Two-Weeks Ready! Emergency Preparedness in Wahkiakum County

This is part 1 of a 4-part series.

In a previous article about the possible imminent disasters that could occur in our county, the Wahkiakum County Sheriff's Office Emergency Management Coordinator, Austin Smith stressed that we should be at least "two weeks ready" and "make a plan."

After witnessing the devastation in Florida and North Carolina from the ravages of hurricane Helene we can see clearly why this is important, not only for us and our family, but also to help the emergency response teams by being self-reliant so they can focus first on the worst part of a disaster.

When making an emergency plan there are two scenarios to plan for in order to be self-sufficient. One plan is for sheltering in place and to have enough supplies to be able to take care of you, your family, and your pets for at least two weeks without electricity, running water, and working toilets. The other plan is in case you have to evacuate and will need to be able to sustain yourself and family for three days, in which case you will need a grab and "Go Bag" for each family member and pets. I will cover the basics of an evacuation "Go Bag" next week.

When making your plan for sheltering at home, besides coordinating a communications system between all family members and arranging a predetermined meeting place, you'll want to collect and store necessary items ahead of time. The first item on the list is non-perishable food to be stored in an area that is free from heat, insects and rodents. Selecting foods that are easy to prepare without electricity, or with an alternate heating source like a wood stove or an outdoor grill makes the most sense. Just remember to do the math to make sure you have enough food for three meals per day for the number of people in your household for fourteen days, and to have a manual can opener to open those cans while your electric can opener won't work. And don't forget Fluffy and Fido; you'll need to make sure they will have enough food for two weeks, too.

As a side note, operating your life without power for any length of time brings with it a certain amount of stress, so select foods that everyone is familiar with (no strange stuff) and include a few items of comfort food to help soothes things a bit. Likewise, who wants to eat soggy saltines in a dismal situation? So, remember to rotate your stored food periodically, replacing the aged food with new food.

What about drinking water? Even though we live by several rivers and it rains a lot here, it's easy to overlook the need to have enough drinking water on hand. The average adult drinks about a half-gallon of water each day. Then you'll need to figure that same amount of water for meal preparations and cleanup, and for hand washing and personal hygiene. When you do the math, just one adult will need 14 gallons of water to last for two weeks. Now, multiply that by the number of people in your household. And don't forget Fluffy and Fido; they will require drinking water, also that's a lot of water to store.

The one-gallon plastic water bottles are inexpensive, their square shape stores easily, and they are easier to use than the five-gallon jugs. But it's easier to store the volume of water needed in the five-gallon jugs, and then refill the one-gallon bottles as needed. I'm not a fan of plastic, but in an emergency situation, they are the most practical.

When in doubt about water's quality, purify it. Boiling water for at least a minute is the safest way to treat water.

Dealing with waste, both human and pets, is an essential part of an emergency plan to maintain healthy living conditions. If you're fortunate enough to live by one of those rivers or other outdoor water sources, the toilet-flushing problem is easily solved with a five-gallon bucket to scoop out water and fill up your toilet tank. If you don't have access to the surplus of outdoor water to fill your toilet tank, there are two ideas to choose from for the toilet situation: A pit toilet or the two-bucket system.

A pit toilet is simply a hole in the ground that is used to collect both liquid and solid waste in an emergency.

The two-bucket system requires five-gallon buckets and heavy-duty plastic bags. Designate one bucket for liquid waste and the other for solid waste. Add some water (river or pond water is fine) to the liquid waste bucket to dilute the smell. Don't let it get too full before emptying it in the ground away from the house. Don't put toilet paper in the liquid waste; either put it into a separate plastic bag or in the bucket with the solid waste.

For the solid wastebucket, line it with a heavy-duty plastic bag. After each use put a thin layer of shredded paper, dry leaves or something to help dry the waste and reduce the smell. When the bucket is no more than half full of waste, double bag it and store the waste separate from other garbage and away from food and water. Here's a tip: Amazon has bucket toilet seats with a lid for only $13!

In a disaster, trash service may be suspended for some time and you'll need to deal with household trash differently than you've been accustomed to. You'll want to separate and compost food waste; smash cans and boxes to reduce bulk. Besides the basic necessities of living without electricity, running water, or working toilets, there are other additional items you'll want to gather.

Having extra prescription medications to last two weeks is a must. However, that can be very difficult to accumulate due to the allotted amounts insurance companies limit us to. Explain to your physician that you're gathering supplies for a two-week emergency plan, and ask him/her to write a one-time prescription for this purpose. Don't overlook getting Fluffy and Fido's extra prescriptions, too. And be sure to rotate out the emergency prescriptions with your new, regular prescriptions to keep them fresh.

Flashlights are essential, as are back up batteries. Do remember to rotate your batteries with fresh ones. (There's nothing quite like the sinking feeling of replacing the dead batteries in your flashlight in the pitch of night only to realize that the spare batteries you just put in are also dead!) Having electric lanterns included in your supply kit can make it much easier to function in the dark as well. If you don't have a lantern, a neat trick to do with your flashlight is to place it pointing up on a shelf higher than you. It will reflect off the ceiling and illuminate the entire room. And, again, be sure to stock up on enough batteries!

Other items to include in your emergency stash are a medical kit; a radio that works on batteries, solar, or crank for emergency updates, matches and/or lighters, a basic toolbox that includes duct tape, plenty of plastic bags of all sizes, from sandwich bags to 33-gallon size bags, paper plates and bowls which will cut down on meal cleanup, baby wipes for personal hygiene purpose for all members of your family, bleach to sanitize a multitude of things, and if it's possible, store in the garage a couple of containers of gasoline with stabilizer added; it will help since gas supplies may be limited.

You should already have a fire extinguisher in your home; this is even more so when sheltering in place. In disaster situations if a fire does occur in your home, you will need to extinguish it quickly, since you won't know if the fire department is operable or not.

When sheltering in place be prepared to live without electricity. That also means you'll be without heat if you don't have a wood stove. Staying warm is particularly difficult in the winter. An insulated sleeping bag is extra warm and cozy, but they cost more than blankets. Whichever you can afford, just make sure have plenty of them.

Last of all, it's important that you begin making connections with your neighbors, if you haven't already. The reality is most neighborhoods will be on their own in the first hours, days, or weeks following a disaster. In a disaster the most immediate source of help are the neighbors living around you. You and your neighbors will be able to help each other while you're waiting for assistance to arrive or until the crisis is over. Fire, police, and medical personnel will be overwhelmed dealing with immediate life-threatening demands. It is important that you become Two weeks ready!

Next week I'll cover the basics of making a Go-Bag.