Momxiety Hurricane Kit & Emergency Prep

Here in Northeast Florida we are in PANIC MODE, y’all!  Looks like a hurricane’s a’comin!  Quick let’s make a hurricane kit… clear the shelves of toilet paper, paper towels, milk, eggs, water, and batteries…  and Bud Light!

Okay so I am exaggerating just a little bit.  Or am I?…  The last time a hurricane came close to Jacksonville was about four years ago and it was the week before our wedding.  I do not remember having one iota of fear about Hurricane Beryl.  In fact, we went to a beachfront bar’s rooftop to watch it roll in and have cocktails.  Sailor Jerry’s Dark & Stormy was the special, of course.

All I remember about that storm was the power going out for a very short period of time and tons and tons and tons of rain.  The back yard had a few big puddles, but overall not a huge deal.  So when every news media outlet started “STORM WATCH 2016” earlier this week, I didn’t really give it too much thought.

Cut to today and a tropical storm making landfall tonight…  I think maybe the un-mommy version of me would be prepping for a possible day off tomorrow and a drink special tonight, but my Momxiety started working on me this morning and I thought, “OMG what if this really ends up to be bad and we are unprepared?!  We have a baby!”  I was in Wal-Mart a mere 17 minutes later.

I Googled “hurricane kit” and got some intel from the FEMA website.  For a Basic Disaster Supplies kit they recommend:

• Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
• Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
• Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• First aid kit
• Whistle to signal for help
• Dust mask to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
• Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
• Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
• Manual can opener for food
• Local maps
• Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger

I thought some of the stuff on the full list was really good for a Hurricane Kit.  Like having cash, which I never do.  Water is a no brainer.  But in addition to bottled water, I would also suggest filling up your bathtub.  This may seem dramatic, but if things got real then I bet you’d be happy to have the extra, despite it being contained in the same area where you wash your buttcrack.  Desperate times, people!

I suppose the whistle is a good idea if you get trapped under some rubble, but I gotta tell ya that my mind instantly went to Rose and Jack and that scene from Titanic…  and that really only worked out for one of them.

Also, did anyone else cut to a montage of you and your family foraging through the woods in a borderline zombie apocalypse scene when you read “local maps” on that list?  Like if times are desperate enough that we are referring to a paper map, you can find me drinking a Dark & Stormy somewhere with my feet up, because that is an end of days scenario.

All of that being said, I did get a few things at Wal-Mart to ease my Momxiety just in case stuff gets weird.  So MY version of a Hurricane Kit ended up including:

• Diapers
• Wet Wipes
• Two jugs of baby water
• Four pre-packaged baby food meals
• Milk
• Four small flashlights (even though we own approximately 32 already)
• Case of Dasani bottled water
• Clock radio w/ battery backup.  Ya know, so I can hear when the zombie apocalypse is arriving.
• Pack of 3 million AA batteries.  *Please note that neither the clock radio, nor the flashlights that I purchased accept this size battery, so what purpose they will serve I am unsure.  And get your mind out of the gutter, this is emergency survival people!
• Case of Bud Light

These supplies combined with my husband’s MacGyver-ish tendencies and tenacity?  I like our chances folks!  Stay safe everyone.