Disaster Strategies From the Frontlines

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Now back to business.

In this week’s mailbag, we’re going to hear from one of our readers who’s lived through two Category 5 hurricanes.

Keith B. and his wife Carol live in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they are still recovering from last year’s Hurricane Maria.

This morning Keith is going to give us some hard-won advice based on their firsthand experience of hurricane survival.

All the best,

Owen Sullivan
Editor, Money & Crisis

By Keith B.

I live in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.

After Hurricane Maria last September, we were 103 days without utility power — operating on our home 12-kW diesel generator for about eight hours a day.

While most stores are now open and the roads are cleared, we’re still waiting on CATV and landline phones in my neighborhood.

I remember back in 1989, when we had a similar experience with Hurricane Hugo.

It’s always a good plan to get out of the path of a hurricane and away to a safer place. But sometimes you have to stay put.

Streets and highways may be blocked, transportation unavailable, flooded, destroyed — you name it.

There are dozens of factors that can restrict your mobility and ability to escape. Which is why it’s wise to prepare for the possibility that you’ll be at home during the aftermath of a hurricane.

I had no choice. When Category 5 Hurricane Hugo hit St. Croix in September 1989, there weren’t enough seats available on boats and planes to evacuate all 50,000 people in the hurricane’s path. We had to stay put and prepare, cope and hope our preparations would see us through.

Here are some of the big lessons I learned from the experience:

Cash: Nobody will take credit cards when the phone lines are down for authorizations. Neither will ATMs, for that matter. Keep a few hundred bucks in small bills. In a crisis, some small gold and silver coins would probably be good as well.

Power & Light Issues: No power means no lights, including street lights. In an urban survival scenario, you’re going to need serious emergency illumination — not just the photon in your pocket. I’d suggest multicell LED flashlights and plenty of batteries. The fluorescent lanterns that run on lantern batteries are great for in-home use — no risk of fire, but you’ll need to stock additional lantern batteries and rotate them.

Gasoline: No gas stations will operate if the power lines are down (unless they have generators). They’ll be crowded and chaotic. Keep your tank at least half full at all times and have access to a couple of empty five-gallon jerry jugs.

Sharing: Neighbors can and will band together to help each other post-disaster. For several days we had group cookouts to use up frozen meat that would soon spoil. Then a food broker dropped off cases of filet mignon when his freezer died. That gas grill came in mighty handy. For the first few days, we were more worried about cholesterol than starvation.

Pets: Cat and dog food aren’t usually the first things resupplied. So keep a week’s supply or more. Store canned foods, because they’re packed in water, which helps during a water shortage.

First Aid: While pushing my car through mud, I stepped right out of my shoe and onto a piece of jagged metal. If medical care is inaccessible for a while, keep a good first-aid kit in the car as well as at home. An infection can make life miserable, and there is a lot of debris flying around after a disaster.

Insects: After a hurricane, there is lots of standing water in damaged structures, pools and other catchments. Mosquitoes were fierce for a while, and there were unpleasant outbreaks of dengue fever, borne by mosquitoes. Repellent and screen repair materials were quite useful.

Hurricane Hugo devastated the island. But the next time storm clouds threatened, we had learned enough to be better prepared. Last year, when Hurricane Maria knocked out our power, we knew how to cope.

I hope our learning experience can help others do the same.

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