I’m a tropics-dweller readying for hurricane season, AMA

[tropicaltailwind]

Hello
I live on a small flat island at high risk of hurricanes, flooding, power outages. I’m British but have lived here since 2011. I’ve always been interested in resilience, being ready for life’s curveballs but obviously living in a threat zone brings it all up several gears.
At some point I will move back to the UK with DH & DS, so I’m interested in people’s takes on prepping/resilience in UK, and am also happy to talk about how we prepare here, in case learning about how people plan for unexpectedly being off-grid, dealing with supply chain shortages, loss of water supply, and building resilience vs other threats is useful. (And maybe answering questions will help me & the members of the hurricane season support group I’m in up our game! )

(cross posted in prepping forum)

also a tropics dweller. Not hurricane season here until July , but the busiest part on the hurricane highway is usually Sept thru October. When we have notice that a storm is on way (even just a tropical storm) We order 4 extra bottles of water (water is not potable here from tap) Our toilets and sink run on electric pumps so we fill our top loader washing machine with water so we have water to flush toilets. Get a couple of big bags of ice for the fridge incase power goes out, Criss Cross duct tape on the windows and patio door that faces the ocean and put in for a beer/rum/wine delivery and hunker down.

How do you accustom yourself mentally to the fact that there is a high likelihood of you losing your home (if indeed this is true)? I was just watching the film Twister with my son last week and wondering how it would impact people psychologically if they lived somewhere where a potentially home-flattening weather event was quite likely on a regular basis. How does insurance work?

Are you frightened for your life ever? Or the life of your child?

How does your DS find this sort of living?

What do you think your skills would be if society suddenly did need to live off grid?

What skills do you wish you had?

Is your home adapted in any way to mitigate risk? My relative lost everything is this kind of scenario and has had to rebuild and elevate their home.

Have you faced disapproval for living where you do?

Similar drill here but we assume we WILL lose power and water, even in a tropical storm (that is what usually happens/power is switched off by the power company during the storm & until everything is checked following all-clear). We don’t duct tape windows because don’t think it does much. Windows and doors are hurricane rated, we added bolts to the door too and bottom and switched it around so it opens inwards (wind pressure therefore would hold it in place) and we have metal concertina hurricane shutters for doors and most exposed windows.

Good luck this season. It’s not looking like it’s going to be an underachiever.

There was a particularly severe Cat 5 in the 2000s which destroyed and damaged most of the buildings. After which things were built to a strict code with roofs hurricane strapped, poured concrete foundations, standing seam roofs, etc. So most places would fare better now if that was to happen again in terms of wind damage. The risk of flooding however is very high, especially by the coast. And there has been a surge of development of fancy condos and ripping up mangroves which are natural flood defences and absorbers, as well as a trend of developers building closer to the sea and having setback variances, which doesn’t bode well.

Islanders traditionally did not build next to the sea for such reasons but fancy condo owners want sea views.

We bought on one of the highest parts of the island. Insurance is still high and gets higher every year. But at least we are less likely to flood. And the house was built after the major hurricane with all the new code recommends.

I have faith in my house to cope with up to Cat 3-4 and have never been afraid for us. Obviously a major Hurricane coming our way would be very scary, no matter how secure you think your shelter in place plan is.

Most people here do at least some degree of prepping. I prep for 6 weeks hiatus - no power and no water. I work on my prep gradually all year round so it is not a big expense. Buying 2 extra canned foods each shop, keeping big glass jars of dry goods and rotating my pantry stores.

We have 2 generators Weber grill, gas camping stoves, power blocks etc and I periodically campfire cook and check it all works. Make flatbreads in a cast iron pan on a fire with canned fish and beans etc. Run the laptop of the power pack and recharge. Run the generator once a month. Wash empty wine bottles and jars to use as water stores to supplement the plastic gallons.

Being organised and practicing means if it all goes off I won’t burden the supply chain by panic shopping, I can help my community during and afterwards because the food and water stuff is already done for my family.

skills I wish I had - mechanical/electrical repairs. I do have friends and neighbours who are electricians and mechanics though. I’m pretty sure that we would all help each other out as a community as we did during Covid.

Built to Miami Dade code standards and on the highest part of the island. What a nightmare for your relative. That has owned here to many people last time there was a major.

Not had disapproval no, the standard of living is good. Having to prep for storms is just a crap fact of life. Some people barely bother to do it, some leave it til the last minute, some are very aware and start early, some can’t afford to do it much. The government is clear that we all need to do it and have a plan. It would be impossible to evacuate most of us off the island so if you live here you have to think about what you’d do.

Where do you live?

How often do you have the risk of hurricane?

Do you have an underground shelter?

Also do you just not have certain items because you know they’ll get ruined?

Nobody has underground shelters, they would flood. If you are on an island during a hurricane, there will be storm surge and flooding - huge amounts of rain will get dumped by the system and the forward motion of the storm will also push water from the sea over the island.

Every year is a risk of hurricanes and tropical storms. Some years are more active and higher risk than others because of the Atmospheric set up. An El Niño year is usually less threatening than a La Niña year in the Atlantic, because in an El Niño year there is greater wind shear that disrupts storms from forming or pushed them out into the Atlantic.

this year is a La Niña year and the seas are extremely warm which makes it a likely hyperactive year. The season is June - end November but we can get rare early storms. This year I am prepping with more thoroughness because of the likely danger.

I’ve driven the same janky island Honda for 11 years. I don’t tend to buy expensive things or have them shipped in - luckily there is a thriving second hand buy and sell system here if anything needs replacing.

This is so scary. So you really do just stay in the house?

Yes, everyone must shelter in place until the all-clear. Expect power to be off for at least hours as they just check for substation and line damage.
People who think their home is too dangerous can go to a shelter: which is just a primary school or secondary school in most cases.

Last cat 1 hurricane most of the power was back after 48 hours. Last major hurricane it was off for over 3 months.

last year with a storm coming in (luckily we got a near miss but the winds and rain omg) We went in our hallway. we dragged a mattress into the hall between the two bedrooms and put another mattress up in the opening.. just to keep us away from the windows incase they imploded. We were lucky and it was just an uncomfortable night on a mattress on the floor with two big dogs trying to snuggle as they were unnerved by the howling wind. This year. Well. I am expecting worse. Alot worse, according to the weather experts. I do not have a bathtub..only 2 showers thus why we fill the washing machine..also both kitchen sinks. In the long run. risks are risks. If you want to live here in the tropics you take them. I am In Punta Cana Dominican Republic

also my home..is concrete block and rebar as most homes are here. I am not so worried about losing the home..if it was bad enough to destroy our home, we may have bigger problems like making it thru alive. Most of the islands, our homes are built to withstand up to a cat 4. I duct tape my windows as many years ago when hurricane Jean went thru here (about 20 years ago I think) Our friends that live here did not.. the patio door smashed in severely cutting their child. The point of the tape is to try to keep the bits together IF it smashes in. Only thing I hate...is having to order goo be gone to get rid of the tape residue lol