This past Sunday and Monday, LA was told to prepare for a tropical storm to hit the area. Most of us called it a hurricane since it was a hurricane that would be getting downgraded as it made it to land, and I think calling it a hurricane was more memorable. In my area, we were told to prepare for heavy rain, strong winds, and possible power outages. I’m not used to being warned about a natural disaster like this since earthquakes are surprises, so getting ready for it was weird.
I do have an emergency kit because I know that earthquakes and fires are possibilities. I bought a pre-made kit because it had so many things that I knew I would need, but I have added to it too because there are specifics that wouldn’t be included. I bought the kit a while ago, and I hadn’t gone through things recently, so I took this time to double-check things. And I noticed that my emergency water supply wasn’t in the best condition (I have a case of water, and the bottles were getting crunched and don’t look as full as they did before), so I will be getting new water to store soon. But I noticed this issue after I had gone out to the store to get food for the weekend, so I wasn’t going to have it available if I needed it Sunday and Monday.
So I probably over-prepared for things. I filled all my reusable water bottles with drinking water since my fridge water wouldn’t work if the power went out. I know I could always drink sink water, but I might as well have filtered water ready for me. And even though I didn’t think we would lose water, it was recommended to fill your bathtub with water so you could use it if needed. I did that just in case but I figured that was more than I needed to do. And of course, I made sure all my devices were fully charged so I would have my phone and Kindle available to use.
On Sunday, I was very lucky to not have any power outages the entire day. I kept my phone charged just in case there was one, but my power stayed on. I know some of my friends didn’t have power all day, so I was grateful to have power and stay comfortable. I spent the day just being lazy and reading since I wasn’t going to go outside. The rain was really coming down at times, so I knew it wouldn’t be smart to go out and drive anywhere. And I was prepared to be home and stay home.
Even though we’ve had quite a bit of rain so far this year, this was more rain in a short period of time than any time I could remember. On Sunday evening, I looked into my backyard and noticed a lot of puddles that were getting big enough that it was coming up on my patio. It wasn’t close to my door, but it was more than I thought I’d see. Fortunately, the next morning, the puddles had all been absorbed into the ground and there was no flooding at my place.
And on Sunday, while I was just sitting around and reading, I got an alert on my phone about an earthquake. I signed up for alerts through USGS that is supposed to alert you a few seconds before an earthquake so you could get somewhere safe. It’s never alerted me before an earthquake before, so I wondered if maybe this was another alert after it happened and I just didn’t feel it. But about 10 seconds after the alert on my phone, the shaking started. It wasn’t that strong of an earthquake, but that was because the epicenter wasn’t that close to me. And I think everyone in LA had the same reaction of thinking how crazy it was that we had an earthquake in the middle of a tropical storm.
I’m very glad that things weren’t worse with both natural disasters. And it was a good reminder for me to make a schedule to check my emergency supplies on a regular basis. I probably will start tracking when I buy things that need to be replaced or noting expiration dates (like on the spare contact lenses I have in my emergency bag). I also think I want to store things better so they are easier to get to and I won’t accidentally crush things like I did with the case of water. I know it shouldn’t take a natural disaster to make sure I have everything in order and ready in case I need it, but if that’s what it took for me to be better about staying on top of things, that works for me.
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