Remembering April 27, 2011 Tornado Outbreak: Lesson Learned Be Prepared

One year ago today was a day many from Arkansas to Virginia won't forget. I definitely won't as I spent most of the day in my closet huddled with my kids worrying about the waves of tornadoes. My husband, "Doppler" Dale, also won't forget it as he was having to work the event at the local tv station (read his personal look back thoughts of this day). One thing is for sure, we learned, as did many of you, that you need to be well prepared. We did well on this topic on some things and didn't do so well on others.

The things we did well on was in having multiple ways of receiving weather warnings. We had a NOAA weather radio, Weather Call and tv/radio. For me, WeatherCall was the most valuable. There were soooo many warnings that I could not tell which ones were for our home. The only way I did was by receiving my site specific warning from Weather Call. WeatherCall is by far something I will always have. I know it gave me some at ease feeling because I was able to stay aware. Had I not had it, I know I would have been even more scared and nervous. That is why I urge you to GET WEATHERCALL, TODAY. No, it is not FREE but what cost do you put on you and your families lives. A year of service is just $9.95 and I know it will put you more at ease, keep your more weather aware and potentially save your life. Would you not change your brakes and just go without to save? I don't think so. So don't go without this service.

The other things we did well is we had a plan. I knew where to go with my kids and had my safe spot ready with snacks, bike helmets, blankets and pillows all ready to go. We also had a stockpile of food that was non-perishable to keep us fed.

 But there were things we did not do so well, largely because we were not prepared for a lengthy power
outage. We did not have enough or the right size batteries for our flashlights and radios. We did not have enough fuel in our car to fuel my husband's travel to and from work for several days, either.

So now we have a hand cranked weather radio from Midland. It has a cell phone USB charger, flashlight, radio and weather radio all in one. It can run on outlet power, battery power or can be hand cranked. We hope to never have to use it again for a lengthy power outage but if it does we are ready. We also have a new LED, battery powered lantern we recently purchased with extra batteries on hand to light us up if we lose the lights again.

So make sure you have a safety plan and know what to do, and where to go in the event of severe weather. Also be sure to have the right supplies on hand to be able to survive for several days. Here is a previous post I did on using your stockpile for emergency purposes (Stockpiling for Storms)