Surviving Helene (Now ain't that the truth!)

[Oyaji]

Found the following reader's honest comments to an article over on a FOXNews...........

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Things that helped me survive Helene:

A gas car

A gas stove

A gas hot water heater

A gas chainsaw

Cash

Things that are/were useless during Helene:

Electric cars

Electric appliances

Debit cards

The city bus

The government

Diversity

My tax dollars in Ukraine

[Allen]

+1

Some of those apply all the time.

[JB White]

I believe in that too. But I could never figure out the need for a hot water heater.
Hot water doesn’t need to be heated.

Also, why is it called a PIN number? Isn’t that like saying Personal Identification Number number?

[PWC]

Wish we had a LIKE button

[Mark in Ottawa]

The point about having cash is very important. The general rule for preparing for emergencies says to assume that you will be on your own for 3 days. If you have to evacuate, it's possible / probable that there will be a widespread loss of electrical power. In that case, you will need cash (assuming that there is something to buy). The amount of cash that you should have varies depending on who gives the advice but a good rule of thumb is to have about $1,000. And yes, I know that most of us really can't afford to keep that much cash lying around, but it's a target.

The other thing that became obvious was that cars need gasoline. A lot of cars ran out of gas during the evacuation and so did most of the gas stations. I understand that gasoline deteriorates over time so keeping a container of gasoline in the garage for years is not a useful option but if you live in an area that has frequent hurricanes, keeping one or two containers in the garage and rotating them every month or two is probably something to consider, particularly during hurricane season.

[Allen]

The point about having cash is very important. The general rule for preparing for emergencies says to assume that you will be on your own for 3 days. If you have to evacuate, it's possible / probable that there will be a widespread loss of electrical power. In that case, you will need cash (assuming that there is something to buy). The amount of cash that you should have varies depending on who gives the advice but a good rule of thumb is to have about $1,000. And yes, I know that most of us really can't afford to keep that much cash lying around, but it's a target.

The other thing that became obvious was that cars need gasoline. A lot of cars ran out of gas during the evacuation and so did most of the gas stations. I understand that gasoline deteriorates over time so keeping a container of gasoline in the garage for years is not a useful option but if you live in an area that has frequent hurricanes, keeping one or two containers in the garage and rotating them every month or two is probably something to consider, particularly during hurricane season.

When one of my co-workers at Pascagoula got flood and wind damage from hurricane Georges (1998) his brother from TX came with about 20 5gal jugs of gasoline, survival type foods that need no refrigeration and $300 in small bills. He cut his brother a check and back to TX he went. From his own personal experiences he knew all too well what was needed.

Large companies such as WM, even if they are open, cannot sell anything w/o power and phone line service. They can't even accept cash because the stores and registers are linked together. They don't only track sales but inventory. This only leaves the small business owners, most of which don't exist any longer.

Gas is not only needed for the cars but for the generators and chainsaws. Having to cut a path to your home/driveway due to fallen trees is a common practice after one of these storms. Gas is always in short supply. The stations have to have power for you to pump it. The roads to the stations are usually blocked--the tankers can't get to them and the buyers can't get to the stations. If a person is able to purchase gas there will be a limit so sometimes it isn't worth the fuel your car consumes to travel to a gas station.

Happy times.