Hunkering Down With Our Pets During a Hurricane
When Hurricane Irma was rolling in, every spaghetti model we could find had the CAT 5 hurricane traveling directly over our house! We weren’t in an evacuation zone, so we had to hunker down at home with all of our pets (4 dogs and 2 cats – this was pre Phoebe time).
Where is the safest spot in your home? Find a “safe space”.
Our safe space was in my kids’ bathroom! It was the only place in our whole house that met the criteria!
Every square inch of that bathroom was sanitized since we would be on the floor! I lined the walls with pillows and put thick comforters on the floor so we would be comfy. We brought the cat tower inside the bathroom too so the cats had a safe spot up high away from the dogs.
We had an army of snacks and drinks organized on the bathroom counter with plenty of dog/cat food and treats. I also put together a first aid kit, brought medications, and had important documents in a ziplock bag in the bathroom with us (birth certificates, SS cards, insurance cards etc).
We had a TV set up on the toilet to watch for as long as we had power. Our battery operated radio was on standby for use in an emergency.
We kept ourselves occupied with games and movies for the most part! Our dogs just napped around us like they would on the couch. We are lucky that none of our dogs have any extreme anxiety with storms.
We bought tons of typical supplies, but here are a few things that I really loved having:
LED Lanterns with Brightness Control
Collapsible LED Camping Lanterns – these are super bright, compact so they don’t take up much space, battery powered, and very durable.
Radio
Panasonic Battery Operated Radio
This is a great little sturdy radio! I still use it two years later! Perfect for a hurricane kit.
Storage Bags for Irreplaceable Items
They make these in multiple sizes. I would get Large and X Large. I used these for scrapbooks, yearbooks, photo albums, etc. Anything irreplaceable if it gets water damage.
Mama Means Business
We got ourselves a little panicked after hearing there were looters in a nearby neighborhood. I decided to let any prospective looters know what was up at our house.
It’s so funny to me now, but I was dead serious when I posted this sign!
Luckily there were no looters, no water damage, and we didn’t even lose power! We felt very lucky to have dodged such a powerful storm. Let’s pray Dorian lets us off as easy as Irma did.
Stay safe out there! Hunker Down!