PREP great prep read-"Listening to Katrina" (originally from 2010)

conundrum

Inactive
I came across an incredible site, Listening to Katrina, written by a guy who went through the hurricane and aftermath.

It is eyeopening and full of prep details. Even if you don't face the threat of hurricanes please read and use this. It's very good.


LISTENING TO KATRINA - This is the main portion of the site. It is the story and the guide. While I use my experience of Katrina as an example, the preparations I talk about aren't just about hurricanes. The preparations I cover are useful for every sort of emergency - from a simple house fire to global thermonuclear war.

http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/p/map.html

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina became the largest natural disaster in United States history. After the levees failed, it became the largest man-made disaster in United States history. This blog is a chronicle of what happened to myself and my family during those events. It is also a documentation of lessons learned from a survival and recovery viewpoint.

This blog intertwines several elements. One element is the actual experience of disaster. Another element is a step by step guide to preparing yourself and your family for the day when you might face some unforeseen circumstance. I invite you to seriously invest the time, effort, and small cost in creating your own emergency plans. If you do not know where to begin, just follow along with me and I'll take you step by step.

Something I don't want to do is make anyone afraid. Fear isn't useful. You shouldn't do any of this out of a sense of fear or panic. You should do it from a positive, forward looking philosophy. However you work that, you should do it - especially if you have kids. Many times in my youth I walked around not knowing where my next meal was coming from. That can be a little disturbing, but it doesn't hold a candle to the rising panic you feel as you're riding along with nothing but the money in your pocket, unsure if your house is still standing, with your little girls in the back seat. Trust me.

The events and stories herein are true, but I have also taken the liberty of fictionalizing certain elements here or there for a number of reasons. Some names have been changed to protect the innocent, some names have been changed to protect the guilty, and some names have been changed to protect the naive. Even so, I will not spare telling you about my many failures while celebrating my several successes. I hope that these pages will prove to be useful to you in some way. Use the menu and links at the left of any page to navigate.

I have been encouraged many times to write a book about my experience, but I have decided to publish the whole thing on the internet instead. I felt that I did not want to 'market disaster', and I didn't want an editor truncating things that I felt important. Rather than force you to buy a book that you may or may not like or use, I have provided the entire content here. If it proves useful and valuable to you and you would like to support the site, you can use the link at the bottom of any page to 'pay your own price'. I am not selling anything here, and you will not be bothered by advertisements or annoying pop-ups on this site.

There are three different resources combined here for your use. The first resource is the Listening to Katrina blog, which is a long story with many lessons. You can continue reading Listening to Katrina by using the navigation links in the menu panel at the left, or you can use the navigation buttons at the bottom of any page. The Listening to Katrina blog contains actual events of a human tragedy, and as such may contain profanity, graphic violence, nudity, and various other horrors.

The second resource is a series of worksheets in a workbook format to provide a model for your own preparations. If you want to use it, you can find it here, or in the left panel of any page by clicking WORKBOOK QUICK LINK. The workbook is 'clean' and suitable for everyone.

The third resource is a series of How To pages, which are simple instructions for various projects, including how to assemble your workbook. The How To resources are likewise 'clean' and are suitable for family use.

Enjoy.

Shane
 

Old Gray Mare

TB Fanatic
Conundrum thank you for posting this. I have been so inundated with putting by this summer's bounty that I'd not considered some of the lessons brought up by this web site. Some of these things I should have been keeping on top of and let them slide.
 

biere

Veteran Member
It is an excellant site and I need to go back and read through it again.

I am currently sucking at putting things where they need to go if I had to grab stuff and run out of the house due to a house fire.

Having one bag by the door is no biggy, leaving said baggy alone or putting everything back in it is sometimes hard for me.
 

tm1439m

Veteran Member
Thanks! Looks like a good site! Will report back when I get a chance to read it. :D Theres nothing like learning from those who have "been there".
 

bluelady

Veteran Member
Bumping this (yes, REALLY old!) thread. Because I found some pages I printed off long ago from this site, did a search, and it's still there! All kinds of stuff about preparing for disasters. However, it doesn't appear to have been updated.

I had printed off the part about saving photos, documents, hard drive, etc. Of course I filed the printouts and never did anything with them...LOL! And of course, because it's tech, most of it is outdated. (He recommends 2GB flash drives...LOL!)

But the idea of systematically preserving information is still very valid. My ADHD brain fogged mind really needs external structure for something like this. I have info on old devices, new devices, old storage, new storage, and lots of hard copies. It's all there, *somewhere*...LOL!

When I have time I'm going to revisit this project. If anyone has any specific input about how to bring the tech stuff into 2023, that would be great.

Hope this helps somebody somehow!
 

Terriannie

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Having gone through many hurricanes varying from Katrina & to what we call "Shoo Shoos," (Cat 1 or tropical storm) I have all my computer files/photos backed up automatically by a spare plug-in Hard Drive such as "My Book" for our Mac. If we have to evacuate, I can simply take it and go without our whole computer. Just in case my home & computer get destroyed, all I'd have to do is plug it in hopefully in a new one at our evacuation site and I'd be back in business. I would assume Microsoft has a similar device.

After Katrina, we invested in both the Hard Drive and a "Generac Generator." Because we hardly ever evacuate, that was really a comfort when Hurricanes Issac and Ida came through and we were out of electricity/cell towers and internet for weeks at a time. It's not just the continuation of fridge/freezer/washer/air conditioner, all my saved photos, videos, and working documents were able to be viewed. (I don't trust iCloud but even if I did, it would be useless those times anyway.)

That is a great site but printing ink is so expensive I simply could not print out all the (A) (B) (C) prep scenarios. However, if you do have to print a lot of paperwork, just get a binder/binders with plastic sleeves and dividers to keep them in.

Hope that helps.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I'm in the process of reading all of this. Having gone through katrina and the aftermath I say these are good suggestions. For anything not just hurricanes.
 
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