Cascade Crew

[QwkTrip]

I was in the tornado last Sunday in Washington, IL. We're fine and the house actually took zero damage. Seems crazy to say "zero damage" and "tornado" in the same sentence but that's the way it happened. Neighbors' houses are heavily damaged and/or leveled flat to the ground. Just got internet access today so I thought I would report in and settle any curiosity any of you had.

[Dewey316]

Glad to hear you are alright. Amazing news that nothing was damaged!

I'm sure you and the whole town are very busy, check in when you get a chance.

[QwkTrip]

F4 tornado with 190 mph winds (that's nearly F5) and we were literally 200 yards from the center of it. All I can say is we had a shield of mercy protecting us.

[rjmcgee]

God spared your Eco Boost! Glad you guys are alright Jon

[QwkTrip]

It's been a week and things are settling down some. I've learned a lot of things about disaster preparedness. I had some things right and some things wrong. Here are some things I learned.

Supplies In Huddle Spot

Your huddle spot should have enough things to get you out alive (large claw hammer & whistle), large crescent wrench to shut off water and gas lines, fire extinguisher to put out fires, knife to cut clothing to tend to wounds, flashlight, and some clean drinking water. I had most of it right but my large crescent wrench was upstairs in the tool box. And it's not just your own home, you need to shut down gas at all broken homes nearby. First night there was a gas explosion and fire that had to be put out.

Hard toed safety boots are a must. There are downed electrical lines everywhere and you need electric insulated soles. There are nails in every piece of wood and tons of different ways to injure your feet. Heavy work gloves are needed for same reasons.

Telephone and Internet

It won't exist in your area for at least the first 24 hours. Don't depend on it at all. You'll need to drive away to another town to use your phone.

Food and Drinking Water

Water supply will be contaminated. You need clean drinking water and lots of it. I had non-refrigerated food but the wrong kind of food. All my food needed heat or lots of water to prepare. I had to go shopping and get food that required no heat and no extra water. Need to have at least 7 day supply.

It would have been great to have a gas range top. Mine is electric and that is a real challenge for the generator to run. I might be buying a gas range top. I bought a Coleman 2-burner camp stove but never used it.

Heat In Your Home and Sump Pump

Got to have heat and got to keep basement from flooding. I had heat from a small natural gas fireplace. We were fine but it kept only one room nice. The first night only 2 generators were heard around the neighborhood. The third night almost everybody had a generator, including me.

Generator is short term solution because you will run out of fuel if you can't find more fuel. But it sure is a comfort when you have it! All my neighbors who ran out and bought generators were using it for the fridge and TV and still had no heat. Frankly, TV doesn't matter and fridge doesn't matter. Staying warm matters. I spent extra money to make a 240V connection to the house. That way the generator load balances better, is more fuel efficient, and I can run various circuits in the house as I please. I also went around and helped people earth bond their generator. Nobody knew they could be killed by their generator if it wasn't bonded properly.

It would be great to have a standby generator running on natural gas. No worries about having enough fuel but that kind of solution is pretty expensive for as much as it would get used. I'll just figure out a solution to store gasoline.

Guns and Ammo

You're not protecting yourself from your neighbors. You're protecting yourself from people that come into your neighborhood that don't belong there. Prime theft targets are generators and empty homes. There were 300 police inside a few square mile area but you couldn't get through on the phone lines if you needed them. You are the first responder. Police investigate crimes.

Looting began immediately and it's still occurring a week later. They don't want broken stuff on the ground. What they really want is what's in the empty homes. Do not abandon your house if it is habitable. Both my neighbors on either side abandoned their homes. Their homes were fine, they just didn't want the hardship of living without electricity. And some of the looters are armed if you're wondering.

Night sights... Oh my gosh, do you need night sights! When there is no electricity there is hardly any ambient light. Night time is very dark and it gets dark fast. If it didn't glow in the dark then I couldn't see it. The one exception is I have a shiny stainless .357 mag revolver with enough gleam off the metal that I could aim with it at night. But with a 6" barrel it's not exactly a pocket gun.

Most people would think a shotgun would reign supreme in this kind of circumstance but there is so much available cover to hide behind that you need something that will penetrate. I ended up using an AR-15 with an Eotech for the night vision and both eyes open aiming. Pretty important to keep both eyes open if you're stumbling around debris. .223 is a pretty wimpy round when it comes to penetrating barriers. It would have been nice to have an AR-10 with .308 or even one of those .458 SOCOM uppers. Also, you can't just carry shotguns and rifles with you everywhere. You have to be discrete about it so bottom line is you need a good pistol with night sights.

Government

One thing I did not expect is that politicians and FEMA make it difficult to live in the effected area. There are constantly orders that make it so you don't dare leave your home or you may not be able to come back. They wanted people out of the town but didn't give orders to leave. Instead, they managed it by attrition. They'd let you leave and then lock you out. That happened once to me, I got in before nightfall, and never left again. They also set curfew so nobody can go anywhere at night.

[chevymad]

Here you go Jon.. one stove burner coming up.

http://unofficialnetworks.com/turn-beer-camping-stove-126579/

All kidding aside, sounds like hell. Makes being prepared for the zombie apocalypse sound like a good deal.

I have a friend over there in Ellsworth. Not sure how close that is to you but she's been talking bout the weird damage she's seen. Like 1000lb haybales in the middle of sub divisions and freeway signs 9 miles from the freeway. Luckily the tornados missed her as well. But she did get a good view from the porch.

[QwkTrip]

The "Welcome to Washington" sign was found 80 miles away in another town.

[iansane]

Glad you're making the best of things Jon. And glad you made it out mostly unscathed.

I helped convert and install a generator from gasoline to natural gas at my mothers house a few years ago. Have you thought about something like that?

[snooprob]

I read about the tornado online and it looked insane. I'm glad that you are alright. Thanks for the lessons learned on survival tips, I'll share them with our local Zombie Squad guys. It just makes me feel that much more underprepared!

The beer can stove is amazing. You all just saved me $100 on an MSR for camping.

[QwkTrip]

Zombie Squad?

[chevymad]

Zombie squad = survivalist now. Someone prepared for anything

[Xophertony]

Zombie Squad is a survivalist internet forum. In aditiona to discussing zombie movies and survival gear training ant stuff, they also organize training for local communities, blood drives, food bank donations and other charity drives. A cool group of people.

http://zombiehunters.org/forum/index.php