How Prepared Are You?

by Julie Coulter Bellon

Right before Thanksgiving a huge blizzard dubbed, “The Blizzard of 2010,” was slated to hit Utah. News outlets predicted an enormous storm, one so large that Utah hadn’t seen the likes of it in fifty years. There were two special news broadcasts about how it was coming and they also reported the long list of schools and businesses that were closing so they could allow people to get home before the storm hit. Our local grocery store was practically overrun with people trying to stock up on necessities, and the gas station outside of it was emptied of gas. Emptied! As in, no one else could fill up because the gas was all gone.

I had all my children home at the hour when the storm was supposed to hit. We waited. And then we waited some more. When the children went to bed not even one snowflake had fallen and they were pretty disappointed. Where was the storm? What had all the hype been about?

When my parents in Canada called me, I told them about all the preparations that had been made before the storm even got here with people being sent home from work and schools closing and how it ended up being a non-storm. They both laughed because it actually had been blizzarding in both cities that they live in and was twenty below zero. If they shut down businesses and schools every time there was a blizzard there, no one would be educated or paid! I think the motto there is, “If you can still tunnel to it, you’re good to go.” But one thing they did mention was the importance of being prepared at all times, not just when the weatherman makes a prediction.

This really hit home to me. While the Blizzard of 2010 never really materialized for our county, I took a mental rundown of where I was in the preparedness department. Do I have a survival kit in both my cars with blankets, snacks, and first aid supplies? Do I have enough food in my fridge and pantry that would cover us if we were ever snowed in or had an emergency and our power was knocked out? Do I have an alternate way of cooking things and fuel for it? Do I keep my gas tank at least half full? Where am I on my family’s 72 hr kit?

I definitely have some work to do. I got out my family’s 72 hr kit from the front hall closet and pulled out some of the clothes I had in it. They were only three sizes too small for the people they were meant for. Obviously, it’s been a while since I’ve updated it. And of course I didn’t have anything in there for the baby or my two year old.

So while the blizzard never appeared for us, some good did come out of it. My Christmas shopping this year had expanded to include preparation items and when the blizzard really does come, I’ll be ready.

How about you? Where are you in the preparedness process?