Now Hurricane Irma is barreling through the Caribbean with tropical storm Jose on her coat tail. She is a deadly category 5 monster with winds sustaining one hundred and eighty five miles per hour. The Florida highways are backed up bumper to bumper as everyone is trying to escape the detrimental conclusion that it sure to be caused by Irma.
Water is scarce. There are people lined up at their local grocery stores to purchase water as soon as it comes in off of the truck. Stores have run out all along the gulf coast all the way to Mississippi. Gas is running scarce as well.
We have all had time to prepare for this big storm, but what happens if your on vacation and you don't have time to prepare. It happened to me once. My ex-husband and I took the kids camping in Florida and hurricane Dennis was churning in the gulf unbeknownst to us. We decided to go out to eat at TGIFridays and I just so happened to look up and see the TV. There was a mandatory evacuation. Everyone around us was enjoying their dinner and having fun like nothing was wrong, but we had six kids in a tent in a state park and I realized we needed to leave soon.
After we finished our dinner, we decided to go fill up our van with gas and quickly found out that we were in trouble. Gas had ran out and we literally drove thirty miles in bumper to bumper traffic just to find some. We finally made it back to the campsite. In the morning we started packing up camp a day earlier than we were suppose to.
Might I add, also during this trip, the day before we evacuated, I broke my tailbone at a water park and was pushing through the pain with every step. Once we were packed up and out into traffic, we quickly realized how evacuation routes work. We were not allowed to go the route we would have normally taken to get us home in five hours. We were flagged and corralled like cattle north and into Alabama by way of a two lane road that served as the evacuation route. My van overheated, my tailbone was on fire, and ten hours later we pulled into our driveway, miserable and exhausted.
This is a lesson I learned the hard way. When vacationing, be like a boy scout. Be prepared for anything. Here are some points I would like to address if caught in a hurricane or storm that you did not know was coming. These are safety measures that anyone should adhere to when vacationing. Especially if camping. Most of this is common sense, but a reminder is never a bad thing.
- Keep a case of bottled water in your trunk.
- Don't let your gas tank get below a half full.
- Keep a roll of toilet paper handy.
- Keep some cash handy. Some credit card machines might not work.
- Make sure you have a flashlight.
- Keep plenty of snacks handy.
- If you have access to internet and are traveling in north America, south America, or the Caribbean, check spaghettimodels.com for up to date weather. This is the best site I have found as it's a hub for all of the tropic related weather.
- Take out the extra rental car insurance.
- If you're evacuated, be prepared to go another route than you planned.
- Keep an updated Atlas in your car, because cell problems do occur and GPS might not work.
- If backpacking, find the highest ground you can.
- Safety in numbers. Stay with a group of people.
- If in another country, get as far inland as you can.
- Sharpie your name and an emergency contact on your forearm.
- Do not try to cross flooded roads even if it looks shallow.
- If you see downed power lines. Turn around.
- Price gauging is illegal for gas, but not airlines. Be prepared to fork out a lot of money if you have to fly out before your return trip.
- Be prepared to be in some type of line for a long time.
- Once the storm has passed get to the consulate or a red cross shelter so that you can be accounted for.
I want to thank and give credit to NOAA for the photo of Irma.
