1. Your chain saw will not work when you need it to. I don't know why but just about everyone I know has had the same problem after the storm, the chainsaw will start and constantly stall. I plan on taking mine apart and figuring out why it won't stay running so I will not have this problem in the future.
2. Water filters are amazing. My Sawyer filter saved a lot of headaches with the boil notice. What we did was a double filter 1 through the fridge, and next through the sawyer. Learning point. Figure out how to make large quantities ahead of time. We would spend time making small amounts. I am looking into tube fed options for the future. We had no water for 2 days, some areas are still without water. Fill up your tub for DRINKING water. Use pool, pond or other natural sources for toliet water.
3. If you are going to have a generator, know your fuel usage. I used a mix of solar and gas. I used 1 gallon of fuel before the power was returned 4 days later. Learning point: Do not depend on Natural Gas ie Generac unless you have a tank supply. Gas to many homes and communities was disabled due to multiple leaks. Many homes had a lock on their Utility gas line after Michael.
4. Don't be worried about food. So many people are concerned about having food and MRE's... Hopefully you have a few days of food in your fridge and freezer and few boxes of pasta... Worse case catch a fish or shoot a deer. In crisis mode, I did not eat much. I lost a few pounds. food was not a primary tought, so don't worry about it.
5. Have backups to backups. I had a problem with my inverter on day 2. Wasn't sure why, but it was tripping and throwing error codes... so I switched out to the other inverter. Later I found out wifey was using her Keurig coffee maker which was pulling more amps than the 1000 W inverter would give.
6. Know your power usage. My inverter will tell me watt draws. You'd be surprised at how little energy you need. TV/entertainment center 200 watts. Fridge 350 at peak 60 at min. Security system with TV 70. Learning point: Many neighbors have 3500 watt and larger generators. There is no need to spend that type of energy for the average home, which goes back to #3.
7. Use your generator to charge a battery bank when the generator is on. Run things off the inverter to turn off the generator. It's nice to have lights/lamps on in the house at night without concern of someone hearing the putt putt machine and taking off with it, or risk of C0 while sleeping. Also LED lights pull next to nothing in Watts, could probably go a week without ever charging the battery...
8. I kept losing things. Everything was out of sorts and finding something like a cell phone, when you have no cell service is an extra stressor not needed. Learning point: Develop a routine in the crisis of where to put everything.
9. Be flexible with giving in the crisis. After our power was restored, We set up family with a generator, fuel and such... at the time I was really stressed about giving away fuel. No gas station opened for 40 miles and all we had left was what was in our tanks and 3 gallons extra. Family didn't want to move in, and at the time I was leaning towards NOT giving to them... but They will always be my family after the storm... I don't think I would feel good about myself today if I had not given to them then.
10. Get a bike. Wish I had a bike with all the gas shortages. Would have made going to the store, work... A 4 mile walk is not much fun, but a 4 mile bike is not an issue and 8 miles round trip in my truck 3 times is a gallon of fuel...
11. Add tarps and roofing nails to your preps. They can be used for multiple things and would have been handy to have ahead of time. Was not expecting roof damage, but happened.
12. have an old-school radio. Was good to hear news when all coms were down.
13. Coms. Have walkie talkies. Worked out well with community security posts. Do not expect cell phones to work. Verizon and Sprint are still not up here. Many neighbors have bought "burner phones" to be on ATT or T-mobile networks.
14. Plan a way back in if you bugout. Our entire house was shuttered in with all wing nuts at doors over 8 feet high. part of the bugout kit has 3 5 gallon buckets that could be used to return if we left prior to the bridges shutting to stand on to get the wing nuts over the door... We would hae left through the garage and returned to no power to open the garage...
15. Have a 2nd way out. This is a risk you need to consider. Our only way in or out was through the garage once shuttered in. I have no concern about running the inverter to the garage (that's the normal setup). High winds could damage the garage, making the rollers not functional and effectively getting us stuck inside. Our fix was one aluminum slot to the rear was kept off and only exposing the center point of the back slider with minimum glass exposure... again a risk but I wanted 2 exit points. I did not leave the front door without shutters because I feared it would blow in. I have no doubt the right angle of the wind it would have without shutters.
Lessons From Hurricane Michael
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