HOUSTON — Flashlight? Check. Can goods? Check. Beer? Double check.
Most Houstonians are running through their hurricane preparedness checklist this weekend as two intense storms churn in the Gulf of Mexico.
KHOU 11 has provided plenty of useful resources and tips for waiting out these storms, but we wanted to ask our followers and viewers for tips they have learned over the years.
Most recommended stocking up on essentials like toilet paper and water bottles, but some had ideas that you may not find in the standard preparedness guide like wine.
Note: These aren’t listed in any particular order.
Facebook user Brandi Hall has a fun idea if you have young kids:
“When Ike came through, we had a 1-year-old and a 6-year-old. Best thing we spent a couple of bucks on was buying the cheap glow-in-the-dark necklaces— the ones that you snap. Put them on our girls’ wrists and as necklaces could see them walking through the creepy dark house!!”
Party glow sticks and necklaces are normally an easy find at discount stores like Dollar Tree or King Dollar.
Facebook user Will Watanabe suggests slowly building up your kit:
“Buy extra cans of food and supplies each shopping trip, if you can. It'll help you build up an emergency stash year-round.”
While stocking up on dry-foods, Facebook user Gary Dollagaray says keep in mind:
“Don’t eat all your snacks before the hurricane even hits.”
Khristi Killian-Valadez followed up, commenting that right before the storm is a great time to use up fresh produce, eggs, milk and meat.
Facebook user Angelica Muro recommends charging up:
“Have your laptops, pads, cells all charged, along with external chargers. Charcoal, gas, dry ice, batteries…wine, water, wine, some snacky snacks and did I mention wine?”
Again, don’t forget the beer!
Hurricanes often lead to road closures and power outages. When in a safe place, most of us will take advantage of the downtime to relax— and pop open a cold one!
A lot of a viewers admitted beer and wine and other alcoholic beverages are high on their preparedness checklists. Of course, we remind you to always drink responsibly and stay put if you’re not sober.
Facebook user Jennifer Smith reminds us to have a backup evacuation, but also have your route plotted out on a map:
“Have a plan, a backup plan, and a backup plan for your backup plan if you need to evacuate. Map out evacuation plans on an old-fashioned paper map in case of lost signals or mapping apps being overloaded and shutting down.”
Don’t sweat the hot weather! Facebook user Jeanne Evans has a plan for keeping your home cool:
“I lived [in Houston] during Hurricane Ike. When I knew it was coming, there was one thing I did to prepare since we had no generator. I turned our air conditioner a lot lower than usual and kept the blinds pulled to keep the sun out. When the electricity went off, our house stayed cool even though it was very hot outside. It was just beginning to warm up some when our power came back on 3 or 4 days later. We were very comfortable.”
Twitter user Robert Ford suggests:
"Same as every year. Have some canned goods and a way to cook them. Fill the bath tub with water for drinking and filling the toilet. Most of all relax."
Don’t trip— literally! Twitter user Cheryl said:
“Make sure your house is clean in case you take in evacuees and you don’t trip over something if the lights go out.”
Remember, your phone has a flash light. Here’s one Twitter user’s idea for keeping it charged:
“The phone flashlight is good enough [in my opinion], and you can charge it in the car if you really needed. My tip would be extra battery packs like this one. At least 1 for each member of the family that has a phone. You can charge multiple of these in the car as well if need be.”
Great tips from our viewers! If you have a preparedness tip you would like to share, message us on Facebook or Twitter.
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