NOW I Get It: 5 Lessons From Disaster Checklists
Like many in Florida this time of hurricane season, I am remembering the not-so-distant past experience with Hurricane Irma. Below are 5 lessons from disaster checklists. In that year, I thought I was prepared with a set of handy checklists. But in my Monday morning quarterbacking after that storm, there were areas where I did something right, intentionally or not, and others where I got to say, “Oh. NOW I get it.” I am a lifelong Floridian. I've been through hurricanes. Further, I love camping and have been doing it since I was little. But I take more time preparing for camping trips than I did for Irma. All the official checklist advice didn't sink in until I got a taste of the real deal. Irma was a huge pain and inconvenience for several weeks, but in my immediate area no lives were lost or in imminent danger. I realize now, though, how unprepared I was if it had gone differently. With no property damage or bodily injury, I was given a chance to do a better preparation job next time. So as we stare down another storm season and other climatic catastrophes, below are five lessons I didn’t expect to learn from Irma. Checklist Confusion What I Thought I Did Right: When Irma was one week out, I dug up the checklists and took inventory. But I became confused. One list was for evacuating the state, one was for staying at home, and another was for going to a shelter or friend’s home. I never thought I wouldn’t know which it was going to be. With a 92-year-old mother-in-law, leaving was not a simple option. Neither was staying. As we debated for five days before it hit, I bounced between the checklists, creating triple the preparation anxiety. NOW I Get It: This could have been avoided with a kit prepared in advance for each option. Lesson #1: If you are evacuating, and especially going to a friend’s house or shelter, the time to go is not 24 hours before the eye arrives. By then, or even 2 days before, the 50 mph wind and flooding rain has already begun. Once tree branches start flying across the highway (gee, that does happen before the eye arrives), all the stores are closed and you can’t go home for more canned soup, batteries or underwear. Lesson #2: Prepare the kits. Decide early on (like, 5 days out) to stay or go, and stick with it. Flashlights and Batteries What I Did Right: All the checklists say, of course, “flashlights and batteries." In preparation, I dug up as many flashlights as I could find. I checked the batteries. I replaced the batteries in the ones that didn’t work. The worst of the storm was to come at night, so before bed, I placed one on my bedside table and one on the kitchen counter underneath the light switch. NOW I Get It #1: Unfortunately I waited until the day before the hurricane to…