Saturday morning started early. We were up with just about enough time to get a good night's rest. We went around the house, all the men in our location. We took down anything that could get blown by strong winds. Outdoor furniture, a lawnmower, stacks of fire wood-anything we could take into a safe location was taken out. An outdoor grill was too heavy to take in so we tried to secure it. Luckily we had taken a lot of rope with us, we also had some chain and locks. These two things alone have multiple uses and are always present in some form in my bag or box or whatever setup. We also had a pair of work gloves which were useful.
We surveyed the trees again, checking for possibilities of them falling onto the house or one of our bug out vehicles. It may be safe to relocate the vehicle elsewhere on the road if needed to keep it away from the trees. But we'd sacrifice being farther from a means of escape. Also, instead of unloading all of our gear into the house, I kept some into the car so if we loose one(car or house), another stash survives. The trees seemed to be fine, we had our worries but we judged them to be stable enough. Perhaps a good thing, as later on the driveway and road where we would have relocated the vehicles would be flooded with fast flowing runoff. I recall somewhere that a few inches of fast flowing water (6 inch or so?) is enough to make a vehicle loose traction and slide with the water.
We checked the doors and windows as well. We took inside any window mounted AC units so we could close the window fully. I recall the mayor saying that his experts said it was not necessary-but why wouldn't we do it? We had time to prepare and had the manpower anyway. Best be safe.
I had suggested we start filling the bath tubs after the last person who wants to take a bath is done. Unfortunately, the owner of the bug out location (owner of the house) was not to concerned about it and it was eventually shrugged off. I kept taking inventory of how much water they had, how much water we brought with us. As a prepper I am proud to say we brought much more supplies in food, water and equipment than what was present at our bug out location. They were not preppers and had basically regular stuff at home. I am hoping I can slowly educate them into stocking more stuff as they already have an ideal bug out location to begin with. So anyway we had enough water for a few days. If we needed to I knew of a water source nearby, plus we could save up the rain water runoff early on-and use a ceramic filter I have with me. Also a bunch of other ways to filter the water available at the time-boiling, brita filters, etc. The children would use the stored water and the adults would use the filtered ones. I had an argument with a family member about the idea, as he did not believe any filter would be enough to clean outdoor water. Despite explaining the filtration capabilities of modern filters and the features of an MSR filter I had, they were just beyond reasoning with.
I tried to keep a small corner active, feeding us information by internet, TV news and text messages. Friends from various locations texted in their info/status. Friends in the online community of other preppers posted their status and how they are doing. It was just a small corner in the house to gather intel, I'd check up on it every now and then. I tried to enjoy the day with the rest of the family. This was to keep me organized as this was not my home and I needed my stuff somewhere with some sense of organization to keep me efficient.
I was out in the yard thinking about flooding from the rear of the house when I heard the hiss of rain. It seemed early, but I walked inside and in a few seconds the rain started pouring. In a few hours the hurricane would be upon us and we would see how things went. Checking on the forecast I opted to rest early and wake up early a few hours before the hurricane was expected to come. We also relocated to the sub-basement, me and my family. I was still worried about strong winds and the trees, everyone else was happy and seemed to be confident after sensing we had things under control. I just told them that if the winds pick up I would wake them and have them relocate downstairs with us.
We lost power in the middle of the night. Before sleeping we had taken out our flashlights so it was easy. I also had my wife keep on a comfortable, bug out ready set of clothes so we can run out and have some advantage. I had cargo pants/shorts on. Keys and lights and baseball cap on my side. Bug out bag a few feet from me. When I woke up in the wee hours of the night to check on stuff I had my headlamp on and was very comfortable checking and working with both hands free. It was bad outside but the winds were not as bad as I feared. Just lots and lots of water.
Soon everyone was up. Seems like we were in the clear. We would have to wait til later in the day to survey the property. Again, proud to be a prepper, I was the only one with a radio so we could get some news on the hurriacane. Since power was out nobody had news. I had updates from text and a weather radio I had bought and stocked years and years ago-waiting for an opportunity to be used. We noted which counties were badly damaged. Where the hurricane was and how strong were the winds currently. Some bridges were still closed to certain directions, but as long as we make it back to the island we can get home. We waited on the news to plan our trip back.
Frustratingly, I was also observing members of the retreat for whatever skills they could contribute. True enough some were completely dependent on others to do the work. Some were truly valuable with their everyday skills. Cooking was a great asset and a great moral boost during the whole time. Plus when the power went out they knew just what to do with the food to make it last the longest-what recipes, which to cook first, which meals can be recycled into another recipe with similar ingredients to extend life. It was great and I wish I had time to learn more. Child care was also an essential skill during the whole ordeal. The children were always playing and this kept us all happy. It was entertaining, distracted us and kept us stress free. It would have been far more stressful with children crying all hours of the night. Some members of our retreat did yield to some poor decision the day before and went to the local mall to go shopping, reasoning that the storm was still many hours away. It just boggles the mind.
Also, on distributing responsibilities, I took out the radio so that people could listen in on the news. Soon I realized I was the only one listening in and the rest were simply chatting about like nothing. I felt tired, I had been on the alert for awhile and just keeping tabs on too many things. I wish they could take on the task of picking up news and gathering intel. In the future I intend to formalize assigning responsibilities to people.
I started to get a cold, from the stress and exhaustion. Sleeping early did not help, loads of vitamin C did not help. At the end of all this I still had to load and unload my gear to the jeep and then back to the apartment in the city. I thought of this in planning the bug out in general but did not think it would come so soon. yet another improvement for future plans.
I picked up news of which bridges leading to the city were open. With the hurricane a long way past NY, we wanted to get back in the city before all the other evacuees decide to drive back home as well. This was a wise decision as we avoided all the traffic. It was a smooth drive home, albeit a few detours. It helps a lot to have a map and a gps. Also, communicating with the other vehicles in the convoy before driving and during is essential. Everything was coordinated and we kept stress levels to a minimum.
Soon enough we were back at home. I unloaded our bug out preps in the boxes one by one. I could not avoid some neighbors seeing me do this, and I at least kept them consistent. Whoever had already seen me was okay with seeing me do it again with the other boxes, but nobody else. I was exhausted after unloading.
We were all glad to be back home. Everything was in order. I recall securing the house in the event looting or robbing in the neighborhood starts. We had water in the tub and loads more in jugs. It was a smooth procedure storing our bug out gear back into their closets. We were back to functioning at our apartment. We're glad nothing bad happened in the city, and glad we bugged out. It was a perfect opportunty to test the plan and a perfect reason to teach them the plan. They even led the convoy and chose the best route for the event. I know at least that they have this part of my bug out plan in their memories and know some basic stuff to bring, ,where to go and what to be aware of. I just hope that when we get the chance to sit down and review the events they will be more keen on listening and consider prepping to some level. We'll be checking in on our family and friends on how they did. Hopefully not a lot of people lost their lives. I do pray for those who got hit harder than us, may God bless them.
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