Survival tips from a survivor

Becky Gillette – Living in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, for a decade before Hurricane Katrina hit, I was well aware of the need to have an emergency preparedness kit. There were often several hurricane threats per season, and each time when I went to the grocery store you would see almost panic buying of water, batteries, bread and other supplies. If you didn’t get there early, the shelves were sometimes bare.

Still, when Hurricane Katrina hit, I learned some lessons about being prepared for an emergency. I made mistakes that could have been fatal if the flooding had been worse.

First, never stay in low-lying coastal areas when a Category 5 storm is in the Gulf. I had gotten tired of evacuating for storms that ended up doing little if any damage. A couple times putting all your family photo albums, computers, and most precious heirlooms in the trunk of the car and then having the storm go elsewhere or fizzle out had made me complacent.

Second, always keep the tank full of fuel when a storm approaches. I had a VW diesel Jetta at the time, and diesel wasn’t as easy to find back then. I didn’t even have enough diesel to evacuate considering it took hours to crawl 30 miles because evacuation traffic was so heavy. By the time I realize how serious Katrina was going to be, I had no way to get out.

I had plenty of water – outside on the porch of my home. It floated away when the storm surge inundated the area. I did have a few gallons inside, and if I had any idea my house was going to flood, I would have left. But the home I lived in on Davis Bayou hadn’t flooded in Hurricane Camille decades earlier. So, like many people, some of whom didn’t live to tell the story, I thought my home was safe from flooding.

My daughter and I were fortunate that the house only flooded to about knee deep. By not evacuating, we were able to move computers, other electronics and family photo albums up high where they were safe. The storm surge retreated quickly, leaving us with 1,000 square feet of white carpet to remove from the house.

The first order of business was to get everything wet out of the house so it could dry as soon as possible. Who would have thought that a tool to remove carpet should be in an emergency preparedness kit? Razors didn’t work, but it turned out my Buck knife was a great tool to rip out carpet.

Still another thing to consider in a pending disaster is having some cash on hand. You can’t write a check or use a credit or debit card. I was fortunate that three men who showed up the day after the storm to help remove the carpet were willing to wait to be paid until the bank opened – which was surprisingly fast. It was eerie going into the dark bank where they were using flashlights to check your balance and hand you cash.

If I could have had one thing after the storm that I didn’t have, it would have been a camp stove or a gas barbeque grill. Try working 16 hours cleaning up flood damage and then the next day not having coffee to get started in the morning! And I was surprised how quickly we tired of eating cold food. Even though it was hot as blazes, warm food is very comforting.

Another supply I wouldn’t have thought necessary was alcohol. Exhausted in the evening, a glass of wine would have really been nice before falling into bed trying to sleep in the heat and humidity of post Katrina with no electricity. All the stores in my area were closed for at least a week after Katrina, and even then it took a while for normal supplies to be re-established.

There were a couple of things that went better than you might have expected. Even with the phone lines on the ground, they still worked. And I never once lost city water, which was a huge blessing cleaning up after the flooding. It was also really helpful to take cold showers several times a day or night when overwhelmed with the heat.

One supply I had that came in handy was pine cleaner. While many people use bleach to kill mold that can grow after flooding, pine cleaner is safer for you and the environment, and works very well to prevent mold from growing.

Another thing during a disaster that is quite helpful is having good neighbors. After a day or two without coffee, kind neighbors gave me the much needed caffeine boost. Another neighbor – the one who said, “I hope you aren’t staying for Katrina because we are staying for Katrina,” came over and checked on us during the eye of the hurricane and again afterwards. Even though they were in the same boat with a flooded house, it was reassuring to have someone looking after our welfare.

Every disaster is different, of course. In the 2009 ice storm here in Arkansas, I was without heat for seven days because my gas heater required electricity to operate. I was fortunate my neighbors, Pat and Louise Mesa, took me in. And before the next winter rolled around, I installed a woodstove.