We have been hit by Hurricane Michael. As of 6:39 pm tonight on Monday – just before sending publish, we do not have power at our house in Camilla although we had someone rebuild our water main and we got water last night. With no cellular service AT ALL in Camilla – sometimes we can receive incoming phone calls but Facebook and Twitter are both inaccessible. In order to post this, my husband is driving on the Interstate between Camilla and Albany until we could get service. It is so hard to believe that Verizon is unable to fix cellular service in Camilla but I do know that there are many places damaged.
Kip and I have made a list while it is on our mind of the things that you need to know to keep your family safe. These are the disaster preparedness things to teach our students as well. I hope it helps you to learn from what we’ve experienced. And again, forgive the chainsaws and background noise, my husband is too busy to clean up the audio right now.
When looking at national news media, it is unbelievable to me that what is happened has faded into a distant memory as we hear stories of people having ongoing problems and what is happening in Florida is even worse. Our home electricity can’t be fixed because of the shortage of supplies electricians need to reconnect power to homes.
As of Sunday night, national media outlets were reporting only 120,000 households in Georgia without power. However, the EMC (Electric Membership Cooperatives) were saying that as of Sunday night they had 129K without power – that doesn’t include municipalities and Georgia Power at all. I’m not sure where the National Media is getting their numbers, however, we have had previous disasters in South Georgia where the mainstream media underreported and basically ignored what was happening here. I think perhaps that is why there are so many resilient loners down here. There are many difficulties happening that I’m not sure people could fathom and many will be without power much longer.
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Related Resources
- Dynamo Hand Crank Radio – we recommend this newer model that also charges with solar power and has a USB charger. (At $20 we actually just went and bought every one in our family one of these.)
- LED 30 Day Light
- My husband’s favorite LED Flashlight that fits in your pocket
- Camping Coffee Pot
- Cast Iron Skillet
- Cast Iron Dutch Oven
- Silicone Gloves
I personally recommend Samaritan’s Purse, Salvation Army, and Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief Organizations just because I’ve seen them active. While I can’t speak for Florida, I have worked with many disasters in South Georgia in my lifetime. I recall one organization raising over $2million for the relief of my hometown of Camilla in the year 2000 and only spent $280K to help us and then left. Support organizations with low (or no) overhead (like these) and who will spend all of their money in the affected areas.
I also know of at least one school that was damaged and have reached out to them to see if they have a Gofund me.
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1 comment
I listened to your Hurricane Michael podcast on my way to school this morning as I normally do. My family experienced Hurricane Katrina in 2005. We live in Southwest Mississippi, and although we did not experience the devastation of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, we were without power for ten days. Fortunately, we did have water the entire time (I have since found I can make it without power, but water is a different story.) It, too, was a learning experience. Our generator which we bought two days after Katrina is still working, we keep charcoal, propane, and batteries on hand. We always have bottled water for drinking and totes of rainwater for toilets. Take care of yourself. I’ll be praying for everyone.