If you have had to evacuate your home (wildfire, flood, hurricane, etc.)

[prairiewindmomma]

Can you share your experience?  Were you happy with what you brought with you? What do you wish that you that you had brought instead? What surprised you about the experience? What would you do in the future?

[Mom25girls]

Gosh! I was just thinking about this over the weekend. Thanks for asking.

[MEmama]

I've never had to, but growing up wildfire and earthquakes were big threats. My parents drilled it into me that if I could take anything at all, take photo albums. I've since told my son the same thing. I can't think of anything else remotely important (other than, as an adutl, ID, wallet and now phone).

 

If there's more time, I'd grab the passports, SS cards, etc. It really depends how much warning you have.

[Catalytic]

I grew up in Florida, and we had to evacuate many times for hurricanes.  I don't know what my parents took, but I know for us, we have one folder that has all important stuff (birth certificates, passports, ss cards, vehicle titles, closing paperwork from our house, etc).  We would grab that, and the cases with pictures.  If I had enough time, I would also take the towers of 2 computers.  We have lived in areas throughout DH's career that are prone to hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods, and earthquakes.  Above all, would be our pets, I'll assume it's a given we would take the children LOL

[goldberry]

We have been on pre-evacuation notice (wildfire area).  We have two plastic tubs that have photo albums, important documents, etc.  We also have a list of what to "grab" last minute, including medicines, laptops, etc.

 

ETA, oh yes, for pets make sure you have enough carriers for each pet.  We had two kitties and only one carrier, so we got another one.

Edited June 6, 2016 by goldberry

[Guest]

Ss cars and id, keys, computers/phones, baby forumula, diapers, water and photo albums (kept in antote in the closet by the front door for this reason) dog food if theres time, ditto blankets.

 

Adult ppl food can easily be found. I do keep some spare stuff in the car(spare chargersnare important there imo), but its like a one day supply of things.

[KungFuPanda]

We had to leave when a huge tree crushed our house. It's not the same as an evacuation, and we could come back. I learned we needed very little. We needed our clothes, electronics and school supplies. It was the kitchen supplies where I gradually bright over more and more. The temporary apartment was furnished, but I was too spoiled for good kitchen tools.

[Carrie12345]

We haven't evacuated, but we've been fine tuning our plan.

 

1. People

2. Dog

 

Everything else is gravy, including the cat, who spends most of his day hiding.  I mean, we'd take him given enough time and safe conditions, but I'm not hunting for him in a house fire. 

 

3. Purse/phone

4. Photos

5. Thumb drives and birth certs, ss cards, ins. papers, etc.

6. Laptops

7. Homeschool and custody papers

 

I've replaced enough official documents in my lifetime to know I wouldn't enjoy doing it again, but that they're not worth risking anyone's safety for.

[Amira]

We're supposed to have a bag packed and ready to go whenever we live overseas along with 72-hour kits (I'm more diligent about this in some countries than others) in case we're evacuated on very short notice.  It hasn't been necessary yet, but we keep a hard drive ready to go with all the important info on it, along with any original documents that I wouldn't want to hassle with replacing (passports, birth certificates, marriage certificate, social security cards, vaccine records, car title, whatever you want) and some cash and any necessary prescriptions or medications.  That takes care of most of the important stuff and we could take that on foot if necessary and be out of the house really quickly after grabbing my wallet and the 72-hour kits.

 

If there's time and space, I'd take a few items I don't want to lose (for me, this is mostly Christmas ornaments).  I make a list of what I'd want to take and prioritize it. It's so much easier to evacuate if you've thought it through before and even better if you can just work off a list.  Have your kids do the same, especially teenagers, so they know what they'd want to find and be able to do it quickly. If you have stored items you want to take, pack them so you can grab them quickly.  Have a plan to gather items that aren't already packed and a way to carry them efficiently.

[JudoMom]

Can you share your experience?  Were you happy with what you brought with you? What do you wish that you that you had brought instead? What surprised you about the experience? What would you do in the future?

 

We had to evacuate in 2012 due to wildfire.   We had about 2 hours to get out, though we'd been watching it burn over a ridge for several days. 

 

We packed photos and important documents and medications and important electronics.  We also had time to do a video inventory of the house (and closeups of all the bookshelves).  We took enough clothes for a few days, but I forgot to pack socks for the boys.  They each took 3 things important to them, I believe. I'd also just gotten in all our new books for the school year, so I took everything we'd need for the next year of school.  I know there were other things we packed, but I don't recall.  We filled up our van and our small car.  We were able to return home after 4-5 days (we stayed with friends), so it all worked out.

 

However, some of our friends lost their homes or had serious damage.  One thing that stuck with me is that one friend wishes she'd grabbed more of her shoes.  You know those shoes that you love and that are so comfortable and perfectly broken in?  As someone who doesn't have easy to fit feet, I totally understood where she was coming from.

 

It was interesting because you have minimal time to decide what is important to you.  I would've been so sad to lose our home and things, but the reality was we were happy to be able to get out safely and to have a place to go, and it really put the possibility of losing things in perspective.  Getting out was scarier than I thought it would be--traffic jams, etc.

 

 

Edited June 6, 2016 by JudoMom

[prairiewindmomma]

Several years ago, we had a completely unanticipated wildfire that we had to evacuate for. The fire was three blocks away, and we had only a couple of minutes to grab things and go, the policeman were going door to door. I learned a few things:

 

1. Having respirator masks helps you cope with the smoke.  The ash was coming down like snow.

2. Panic makes it hard to think rationally.

3. The elderly needed help getting out. We helped someone whose caregiver was away from their home.

4. It's hard to grab things from various parts of the house.

 

I've been thinking about this more, as this summer we moved and I took our "precious" things in our vehicle with us.  There was very little room for all of it.  I need to be more selective, and pack differently.  

 

Also, traffic congestion is a bigger thing here.  It's more likely we'd be sitting in traffic for hours or hiking out on foot.

 

I'm mulling all of this around in my head.

 

Keep sharing!!! Thank you!!!

[Catalytic]

We haven't evacuated, but we've been fine tuning our plan.

 

1. People

2. Dog

 

Everything else is gravy, including the cat, who spends most of his day hiding.  I mean, we'd take him given enough time and safe conditions, but I'm not hunting for him in a house fire. 

 

3. Purse/phone

4. Photos

5. Thumb drives and birth certs, ss cards, ins. papers, etc.

6. Laptops

7. Homeschool and custody papers

 

I've replaced enough official documents in my lifetime to know I wouldn't enjoy doing it again, but that they're not worth risking anyone's safety for.

 

We never had to evacuate, but were also on notice due to wildfires in Alaska.  We had a plan through a parrot group for homes willing to take parrots from Fairbanks (unusual for homes to have A/C in Fairbanks, so there are no filters for the air inside) for our parrot.  While it was really bad air quality, we brought our camper to our house and put the bird in it with the A/C going to keep her from having to breathe the bad air.  Kids and I wore masks.

 

Anyway, quoted you because I have preached and preached to my kids that they are NOT to try to save the cats in the event of a fire.  I know at least one of my sons would try, and I have really harped over the years about if we were getting out of a house fire to just leave the doors open and pray.  The dog would be at our heels, and we would try to grab the parrot if we could get to her.

 

Several years ago, we had a completely unanticipated wildfire that we had to evacuate for. The fire was three blocks away, and we had only a couple of minutes to grab things and go, the policeman were going door to door. I learned a few things:

 

1. Having respirator masks helps you cope with the smoke.  The ash was coming down like snow.

2. Panic makes it hard to think rationally.

3. The elderly needed help getting out. We helped someone whose caregiver was away from their home.

4. It's hard to grab things from various parts of the house.

 

I've been thinking about this more, as this summer we moved and I took our "precious" things in our vehicle with us.  There was very little room for all of it.  I need to be more selective, and pack differently.  

 

Also, traffic congestion is a bigger thing here.  It's more likely we'd be sitting in traffic for hours or hiking out on foot.

 

I'm mulling all of this around in my head.

 

Keep sharing!!! Thank you!!!

 

Our important folder (thank you, Carrie, I'll be adding our HS papers to that!) always lives in the closet closest to the front door, along with our boxes/bags/whatever they're in that move of pictures. We did keep masks when we lived in wildfire prone areas.  If we had to hike out on foot, we'd only take the important folder.  Hmmm, I should scan all our pics to a USB drive and put it in the important folder...hmmm.

[prairiewindmomma]

Catalytic---I've been in the multiyear process of scanning all of our photos. I inherited a ton of pre-1900 photos, many of which are unique images.  I've got redundant hard drives---because one of the other problems I had in the past was USB or hard drive failure.  There's no physical way that I could grab all of the photos and put them in our vehicle, but I can grab a hard drive and a handful of USBs.

 

I actually keep a USB drive of our most precious photos (our daughter who died of cancer) in my purse in case something were to happen and we could not return to our home.  Other stuff has been uploaded to the cloud.  I don't have any security concerns about the info I carry or have up in the cloud, so I'm content that if I lost my purse or someone hacked the cloud, they can look at photos of my daughter and great-great-great granny. ;)

[prairiewindmomma]

I hadn't thought about school records. I probably ought to do something about that.  I really appreciate this conversation!

[YaelAldrich]

We evacuated for Hurricane Katrina.  We were new to the Gulf Coast and weren't even sure we would evacuate since we had just moved to NOLA during Hurricane Cindy.  One of our new friends told us to evacuate and we'd be back in three days.  She said to take what important to us - she was taking her Shabbat candlesticks given to her for her marriage.  I took our pictures, three days of clothes (since we'd be back in three days LOL), a crockpot with some leftovers, my marriage contract (in Judaism the wife is given it and is not to lose possession of it, lest the couple not be able to cohabitate until it is re-written), some toys, and the library books I was not able to repatriate due to the library closing off all the drop offs.  We didn't take my husband's viola (worth many thousands of dollars) nor any of his academic work, financial materials, or any of our new furniture or books.  No one took those things - we were to return within a couple of days.  Alas, that wasn't true and our house was flooded 14 ft - up to the ceiling.  We lost all our stuff.

 

We've learned our lesson.  We have bug-out bags. I can lug our files with us pretty easily and my jewelry is all in one place to grab in a second.  My photos are also in a bag that is easy to grab.  When there was a tornado heading our way in IN, I grabbed all those things (the kids were in camp and the Speedway) and stored them with me (and the FedEx guy!) in our bathroom.

[Carrie12345]

 

 

 

Our important folder (thank you, Carrie, I'll be adding our HS papers to that!)

 

 

Another thing - I am a paper and pen gal through and through, but I'm pushing myself to do more recording in Google Drive this coming year.  When we had a wildfire in the region this spring (by arson, which I feared might be repeated elsewhere while everything was bone dry), I had to keep taking my paper log (PA requirement) in and out of my emergency box.  There was no way I was going to lose 160-something days of records this close to the portfolio deadline!  Had I done it in Drive, it would have been accessible from absolutely anywhere no matter what happened.  I already keep a lot of records there, but hadn't managed to work up to the log switch.

 

Our broader (not unexpected house fire with 3 minutes to escape) plans do include food, water, and clothes, along with paper maps already in the car.  A wider community event with mass exodus could be a long, slow trip.  I do not trust MY community to move as smoothly as those in Canada did.  Not even close.

[Melissa B]

We've evacuated twice. Once for a wildfire and once for a hurricane. We've come to realize that we are not attached to much of anything. For the wildfire we were given no notice and were barely able to leave with our car. But, we weren't stressed about what we left in the house.

 

The only really shocking thing was that there was NOWHERE to get gas, especially during the hurricane evacuation. The gas stations just all ran out. We were very worried about getting stranded in our car. People were hoarding gas in anything they could fill - milk jugs, 2-liter jugs, etc. The lines for gas were out into the streets. Now we fill our tanks and all of our extra gas tanks a few days before any hurricane and keep refilling the cars daily.

[AnthemLights]

Yael - so sorry for the viola. :crying:  That would have been the hardest loss for me.  

[Catalytic]

Catalytic---I've been in the multiyear process of scanning all of our photos. I inherited a ton of pre-1900 photos, many of which are unique images.  I've got redundant hard drives---because one of the other problems I had in the past was USB or hard drive failure.  There's no physical way that I could grab all of the photos and put them in our vehicle, but I can grab a hard drive and a handful of USBs.

 

I actually keep a USB drive of our most precious photos (our daughter who died of cancer) in my purse in case something were to happen and we could not return to our home.  Other stuff has been uploaded to the cloud.  I don't have any security concerns about the info I carry or have up in the cloud, so I'm content that if I lost my purse or someone hacked the cloud, they can look at photos of my daughter and great-great-great granny. ;)

 

I have twice purchased special photo scanners for that, but neither was what I wanted (one wasn't really a scanner at all, it just took a photo of the photo, and the resulting digital pics were horrible).  I keep hoping someone will come out with an amazing scanner than I can just put a stack of photos in and it will feed itself and scan them all.  (If you know of one, let me know!)  My ADD self gets sidetracked trying to do it on a flatbed, I probably have only scanned 1/100th of our photos.  We went full digital in 2005, thankfully, so I only have the first decade of our marriage to scan.  I lost ALL of my oldest two's baby/toddler pics in Hurricane Erin in 1995 :-(  Thankfully my in-laws and parents had some they have shared.

 

I hadn't thought about school records. I probably ought to do something about that.  I really appreciate this conversation!

 

I haven't ever really had to worry about school records, but I will in our upcoming state.  I have a binder I have put EVERYTHING in about HS in that state...the laws, HSLDA membership, intent letter, curriculum plan, etc.  Will be easy enough to print for the folder.

 

We evacuated for Hurricane Katrina.  We were new to the Gulf Coast and weren't even sure we would evacuate since we had just moved to NOLA during Hurricane Cindy.  One of our new friends told us to evacuate and we'd be back in three days.  She said to take what important to us - she was taking her Shabbat candlesticks given to her for her marriage.  I took our pictures, three days of clothes (since we'd be back in three days LOL), a crockpot with some leftovers, my marriage contract (in Judaism the wife is given it and is not to lose possession of it, lest the couple not be able to cohabitate until it is re-written), some toys, and the library books I was not able to repatriate due to the library closing off all the drop offs.  We didn't take my husband's viola (worth many thousands of dollars) nor any of his academic work, financial materials, or any of our new furniture or books.  No one took those things - we were to return within a couple of days.  Alas, that wasn't true and our house was flooded 14 ft - up to the ceiling.  We lost all our stuff.

 

We've learned our lesson.  We have bug-out bags. I can lug our files with us pretty easily and my jewelry is all in one place to grab in a second.  My photos are also in a bag that is easy to grab.  When there was a tornado heading our way in IN, I grabbed all those things (the kids were in camp and the Speedway) and stored them with me (and the FedEx guy!) in our bathroom.

 

I can't say our photos are easy to grab (just too many, literally about 80lbs of them) but they are kept together at all times.  I went through a flood (can't remember if it was related to a hurricane) when I was in 6th grade where we lost everything, and I lost everything in my vehicle (where I HAD brought my kids' pics) when Erin flooded the city well outside the flood plain (I lived in the flood plain, and "evac'd" to my parents because they DIDN'T live where flooding happened...and then they flooded...not their house, but the street was 8' deep and my Chevy Chevette was parked on the street...).  I would hate losing books and whatnot, and I would absolutely grab 2 of our computer towers if at all possible, but there's nothing on them that can't be replaced (just very time consuming to replace it).  Insurance would cover the rest.  Growing up, we lived on the bay in Lynn Haven, Florida, and when hurricanes were coming, we would put all our furniture on cement blocks.  Funnily enough, that house did not flood when I was in 6th grade, but the house we retreated to, not in a flood zone, did.  Even though my house is not in a flood plain, we carry flood insurance because of those experiences!  (I'm laughing way too hard at you and the FedEx guy, so glad you were safe and that he had somewhere to hide)

 

Another thing - I am a paper and pen gal through and through, but I'm pushing myself to do more recording in Google Drive this coming year.  When we had a wildfire in the region this spring (by arson, which I feared might be repeated elsewhere while everything was bone dry), I had to keep taking my paper log (PA requirement) in and out of my emergency box.  There was no way I was going to lose 160-something days of records this close to the portfolio deadline!  Had I done it in Drive, it would have been accessible from absolutely anywhere no matter what happened.  I already keep a lot of records there, but hadn't managed to work up to the log switch.

 

Our broader (not unexpected house fire with 3 minutes to escape) plans do include food, water, and clothes, along with paper maps already in the car.  A wider community event with mass exodus could be a long, slow trip.  I do not trust MY community to move as smoothly as those in Canada did.  Not even close.

 

I have a ton of stuff in Google Drive, didn't think about putting the HS stuff there, but it's actually stored in Dropbox right now.  Totally don't know if I would have thought of that in an emergency!

 

We've evacuated twice. Once for a wildfire and once for a hurricane. We've come to realize that we are not attached to much of anything. For the wildfire we were given no notice and were barely able to leave with our car. But, we weren't stressed about what we left in the house.

 

The only really shocking thing was that there was NOWHERE to get gas, especially during the hurricane evacuation. The gas stations just all ran out. We were very worried about getting stranded in our car. People were hoarding gas in anything they could fill - milk jugs, 2-liter jugs, etc. The lines for gas were out into the streets. Now we fill our tanks and all of our extra gas tanks a few days before any hurricane and keep refilling the cars daily.

 

Yes, gas line are SO MUCH FUN during hurricanes (ugh!)  Hubby and I pretty much always keep both vehicles above half a tank due to bad memories of that!  We also aren't attached to much, it can all be replaced except the pictures and the critters.

[TheReader]

We have a fireproof and flood proof safe that we keep our important documents in, so if we had to flee a house fire, we would trust the safe to do its job. If we had to flee a hurricane or flood, we would take some of that with us. But as others have said, those things are a hassle to replace, but not impossible.

 

We have evacuated for a hurricane before, and were happy with what we took, although the hurricane didn't end up landing in our area, so we came home to a perfectly fine home. I haven't experienced an evacuation yet where we returned to our home gone, so I can't say that I have yet been tested on was I happy or not with what I took.

 

In a fire, obviously it would be kids, grab the photo books on the way out the door if possible, leave the rest and leave the door open for the dog and cat to follow.

 

For hurricane or flood, we would take the backup hard drive(s), kids, pets, photo books, important documents and prescription meds as well as clothing to meet our immediate needs and cash to use as needed. Probably I would have the boys bring their quilts and pillows as well, since we wouldn't be sure of where we would land and might need bedding (and I would be sad to lose their quilts). But that would be if we had time, space, etc. I would include water as well. We keep a rotating storage of individual water bottles in the pantry for this reason, and would put that in the car -- traffic can get insane, and we once had a family member stuck in her car for 6 hours on what should have been a 2 he drive, and another lengthy stretch as she finished the rest of her trip.

 

If after all of that we still had space, I have a few "cannot be replaced" items that I would want to grab, depending on the time, space, and practicality of doing so. If it were for a flood, I could relocate those items upstairs, if we had time. If hurricane, where we might get wind/roof damage....not sure. None of them would be worth risking not getting out, so these would only be taken in a situation where we knew we had plenty of time to pack them and still get out before the traffic was nutso.

 

After moving countries with only our suitcases, I feel I have a good handle on what could be replaced and what couldn't, and after evacuating hurricanes in the past I feel I have a good idea of what we need, don't need, etc. so I feel pretty good about this plan.

[vonfirmath]

Yael - so sorry for the viola. :crying:  That would have been the hardest loss for me.  

 

Agreed. My husband has one too. hard to believe such a flimsy-looking thing costs so much--but it does!

 

[YaelAldrich]

Agreed. My husband has one too. hard to believe such a flimsy-looking thing costs so much--but it does!

 

 

 

 (I'm laughing way too hard at you and the FedEx guy, so glad you were safe and that he had somewhere to hide)

 

 

 

Yael - so sorry for the viola. :crying:  That would have been the hardest loss for me.  

 

His viola was the subject of a...discussion before we evacuated.  He put it up high on a 6 ft bookshelf (and the house was already 4 feet off the ground!) so he said he didn't need to take it with us.  He should have taken it. 

 

[ETA:  He felt so very bad about leaving it behind that he didn't want to get another.  And he didn't, even though he promised several times to think about it.  I brought violas home for him to try but he didn't think he would play enough to make it worth getting another one.  Last year, the violin teacher of two of my kids (who also makes/repairs instruments) got one at a great price with a great sound and basically gave it to my husband.  It's not at all the same as his old viola, but he looks so happy when he does get to play.]

 

As for the FedEx guy, the tornado started out on the west side of town and that's where my husband was with his campers.  After my weather radio went off, I called him and said get into shelter!  He let me know the nice people at the Speedway were escorting his group to the basement of the building.  Then the radio went off again and said the tornado was heading our way.  I saw the FedEx truck coming through the neighborhood and I waved him down.  I told him the news and told him he had to get in my bathroom (only safe room in our house).  We hunkered down; his supervisor called him about 10 minutes in to tell him to get to shelter. He said a nice lady took him in already.   :)  Had a nice time together watching the news on my computer; no tornado touched down in our part of the city.

Edited June 6, 2016 by YaelAldrich

[JFSinIL]

Back in the 1980s, when I was home from college and a fire was getting closer (S. California - 'nuf said) Dad was on the roof with the hose spraying the wood shingles as sparks fell from the sky. I was charged with loading up two cars in case we had to vacate. I got every photo album, Dad's suits for work, a few changes of clothes for everyone, etc. and whatever seemed most important and hard to replace for each family member (no one else was able to come home, as officials had set up road blocks. ). Then 17 houses burned on a hill nearby, nothing between them and us but some brush and a narrow road - and then the wind shifted right before we'd have been forced to skedaddle. Later that evening everyone was home....and did anyone comment on what a good job I had done to load up the cars? No. In fact, no one helped unload them, either.

 

Wood shingles! What were builders thinking back then?

 

All important papers are in a bank basement safe deposit box, supposedly tornado/fire/flood proof. I keep one of the keys in my purse, which I would grab if we had to flee. Purse also has my adult son with autism's state id and a notarized proof we are his guardians. That, plus any meds, I would grab now. All important or memorable photos are scanned onto Dropbox.

Edited June 6, 2016 by JFSinIL

[sassenach]

We had to evacuate because of a fire. We had just moved in the week before, so a lot of stuff was still in boxes, which wasn't a good thing. We grabbed about a week's worth of clothes, pictures, and important documents. It was fine. Had my house burned down, my answer would probably be different. We ended up having to be out of the house for 5 or 6 days, so it wasn't bad. 

 

 

[Seasider]

I've evacuated numerous times for hurricanes in my life, and my thoughts about the experience vary by age.

 

When we were little and bugged out for Camille, my parents didn't talk much about the storm at all. So it just seemed like we were going on a family vacation. As I got into later elementary and middle school, they kept us informed and let us pack our own bags. I don't remember ever being told I couldn't take something that was important to me - they just made our stuff fit somehow. My dad got us all hurricane tracking maps and we watched the storms come in, plotting coordinated with each NOAA update.

 

As a young married person, we took the file box - one easily portable box that had our most important paperwork - birth certificates, SS info, insurance paperwork, any ID we might need for banking, a few irreplaceable heirlooms and photos. Once we had children, they were able to take things that comforted them and we followed the same level of information-sharing that my own folks had modeled.

 

The oddest experience was driving away from one particularly lovely new house with our 3 young children. With the storm track at the time of departure, we fully expected that we'd have no house upon return. Yet both dh and I had the oddest sense of peace and talked about it later - our most precious things were right in the car coming with us - as long as we had each other and the kids, we'd be okay.

 

A couple of things about evacuating - act early. If you believe you may have to evacuate and know which direction you will be going and don't have folks there to stay with, make a hotel reservation and guarantee it for late arrival. You can always cancel a reservation, but if there's a large evac, you may have trouble getting a hotel room if you don't plan ahead. Many times folks end up driving farther inland than they originally planned because they don't reserve ahead and just have to keep driving til they find a vacancy.

 

And don't wait til the last minute to leave, because traffic is no fun. If you do wait and have young kids, bring along something to use for a makeshift potty.

[J&JMom]

I haven't had to evacuate, but I have a 'bug out' box of kids memorabilia from their childhood (home from hospital outfits, baby teeth, first drawings, etc.).  Thanks to this board, I'll add important papers (SS, Birth Cert, etc).  I try to digitize and cloud store as much as I can.  My blog has our homeschool documents and pictures so that's safe.  I have a Flicker Account where pictures from my PC and phone are automatically uploaded every night so my pictures are safe even though I also have the photos on my laptop and external hard drive updated after every kids birthday and Christmas.  I take pictures of almost everything - my boys Scout handbooks and merit badge cards, and now want to add documents so I have them at a moment's notice on the cloud.  I also have a video inventory of our home uploaded on YouTube. That is actually a few years old now so I should do a new one. This automates a lot of my prized, irreplaceable memories so I could focus on safety. 

[skimerinkydo]

For a wildfire.Quite a few years ago. Everything was fine when we were allowed to return home.

 

We packed photos, computers, etc. in two cars.

 

Face masks are good to have for the smoky air.

 

We didn't bring our 72 hour kits and ended up without toothbrushes - we had to go to the store to buy toothbrushes.   And while at the store we bought puzzles for something to do at the evacuation center.

 

We didn't bring our cat and then felt guilty.

[Ausmumof3]

Can you share your experience? Were you happy with what you brought with you? What do you wish that you that you had brought instead? What surprised you about the experience? What would you do in the future?

Mostly yes but I may have felt differently if I came home and the house was gone. I took the insurance paperwork file, a hard drive with a back up of photos and a couple of albums, a bird and a set of clothes for the kids. Unfortunately I couldn't find the cat so thankfully everything was OK.

 

One thing with photos that I know friends do is print a book and give them to the grandparents each year, that way the grandparents have some photos they love and if anything ever happens you can get hold of the best.

 

I think it's really good to have a list of what to take and where as in the face of a potentially life threatening situation you really don't think clearly or necessarily make the best decisions. as long as you have insurance anything commercially produced is replaceable the critical things is lives, needed medications that are hard to get and non replaceable sentimental items.

[Ausmumof3]

The other thing to keep in mind if fire is a risk is that it's likely to be a really hot unpleasant day anyway and you may not be thinking clearly.

 

Also if you have a stay and defend plan (which should only happen if you are really really really prepared) you may not be able to get in and out so water and food supply is critical. I thought we could rely on our rainwater tanks but they were drained by the fire engines, so bottled water is really important.

Edited June 10, 2016 by Ausmumof3

[lailasmum]

We had to leave because of a house fire when I was a kid. My mum got us kids and the car keys. My dad rescued his antique clock. My mum did point out his skewed priorities.

Edited June 10, 2016 by lailasmum

[Mabelen]

I haven't had to evacuate yet but since I am wide awake because we just had an earthquake that woke me up, I will use the time to reply. We are in S. California so we have wildfires. I keep all the essential documents like insurance, bank papers, passports, birth certificates etc in a briefcase ready to go. I should refine this further and make sure I include a list of other important things and their location so that I don't have to think. Just read and grab.

[Carrie12345]

We had to lace because of a house fire when I was a kid. My mum got us kids and the car keys. My dad rescued his antique clock. My mum did point out his skewed priorities.

 

My parents had an underground line struck by lightning a few years back, frying the wiring in their house.  My mother got my niece out, and my sister went around taking a million pictures of my dear niece off the walls.  Not important papers, not clothes, not cats, not medications, not the tons of old, irreplaceable family photos, just the relatively recent pics, which everyone in the extended family has copies of, of the child standing outside.  :huh:   It's definitely hard to think under pressure.

 

(Their house was okay.  Just smelly, dirty, and fried electronics.)

[ebunny]

A fairly recent event(flood) forced us to evacuate. We(dh,dd and me) our 2 kittens, 3 pairs of clothes each, our respective laptops+phones, some important documents -passports, drivers licenses', debit/credit cards, mine and dh's medication, house+ car keys. Didn't miss anything else. (Fwiw, house was livable once flood waters receded.)

 

I wish I'd also carried bottled water, milk powder and bread..we ran out of these 3 items within the first day; so did everyone else. . Oh well...Hindsight 20/20.

 

ETA: add mosquito repellants and hand wipes to the wish-I'd-carried list.

Edited June 10, 2016 by ebunny