Prepared for Disaster?

We had some serious weather here in Southeastern Oklahoma yesterday. The National Weather Service reported about 10 tornado's touched down.  Five people are dead and dozens of injuries have been reported. Lot's of people are still without power today.  Heavy winds, rain, and hail.  Everything you need for a recipe for disaster.  From watching the radar we barely missed some sheer force winds.  We were lucky.

One thing became quite clear last night.  I am not prepared for this type of emergency.    We don't have television here, which used to be my first source of information for bad weather. The FM radio stations here did a poor job of covering events and I was unable to pick up a decent AM station.   We do not have a NOAHH weather radio.  Trust me, its on the list now. (At the top of it) And lastly, even though we did not loose internet connection throughout the evening- I had no idea where to find more detailed information than the ability to watch the radar. That I can fix.  I can be more informed for the next time.

I have always been freaky about weather.  It probably stems from my grandmother and my mom both being  weather watchers.  Growing up on the Gulf Coast hurricanes and squalls were common events.  As far back as I can remember when there was bad weather the women in my life would be glued to either the radio or the TV and would ride out most storms without getting up except for the personal call of nature.  Ok that's an exaggeration, but not by much.
For the last several years I lived in Central Texas. We lived just down the road from Jarrell, Texas when one of the worst tornado's ever reported demolished the entire town in 1997. The weather for miles around was chaotic that entire afternoon and evening.  The fear of another F5 tornado striking in the area was a real one. Several smaller tornado's were reported that day as well.  One of which touched down less than a half a mile from where I worked at the time.  There were 20 confirmed tornado's that day. We were informed and had evacuation plans.  Others were not so lucky.



I suppose what I am trying to say here is that I should have been prepared this time and sadly was not.  There is no excuse for that.  There is also no excuse for not being more prepared the next time something like this occurs. We were lucky this time.  We might not be so lucky in the future. This is why we prepare.  I learned a valuable lesson yesterday.  Things could have gone horribly wrong.  We dodged the bullet this time but might not be so blessed the next time.  Are you prepared for a natural disaster where you live?