Hurricane Wilma goes through S. Florida and millions are without power. Damage is heavy as well. What do we hear from the people? Where's the water? Where's the food? Where's the ice? Where's gas? Look...before you jump on me for being insensitive...again, I went through 3 hurricanes last year and was hit with over $40,000 worth of damage. No, my house was not leveled like you see on television, but I had no power and fended for myself, my family and my neighbors. That means I already had my water supply, gas in my car, food to eat, batteries, propane to cook with, etc. Why? Starting in May, all of the Florida television stations do public service annoucements that hurricane season is around the corner and all people that live in these potential areas NEED to take NOTICE. For weeks you hear these warnings. Face it...I am not going to wait for a government official to take care of me and my family. All I ask from the government is protect me by SHOOTING looters on the spot (or I will) and do everything possible to get the infrastructure back in order A.S.A.P. Governor Jeb Bush is getting blasted for making the statement that citizens need to at least have 72 hours worth of food and water in stock to sustain life before local, state and feds can react. He stated we all had enough warning, so why all of the complaining!?! Me? I had my hurricane kit ready, but if I see another person gripe about what the government needs to do for them...well, use your imagination. Gimmee, gimmee, gimmee...whatever happened to Kennedy's words of wisdom: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
Midas, while I've never been through a hurricane, I can certainly agree. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if you are getting hit by a hurricane, you should get some supplies.
My uncle is in Ft Lauderdale. He stocked up, no problem. His description of the damage indicates that it was a bad one though (the worst he has seen and he has seen many). He had to ride his bike around because most roads were unpassable. I think some thought it would be a regular heavy storm but it was much more than that (if this were not such a wierd season this storm would have been BIG news but in this context it does not seem like much). As for the gimmee people I agree that that attitude is getting old- I hope that I never find myself that unprepared.
What! Winter is coming again!???? It does sort of come with the territory. P.S. It's getting cold up hear in Chicago. Please have the Govenor send me, mittens, a hat, a winter coat, some warm boots and a scarf. I can't believe this is happening to me, again.
Please allow me to butt in here, slightly off topic, to suggest that any and everyone no matter where they live have at a bare minimum a 72 hour kit ready to go at all times. This would include: water, food, medicine, spare cash, batteries, etc. Even if you don't live in hurricane territory, there are many other things to be prepared for such as power outages, floods, snow storms, terrorist attacks either foreign or domestic, industrial or nuclear accidents, civil unrest...use your imagination. Poo happens. I am not saying you have to be a complete survivalist type, just be prepared to wait it out for a minimum of 3 days before good ole Uncle Sam can come in and save you should TSHTF. And three days is a ridiculous bare minimum in my opinion, I only say that amount of time because that is what the government suggests, and most people won't even do that. If someone asked my personal opinion, I would say 6 months worth of supplies would be a better minimum. And don't forget to have some way to protect your supplies from those who refuse to prepare for themselves.
Simon the Mormon church is big into that here is their survivor link http://www.providentliving.org/channel/1,11677,1706-1,00.html
I agree 100% folks who live in extreme areas must prepare for the extreme or suffer the consequences. Out here we have incredible blizzards which isolate us for 1-2 weeks at a time. I mean NO mail, No Electricity, No Water, Nothing One must learn to adapt. I cut and split 5-8 cords of wood yearly and we always keep 500 gallons of propane available. We have lots of candles, lanterns, and flashlights. Our house is older and it has a ladder which leads up to the attic where we can push our a weak section of the roof to get out incase snow drifts block the south facing doors of our house. BTW, all the doors on the older houses around here face south. The snow can be upwards of 5-8 feet deep with drifts of 30 feet and going out for hundreds of yards. It (snow) drifts in over fences and gates and when it hardens cattle and horses get all over the place if they aren't suffocated beneath it. During the coldest weather, -20 to -35 degrees below zero I have to go out daily and "Break Ice" off the water tanks so our livestock (10 cows & a horse, LOL) won't die of thirst We've had to cook on our wood burning stove and melt snow for water to drink and make coffee. The folks around here are hardy and resourceful. Neighbor helps neighbor, not neighbor shoot neighbor and when it's over you get ready for the next one. Once in the 1988 blizzard there was a knock on the door, a young woman with a small child was standing there. They're car had run into the ditch down by the mailbox and they had followed the fence up to the house, a 1/4 mile walk. They stayed with us for three days until the county road grader arrived out here and got her car unstuck. Even today she is still good friends with my wife. Simple as that and nobody around here cries "Help Me George Bush, I'm Freezing" to FEMA and makes a damn indignant fool of themselves. Bone
I live in Naples and hurricane Wilma came right thru us at its strongest being that we are on the gulf. There are no gas lines here, there is no one complaining what is the government going to give to us, and there is no looting even with multi/multi-million dollar homes down the road and up the street being empty with no alarm or camara systems working. Why? This is Southwest Florida and in Southwest Florida we go to church or temple, we have active pee wee sports, we have active park programs, we have an active library program, we have an active school community, we have people who are involved in the community and we are a community. I go shopping and I spend an extra hour talking to people I know. If I need help of any sort, I do not even have to ask for people to help for the help would already be offered as I would do as well. We got hit hard in Naples and you know what they are not showing on TV. The people of Naples helping each other with repairing roofs, with cutting or replanting fallen trees, with people opening their homes up to friends who need a place to stay. We are a community and we are spending our week off helping each other. We may not be considered cool like South Beach but most of us feel that our family values are cool enough.
I'll bet we could live a month on what we have rat-holed around here, not counting "my little forest friends". Drinking the hot tub water after about three weeks might curb our enthusiasm for survival exercises. I probably have enough wine fermenting to ensure that we would die of liver failure long before starving to death. I think we need a lot more natural disasters just to clean-up the American gene pool. After this self-righteous rant, I may have to go out and do a little more brush-clearing before the next fire season.
You are absolutely right bone, it is an every year occurance around our place, and occasionally it becomes a major storm and we just accept the fact that we aren't going to be going to town any time soon. The major concern is the livestock, as they can't take care of themselves very well at times. Makes for some cold working conditions, but well worth every minute of your time. I know it's not nice to laugh at some of the problems they are having down south, but then again I do have to shake my head and smile a little!
Now how are politicians going to buy all your votes if they can't get you dependent on the government to get your behinds wiped???? I'm not from NYC, but I reside here...for now. Talk about a populous that needs to have at least a 3 day kit!!!! I'm not even touching worries of the next terrorist attack. The power outage of 2003 is a prime example. If it had lasted a week things would have been much much worse. People here are entirely TOO dependent on external sources for basic sustinance, its truely frightening when you stop to think about it.
But its not nearly as entertaining to see people well prepared then it is to see them screaming that they don’t have any food, water and have lost all there possessions (however tragic it is). I suspect the large majority in Florida did just fine and that the media just ignored them.
I can only speak for myself and I live in Naples in Collier County which voted by a margin of 3 to 1 for Bush. No one here is running around screaming for government help. I am wondering if the Democratic party is breeding to much dependence on "big brother " which would be an irony.
