I'm not an authority on these sort of things, but here are some suggestions on things to do to prepare for hurricanes and such. Everyone else please throw in your ideas and make any corrections.

-If your normal tap water is all right, you can fill up jugs and old soda bottles to keep in your refrigerator rather than rushing out to buy jugs of bottled water.

-Rather than getting bag ice, fill up 16 ounce soda bottles and freeze them. They'll last longer than bag ice and keep your freezer contents cold.

-Have lots of batteries and flashlights/lanterns available. Do NOT depend on candles or anything that requires fire after a tornado or hurricane if you have gas lines nearby. There could be gas leaks and having an open flame wouldn't be a good thing.

-Before the storm, turn your refrigerator to its coldest setting in case you lose power for a while.

-A corded phone in case you lose power. Your cordless phones won't work.

-Battery operated fans! This is a big one if you lose power in the South during the summer. It will at least keep the air moving.

-Have battery operated games (Gameboys and such), coloring books, etc. to keep kids occupied.

-Battery operated clocks and radios to keep track of the storm and in case your power is out for days and you still have to get up to go to work. A weather radio is a good idea so you can get advance warnings on tornadoes. (Though the weather station here got blown out with the hurricane.)

Generators:
-Do not hook it up directly to the house UNLESS you have had an electrician set up a specific breaker so you can disconnect from the external power connection. Otherwise you might end up putting feedback on the power lines and harming the electric workers as they repair your lines.

-Be sure to have your generator in a location where it isn't in an enclosed space. Running it is just like running your car, so if you had it in your garage with the door closed, you'll risk carbon monoxide poisoning.

Here's our County's site that has links to information for preparation.
http://www.alachua-em.org/

Solar, solar, solar. Get as many solar-powered devices as you can. If the power goes out, the hot sunshine becomes your friend rather than your enemy. Try to find an emergency radio with a crank ~ look in the camping equipment section of a department store ~ this will provide you with some connection to the outside world even at night, even if you run out of batteries, even if your power is cut off for a prolonged period.

If you have a dishwasher, put important papers and small electronics inside it and seal it. Dishwashers are designed to be watertight. If your home floods, there's a good chance what you put in the dishwasher will remain dry.

Does this include comic books? And do you have important papers? I thought you wuz all digital.

Yeh, put backup copies of your crucial data in there to be extra safe. CD-R, DVD-R, whatever.

Anything with an official seal that the government won't accept a copy of still has to be kept in paper form, like birth certificates. Not my fault, Darren!

Man, I just feel so bad reading this & thinking about what
y'all are having to go through.

So yell SHAZAM and save us already!!!

Um, well I would, but Mary & Freddy are off on a date in another
dimension, & they're powered up right now, which means I've only
got 1/3 of my powers right now.

Hey, don't blame me, that was Ordway's idea.

Maybe you can call Peter David & he can contact
the other guy for you.

Linda,
I don't know if we want Shazam right now. When he yells that name, lightning appears and we've probably seen more lightning than we care for at the moment.

I'm not sure if land-line phones are any more reliable than cell phones in situations like these. When a group of tornados came through my neck of the woods in '88, many phone lines were down. If you could find a working phone, you'd also be lucky to find a working circuit, as everyone was trying to call everyone else.

Also, remember that most gas pumps are electrically controlled. My car was down to it's last fume of gas after the tornados. I was lucky to find one gas station with power so that I could refill.

Weather-radios used to be nice, but our local weather service has gone to a synthetic announcer ... who sounds like the Wizard from the Wizard of Wor video game. Local radio stations can provide information more clearly.

Personally, if I was in the midst of these storm that are hitting y'all in the East, I'd probably go buy a Citizens' Band walkie-talkie at Radio Shack or Wal-Mart. It's possible that police and emergency personnel monitor channel 9. If not, it's still possible that you might get a help plea out to someone out there if your situation turns dire.

Jim Lawless

There are also now hand-cranked flashlights. They work well, from what I've seen, and are also very light.

We have 3 of those flashlights. You shake them, and they get power. They are very dim and highly directional (not much "spray" of light), but will do in a pinch.

In an effort to be helpful, I would add the following tip: stock up on food that does not require power to cook.

Lots of pop tarts to get through the rough times.

Things that can be cooked on a gas grill are good. You can cooked canned goods on the grill if you have to.

Beenie-Weenies. Vye-eeners. Canned fruit snacks.