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Glad all is well.  My daughter lives in Greenville, SC and they had plenty of rain and wind.  Glad my hurricane days over and all I have to contend with is the fires and snow of Colorado. Penny

Hi, sweet Grandma Donna!

I'm so happy to hear everything is oaky with you both and with your family! Praying for your granddaughter and for all of those that were affected by this storm in one way or another.

I learned from you how important it is to be prepared and although there are some  things that we still need to buy, we are more prepared today then we were before I started reading your blog.

Have a blessed weekend and I hope the rest of your neighbourhood has power again, by now,

Paula

         So very thankful that you avoided the worst. I just watched Roots and Refuge, in S.C., and she videoed the eye as they went through it. Since we do not have hurricanes in Wyoming, it was most interesting and educational. We are grateful to God that your home and property were spared. Jess and Miah's property was mostly spared, also. God is good; always.

      Thank you for the toilet information. That is a grand idea for us older folks.

Glenda

Thanks so much for updating us on how you are doing! I was watching what was supposed to happen in your area on weather.com and I was worried for you. Right away this morning I got on the computer to see if you had posted anything. I'm so glad that all is well with you.

We don't have any hurricanes to prepare for in Missouri but we have tornados. I have a Nature's Head composting toilet. I also have many solar lights hanging all around my house for emergencies. But I use them every day to save on my electric bill. My propane kitchen stove doesn't even have an electric cord so I am good there. If I had an extended power outage I would can the food from my freezer and refrigerator. I keep plenty of jars and lids on hand for that. I also have a nonelectric washing machine I could use for an extended power outage. I have clotheslines and a clothes drying rack for drying clothes. I also have what I call my emergency clothes. Instead of getting rid of clothing I no longer want I put them in plastic totes where I can easily get at them. If there is some reason I can't wash clothes the emergency items come in handy and are much appreciated. Many a time I have dipped into my emergency underwear. A man in a prepper group said it is also a good idea to store clothes and other needed items in a building not connected to your house like a detached garage, shed, or outbuilding.  Their house burned down and he said it would have been nice to have something ready for immediate use. He made it sound like he actually had things stored but the building was too close to the house and it burned also. So farther away from the house would be better.

Hello! Really glad to see your post and glad to read you and yours made it through well. 

I didn't know about coco coir bricks so that was really helpful to learn about; thanks for that. 

I remember using a 'thunder pot' as a kid, when the bathroom was an outhouse, and it was too stormy to run outside!

Take care, and thank you so much for all your blogging. You're an inspiration and are helping me to slow down and get busy, all at the same time!

So thankful all is well with you.. My Aunt in St. Petersburg FLA is OK. The storm water flooded her shed with 2 ft of water. The water level came to within 2 inches of entering home.  Thankful that it did not. She uses a leftover bedside commode with vinegar in the bottom as her toilet. She has no ability to flush and no power.

Hi Grandma Donna, thank you for letting us know you're safe.

Bushfires are the most common threat here; sometimes severe storms and mini tornadoes. We live inland in South East Australia.

We have a few acres, about a third of which is remnant woodland, plus numerous big old eucalyptus trees surround the house. Managing these with the help of an arborist is ongoing  to reduce the risk of trees falling onto  buildings. We had this happen after heavy persistent rain. The ground was saturated for weeks after the rain stopped, then we got gusty winds which upended a big tree. It completely crushed a carport which, thankfully, was empty and was not attached to the house.

I have been doing a course about constructing drains, how water moves through and over ground etc, as water is a problem for our block. When our neighbour's dam overflows, or our other neighbour's tanks overflow after persistent rain, we are inundated. My plan is to put some drains and soil improvements in place to mitigate this.

I'm learning a lot from you and the others who post in your comments. There are many more things our family can do to be ready for power outages.

Our goal is to get solar panels and a battery, so that we're less likely to be affected by power outages, but we could reduce our reliance in the meantime.

Presently we have two petrol generators to keep the refrigerator, freezer and house pump going if the power goes out. We have battery operated lamps and, very importantly, a battery operated radio so that we can keep track of local advice, weather etc in an emergency.

Having lived through the Canberra bushfires in 2003, and the 2019/2020 bushfires, I prefer to leave as soon as there is a real threat of fire in our area.

When the Canberra bushfires took off in 2003, I was in hospital having given birth to our first baby. We didn't need actual medical care, so we were sent home. It was really scary. The sky was dark for weeks.

From that experience, I learned it's important to assess our psychological and emotional capacity, and make alliances for that in any disaster planning.

To leave in the event of an emergency, we can go around our street either left or right to the highway and travel about 40 miles north or south to one of my brothers' places, or to the much closer designated Community Safe Place to the east. Alternatively, we can go off our street around to the southwest via a back road to my Mum's place.  I would take human supplies but also keep pet food bagged up and bottles of water ready to go for the dog and cat. When our last chicken died, we stopped keeping chickens because we realised it would be hard to keep them safe in a bushfire situation.

My daughter is a volunteer firefighter; she and my husband would like to stay and defend the house. We have a bushfire pump, hoses long enough to reach around the house, safety clothing, respirators etc for this purpose 

Very importantly, we have a sign on the front gate telling the firefighters we have static water supply (tanks and a swimming pool) for them to use if needed here or elsewhere. We also maintain access ways wide enough and with height clearance under trees for firetrucks to get in.

Keeping our roof gutters cleared of debris and maintaining a clear area 20 metres (about 60 feet) around our house are other regular maintenance jobs to reduce risk. I also try to keep the car topped up with petrol and some cash handy, as petrol supplies can run out in an emergency. In the 2019/2020 bushfires, communications infrastructure was destroyed so automatic bank tellers and electronic payments weren't an option in some places. This is where it would be useful to be able to stop at home with a well-prepared house and a stocked pantry.

Thinking of all who have or are yet to be affected by the hurricane, including those who are physically safe but probably at least a little shaken.

Glad you're okay.  I live in Michigan, where being storm ready is mostly about keeping the woodstove in good working order and plenty of dry firewood on hand, as the biggest risk would be freezing to death during a winter power outage.  The longest one I've experienced since living in this house was 17 days, with roads unpassable for much of that time.

Another way I prepare for winter storms is just to always have at least four months worth of food and other vital supplies on hand.  Since the pandemic there's a lot of talk of prepping for "supply chain issues" but growing up in rural Michigan, I've always known that a big blizzard early in the winter could have us cut off from town (and our nearest town cut off from the outside world) for 3 to 4 months.  Usually there's a midwinter thaw that would bring relief, but not always.

In the summer we do get tornadoes and straightline winds, but summer power outages are just a lot easier to deal with in many ways, and roads are usually passable within a few days.  There's not so much preparing involved, besides training pets to get in the basement quickly on command (dogs) or in their carriers so I can get them into the basement (cats) and also keeping spare carriers and leashes down there.  In the worst summer storm to ever hit our place, I was outside when it hit, and didn't have time to put the cats in their carriers because there were already big trees coming down by the time I reached the house.  So I ordered the dogs into the basement, grabbed both cats loose in my arms, and ran down after them.  Fortunately there were old cages stored down there I could contain them in.  Also fortunately the house was only damaged, not gone.  Also that storm came with a 40 degree temperature drop, and having gotten soaked at the start of it, I was shivering in a wet sundress.  After that experience, I started keeping actually two changes of warm dry clothing, socks, waterproof boots, rain poncho, et cetera in a tote in the basement, so I would have something dry to change into if the house were gone.  Also a tarp shelter, pet supplies, and some other emergency gear.  Kind of what we would need in the first twelve hours or so if the house were gone.  That's a kit I hope never to need!

I have two commodes used for handicapped/elderly that I got for nothing.  I was bidding on something else and those were tossed in by the auctioneer.  One is a fancy padded version with back, arm and transfer.  The other is just a basic unit.  Both have adjustable legs.  I put a bucket under and use sawdust (stored in a nearby bucket) to absorb liquid keep down smell.  These are much more stable and comfortable than using a seat on a bucket.  Oh, I line the bucket with a heavy-duty trash bag.  If situation was short-term, I would just use the bucket and then dump and flush.  If using sawdust, disposable become a difficult matter but again emergencies call for difficult solutions.  This is stored in tornado safety area and can serve as an extra seat.

I keep a small suitcase in my tornado safety area with a couple changes of clothes, 2 towels and 4 washcloths.  I also keep my travel kit of shampoo, soap, deo, etc. in that area.  I remember after the tornado how much I just wanted a clean washcloth to wash my face.  A couple gallons of water plus bottles of drinking water are in that space.  My firesafe with important personal docs also lives in that area. 

So relieved to see your post. I watched the hurricane, flood and tornado reports until it had been declared officially landed, hoping that you were safe. It was raining all night here in England, but nothing to grumble about. 

Gramma D, Happy to see all is well with you.  We were in Florida for a short vacation stay and decided to shelter there when we saw that the path was meant to come directly over our home in central west Georgia.  As you said, the path veered.  We drove home today in the aftermath of the storm.

We didn't see much damage until we got to Lake Butler Florida, other than a few downed trees.  In Lake City which is a little further north we found more trees down and power outages.  People were driving very carefully and being super nice at all the stop lights.  I kept telling my husband, "Everyone's acting so civilized."   It did my heart good to see people being so kind and courteous.  There in Lake City we got on I-75 to drive north towards our Georgia home.  We saw a good bit of damage at Valdosta and Tifton where the storm apparently veered off northeastward.  It wasn't devastation, but there were trees down, electric lines downed, a few homes with minor roof damage along I-75.   North of Tifton as we headed towards Central Georgia we saw little damage at all.  We arrived to find all safe at home and only minor flooding in our area, nothing we'd consider abnormal at all.

GDonna,

Thank you for the update. I'm so happy that you and Charles are safe. We had a lot of rain and wind here in central NC but thankfully still have power. Thinking of everyone who was and is still being affected by this storm. The loss of lives and the devastation caused is just heartbreaking.

We have bug out bags in case we need to ever leave in an emergency. We keep a supply of water, food, flashlights, batteries, food for our cats and any other emergency essentials we may need. We have a gas stove  so we are able to prepare food and have hot water during a power loss. The toilet information is very interesting, I have never heard of coco coir bricks. I am constantly learning new things each time I visit your blog.  

I'm glad you have come through it without too much damage. I've seen footage on the news here in Australia and it looked quite scary. 

I live in the direct path of Helene. And Debby. And Idalia. I am hurricaned out. 
I am without power which means also without water. I had very minor damage but people closer to the coast had devastating losses. I have a yard full of tree limbs, leaves and Spanish moss. I have a camp stove I just got last year and now the regulator leaks so I can’t use it. I stored water and have battery and oil lamps, but I’m hot, even after dark. I need a battery powered fan. My goal is to have enough generator to run the refrigerator, freezer, well and lights. I made sure I had bread and peanut butter plus home canned broth, poultry and fruits.  It’s still aggravating though. I am grateful my family all got through it but 3 hurricanes in 13 months has tried my patience. 

Good to visit and see that you & your family are all safe.

We don’t tend to get the likes of hurricanes here in the UK but as with other parts of Europe flooding can certainly be a problem so also have a bug out bag ready along with bottled water, flashlights, cooking stove and plenty of candles etc

Donna, I'm so glad you posted quickly.  I kept watching for your town because at one point, it looked like Helene was heading straight at you.  Even though she moved, that was a lot of rain.

We had transformers explode like that in the Northridge earthquake in 1994.  A bit apocalyptic, huh?!  Scared us half to death, but no real damage except to the power pole and our nerves.  

Thanks for the toilet training!  It's one of necessary things that is good to know.  The more options one knows about, the better to accommodate even the fussiest or most fragile heinies.

Take care!!

We are in the upstate of SC and the storm was devastating here.  We lost at least two dozen old growth oak and hickory trees and our power has been out for 26 hours so far.  We are on a well so no water.  The saddest thing is that we have a huge deck across back of our house and the trees that shaded it are gone.  It was our happy place.  Our entire neighborhood is covered in downed trees and it is hard to even imagine where to start the cleanup or where all these huge trees can go.  

I am so sorry, Lana D. I can relate to your deck as a shaded happy place. That is so heartbreaking. 

Would the trees be able to be cut up and used for woodstoves? I am aware that oak is a hard wood, but I am unfamiliar with the rating on hickory.

 We had a gorgeous railing, custom made, out of solid oak in our prior house. We had been given enough Brazilian Cherry 3/4 inch thick to be processed and used for wood floors. It takes a lot of work to take a tree and make it into a usable wood, but it is well worth it. Just ideas....... Right now, you are all, most likely, in shock and beyond stressed.

 I need to call relatives and see how they fared in Prosperity. My mothers entire lineage (both maternal and paternal) is from South Carolina. 

Many prayers for all of you.

Lana D,

I am so sorry to hear about your trees!  I remember when our place was hit by a tornado in 2004, I almost wished it had taken the house instead of the trees, as a house can be rebuilt much faster than trees regrow.  

In case you want some ideas:

Oak and hickory both sometimes sprout back from a stump, and if that happens you can choose the strongest sprout on each stump and prune the others away.  With a mature root system feeding it, it will grow much faster than one started from a seedling.  I've seen that work especially well with red oaks, but I think any can.  I have some trees that sprouted back 20 years ago, and although they don't look like old growth, you would think they were at least 40-year-old trees.

I also wondered if redbuds do well there.  If so I would suggest planting a few near your deck as soon as possible.  They grow really fast, and though they will never replace a mature oak or hickory, they do get big enough to cast some shade in only a few years.  And at least they are gorgeous in the spring.  Even if they eventually get shaded out by slower growing but larger trees, they would help beautify the area in the meantime.

As an aside, mushroom growers are always on the lookout for fresh oak to plant shiitake plugs in, so maybe some of the fallen trees could be put to good use growing mushrooms.

Hope your power comes back on soon, and best wishes for the cleanup and moving forward.

Grandma Donna Wrote, I hope and pray all of you that have damage and continued power outages, that you will get some relief soon, this could be long term in many places so try and find where your strengths are and plan for the electricity to be out for a long time because it might be. Dig in and figure out solutions while you are waiting for electrical services to be restored. 

This is a historic event and will be difficult for many. This will not be easy but don't give up. Remember that if the heat is bad where you live to soak your feet and wrists in water if you have some water.  Make the old fashioned fans that you use to make when you were little to fan yourself, they really help. Take a washbowl bath to stay clean, you will feel better. 

We have had a worrisome couple of days now due to no contact with some of our family members.   One of our Granddaughters and her husband live in Valdosta Georgia and they have damage to their home, trees and fences.  Their roof is damaged and water was in the house.  Power is going to be out there for quite awhile.  Our granddaughter is 7 months pregnant and so they will drive over this way possibly tomorrow to stay with our son and daughter-in-law. 

We have several family members stuck in North Carolina, power out, mudslides, flooding areas.  Ashville, Hendersonville and Elizabethton, and Greenville North Carolina.  

We finally have heard today from all but two which is very concerning because the two that we have not heard from  were in their cabin in Henderson North Carolina and live in South Carolina and they are in their 80's.  We have family that have been trying to get their cabin but many roads are out. At this time we have not heard from them either and we know nothing of what is going on and if they are okay.  Many people just did expect this much damage. 

Our Son-in-laws parents are in their 90's and this has been difficult for them because they had to be evacuated only to be taken back to where they were, we still cannot get information what has happened there, the phone service and electricity is out in many areas is out or difficult to find signals and many people have no way to charge their phones.   We have been searching all bulletins we can find on any type of media we can.  The hospital in their town Elizabethton was evacuated by helicopters on the rooftop.  

Another Granddaughter finally got through briefly by cell phone to talk to her Dad today and said many of the roads are washed away. 

We all need to continue to learn skills to live without electricity and running water and temporary toilets so we can keep our area sanitary.  We never know what kind of disaster we could find ourselves in.  It can be fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, sickness, job loss, all kinds of things. We need to practice living without electricity and running water and how to cook food without electricity so we can take care of ourselves and family and help our neighbors. We can get good at this if we actually live like this off and on for a week here and there.  

We also need a way to charge our phones, they make gadgets that plug into your car, there are solar chargers and battery packs.  

Take the time to make an emergency kit, a backpack if you should have to evacuate. Now is a good time to do this.  Do not think that it never will happen to you.   Each family member should have a emergency backpack always ready and check through it a couple of times per year.  

Please continue to update us as you can.  Grandma Donna

I hope your missing relatives are just safely hunkered down at their cabin. 

We were in the eye wall of Helene for an hour and a half as it came onshore. That makes 3 eye walls in 13 months. The winds were terrifyingly strong and constant. We have so many oak trees down and we hadn't even finished clearing the downed trees from Hurricane Idalia a year ago. Praise the Lord none of the trees and big limbs hit our home. Our roof was damaged in Idalia and thankfully our insurance paid for new one so we felt better going into this storm. 

We anticipate being without power for at least a week. We have a generator that will run a small window ac, a few lights, freezers and our well (only briefly for quick COLD showers which are welcome after a very hot day of clean up work) so we feel very blessed to have that available to us. I've been cooking on the propane grill and that has worked well. 

Prior to the storm, I filled the tub with water and that is used for flushing the toilet. I filled all available containers for drinking and cleaning water.

I put out large tubs to collect the rain water and that I use for washing clothes. During power outage like this that I know will last longer than a couple days, I choose to wash daily what we used the day before. That way the laundry is manageable and really quite simple. I have 2 5-gallon buckets and a wringer. In one I add some rain water and a little detergent. I have a plunger style washer and I add 2-3 articles and plunge a couple minutes. I wring out as much water as I can and put in the second bucket of clear rinse water. I plunge that a minute or so and wring and hang on my line to dry. Repeat till I've washed everything, changing the water if it gets too dirty. I save today's rinse water to become tomorrow's wash water. Water conservation is huge during a power outage. 

Three hurricanes in 13 months plus all the others over the years with subsequent power outages have taught me many things. I've learned from each one, thinking I'm fully prepared and each time there is something I needed and didn't have. Hopefully we will be spared any more hurricanes in the future as the people in our area are reaching our breaking point with all the major damage we've experienced over the last year. So many on our coast, including many friends and family, have lost everything. 20 foot storm surge is catastrophic. Our people are resilient and we all work together to help each other. My husband and so many others have spent every minute since daylight the morning after the storm with their tractors and chainsaws clearing roads and drive ways for others. We share gas and diesel with each other.  We come together and cook meals and feed the hungry, hot workers. So many have come in from far and wide, once again, to aide in any way they can--free meals, cleaning up, even something as simple as sharing a hotspot to charge cell phones and batteries for power tools. We are blessed to live in an area where people care about and help theIr neighbors in any way they can. 

Hello GD

That is really informative and interesting about the emergency portable toilet. Very much so. 
Thank you. And sending kind wishes. 

I'm so glad to see your post and that all is (mostly) well. A wonderful idea about the portable toilets - I will have to do something similar as my biggest threat are frozen pipes. 

I am pleased to tell you that I have been slowly building up a little pantry and for the first time in a LONG time, I only needed two non-perishable items on my grocery run today. The rest was all perishables. I believe I spent around $120 for everything needed for the week. I am pretty pleased with myself!

Grandma Donna Wrote, Several of you have posted about being out of power and I am concerned about your water as well because we have been getting information that drinking water is becoming a critical problem.  If you can read this, please update us on your situation.  I would write and highlight your names but I am concerned that I would leave out someone.  We would all like to hear from you.  Sadly, this is a historic event. Donna

Grandma Donna, I was so relieved that you and Charles made it safely through the hurricane.  My SIL lives in Shelby, NC. Other than many downed trees and no power for a day, they fared ok.  I was sending her news of what was happening in NC as they had no internet services, although cell phones were still working. I was really shocked how bad it was in the western part of the state.  I'm glad that you heard from most of your family members, and hope you hear from the rest soon.  

Thank you and others for the suggestions that you have given for emergency preparedness.  I hadn't really thought about the toilet!

To the others on this board that have posted updates, I hope that you get the help you need soon.

Wow, Alexandra! 
Thank you for the mention and the associated praise for gDonna's and my blog.

Here in Australia , I have just read about a new hurricane: Hurricane Milton. Thinking of all our friends in the Southern area of the United States who are going through a really rough time. I hope everyone comes through safely.

A good friend of mine is right in the path of Milton.  They had only minor damage from Helene, but it's looking like this will be a more direct hit.  She's far enough inland not to have an evacuation order (out of reach of storm surge) but winds and river flooding could still be bad.  She's there alone with a three-year-old, so I'm hoping things don't get too bad.  She's not worried, but sometimes I feel like she doesn't take threats seriously enough.