ALERT Newsletter – May 2013

Hi Everyone, I hope this finds you doing well & that you have been enjoying these sunny mid-spring days. Our May ALERT meeting will feature the presentation of nominees for our upcoming elections. The election normally takes place the meeting after the presentation & the officers then assume their positions at the July meeting. July is also when ALERT dues are due. Remember, if you want to respond to ALERT callouts or serve as an officer you MUST be current with your dues. So put the teeth in, comb that one remaining hair and head to the NWS Forecast Office May the 14th at 7PM. I hope to see you at the meeting! ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. The 5 Main Ways To Push Up Daisies In A Disaster Part 3 Before we continue with our series, I want to thank those who have sent me feedback, all of which has been positive. One item covered was fire sustainers, such as Vaseline soaked cotton balls or a candle, to preserve an nascent flame long enough to add fuel to build a workable fire. One intriguing idea which Teresa shared is to use a “trick relighting birthday” candle as a fire sustainer. This is an idea which I have never seen in any book or video. It makes perfect sense that if you can’t keep the candle extinguished even with you blowing a gale, a true gale won’t kill the flame either. The wicks of these candles are coated with magnesium and when blown out, the remaining heat is sufficient to reignite the magnesium on the wick and in turn ignite the vapor from the melting wax. It’s true, I have to admit it, I married a genius. Before proceeding, I will repeat the disclaimer that these articles are intended solely to pique your interest so that you will study the subject further, and that neither I, claiming no expertise in the subject nor ALERT nor the NWS will be held responsible for consequences of actions tried or not tried based on the information discussed in these articles. With that said, so that now you won’t sue the drawers off of me, we now proceed with part 3 of our series. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… How to Meet the Reaper #3 Let’s talk about water. In America water is a resource which we totally take for granted. We expect it to come gushing forth from faucets, to wash our cares away during the morning “Royal Flush”, and to water our Gardens of Eden with lawn sprinklers. But, this, as with all modern conveniences is dependent on a deceivingly fragile infrastructure, which can be interrupted or compromised in an increasingly wide variety of ways. An EF5 tornado can literally pull the pipes out of the ground, cutting off the water supply. Power outages can kill the pumps that force the water through the pipes, resulting in a dry faucet. Floodwaters can overwhelm and contaminate the water supply and aquifer making it unsafe to drink. An accident involving a train or an 18 wheeler can cause a chemical spill contaminating the water supply. Less dramatically, some poor Bubba having a bad day with a backhoe can cut the water main leaving entire communities without water. This brings us to the third leading way of “Getting planted in Boot Hill” – Dehydration. Whatever the reason for the lack of water may be, the result is the same and the consequences can be the same. With some time variation dependent upon the temperature and the humidity, the human body will begin dying after 3 days without water. This includes your mental functions being compromised as well as your bodily functions as organs begin to shut down, since your blood is losing its normal liquid nature and beginning to thicken like ketchup. This of course causes an added strain on your heart as it struggles to force the thickening blood through the body. The human body requires one gallon of water per day to replenish the liquid lost through sweat, urine, transpiration through the skin and respiration. Whether you are properly hydrated or not can be determined by your urine output. If your urine is clear and there is a lot of it, you are properly hydrated, if this is not the case – it’s dark or there is none being produced. You are in serious danger. Thirst is NOT an accurate indicator of hydration. If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated. Now that we’ve laid the groundwork we come to a subject, which we will call “Emergency Water Management”. Emergency Water Management consists of six steps: 1. Pre-emergency water storage 2. Resource location 3. Procurement 4. Filtration 5. Purification or Sanitization 6. Consumption and Storage Pre-emergency water storage can be as simple a process as buying a couple of large cases of bottled water and keeping it in a closet. You can gradually drink it and replenish it to keep the supply fresh. This method has the added benefit that no one will think you are being weird, just “health conscious”. If you have to use this supply in an emergency, don’t throw the bottles away. You will find out why later. To carry this step further, you can store water in larger containers; some commonly available containers hold 7 gallons each. Rotate the supply once a year. Three gallons is a three-day supply for one person. 21 gallons a 21 day supply. Three 7-gallon containers will last 1 person three weeks. For more than one person, just multiply the total by the number of persons. At this stage we must consider an often overlooked point – the weight of water. One 16.9oz plastic bottle of water weighs roughly 1lb. A case of 24 bottles therefore will weigh 24lbs. One gallon of water weighs 8lbs. So a full 7 gallon container will weigh 56lbs. The point being, that IF as one gentleman on a forum once sarcastically remarked “I would just walk to the Red Cross and get some water”, instead of storing any, you might better to take your daughters pink Hello Kitty wagon with you to haul it back. Because, it’s heavy and if you are like me and usually end up hyperventilating just travelling from the sofa to the “chapel”, you will never make it back. I’m slightly exaggerating of course, as I am a prime specimen of He-man vigor and vitality. If one knows in advance that the water supply could be compromised they could quickly fill up every container they can get their hands on, including pots, pans, sinks and bathtubs. However, realistically speaking, except for coastal locations expecting a tropical system, this is seldom a practical option, due to the lack of lead time. One final item before we move on is taste. Stored water may not necessarily taste like bottled water or tap water. The water may have a chlorine taste or acquire the taste of what was previously stored in the container. Orange juice, for instance. The water is still good water. Likewise, if you obtain, filter and purify water from a “natural source”, it may still retain some or much of its original taste. If you got the water from a frog pond, it may still taste like frog pond water, even though it is perfectly safe to drink. The taste can be “disguised” by using it with coffee, tea or mixing it with flavor packets, such as Hi-C, Crystal Lite, PowerAde, etc. Even a pinch of salt will help. Resource location is simply finding potential sources of water for use if your primary supply is lost. Unless contaminated by flood waters or other outside pollutants, one source is your “hidden residential supplies”. This includes water stored in the water heater, water in the commode tank, which is clean, despite what you may initially think, and water in the houses water pipes., which may be obtained by placing a container under the lowest spigot, and then opening first the highest and then lowest valves. Do you have a swimming pool? You can view your pool as “backup” water. Keep it treated, for you never know when this water will be needed. Maintenance of the free chlorine residual will prevent establishment of any microorganisms. Maintenance levels should be kept to 3-5ppm free chlorine. To monitor this, you’ll need a supply of chlorine testers. The problem with using swimming pools is that organics can enter through dirt, sweat, body oils and the inevitable “Mommy Look!” kiddie tinkles. This can form chloramines which are not good to drink. Also, imagine going in and out of your drinking water a hundred times and then drinking it. Plus after a disaster every imaginable type of debris, including formerly living creatures could be floating in your pool. The water will have to be filtered and purified before it can be safely used. Fortunately neither process is as involved as it sounds, as we will discuss later. Next we look for outside sources. The most obvious of which is rainwater. With rainwater you would think it would be pure and readily safe to drink. However this is not the case. We live in an urban area and as the rain falls it collects smoke, chemicals and other particles from the atmosphere. These need to be filtered out. Also once the rain hits an object whether a roof or in a puddle, then it can be biologically contaminated and must be purified. Collection can be done by placing containers at roof downspouts, roof gutter outlets or at the “valley” of the roof, or with a tarp rigged into a v shape to collect the water. Ponds and streams are other sources of water. I live one half mile from Shades Creek, and