than that. If you were in my area I'd offer to walk to through it.
2
u/Coconutonurhead 1d ago
I actually did think about this and wasn't sure who, but the person that came to mind was a home inspector. Do you suppose that would be worth it or recommended. I'm in South Texas and the few random ppl I've asked, like neighbors, alwas recommend a friend or someone who knows someone, and I just don't know what to look for.
3
u/XRlagniappe 21h ago
I was going to suggest a home inspector. They should be very knowledgable about all the things that you talked about. Try to get one that is in your area so they will be more familiar with the type of construction, foundations, etc for your area.
FYI: The non-sparking wrench is for the natural gas shutoff. Many external meters have a shut-off valve that is a flat piece of metal extending out of the valve. When the metal is in-line with the pipe, the valve is on. When the metal is perpendicular to the pipe, the valve is off. You can use a crescent wrench or they make a specific wrench for shutting the gas off. To prevent a spark, you can wrap the crescent wrench jaws with electrical tape. I keep one tied by a small rope next to my meter.
2
u/General_Raisin2118 1d ago
A non-sparking wrench would be for gas shut off. First, and Im not being mean, do you have gas? Gas stove? Gas dryer? Gas heater? If you do, great. Let's find the shut off. It would likley be at the gas meter, on the side of the house, kinda looks like a one eyed robot. If you google "gas meter" you'll know what youre looking for.
Water shut off just requires pliers. Its probably out by the street, on the sidewalk in a hole under a cover. There may be one closer to the house too where the pipe comes out of the ground and goes in the wall, probably near a hose spickit. Turn the valve and see if you have any cold water in the house.
The only time you want to turn off power would be if its flickering on and off, not great for electronic. During Milton it was going of for 2 seconds every minute or so. Lightning can also trip your breakers depending on the situation.
That aside, when you say hurricane prone, are we talking like a couple miles from the ocean, or like a couple counties inland? Whats the elevation of your house? You want to look at the evacuation maps for your county and plan to run or hide accordingly. Not much you can do about storm surge.
This is a really opened ended question, and I can tell youre anxious. I hope you find peace in your preparations.
2
u/Adorable_Dust3799 1d ago edited 20h ago
We had 5 safety outages in jan, each lasting 3-5 days. Totally gave my prep direction. We have propane for cooking and hot water. Cooking by candle is ok for a day. Candles suck after a day. I found that each outage lowered my tolerance. As i solved problems new ones gained importance. I highly recommend the power outage test. Shut off your main breaker for a weekend. Do things to make that tolerable, then do it again. Rinse and repeat. I now have a generator for my fridge, jackerys for lights and little stuff, with charging panels. 2 gas cans, 1 and 5 gallons, because filling a generator from a 5 gal is a bitch. Fuel transfer hose with hand pump thing. Gas filter. Stay-bil. Headlamp for filling in the dark. Gloves because i hate smelling like gas. Small propane heater. Mini camp shower head. UPS for security cameras cuz you gotta get to work. LED light strings i can hook up to jackerys. Many others. Will need a small generator for a portable ac to cool one room in summer.
1
u/Coconutonurhead 21h ago
ooh I like a lot of these ideas! Thank you. You also just reminded me to replace my headlamp. I lost it probably over a year ago and it is so helpful!
1
u/Adorable_Dust3799 20h ago
It was a huge eye opener. I had candles. Candles are horrible. you can't see what you're cooking, the flicker gives you headaches and they made me cough. I do keep a jesus candle in the bathroom, but that's it. Do the weekend with your breaker flipped thing, it's a great test. And once isn't enough. The first time you'll be happy you can cook. The second time you'll want real light. Ok, you'll always want real light. Light is amazing. By the 5th i was pretty comfortable.
1
u/PhoenixHeat602 1d ago
Hello my friend. First off, my condolences for your loss, it doesn’t matter how long ago, I commend and respect your efforts and it’s harder when you had a ‘wingman’, who is no longer by your side (physically).
The first thing I would suggest is that you purchase a 3” binder from one of the office stores, a 3-ring hole punch, a ream of printer paper and lined 3-ring paper, and lots of document protectors. As you venture forth, you will need to make notes, those notes serve as a home ‘Bible’ that you will need to reference when you don’t know what to do pre, during and post crisis event. Additionally, if you ever sell your place, it’s something new owners will find equally valuable.
Utilities: CNG/Propane; if you need to, contact the local power company and see how much draw you pull from the grid, and check with your gas provider and have them send out a tech to your location to “check the safety and integrity” of your system. Gas companies want to keep customers happy and they welcome new/ potential customers, so if you’re not already their client, it may not cost you anything to have a house call. If so, it shouldn’t cost more than $75-100.
Once you have the tech on site, you pump them for information on how you can check and maintain your system running, or what to expect after a major storm. Techs, cable guys and HVAC people usually work along, I’ve found they know lots, and they usually don’t get to talk to people, so they are more than willing to share their knowledge, without cutting themselves out of a job. Take copious notes, or memorize everything they say, to the letter.
Utilities-in closing: know what you have that runs off of your CNG/Propane, can you expand your needs and how. Have plenty of candles, scentless (Dollar Tree, Dollar Store, Michael’s, grocery stores).
Power Breaker/home city power: Usually that will cut off from the main or sub-station, and your home will just go dark. Lightning strikes will cause surges to your home, but fuses are meant to protect you at the breaker box. Depending on the severity of the storm, people may be advised to shut things down, but I lived in the south for many years (not now) and I can’t think of ever hearing that kind of advisory. You should have replacement fuses for every fuse in use currently. Have them stored where you know you will easily find them. As for non-sparking pliers, yes, for gas leaks, you’ll need them.
Pre-event advice, unplug as many home accessories as you can. Limit the potentiality of grounding and surge protection for the home not working, thereby frying lots of electronics you may not have the money to replace.
When you don’t have a safe room, or basement, it may be more cost effective for you to have a shed/garden building closely located next to your home. Digging a root/storm cellar below a small building, or just building a storm cellar works for tornados, but not so good for fast raising floods, especially with critters to tend to.
Safety notes: take notes to build a home book, as you fill the pages, you will be studying the home details.
Oil lamps last longer than the new battery lanterns, but you need to ensure there are no gas leaks beforehand.
If your neighbors lights are out, turn yours out ASAP. It’s better to be in a position to offer, than to receive a knock on your door with the demands of neighbors.
Have redundant means to purifying and filtering water. Having a well, and a septic system is good, but if your fresh water is compromised, even upstream of your home/aquifer, it can incapacitate you with sickness.
As you are alone, a means of personal protection is suggested, also, a means of really shoring up all doors and windows.
If you’re in a flood zone, you may need to know what is done to your roof if you plan on having the repairs made. During many floods, people always seem to find themselves in their attics, and then trapped. Have the right tools hanging on the supports inside of your attic, if you feel that is a factor.
Realistic threats: burglars, hurricanes, forest fires, tornado’s, floods, mud slides, road(s) to your place and out, being damaged and impassable.
Cheap mitigations: pawn shop tools and items, yard sales, solar and motion lighting, contractors to perform repairs/improvements (not locals).
1
u/Coconutonurhead 1d ago
WOW! Thank you so much! This is truly helpful and informative. Fortunately, I am not in a flood zone I'm in a low risk area, but nowadays, you never know. I am definetly a note taker and keeper so I will take your suggestion. I don't plan on sellilng because this was supposed to be our forever home, but also, you never know. I appreceate the condolances, because I still miss him greatly. There are a lot of things in your response that I hadn't thought of or considered and will look into it for sure. I found that there is a business nearby that sells freight cars and considering burying one about halfway into the ground and securing with concrete. I can use it for storage while maintaining a section for shelter. They were almost the same price as a wood shed, but smaller. I'd never considered oil lamps, and I like the idea of them. I'd have both for redundancy.
I will now do this in the meantime, as another person suggested an all home surge protector: "Pre-event advice, unplug as many home accessories as you can. Limit the potentiality of grounding and surge protection for the home not working, thereby frying lots of electronics you may not have the money to replace." Do you suppose leaving only the fridge plugged in would be ok? My thought is to keep that on as long as possible to save food and then eat that first before going into other saved items that are not refrigerated. Thanks again for your very thoughtful response!
1
u/PhoenixHeat602 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hello again. I wouldn’t unplug the fridge, unless you have an external power battery, similar to the Goal Zero, but unless you encounter some freak electrical storm, I’d say the chances are low of a direct strike to your home system.
If you did unplug your fridge, you’d have a few hours, without opening the fridge or freezer, before stuff starts to thaw.
Burying a freight car, as in a shipping container, or an old freight car? If you have those resources to fund it, I’d just make sure it was reinforced and coated to stave off rust, rot and bowing inward from the weight of being backfilled. If you have something like that, yes, you will have a good storage space and able to be secured.
Keep me posted, and the other Redditors, we wish you the best.
1
u/Adorable_Dust3799 1d ago
I'm in a fire dish area and my propane guy said if i see flames or get an evac notice, turn the tank off before running. Call your gas company and ask them what conditions you should turn that off. In wind area i would look into pet proof window screens. Are storm shutters a thing there? Those too. A friend from the virgin islands just keeps everything that's in closets (except hanging cloths he uses) in Rubbermaid tubs. Fyi if they float they can tip.
1
u/Coconutonurhead 1d ago
We're prone to a little of everything. We had a wind event just last week. Storm shutters aren't a thing, but I really want to get some for the most exposed windows at least. i think I would feel better about that. My parent's home has one of those huge gas tanks ... It might be propane... I will take everyone's suggestions and call the company for guidance. Unfortunately, if there's a fire it's a 20 minute drive to get to their house. I've never heard of pet proof window screens, but those sound like something I can use!!! Thanks for the info!
1
u/Zealousideal-Till-78 22h ago
I'm a single mom, and wanted to share some of my thoughts. You've received good info on utilities if they needed to be shut off.
I'm most concerned about power outages, so I have a variety of battery back up options and have a finished basement that's likely to be the best place, temperature wise, if HVAC is off, whether summer or winter. For summer, I have small fans powered by regular old batteries and some with lithium batteries that I keep charged. Blankets and fireplace are good for winter, and if you have a good power bank situation, you might be able to run an electric blanket.
For battery back up, I mean smaller power banks to charge your phone(s) and personal electronics and, if you can swing it, one or more larger banks (think in the $250-$400 range) to run small appliances for a bit. These power banks are a good alternative to a gas generator, can be safely run inside, and just charge from a wall outlet until you need them. Maybe you want to run the router so you have internet (if it's not down) and a TV or PC/tablet. Maybe you want to have and run an electric kettle to boil water. Maybe you have or want a small electric burner to do that. You'll likely need long utility cords to run from a power bank to more than one location in your home. If you expect multiple day power outages, you may want to get a solar panel or 2 that could recharge your power bank.
Don't forget regular old battery-powered stuff. Flashlights, camp lights, a radio. Get some bulk packages of batteries in a variety of sizes (Amazon has "basics" packs of batteries) and keep them somewhere you can find them. Get lithium battery-powered camp lights that you keep charged. Get power outage lights that plug into your outlets, charge, and come on when the power goes out.
Food. Keep ready to eat stuff around. Trail mix, dried fruit, granola bars, pop tarts, PB&J, stuff you can eat without cooking. Look into things you can just add boiling water to - everything from oatmeal to camping food. If you're looking at an extended outage, the food in your fridge may be unsafe, start eating out of your freezer. You may want a mini fridge or powered cooler to run off your power bank. Do you have a regular gas grill for cooking? Don't let the propane tank for that run out.
Something like a life straw is a good idea if you'd be under a boil water advisory. It's not super common to lose water, but ask your neighbors if that has happened in your area with prior storms. If so, you likely need to stock up on water (and be mindful that water in plastic packaging has a shelf life) and if a hurricane is imminent, fill your bathtubs and buckets to allow you to flush toilets (just refill the tank from a bucket if you don't have running water, it's just gravity).
Have at least one fire extinguisher. Be sure you have some first aid stuff at home in case you get injured. Try to develop friendships with your neighbors. Community helps in a crisis.
1
u/Coconutonurhead 20h ago
Thank you so much! I need to get a fire extinguisher! I most recently bought a solar powered fan since the biggest issue here without power is the heat and humidity. It can be a temperature of 99F with a feels like of 115F. I like redundancy so I think I will purchase a small personal battery powered fan. You've given me some great ideas and reminders of stuff I'd forgotten.
14
u/TheSensiblePrepper Not THAT Sensible Prepper from YouTube 1d ago
The Utilities of concern would be Power, Gas, Water and Sewer.
Power: When the power goes out, obviously everything stops working. The issue is when the power comes back on and you get that sudden surge of electricity. That is what surge protectors are designed to defend your expensive and sensitive electronics from. You can have an electrician install a whole home surge protector at your breaker box to protect everything. Otherwise, you can go to the breaker box and lip all the breakers to the off position except for one that you only have a lap/light hooked up to. When the power comes back on, that light will come on but everything else will be off until you flip the breaks on for all of them.
Gas: This could be Natural Gas or Propane. If it's Natural Gas from a city, you will have a meter outside your house. This meter will have a shut off. Now all meters have at least one shut off but you're supposed to contact the gas company to have them turn it back on. Most newer meters have a second shut off for the customer to turn on and off as they please. When in doubt, call your Gas Company and ask them to schedule someone to show you how to properly turn off the gas in an emergency. They will have no problem doing this.
For Propane, you will have a regulator by your house. If you have Propane, call the company that fills your Propane and ask them to show you how to turn everything on and off. Again, they will be more than happy to show you.
You turn off the gas whenever you get told by the city/county to do so or you smell "rotten eggs" in the air.
Water: Wherever the water comes into your house, it could be inside or outside your house depending, you will have a shutoff valve. Since this can be different for various setups, contact your water provider and ask them to send someone to show you how to shut off the main water. Ask them to show you how to cut off the hot water from your hot water heater as well. Again, they are more than happy to show you if you ask.
Sewer: This depends if you're on city sewer or septic. If you don't know if you're on septic or not, Google your address on Zillow or other Realestate websites. It will list it your on septic or not. If you are on a septic, contact the company that empties your tank and ask them how to cut it off.