Hurricane Sandy is one day away from impact with our state. Most of my personal preparations have been completed. The one thing that I wish I had more time to do was to familiarize the wife with things like the shaker siphons and larger water pump that we have to get water out of our 55 gallon drum.
My son and I along with a small group of volunteers and a larger group of prisoners from the county jail spent the morning filling sandbags. After we left the sand bagging detail to the prisoners we headed home and I prepared my overnight go bag and gear. I had been asked earlier in the day to report to the county Emergency Operations Center (EOC) by 6AM Monday morning. Based on my experience with Hurricane Irene from last year, I did not plan on being able to go home for a few days.
Some of the things that I packed included:
As darkness fell across the area, I headed out to assist a fellow team member, who is also a member of the Red Cross, in opening a Red Cross shelter at a local school. While at the school, we set up a few cots in a gymnasium, put up signs so people could find the shelter and generally got things organized. After the shelter was set up and fully staffed I headed home to grab some shut eye before my 6AM shift at the county EOC.
Before getting my last nights sleep for awhile, I sent out this email to my boss:
"School has been canceled Monday and Tuesday.
The Northwest area of the state of New Jersey is expected to get hit extremely hard as the storm is expected to pivot and keep this area under high winds for 24 to 48 hours.
I've been asked to work at the county Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at 6AM Monday morning. My task is to coordinate my team's volunteer response to the impending disaster.
As such, I am asking for the day off on Monday and possibly (likely) Tuesday.
So far I've filled sand bags and helped open and temporarily staff a county Red Cross shelter.
Depending on circumstances I could have computer access should a support issue arise that requires my specific attention for work."
My son and I along with a small group of volunteers and a larger group of prisoners from the county jail spent the morning filling sandbags. After we left the sand bagging detail to the prisoners we headed home and I prepared my overnight go bag and gear. I had been asked earlier in the day to report to the county Emergency Operations Center (EOC) by 6AM Monday morning. Based on my experience with Hurricane Irene from last year, I did not plan on being able to go home for a few days.
Some of the things that I packed included:
- 2.5 gallons of water in a military style water can.
- 72 hour MRE food kit.
- Sleeping bag.
- 3 Flashlights and one camping lantern plus batteries.
- Portable AM/FM radio.
- 2 FRS/GMRS hand-held portable radio transmitters with batteries.
- Laptop PC and AC adapter for it.
- Backup battery for my smartphone.
- Energizer cell phone charger with batteries.
- An extra pack of 48 AA batteries for all my small powered devices.
- Notebooks, pens, permanent markers, pencils.
- Laptop soft sided briefcase stuffed with many of the above items.
- Backpack stuffed with many of the above items.
As darkness fell across the area, I headed out to assist a fellow team member, who is also a member of the Red Cross, in opening a Red Cross shelter at a local school. While at the school, we set up a few cots in a gymnasium, put up signs so people could find the shelter and generally got things organized. After the shelter was set up and fully staffed I headed home to grab some shut eye before my 6AM shift at the county EOC.
Before getting my last nights sleep for awhile, I sent out this email to my boss:
"School has been canceled Monday and Tuesday.
The Northwest area of the state of New Jersey is expected to get hit extremely hard as the storm is expected to pivot and keep this area under high winds for 24 to 48 hours.
I've been asked to work at the county Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at 6AM Monday morning. My task is to coordinate my team's volunteer response to the impending disaster.
As such, I am asking for the day off on Monday and possibly (likely) Tuesday.
So far I've filled sand bags and helped open and temporarily staff a county Red Cross shelter.
Depending on circumstances I could have computer access should a support issue arise that requires my specific attention for work."
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