If you aren't prepared 100% for the most likely disaster for your family, you suck as a parent. (Preparedness part I.)

       Disaster Preparedness. Part I.                                                                      Tropical storm Gordon claims its first fatality

           Complacency is the killer This could have been prevented.

       A TWO-YEAR-OLD child died when a tree fell on his home. While any child dying is a tragedy, this could have been prevented. Its not like everyone didn't know the storm was coming.  Its not like the tree was just planted there. Its not like  the parents didn't know a tree falling on an occupied mobile home. They got complacent. And it got their child killed.  Its a hard truth, the parents probably never thought about the tree looming over their rented trailer in the park. They are probably young and only saw the tree as a beneficial shade in the hot Florida summers.  My heart goes out to them..

           What you should do to prevent this from happening to your child

           I cannot state this enough times.  HAVE A PLAN.

  1.   Plan for the most likely disaster to hit you. They live on the coast, so the most likely disaster for them would be a hurricane/tropical storm. They are the same thing in reality. One just has slightly slower winds.  
  2. At the beginning of hurricane season, walk the property. Look for things that might need attention BEFORE a storm turns them deadly. Point them out to the landlord. Its to HIS benefit to maintain a safe park.
  3.  If your place doesn't look safe, consider spending the night with family or friends who live in a better location a few miles inland. Know the locations of all county/state emergency storm shelters. Anyone living in a mobile home should really consider staying somewhere else during the storm. 
  4. Even FEMA suggests having a 96-hour  emergency kit (sometimes called a Bug-out bag) to take to a shelter.  A simplified B.O.B. is just your ID/important documents, 4 days of any medications you take, a change of clothes with extra underwear, A water bottle, a couple boxes of flavor packets for water, and a couple cans of sardines or vienna sausages for snacks. Bring a case of water for a family of 4 unless you are walking. If walking, carry as much as you can. To make things more comfortable, bring pillows,blankets for everyone and a couple of flashlights with spare batteries. A battery powered radio, a couple of games for any kids, and a book or two for adults fit in the, "It would be nice." category.  An old school backpack will carry most of your gear,(Every kid HAS to have a new one every year.)  but if you don't like that, shop goodwill regularly and you will find a reasonably-priced hiking backpack.  
  5. Be aware of the dangers and don't be afraid to leave before the storm arrives. The worse that can happen is your neighbors laugh at you. I would rather my neighbors laugh at me than come to my child's funeral.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hurricane Season is here!! Are you prepared?

Every year there are on average 17 deaths due to Hurricanes in the continental US.         Last year, 2017, Hurricane Harvey was blamed for 68  storm-related deaths and in 2013.  Hurricane Sandy, in 2012, killed 71 in the US out of the 147 deaths attributed to it.        This is serious, folks!     According to FEMA, (We're from the government and we're here to help.), YOU NEED 72-96 HOURS of food and water before you can count on them to show up!  We have that much warning before  one makes landfall. Its pretty easy to be prepared for it, but people won't do it. "I will be fine."  Yeah, those dead Fathers, Mothers, and children thought the same thing.  If you live on the coast and don't have a rubber maid Roughneck container in 18-35 gallon size, ($10.00 at Home Depot) with the basics, you suck as an adult/parent!!             Acc...
Read more

Sittin' with the chickens

     I recently decided I wanted some chickens. Probably because I eat about 3-4 eggs a day as part of my KETO-ish diet and I know that "homegrown" eggs are better. (Ask any baker.)  I had chickens in the past, so I knew what I was getting into. I was debating wheather to refit the goat shed behind the barn, (Dad had it as a chicken pen, then a miniature horse pen, then I changed it to a goat pen..).       About that time, a like-minded friend posted on CrackBook that he was moving and if anybody wanted his chicken pen, they could come take it down. I JUMPED at that offer. I worked for about 2 hours and had it all in the back of my truck. (He also loaded me up with some cool stuff.)             So I got home and after a couple days, (Ok, a week..or so..or maybe two...), I started building the pen.. It was a lot harder to take down the stock panels than it was to put them up. I took do...
Read more