During Hurricane Milton, one Florida-based member of the r/preppers subreddit was unfortunately given the opportunity to test some of their disaster preparedness measures when an oak tree fell on their house.
The prepper wrote a detailed account of their six days without power, including everything that went well and everything that did not go as expected.
What didn't go well was stockpiling gasoline to use with a generator. "This is the longest I have been without power and it has been an eye opener. My gas stores were entirely insufficient," the poster wrote. In the future, they could consider taking a page out of one off-gridder's book and instead rely on solar panels.
The greatest resource this prepper had on hand turned out to be their community. "The good things were that my neighbors really pulled together and we all helped each other out," they concluded.
With the concept of disaster and emergency preparedness, many so-called preppers often seem to imagine themselves as the lone survivor in a post-apocalyptic action thriller; in reality, the only way for humans to survive such events is by cooperating and helping each other.
That means it is likely a much more useful disaster preparedness measure to form relationships with your neighbors than it is to, as one commenter suggested, "build a tool to easily get fuel from your vehicle if the fuel rail has a pressure test port" (though you can certainly do that, too, if it is something that calls to you).
As an added bonus, having positive relationships with your neighbors is something that can come in handy and enhance your lived experience at any time — not just if a tree falls on your house during a hurricane.
The other members of the subreddit were grateful to the original poster for supplying so many details about how their prepping experience played out.
"Thank you for the accounting. This is really helpful," one commenter wrote.
🗣️ What supplies do you keep on hand in case of a blackout?
🔘 Just a flashlight 🔦
🔘 A few camping lanterns 😎
🔘 A full-on emergency kit 🆘
🔘 I don't have anything 🤷
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
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