Wow what a month. While life goes on here, anticipating the big wind, earthquake, evacuation... Most of us thinking, it will never happen... It will. The question is when. Will we be ready?
I personally have several family members in Florida and North Carolina, where multiple Hurricanes and storms have caused havoc. All of my family and friends are alive, however they have lost much. Their local friends and their families, some have lost everything. Except the clothes on their backs and the evacuation supplies they were able to have ready to go. BIG testament to having a 72 hour kit, ready to travel. Many people from those areas, didn't have anything left to come home to and are starting from scratch with the little they took with them.
In North Carolina, in the mountains above Bat Cave and Asheville, there is a little community of 10 households. When the floods from Hurricane Helene came through, many of their homes were severely damaged. All of the roads leading to their homes were washed out, leaving them no way to access nearby towns. Power and water were wiped out with the exception of one small well on one of the properties. Their livelihoods were all destroyed, leaving them with no means of income and very little hope of being able to start their businesses up again any time soon. 8 of the 10 families were evacuated, some by helicopter, some hiked through the debris until they could reach an ATV ready to assist at the nearest road that was below the damage. It has been 4 weeks since the storm that caught ALL of these people by surprise. They did not have warning as Florida did when the hurricanes first were approaching.
The people in Florida had time to prepare, until the shelves and gas stations were empty. They had several days of warning. The people in North Carolina had no warning. They did not know the storm would be more than a little leftover rain from a southern hurricane. They had experienced that before. Helene proved to be different, very different. Many other areas between experienced the storm as well and there have been many reports of damage and loss, even many lives.
My point in telling you this is; The 2 families left in the community in Bat Cave North Carolina were PREPARED! They didn't know what FOR. But, they were BASICally prepared. They survived and were able to eat, cook, repair emergent damages because of what they had stored away for a need in time. Yes, they lost a lot of their food because of the power outage, but they were able to cook and eat what they could and shared with their community until they were evacuated from the area. They didn't panic in fear as they knew they had the basics on hand. They have hit the lows in hope and grief for what is lost, yet grateful for their survival and to each other for the assistance they were able to offer each other in such terrible time of need.
PLEASE, consider what you have stored, inventory and plan for any expected or unexpected even that may arrive. We don't need to focus on the DOOM of the unknown pending disaster. Just think of what your family will need IF and WHEN even the simplest of emergencies will arise. You don't know which of life's conveniences you will miss the most until it is gone... (and you do your laundry in a 5 gallon bucket for 4 weeks.)
May you all be blessed with the desire and insight to prepare on whichever level you feel most comfortable with for your situation.
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