Washington Prepares for Frankenstorm

DC households were alerted to the impending danger of Hurricane Sandy’s imminent arrival by robocalls from Pepco, telling us to buy our own generators, stockpile batteries, and to pray. The District Government had already declared a State of Emergency, so Washingtonians reacted with their customary calm, racing to stores to buy out stocks of toilet paper, batteries, canned goods, flashlights and bottled water before their neighbors could. Here on Capitol Hill, of course, emergency rations must meet more exacting standards (see photo, above).

But what else should we do before the Frankenstorm? Florida is constantly storm-pummeled, so we consulted the Miami Herald‘s hurricane preparedness checklist:

• Remove coconuts and other yard debris.
• Make arrangements to move your boat to safe harbor or secure it.

Um, okay … got it.

Other checklists (from the Red Cross, the Weather Channel, NOAA, The Washington Post, SBA, DC Homeland Security, PEPCO, National Geographic, FEMA) omit these vital pointers:

DC may run out of sandbags, but there’s plenty of sand in those big ashtrays at entrances to hotels, office buildings and Metro stations, and plastic bags only cost a nickel at any store in town
Clean and oil firearms, buy enough ammo to defend your precious stock of toilet paper against storm-crazed neighbors
Secure soft, dry bedding for family pets, and ample fuel for the propane grills you may have to cook them on
If you deny global warming emphatically enough, the storm won’t be as bad

More:

“Hurricane Sandy may be unprecedented in East Coast storm history,” Jason Samenow, Washington Post blog

“What is a Frankenstorm? We Break Down the Monster Hurricane Sandy May Become,” Ian Chant, GeekoSystem

“CNN Has Banned The Term ‘Frankenstorm’ From Its Hurricane Sandy Coverage,” Alex Alvarez, Mediaite

NOAA StormCentral 2012

“Hurricane Sandy Food,” CHOW

Updates:

Hurricane food and drink from Buzzfeed.

“21 DIY Emergency Preparedness Hacks,” Emily Fleischaker, BuzzFeed

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Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-eMm

Snapshot of Emergency Ration Checklist by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Tags: DC, emergency preparedness, Frankenstorm, Hurricane Sandy, Sandy, severe weather, Washington DC

This entry was posted on October 28, 2012 at 1:05 am and is filed under public safety, Washington DC, weather. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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