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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Packing to Evacuate
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Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755
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Posted
For my family having to evacuate from forrest fires is now becoming a habit in our neck of the woods I am sorry to say. Thankful we still have a home while many others do not. At this point we just keep things ready to go.
On a heavenly note if you had 5 minutes to leave , and family and pets are in the car what 5 things would you grab? Answer fast no time to think.
Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
ID, bank card Insurance papers (especially in relation to house) photos on zzip drive and then get the heck out,
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Cats, into their cat carriers. The prudent pet owner has a carrier for each pet; if you have to go onto a boat or helicopter or something they may not take Fluffy if she isn't in a carrier.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
Five things?
The box with all the birth certificates, passports and so on.
Laptop
Cellphone
Then we're down to whatever mementos we grab. The kids will have already filled the car with about 300 stuffed animals, so it'll need to be small things. What I'd like to grab are some pictures from the walls, but they're not really packaged for travel.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Doone
Shipmate
# 18470
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Posted
Laptop (has copies of all photos from way back to present), passport, a little ornament that belonged to my grandmother, family history folder, box of grandchildren's drawings, letters, cards etc.
Posts: 2208 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2015
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
Well, the op has stipulated the pets are already packed in the car so I'd go with:
Cell phone
Folder of papers
Laptop and case
Nook
My teddy bear.
That doesn't include my purse, which I don't think counts as packing cause I take it with my whenever I go out anyway.
[ 21. August 2016, 18:53: Message edited by: Nicolemr ]
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On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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jacobsen
seeker
# 14998
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Posted
Handbag is automatic, which contains cards, keys, etc (which may not be of any use if the locks have burned down with the house.) Mobile (cell )phone and charger! Kindle. The cats are already in the car. Hand luggage style case with change/s of clothes. Passport.
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But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon
Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy
The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
The main thing would have to be my photographs. They are a repository of all my special memories over the years. And so necessary to prompt a failing memory.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
When we think a hurricane might be coming, we usually have a little bag ready to go. I would have a change of clothes, my passport, hurricane emergency money, water and some sort of food like cheese and crackers. My purse which goes with me anyway (as has been mentioned before!) already has my cell and charger in it. My Nook would be in my purse, too.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Bene Gesserit
Shipmate
# 14718
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Posted
In no particular order but:
(i) folder with birth certs, passports and Other Important Docs
(ii) Uni etc certificates
(iii) external HD with all our photos etc
(iv) meds box (it's an age thing...), and
(v) Change of clothes if there's time to grab one!
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Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus
Posts: 405 | From: Flatlands of the East | Registered: Apr 2009
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
Off the top of my head
Passport
A few books to read
Few pairs of pants & socks
Phone, keys & wallet (always live in my pockets)
In other words, just what I'd take on as hand luggage if travelling by plane.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Rowen
Shipmate
# 1194
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Posted
Your glasses.
I forgot these once, in evacuation mode, and spent a few days wandering round in a daze, cursing a lot! Blindish of course.
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"May I live this day… compassionate of heart" (John O’Donoghue)...
Posts: 4897 | From: Somewhere cold in Victoria, Australia | Registered: Aug 2001
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bib
Shipmate
# 13074
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Posted
Water, medication, something to counter shock such as barley sugar, wet towel(s),phone, essential papers, family photo. When we are at the beach at Christmas during bush fire season I always keep a basket at the ready which contains most of the above plus a pack of biscuits, a few apples, tea bags and a thermos flask of boiling water if there is time. This is carried down to the beach where we retreat from any danger.
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"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
Posts: 1307 | From: Australia | Registered: Oct 2007
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I think the importance of bits of paper is over-emphasised. (Haunted by story of woman who got her children into a lifeboat of the Titanic then remembered the Papers were in the cabin and went back to get them...)
I would like to see me taking at least some of the things hanging on the walls or shelves - the Japanese prints, the Mateer pastels, some of the oil paintings, the 1st edition early Yeats. Things that are beautiful and either rare or unique.
Surely Art matters more than bureaucracy?
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
Yes, especially in an era when most records are kept on computers and easily replaceable. Unless I knew I had to go to a deposition in the next week, most papers get left behind. The insurance company has record of your policy.
Passport must be a pond difference- I only carry mine when I am about to get on a flight out of the country, and you can get a replacement in a few days if necessary. Unless you have a rare stamp that is the only proof that you have been to some forbidden country, or you are saying "as long as I am going to be out of the house for a week at least, may as well go to Mexico," I'd leave it.
Computer and phone with plugs and chargers are going to be critical. A few pieces of art and family pictures off of the wall. But mostly whatever I think I am going to need to keep the toddler happy for a few days while we are evacuated, especially unique stuffed animals. If the toddler ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
I have changed my mind. My five choices are five strong (and very good looking) men who will transport my grand piano to safety. Of course, the piano top will be covered with all my music, because that all goes together, doesn't it?
I think we should evacuate to a luxury mountain cabin with about ten bedrooms and baths so my family and friends can join us and have a proper hurricane party.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
While not evacuation, the longest the power went out was 5 days after a plough wind and tornado with trees down everywhere. I was grateful that we had an alcohol fuel stove (Trangia, can be used indoors).
The other things that come to mind are some dried and tinned food (a hot meal is always cheering), tea. A flashlight is useful, but something longer burning is nice, like a candle lantern or LED, plus a book to read and a deck of cards. A radio. We have lost cell service rather frequently in shorter storm situations. A backup power source (generator), a chainsaw and a water pump if flooded are also quite useful in our environs.
In the Fort McMurray fire evacuation this summer, the 88K people needed gas, food, money/bank card, and places to stay. Sleeping bags, tents, mosquito repellent and a lake were what my second cousins said they needed. Some of what you need depends on whether there's civilization nearby I think.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
Photos, 'tho I am slowly scanning them and uploading to the cloud.
Mobile phone.
iPad and charger (something to do while sitting around in a school/community centre!)
Knickers! (to feel clean in case they are a very low priority wherever I go!!)
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
A lot depends - as the posts so far demonstrate - on the cause of the evacuation; which natural disasters are likely in your vicinity.
Time was, Great Britain could be fairly smug about this: mild winters, hardly any hurricanes, no forest fires to speak off, only the teensiest of earthquakes. However, as we slide ever faster down the tipping face of climate change, that is less so. We have larger, fiercer and more frequent storms, and a lot more flooding. You'll be pleased to know the seismic hazard is the same - albeit there is a Big One waiting out in the North Sea which could see off a fair bit of London.
I never go to southern Europe - Greece especially - without eyeing the surroundings with a view to identifying what I would dive under if it all began to shake (evacuation not being such a good idea in that instance).
So how disaster aware are you both for where you are and where you might find yourself?
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
There used to be a disaster task force in my part of Creamtealand, a sort of Dad's Army which refused to die off. But disaster never came, and the leader died off, so the organisation did too. But there was an admirable rallying round of a flood task force when many of the houses were threatened with serious flooding last winter. So I guess the spirit of 'Dad's Creamtealand Army' still lives on.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
A couple of books, ID, money, meds, clothes.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755
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Posted
Money in small denominations. banks and ATM's may not be working.
Several extra changes of underwear, no laundry when electricity is down.
flash light
pillows
soap, washcloth and towel
Thankful most paperwork and pictures now on line.
Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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cornflower
Shipmate
# 13349
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I think the importance of bits of paper is over-emphasised. (Haunted by story of woman who got her children into a lifeboat of the Titanic then remembered the Papers were in the cabin and went back to get them...)
Surely Art matters more than bureaucracy?
Well, I'm not sure about that. Three of my kids were born abroad. We were told at the time it shouldn't matter too much about getting a British birth certificate for them, as we were in the EU and the free borders blahdeblah. Well, anyhow, the one child we registerd at the British Embassy and got a British birth cert. as it was only half an hour's drive away. But the other two, we'd moved over the border to another country but th British Embassy was a couple of hundred miles away so we never got round to registering thembefore we moved back to UK...and we didn't think it mattered too much, because of what we'd been told (Their names were on my passport and we had their foreign birth certs).
Unfortunately, times have changed an awful lot since then, and in order to get jobs or apparently, even rent somewhere, you're supposed to be able to prove you're entitled to live and work in the UK. So, no end of problems for my kids. My daughter lost her British certificate, so we got onto the British Embassy abroad but they can find no trace of her. Fortunately, she had had her own passport in the past and was able to renew it, so now has proof she's a British citizen...but two of my other kids don't. And yes, we should be able to obtain certificates, but only by spending lots of money on translators and so forth.
A friend of mine also had similar problems..apparently she had a terrible job sorting stuff out because some of her kids were born abroad too,
So I think it's good to try and keep documentation, or at least copies and/or all the info with any document nos. etc.
I do agree that keeping the artworks would be nice...especially, if you've lost your documentation, so can't get a job or anything else because you have no ID or proof of anything, so you could sell the art and keep going for a bit!!!
Posts: 111 | From: uk | Registered: Jan 2008
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
Passports, medicines, clothes, toiletries and my guitars.
My wallet and phone are always in my pocket and we keep a spare charger in the car, so I'd have those things anyway. All of our photos are backed up to the Cloud. Our insurance documents are online, so I'd still be able to make the necessary arrangements if the paper copies were burned.
If I still had a bit of time to spare I'd grab the iPad, but as we'd have our iPhones with us anyway that wouldn't be an essential item. Some food and drink might also be an option, though if we're in a forest fire/flood situation* it's reasonable to assume that at least a few shops will still exist outside the danger area.
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*= obviously this is all purely speculative for my family. Forest fires are somewhat unlikely in our urban setting, and we're on a hill which is itself on top of the West Midlands Plateau, so any flood that seriously threatens to destroy our house would already have wiped out most of the rest of the country, making plans for escape somewhat redundant!
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
Yes, especially in an era when most records are kept on computers and easily replaceable. Unless I knew I had to go to a deposition in the next week, most papers get left behind. The insurance company has record of your policy.
True, true. My Dad keeps on crapping himself (metaphorically) since Mum died about whether he knows where all the bank details are or the house title deeds. You don't need them physically in your possession any more.
Just as well; I can lose anything, anywhere, any time and couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery so everything's a mess. I think I've got three copies of my birth certificate somewhere from when I needed it and couldn't find it.
[ 23. August 2016, 14:35: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Graven Image:
On a heavenly note if you had 5 minutes to leave , and family and pets are in the car what 5 things would you grab? Answer fast no time to think.
Mm. The family photos, a large bag of childhood souvenirs, a storage box of antique ornaments, my jewellery, and the antique biscuit tin that contains my stash of chocolate.
My handbag contains the essentials like phone, camera, comb, emergency makeup, etc etc and the wallet will sort out what I need short term.
[ 23. August 2016, 17:09: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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cattyish
Wuss in Boots
# 7829
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Posted
If I really only had 5 minutes I'd probably end up leaving with all the wrong things. I'd have my handbag, but would my wallet be in it? I'd probably have forgotten that we have an "important documents" drawer. I'd probably have water and a torch and a coat. I'd live, but proving my identity would be difficult.
Cattyish, grateful for a geologically and socially stable base.
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...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posts: 1794 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jul 2004
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
I don't have a "five minute bag" but I know my mum had one, back in the 1960's when we lived at RAF Hemswell (about 15 miles north of Lincoln), then a base for nuclear missiles able to hit Moscow and Leningrad.
I'm pretty sure the bag was right by the front door back in October 1962, at the height of the Cuba missile crisis.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
When evacuated from a nursing home made uninhabitable by a cyclone, my then 93 yr old mother simply tipped everything from one small important drawer into a plastic bag. She arrived at my home 1000k away a few weeks later, after many strange adventures, clutching the same plastic bag. Kind people along the way provided her with everything else she needed, although she did regret leaving her New Zealand wool overcoat behind not realising she would end up in cooler climes. It caught up with her eventually.
In plastic bag were: bank and personal documents like her will, the few bits of jewellery most important to her, a purse with money and cards, spare glasses, and her address book. To this she added a toiletries bag from the bathroom, a nightie, her slippers and extra underwear. The only things she regretted not taking were her favourite dressing gown and a raincoat.
I think she did pretty well given she had only 5 minutes notice. At 98, now in a different nursing home, she still has one important drawer. We all know about it, and it is a good lesson.
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Beenster
Shipmate
# 242
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Posted
Not so much to evacuate but a bit of a bleah whereby I'm out of my flat on Tuesday and was hpin to move on Saturday - or even last Saturday or the Saturday before. I'm in the process of purchasing and the vendor has gone quiet quiet quiet so it maybe the purchase is off and whilst it's not the same - what do I pack for stuff I need to have and what goes into storage?
Posts: 1885 | Registered: May 2001
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
We get regular flood warnings and were long ago advised to have ready "essentials", boots waterproofs, torch, etc, etc, etc. Being dull, compliant types we still keep our essentials (same for each person) packed and ready to go.
Our family has decided that our "essentials" are: change of clothes plus a pair of trainers; toothbrush and basic toiletries; loo roll; cash (£100) and credit card; mobile charger; address book; ID; memory stick with photos; spare vehicle keys. It all fits into 2 small backpacks - one for me and the other for the children.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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cornflower
Shipmate
# 13349
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Beenster:
Not so much to evacuate but a bit of a bleah whereby I'm out of my flat on Tuesday and was hpin to move on Saturday - or even last Saturday or the Saturday before. I'm in the process of purchasing and the vendor has gone quiet quiet quiet so it maybe the purchase is off and whilst it's not the same - what do I pack for stuff I need to have and what goes into storage?
Depends whether you have access to the storage or not...if so, you can pack what you think you need, and in the storage, put other stuff that you might need near the front, in case you have to store stuff more long term than you envisaged.
Posts: 111 | From: uk | Registered: Jan 2008
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Beenster
Shipmate
# 242
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cornflower:
quote:
Originally posted by Beenster:
Not so much to evacuate but a bit of a bleah whereby I'm out of my flat on Tuesday and was hpin to move on Saturday - or even last Saturday or the Saturday before. I'm in the process of purchasing and the vendor has gone quiet quiet quiet so it maybe the purchase is off and whilst it's not the same - what do I pack for stuff I need to have and what goes into storage?
Depends whether you have access to the storage or not...if so, you can pack what you think you need, and in the storage, put other stuff that you might need near the front, in case you have to store stuff more long term than you envisaged.
Thanks ... it never came to that mercifully but it was a real headache getting my head around it.
Posts: 1885 | Registered: May 2001
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cornflower
Shipmate
# 13349
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Beenster:
quote:
Originally posted by cornflower:
quote:
Originally posted by Beenster:
Not so much to evacuate but a bit of a bleah whereby I'm out of my flat on Tuesday and was hpin to move on Saturday - or even last Saturday or the Saturday before. I'm in the process of purchasing and the vendor has gone quiet quiet quiet so it maybe the purchase is off and whilst it's not the same - what do I pack for stuff I need to have and what goes into storage?
Depends whether you have access to the storage or not...if so, you can pack what you think you need, and in the storage, put other stuff that you might need near the front, in case you have to store stuff more long term than you envisaged.
Thanks ... it never came to that mercifully but it was a real headache getting my head around it.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Posts: 111 | From: uk | Registered: Jan 2008
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