emergencies

Being ready for a disaster and packed to evacauate can mean the difference between life and death. So, why wasn't I? What did it take to make me prepare for an emergency evacuation from our home with my four dogs even though I had read enough to know that I should be prepared?  Sadly, it took me having to experience a major flood in our town last spring.  I had even seen my cousin and her family homeless after her condo burned to the ground a year before, and that didn’t make me get prepared.  I guess it’s true that we never think it’s going to happen to us.  Here’s my Story:

I was lucky, I had water in our basement for the first time, but it didn’t cause any major damage.  However, neighbors around me had four feet of water in their basements and were removed from their homes in backhoe loaders.  I can only imagine that if my dogs were evacuated with me in backhoe loaders, they would have jumped out and drowned in the flood waters.  There was no way out around me because flood waters surrounded my home.

What did happen locally was that there was a shelter that would take animals if you had only one animal.  Any more than one and you could sit outside in the rain.

My electricity was shut off for days, and there was no heat in the house.  I also had the flu and a 103 degree temperature.  I couldn’t leave the house because I had to keep trying to reach our electrician and Con Edison to get a certificate that Con Edision could turn our electricity back on.  I was able to cook with the gas range, so my dogs were able to eat, since I cook for them and had no kibble in the house.  I did keep their harnesses on for over a week in case I had to leave with them at a moment’s notice.

What scared me the most for the safety of my dogs began after the flood waters receded and the Con Edison workers set about fixing the water in the gas lines underground which caused a gas leak.  At this point I was at work again, and the woman that walks my dogs arrived early, which was unusual, but a blessing.  She arrived to find Con Edison ready to break my door down to get inside the basement and see if we had a gas leak inside because of the gas leak outside.  The day before several other houses had their front doors forced in by Con Edison and a police officer was stationed outside.  Thank God she let them in.  If she wasn’t there Con Edison would have broken the door to get in.

My dogs are not loose in the day, but if the Con Edison workers came inside, my dogs would have gone nuts.  They could even have gotten out and ended up in any situation.  The Con Edison work went on for days, and I spent those days a nervous wreck hoping that my dogs would be locked safely inside.  I left my daughter’s and my contact phone numbers with Con Edison and the local police department in case they needed to get in again.
What would you do if you were forced from your house with a moment’s notice, with only the clothes on your back and had to run for your lives from a fire, flood, gas explosion, etc.?  What would you take?  Where would you go? 

In a moment’s notice is the phrase that means everything.  You can’t cover every possible scenario, but you can decide what you could grab in a moment’s notice and have it near you to grab and run.

This is what I decided to do:

I went to Home Depot and bought a large tool case that has an extendable handle and wheels and came with a shoulder bag for extra room.  I also ordered life preservers for all of my dogs according to their size.  They are really very inexpensive to purchase.  You can search on-line for the best prices.  On the life preservers I wrote their names, addresses and phone numbers in permanent marker.  Now, here’s what’s in the tool case: 

• Kibble to last a few days (which I have in bags near the tool case), and cans of dog food,
• bottled water for a few days and stainless steel dishes,
• a folder with Xerox copies of their rabies certificates,
• a list of names and contact info for the people that I want to care for my dogs in case I can’t be found or I am unable to do it myself,
• my home insurance policy and flood insurance policy and bank account numbers,
• their winter coats,
• I have rearranged their supplies to keep new bottles of grooming supplies in the tool case, so when I run out I get it out of the tool case and order more to put into the tool case,
• I keep their medications in the tool case and get everything out of the tool case as I need it,
• I need to get a first aid kit too, and
• I keep their leashes and walking collars hung right above the tool case.
  

Of course, I’ll modify this list of things as I go along, but it’s a start.

What do you have ready to go at that moment’s notice?