With Hurricanes Helene and Milton coming within weeks of each other and causing havoc in the southern United States, people might be becoming increasingly concerned about the chaotic weather conditions they are seeing and their preparedness for them.
Being prepared is a good thing, ensuring you keep your home and family safe in times of extreme weather. With these events occurring more frequently, lasting longer, and becoming more intense because of human-caused pollution — which traps heat in the atmosphere and encourages temperatures to rise, leading to droughts, storms, wildfires, and flooding — it's wise to have a go-bag prepared in case you need to make a speedy getaway.
But some folks, often referred to as preppers, go to even greater lengths to ensure they are ready for whatever the world has to throw at them.
In 2021, Karleigh Frisbie Brogan wrote a column for The Washington Post about her father, who was 69 years old at the time, living in Oregon, and had a house equipped with "plastic tubs filled with military Meals Ready-to-Eat, gallons of water, a reflective blanket, and a firearm."
"I didn't inherit my dad's apocalyptic preoccupation," Frisbie Brogan said, but they observed that recent extreme weather events — including the California Tubbs fire in 2017 that burned her mother's house down — had gotten her thinking about her preparation levels.
Indeed, while the typical assumption about "preppers" might be negative, being ready for the worst the elements can throw at you is getting more important. In fact, Frisbie Brogan escaped to her father's house amid wildfires in California, and he offered the use of his food supplies and survival gear.
Prepping under the impression that civilization is going to collapse in the morning perhaps isn't the way to go, but having some essentials ready can make a huge difference as you ride out the storm — or drought, or flood, or fire.
A good supply of fresh water, for example, can be (quite literally) life-saving if local drinking supplies are contaminated by storm run-off. It will also help to ease relief efforts as drinkable water is supplied to those most in need.
Meanwhile, having appropriate waterproof clothing ready can keep you dry and prevent bacterial illnesses should water enter your property.
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Stripping the supermarket shelves of everything you can find and hoping that it doesn't expire after a few years is a waste of money and can be counter-productive.
But FEMA recommends an emergency phone, medical equipment, tools, and safety items — such as a flashlight, matches, and a whistle — and gloves, blankets, and warm clothing as some of the essential items to prepare for a hurricane. Keeping important documents in a waterproof container is smart, too.
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