Firefighters Reveal 7 Hurricane Hacks Every Family Should Know In An Emergency

Sep 17, 2018

As Hurricane Florence approaches the East Coast, firefighters across the nation are lending helpful information via social media platforms.

Equipping your home with an adequate amount of emergency supplies and being aware of the need to possibly evacuate are great starting points when preparing for a storm of this nature. First responders have also informed us that there are other clever ways to prepare for the coming storm.

The firefighters of the Gold Hill Volunteer Fire Department posted a list of hacks to help your family remain safe and calm as the storm hits online. This list also included ways to keep your property and other belongs out of harm’s way during the storm.

These tips are not guaranteed to work. However, they might actually come in handy.

It can be extremely dangerous for your dog when letting him outside during the storm to potty. The unfamiliarity of the storm may scare him and cause him to run away in an attempt to find safety. Instead, keep your dog inside your home and build an indoor potty that you can keep in your garage or another secluded area in your house.

Stocking up on candles during storms is one of the most coming ways for people to get light when the power goes out during a storm. Unfortunately, candles make it easy to start an unwanted fire. Instead of buying candles, firefighters are suggesting for you to buy batteries and other forms of electric lights. If you are looking for an inexpensive way to create light during an outage, here is one way.

Tape a headlight to a water bottle that is empty. A milk jug will work also. You could choose to secure a flashlight to the outside of your jug or bottle to get the same effect. The light originating from the lamp will be soft and will illuminate your entire room.

It can be stressful wondering if you will run out of clean water or whether or not you will lose power that will cause all of the food located in your refrigerator to spoil. Here is what you can do to solve this issue. Take some Ziploc bags and fill them with water about ¾ of the way full. If you do lose power you can place the frozen water on top of food in your refrigerator as well as along the sides of the walls and door of your fridge. If you run out of fresh water. You will have a fresh supply inside the bags in your freezer.

Filling big garbage bags with water can help to protect your home from the effects of the storm. Normally sandbags are used to protect homes and other property from potential flooding. Many people don’t have direct access to sand and are not able to use them. Instead, filling garbage bags with water is the better alternative.

There are many homeowners who have made use of this technique and have had great success. You can also fill your bags will gravel or pebbles located from your yard. They work just as well. These alternatives will not provide as much protection as the usual sandbags, but they will still help. Anything is better than nothing.

Stocking up on ice will also help you make it through the storm with a little more ease. Using your washing machine as a cooler will help keep drinks and food cold. Be sure to unhook the washing machine from the sewer line to prevent water from the sewer ruining your cooler.

It is possible that you could lose access to water that is clean. You never know how long this will last. If you have your own supply of clean water, this could alleviate a lot of pain and suffering. Of course, you should sanitize your tub before storing your clean water there. You could also use a tarp that is clean to save yourself some needed preparation time.

This coin trick has saved many families from getting sick during and after a hurricane. By placing a coin on a cube in your freezer, you are able to tell if the power went out. If you come back and find that another secluded area has sunk down within the cube, this will let you know that the power was out for a period of time. This bit of knowledge will allow you to properly check your food supply and determine if it is unsafe to eat.

Watch the video below for some more hurricane hacks that could help you in an emergency!

Did you find these tips and hacks helpful? Let us know the different ways you've prepared for storms in the past.