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I have noticed that there have already been tornado’s in several states, it got me to thinking about tornado season coming up. If you live in tornado alley, you really should prepare for the possibility that you will be affected by a tornado, either directly or indirectly. Next week I will tell you how you can prepare for tornado season. Today I want to talk about the 25 item’s that
will disappear during a natural disaster and how you can make sure you will have everything that you will need.
1. The first Item would be bottled water, we all need water to survive, but in the event of a natural disaster, Your water supply may not be working. If the town’s water tower were to get hit, or if you’re on well water, the power could go out, if you don’t have a generator to power the pump, you won’t be getting water unless you have a manual pump. With everyone needing water, it is usually the first thing to sell out at the store.
2. Bread would be next, it is a lot less time-consuming to make a sandwich as opposed to making a meal, if you’re in the process of cleaning up, you don’t want to have to spend more time just to cook. The stuff to make sandwiches
will be selling out fast as well. Thing’s like bologna, hot dog’s, miracle whip and cheese, those will go fast.
3. Gatorade and Powerade drink’s will be in high demand because of the electrolytes that are easy to get with them, people will be doing a lot of work to clean up the aftermath and in doing so, they will deplete their electrolytes.
4. Glove’s will also be in high demand, leather work gloves as well as the nitrile like gloves for cleaning.
5. Flashlight’s and headlamp’s will go pretty fast, they make searching for people and cleaning up in the dark much easier. Most come with batteries, but not all do, you might also have a hard time finding certain batteries to power the flashlight’s.
6. Rain suit’s and coat’s will be needed, people will be outside in the weather cleaning up or looking for people and pet’s. Now if it’ll be clear weather for the day’s after they wont be in such high demand, but depending on where you are at, it could rain more frequently.
7. Staple item’s such as pasta, noodle’s, potatoes, egg’s, milk, and other’s will go fast. They are needed to make meal’s, everyone has to eat, and without knowing how long until thing’s get back to normal, people will grab all they can.
8. Bug spray’s such as mosquito repellent’s will be much-needed. With all the disease’s they can carry, and with the higher risk of getting bit by them, people will need to keep them away. Thing’s that contain DEET are good for repelling mosquitoes.
9. Tent’s would start to sale, those that have sustained home damage would need a place to sleep, if they do not have family in the area or don’t have cash on hand for a hotel, could face the issue of not being able to find a place, if the power goes out, they wont be able to run a card. Most store’s have a backup system that will allow the main register’s to stay powered on until the backup power dwindles down that is.
10. Candle’s and lamp’s would be needed to see walking around the house. I remember numerous times growing up when the power would go out due to a storm, or someone knocking a pole down, we would use old kerosene lamp’s. Those would leave a black residue in your nostrils. Now day’s they have
LED lamp’s that are battery powered, most stores have them from what I can see.
11. Card game’s and board game’s. People will want to do something to pass the time until the power comes back on. Card game’s are always fun. Monopoly can last for hour’s… or even day’s… I have noticed that a lot of us millennial’s do not know many card game’s. It is sad really, everyone is too engrossed with electronics.
12. Book’s, They are a good way to pass time, if you’re into reading that is. I never was a fan of reading in school, but I have picked up some books a few time’s since graduated almost a decade ago now. It sure is crazy how time flies by after school.
13. Hand sanitizer, without running water, people will be using hand sanitizer more often. My wife keep’s some in her purse. I myself just keep a package of baby wipe’s in my driver bag. Seeing as how I can not have any type of alcohol on the truck, I still need to wipe my hand’s off sometimes.
14. Animal food, whether it be cat’s and dog’s or other in-house animal’s to farm animal’s. They will still need to be fed. No one like’s to see an animal run out of food, you could see the food and feed run out.
15. Cleaning supplies such as trash bag’s and household cleaner’s. With everything a mess, you’re going to want to get everything in order. I know in the case of a tornado, there is a good chance of having a lot of your belonging’s to get ruined from the rain. Window’s get knocked out and roof’s can come off, once that happens, a lot of your stuff will get ruined.
16. Nutritional shake’s, they are a good replacement of a meal in a pinch, although you can’t live off of them alone for extended period’s of time, they do have a lot of nutrient’s that can get you by a few meal’s.
17. Ice chest’s and bagged ice. Without electric, we wont want our food to go to waste. It is cheaper to get an ice chest and bagged ice up front, but if you invest in a 12v ice chest cooler, it will save you money in the long run. I still use mine from time to time. Here is a link to the one I have it is a Coleman 40 Quart Powerchill Thermoelectric Cooler
18. Plastic cup’s and plate’s. Without water, it’ll be harder to get the dishes done, you wont be able to stick them in the washer. You’ll have to wash the essentials out by hand with water bottle’s or jug’s of water, if you have some stored up that is. If you have throw away item’s, you wont have to worry about wasting water to wash them.
19. Deodorant and body spray’s. With clean up effort’s underway, thing’s can get hot and dirty. Who want’s to smell like BO? When there’s no way to take a shower you could use wet wipe’s, but it doesn’t always get the stench off. So, you can cover it up with body spray’s.
20. Coloring book’s and kid’s activities. The youngster’s will be nagging that they are bored, and easy solution is to get them some coloring book’s and some crayon’s or coloring pencil’s. Maybe pick up a Frisbee or some other outdoor stuff.
21. Lock Box’s. They are great to have, they can keep your important paperwork and document’s safe. If you don’t have one already, in the event of an oncoming storm or after the storm has already done damage, you can keep
your important stuff safe. Make sure it is fireproof and water proof, most state it on the package or label.
22. Grill’s, when the weather clear’s up and folk’s are still waiting for the power to come back on, you might see a lot of people getting grill’s to cook on outside. Never use a grill to cook inside, or for heat inside. I have heard of many report’s of people cooking with them in their garage, with the door closed and
sadly ending up killing themselves and family from carbon monoxide poisoning.
23. Hat’s, those who don’t normally wear them, because their not outside all the time, might want to pick up a hat and sunglasses to keep the sun and sweat out of their face.
24. Chainsaw’s and other outdoor power equipment. With the need of clearing downed tree’s or feet of snow, the need for power equipment will rise. No one love’s chopping tree’s with an axe all day, or shoveling 4+ feet of snow.
25. Bandages and other first aid item’s such as antibiotic ointment or Vaseline. Medicine’s for aches and pain’s. With all the uptake in physical work that a lot of folk’s aren’t use too, people will be sore and more prone to getting cut’s and even bite’s or sting’s from bee’s or wasp’s.
Now most store’s do keep a 3 day limit of groceries in stock at any given time, the other item’s are not always needed to have a surplus of them available. The best way to make sure you do not risk running out of stuff that you will need I would suggest you take a look at my blog post about How we stock up on stuff
As far as the other stuff, you can buy them to have on hand in case the need arises, like power equipment and tool’s. If you find that you are having a hard time buying what you need, then I would suggest you try to start a budget. They are hard to follow when you first start out, but they are very helpful. If I know a lot of people will buy new TV’s or computer’s or even vehicle’s with their income tax refund’s but to me, things like big TV’s and computer’s isn’t really a necessity, in the sense that you already have a working one, but just want to get a new one. But everyone is different. I hope you have found my thought’s on the 25 Item’s that will disappear during a natural disaster useful, If you have any suggestion’s on what else you could think will disappear, feel free to comment below, I would like to chat about it.