Lessons In Preparedness We Can All Learn from Hurricane Helene
Self-reliance is the key to freedom - and possibly your survival
Hurricane Helene roared through the Southeast leaving a torrential downpour in it’s wake. Parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and other Appalachian states received almost 2 feet of rain in a 24 hour span, causing huge amounts of flooding in the valleys and dams spill over. Small towns were obliterated and roads all across the region were destroyed, leaving hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people stranded and without power. The death toll and devastation still has yet to be realized as communication is still sparse in the area. This may reach, or even exceed, Hurricane Katrina levels of destruction.
Sometimes we forget the power of Mother Nature - what’s a humbling woman, she is.
There are grocery stores in the southeast with almost bare shelves doing cash only sales because they can’t take cards with no internet, and lines at the gas stations are nearly a mile long in some areas. Food and water are becoming scarce for some people.
We can all learn a lesson about preparedness from this situation.
Many people get into “prepping” over societal/economic shit-hit-the-fan collapse scenarios, but really the most common (and inevitable) events to be prepared for are natural disasters and intense weather.
Think about your specific region and the most likely Earth-caused scenarios that you may encounter.
For instance, someone living on the West Coast would have to keep earthquakes in mind, and for those in the Pacific Northwest the winter wind storms often knock down large trees and take power lines with them, causing power outages for days, if not weeks. Those in Western U.S. also need to be mindful of wildfires during the summer months.
For those in the Midwest - tornadoes can be an issue. There are also the deep freeze winter storms and large hail storms.
Southeast - hurricanes. Northeast - major snow storms. Winter storms usually cause more issues than summer heat waves, but a heat wave may make water a valued commodity to prepare for, depending on the region, and companies may limit power availability during severe heat.
Having a few weeks (at least) of food and water on hand is a good idea for any possible weather event, and the economic/societal collapse scenario as well. Freeze dried foods, canned foods, MREs, meal replacement protein powders make good SHTF stock. There are a variety of ways to gather and store water - just keep filtration and purification in mind.
Thinking outside the box, bartering becomes a useful value exchange mechanism during survival scenarios, so having goods like coffee, cigarettes, or alcohol on hand can give you quite a resource to trade with for what you need. Pro tip: vodka can also be used as an emergency anti-septic too. And let’s not forget toilet paper.
In terms of possible traveling you may have to do, as we’re seeing with the mile long gas station lines, it may be a good idea to keep 10-20 gallons of gasoline on hand stored in your garage or basement. There are additives that can be mixed with standard gasoline to increase it’s shelf life to around 24 months - just be sure to rotate your gasoline stores so they don’t go bad. (Rotating food and water may also be necessary to keep stock fresh and viable)
For emergency power - many people like to have large generators for the just in case. This can be a good idea. Solar cells are also available as well. I have quite a few solar powered flashlights and power banks for the cell phones and smaller devices.
Don’t forget firearms for self-defense (and food acquisition if necessary). There were arrests made in Tennessee the other day of 8 individuals who were robbing and looting flood survivors in the area. While natural disasters can bring out the best in Humans with people helping each other - they can also bring out the worst. I also like to have a bow and arrows for self-defense/hunting to go along with the firearms, for sometimes you may not want to make a loud “bang” and let everyone in the area know where you are and what you’re doing.
Can’t forget tools and back up tools for maintenance, repair, fixing, working, gardening, and building - medical gear is a must - and communication devices are also essential to plan with, such as handheld radios, larger HAM radios, and other means of talking to loved ones, emergency services and the outside world. Starlink internet dishes can be a damn handy tool when in the sticks or in the shit.
And last but not least, have a “Bug-Out” plan and a “Bug-In” plan that you not only come up with before an emergency situation happens, but plans that you also share with your friends and family. “If this happens, we meet here”. “If I can’t get a hold of you, meet here, and if no one is there, meet here", etc. Acronym: PACE - Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency. Keep the PACE strategy in mind when gathering tools, food, planning, and with other preparedness works. As they say, two is one, and one is none. Sometimes three or four is better. Backs up for your back ups.
Prepping is often looked at as being for the paranoid until shit hits the fan, then those who thought it was for the paranoid wished they were preppers sooner.
If you’re new to prepping, I’ve created a mini-course on Locals filled with a few hours of content devoted to information about prepping Food, Water, Firearms, and more prepping topics.
It’s called “The Prepper’s Classroom”, and you can watch the videos by subscribing to my Locals page. Click here to join »
Within this course is also an interview with Dave Hayes, aka Praying Medic, who knows quite a bit about preparedness topics.
As our Earth goes through it’s cyclical changes, weather events are only going to get more severe. As our society becomes ever more dependent on infrastructure like electricity and internet (and as our infrastructure continues to decay), the failing of this infrastructure will become more impactful. And with our world becoming more and more unstable and a dying Deep State becoming increasingly hellbent on causing societal chaos, the supply chains and grids and internet and everything else we depend on become evermore targeted.
With these factors, being prepared may not just be wise, but necessary to survive and thrive.
Self-reliance is the key to freedom.
Thanks for reading.
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