If you live in an area where storms or tornadoes are a regular threat, and have created a storm shelter within your home, then you may think you’ve got everything covered. However, you need to make sure you have everything you need in your shelter to keep yourself and your family safe and well, as well as to allow you the best chance of leaving the shelter safely and beginning to deal with the aftermath of extreme weather.
Here are a few things you definitely need to make sure you have inside your storm shelter in advance, so you can get in there with minimal fuss when a storm strikes:
A Battery Powered Phone Charger – Plus Batteries
It’s bad enough losing battery on your phone at the best of times, but when you are in the middle of an emergency it is even more of a concern. Battery powered chargers are available for almost all modern phone models, and if you keep one of these and a supply of the correct sized batteries in your tornado shelter, you’ll be able to keep your phone on even when power fails. Your phone will, while signal is available, let you keep in touch with family and friends to check they’re safe, as well as access the internet to get any updates on what is going on outside. It can also help you stave off boredom by giving you something to play with if you’re down there for a long time!
Food for Your Family and Pets
Keep basic foods that will keep you going in your shelter, because you may have to spend hours or even days in there and will need a source of nourishment. Choose things that keep for a long time so you don’t need to replace them, and make sure you have things like a can opener and some forks in your shelter too. While you’re not going to be eating like you’re at a sophisticated dinner party, not being to be able to get into your food is going to be a big problem. Keep some pet food on hand too if you have animals. Bottled water is of course another essential, and keep a bowl so you can also give some of this to your pets.
Documents
Unless you have everything stored online (not on the hard drive of any given device), keep copies of all of your insurance documents in your storm shelter. This will give you the things you may need to start the process of sorting out any storm damage issues after the storm has passed easily to hand, and means that you’ll still have copies of important documents even if your house is flooded or damaged really badly and your originals are destroyed. If you have your documents stored online (something many insurers now offer), you can access them via your phone. However, you may want to keep copies of other important things like your passport and birth certificate in your shelter just in case.
By ensuring you equip your shelter with the things you need and make sure you replace anything that gets used, you will always have a safe, well prepared shelter with the minimum amount of maintenance.
Attached Images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/en/document-open-folder-reading-97576/
Today’s guest post is courtesy Eidur Johanson. He is a handyman by profession and has worked on many storm damaged houses. He has learnt a few tricks of overcoming such disasters and has discussed them in this article.
