12 Things We Told Our NYC Girls to Prepare for Frankenstorm

The GypsyNesters

We have two daughters living on Manhattan, right in the path of Frankenstorm.

After years of living in the Caribbean we have some valuable tips to give them.

Though being over-prepared may make them feel stupid, it can also save their lives.

Please share these with your urban loved ones in the path of the Hurricane Sandy.

1. Fill up your bathtub with water. Water supplies get contaminated with flooding. You will want to bathe and cook. If you don’t have a bathtub, buckets, pots & pans work as well.

2. Buy food. Canned food, canned food, canned food. And get an old fashioned crank can opener!

3. It’s gross, but your toilet will only flush once. Another reason for the hoarded water, you can transfer water from the bathtub to the toilet tank for additional flushes.

4. Get a battery powered flashlight. The electricity could be out. Be prepared for a week of living Amishly.

5. Get a battery powered radio. In the event of a power outage, it’s your link to the world.

6. Get lots of extra batteries.

7. Buy candles. And PLEASE make sure you have something to light them with! Always keep an eye on them, and blow them out when sleeping/leaving the room.

8. Charge your cell phone and laptop before the storm. After the storm use them only as needed. Get your news from the radio and save your power. Texts use less battery than calls.

9. Keep a cash stash in case of extended power outage. ATMs won’t work and credit card machines may not transfer data. Keep your wallet, along with passports and other valuables, in baggies or something waterproof… just in case.

10. Have plenty of bottled water, juices and drinks that don’t need refrigeration on hand.

11. Tweeting out “Buying a bottle of vodka to ride out the storm” may upset your mother.

12. If Mayor Bloomberg says get out of town… GET OUT OF TOWN! Trust him, he knows what he’s doing.

David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com

Your Turn: Do you have more tips for our girls? Please leave a comment and we’ll pass them along.


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16 thoughts on “12 Things We Told Our NYC Girls to Prepare for Frankenstorm”

  1. Hi. I enjoyed reading your great advice. I was born and raised in the Virgin Islands and while living in the states when Hurricane Hugo hit St Thomas, I had the scare of my life. I was not able to make contact with my parents for over four weeks. Not knowing and having faith takes an immeasurable toll. My advice would be to try and make contacts with friends and family every 3-5 hours so that they know how you are doing or if you have to leave quickly. Also don’t sit it out alone, if you can, having someone with you can make a world of difference. Thanks for sharing.

    1. Going through it right now as we have no contact with the girls in New York due to power and cell service out. Could be days… makes a parent pretty nervous even when the kids are full grown.

  2. Good tips! I live on the Gulf Coast so I get to do this every so often. I just looked back at what I wrote a few years ago about getting ready for a hurricane to see what I could add. One thing is to turn the temp down all the way on the refrigerator. That way if you lose electricity it will stay colder for longer. I also fill empty plastic bottles (milk bottles) with water and freeze them. That way we have a way to keep the food cold for longer and I also have extra bottles on hand to fill with water before the storm hits. I keep the extras stored in the attic in plastic bags. You mentioned candles…I have a fire extinguisher, too. Just in case. I hope all goes well for everyone. I love the wind but oh, boy, not the destruction.

  3. This is great advice. When I lived in Virginia, I filled up the bathtubs before every major snowstorm because we were on a well. We could all use this storm as a reminder about staying prepared for emergencies. You never know where the next one will come from and none of us are immune to bad things happening.

  4. All good advice, especially #8. Last year we were caught in the snowstorm that hit New England in October, no electricity for 5 days (we were lucky…some folks went 1+ week without power). The girls would sit in the truck and run it for a while to warm up (no heat in the house either!) and charge a couple of phones so we could check in on family.

    Also for water we have filled some one gallon jugs and put them in the freezer. Hopefully, if we lose power, they will help to keep the frig/freezer cold and then we’ll have water after in the jugs the ice melts.

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