Fortunately in Jacksonville, Fla we don't get much of the hurricanes. Geographically, Jacksonville is in a crescent along the coast from about Canaveral up to the SC/NC border and the Gulf Stream, which is very close to Miami, starts to head out to sea around Canaveral. These factors help to keep hurricanes, or at least the major parts of them, a bit to the east of Jax. In any event, we are always at risk and, about June, we start buying extra canned goods, emergency candles (they burn slower than regular candles), extra paper towels, paper plates, instant coffee (we can't do without coffee), pet food, charcoal and charcoal lighter and some other necessities. we have a radio that is powered by a hand-crank mechanism so it doesn't use batteries, and a large flashlight-like light powered the same way. i keep a supply of what we used to call "buddy burners" (from Girl Scouts) so that we can set them under a grill and warm things or cook on them. our hurricane "kit" also includes some clothes line so we have some place to hang hand-wash out. when one hurricane several years ago threatened to come ashore here, my hubby made plywood and 2x4 panels to cover our set of six French doors. we didn't need to use them, but we've kept them hanging in our garage against the wall so we don't have to remake them in the future. we have a small-mesh nyl! on net that goes over our fish pond so that, when our fish pond overflows, the fish don't float out. a future purchase may be a small generator so that we can have power to our refrigerator/freezer. make sure that, before the storm gets to you, you fill your car tank(s) with gas. additional things to do when your power goes out is to move any perishables into your freezer so that the cold from the frozen food will allow perishables to keep for a day or two. and, before a storm gets to you, clean your bathtub(s) and fill them with water. the last hurricane that actually hit very near Jax was hurricane Dora in 1965. it came ashore just north of St. Augustine, but at Jax Beach, Third Street (3 blocks off the ocean) was under three feet of water. dozens of houses washed into the ocean. throughout Jax Beach and Jax huge trees were blown over because the ground got so saturated the root systems couldn't hold them up. you can't plan for EVERY emergency that might happen, but you can be as prepared as possible. prayers and best wishes to all who have been through a hurricane. Julie Thames Howell Jax, Fla ----- Original Message ----- From: Emaress Nova To: VAROOTS-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 12:20 PM Subject: Re: [VAROOTS] Isabel & things to think about, Kristina You were fortunate to be in a neighborhood where people at least shared food and talked to each other. Here in the rural areas we were totally alone. Me and my cat (who was frightened beyond belief). You have no idea how dark it gets in the country - like being in the bottom of a coal mine. Finally got 3 kerosene lamps that acted more or less as nite lites - the cat cried piteously without them, and glued himself to me even in the daylight. Toilet flushing was a real problem . For 2 days I ate mostly crackers and peanut butter and drank a 2 litre bottle of warm gingerale. No one to talk to. Thankfully I am healthy - I shudder to think of the frail older people who were also alone in the dark. My name is Mary Sias. I live in Prince Edward County, VA. The eye of Isabel came right thru the middle of us - fortunately no damage. I was in Manassas in 1972 when Hurricane Agnes hit and much of Manassas was underwater - but it was still not as demoralizing as Isabel was. Anyone reading this - if you dont know your neighbors - knock on their doors and make yourself known. Better late than never. Put together non-perishable pantries of canned goods against ice storms or other disasters. Stock bottled water the same way. Thanks for listening. --- FRMRNYR@aol.com wrote: > Yes, it was not fun not having TV, or Computer, > But it was worse not having a > Fridge. > Most Held Big cook outs and every one cooked > the contents of their fridges on > Friday. > Easier to Share than throw out all that food. > Having too cook everything on the barbecue was > not too hard. > During the day you could read, and do yard > work, but at night, there really > wasn't much to do. The radio was your only life > line. > HOWEVER, what was really bad was that there was > no PHONES, WITH Electric not > working the phones didn't work. And Even the > cell phone towers run on > electric. And even when they started working > you couldn't call a LAND line because > they had no electric and their phones weren't > working. > Trying to find ice and water here was horrible. > And gasoline for cars? you > should have seen the lines............. > The pizza place on my corner never lost > electric (they were on same grid as > electric company) was serving coffee at am > Friday. > But worse was that none of the traffic lights > worked, so they were telling > people to stay home, you don't realize how much > traffic lights save lives, until > u don't have them. > Walmart was stripped bare of all it's > necessities, home depot was selling > generators, saws, water, etc., before they even > put it on the shelves. > But what's really bad is that we saw COMPLETE > HOMES go into the Atlantic > ocean, JUST FLOAT AWAY. We saw trees in peoples > houses, we saw one tree come into > a house while the guy was in bed, and the tree > stopped a foot from his face. > My biggest pet peeve, is the fact that they are > going to rebuild kitty hawk, > (outerbanks) 13 million dollars, I mean it was > washed away, completely, (my > prayers go to those 300 people) who are stuck > in the middle of the ocean, > completely cut off from the entire world. > And they want to do it in 90 days because of > the celebration of the first > flight. > They got to replace all that sand, and build > new hotels, considering 4 were > also washed away, > Again thanks for everything, I need to get > working on myweb site, after we do > laundry, etc. > Schools are still closed and it's raining > again, all those people with no > roofs. > Kristina