A Hurricane Tip For All Our Northeast Readers

As Henri is scheduled to come ashore Sunday afternoon somewhere around Connecticut, we know a lot of you are going to be scrambling to get ready.

And the truth is, it’s really hard to get ready, especially if it’s an area that doesn't get them all that often. People get panicky and do dumb things (we now know this is true for pandemics too).

So we’d like to make two suggestions and hopefully it isn’t too late.

If you feel you need to buy water, don’t bother with bottled. Instead, go to somewhere like Lowes and buy the 5 gallon bottles, full or empty. You can take the empties to water machines and fill them. The little bottles will run out but three or four of those big bottles will get you through a good stretch. If you have other large containers, that’s a plus.

You might have to look around for water machines, but some Walmarts have them, as do other grocery stores, including Whole Paycheck Foods. They do tend to overcharge for it, but who cares right now? You can at least get it unless /until the filter runs out. You just take the bottles in, pay for bulk, and off you go.

The other thing is pretty basic but absolutely critical: if at all possible, fill your tank. Tesla people, plug in and don’t wait until the power gets iffy, which it will.

The reason is simple. Just as a departing hurricane sucks every cloud from the sky (the weather after a hurricane departs is unbelievably beautiful), a major storm will wipe out every store’s supplies. And in one of our recent storms here in NC, we learned that stores are required to throw out perishable food if power is a problem. Our local store said they were down to one generator and were required to toss all the meat.

Here’s the thing: when the power goes and the stores close, you may be 2-3 hours from supplies and if you don’t have gas, you are going to be in a potentially very bad situation. And in case this escaped you, as it did us until we were in this situation: no electricity, no pumps, and no gas - and that’s IF you can get it.

So please, if Henri is coming your way, tank up as soon as humanly possible.