It's never too early to get your hurricane survival kit prepared. Hurricane season can lead to devastating effects across a wide swath of land and recent events have made the hurricane preparedness kit more popular than ever. Over the past several years, it has become more evident that during a hurricane you could be without help for days or even weeks. This makes it even more important to have your hurricane emergency kit ready to go. A lot of people enter hurricane season unprepared because they get stuck wondering, "what do you need in a survival kit."
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If you don't have a very good idea of what to include in a hurricane kit then the first thing to do is create a hurricane checklist. You can use this to start deciding exactly what you need in your hurricane kit and what you can leave behind. Many people start by looking at a traditional 2 person survival kit to help them get started.
There are a number of agencies and nonprofit groups that have developed specific guidelines for a hurricane checklist. The National Hurricane Center and American Red Cross have both stated that your hurricane preparedness kit should follow the basic guidelines of a 2 person survival kit, with a few notable exceptions. These exceptions exist because hurricanes can damage such a large area in such a short amount of time, which is what makes a hurricane kit so important. This leaves emergency responders overwhelmed, which means you may not get assistance for longer then the traditional 72 response period that the 2 person survival kit is based on.
A Hurricane Kit Plans For the Worst Case Scenario
With hurricanes, you should always have a hurricane preparedness kit that includes everything you need to handle the worst-case scenario. Hurricanes continually prove to be one of the most difficult natural disasters to predict, especially in terms of the damage that it can inflict. The key is making sure that your hurricane emergency kit has everything you need to both ride out the storm and recover after it has passed. During hurricane season it is important to always have your hurricane kit with you, because you never know when you'll need it.
Some of the items that absolutely must be on your hurricane checklist include food, water purification tablets, multiple ways to generate light and communicate, a method to protect you from the elements, and versatile tools. While your hurricane survival kit does need to be easily transported from one place to the other, you should be careful after a hurricane because most of the roads will likely be flooded and power lines will likely be down.
Using Your Hurricane Kit to Ride Out the Storm
What do you need in a survival kit if you plan on riding out the hurricane in your home? One of the first things that will go in hurricane is your electricity and it may not be available for weeks at a time. Fortunately, your hurricane survival kit can provide a simple solution. One of the best alternatives is including a hand powered radio flashlight in your hurricane preparedness kit. By adding this to your kit, you will have an unlimited source of light and the ability to stay updated through emergency service radio broadcasts. When riding out a storm, including emergency ponchos with a hood and survival blankets as part of your hurricane survival kit will be essential to keep you dry and warm. With the potential of debris and dangerous gases, safety goggles and respirator dust masks should be added to your hurricane emergency kit as well.
Immediately after the hurricane has passed, there are several additional useful items that you will need. The first thing you should do is grab your first aid kit from your hurricane kit and take care of any wounds that may have occurred. Normally these wounds are the results of flying debris or powerful winds.
Next, you should use a pry bar from your hurricane survival kit to exit your house. If possible, your hurricane emergency kit should also include leather work gloves and a multifunction knife as well. As long as you have these three things in your hurricane survival kit, you should have no problem clearing a walkway to exit your home.
How Your Hurricane Preparedness Kit Will Be Used After the Storm
After the hurricane has passed and you have established that everyone you are with is accounted for, the next step is setting up shop with tools from your hurricane kit and wait for emergency services. Using the tarp and duct tape you should be able to stop any leaks in your home. If your home is too damaged to stay in, then the tube tent from your hurricane survival kit becomes your next best option. Going into other buildings is extremely dangerous because they are likely as damaged as yours was, so stick with your kit.
At this point, you should be fairly established in terms of where you will be staying until emergency services arrives or you get to evacuate. There are a number of other items which are traditionally in a 2 person survival kit which you can include in a hurricane survival kit. Aside from your radio flashlight, you should have other sources of light available as well. Glow sticks and 30 hour emergency candles have both proven to be good options. Plus, they are small and lightweight, which makes them ideal for a hurricane emergency kit.
One of the first tasks that needs to be accomplished is securing a source of drinkable water. In your kit there should be water purification tablets. These can be used in the event that no other water is available. For short-term solution, you should have boxes of Aqua Literz as well.
Now that you have a water source, you need to designate a hygiene and sanitation area using the items you have in your hurricane kit. One of the benefits to keeping all of your hurricane preparedness kit in a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat is that you have an automatic sanitation area. Make sure that you include toilet bags with chemicals in your hurricane emergency kit as well.
Understanding how you can use your hurricane preparedness kit to ride out the storm and recover afterward should make it easier to create a hurricane safety checklist. At the same time, it is much easier to utilize a prepackaged hurricane kit which was built around the guidelines provided by hurricane preparedness experts.
