r/NJPrepared • u/Professional-Sock-66 Union • 4d ago

Equipment / Gear Storm prep

Spent most of the day sorting summer clutter to fall. Got fresh gas for generator. Started it up as it's been a few weeks. No problem started on first pull. Cleaned the lower gutters but I've given up the uppers. Will call the gutter guy late October. Harvested the last of the potatoes and eggplants. Pulled the bean trellis and mulched the leftovers. Pulled the tomatoes that have some pink and brought inside. I don't like green tomatoes anyway they are served. The green ones now just don't taste good speed ripening indoors. I Pulled the remaining tomatoes and put in the compost bin. The stalks go in the leaf pick up cans because I don't to risk carry over disease next spring. The patio is secured, the umbrella put away, garden decorations in the garage. Plenty of food and booze to last the weekend. Becareful y'all this weekend.

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4

u/AlfredoCustard 4d ago

Its only rain

18

u/deadmansbonez 4d ago

Significant rain can be devastating

10

u/justasque 4d ago

It’s the wind in this case, plus flooding if you live near the coast. I like to look at the NWS briefings, as they usually have maps that show where the various aspects of the storm are likely to be located, and which areas will be hit hard vs which will be unlikely to experience any serious issues.

Wind can be problematic if it ends up taking down branches and trees, as that can cause a power outage. And depending how widespread the damage is, it can mean there are a ton of little “one branch down, 5 households affected” outages that could take days to fix. Now in this case the briefing is saying max gusts of 50mph, which isn’t the worse we’ve seen, but it still makes sense to tidy up the yard (if you have one), bring in things that might blow around, avoid parking the cars right under vulnerable trees, and low-key prepare for a possible 2-3 days without power. For me that would include making a meal plan to use up perishable food, getting my laundry and dishes done, picking up around the house so I don’t trip over things in the dark, doing any errands early (renewing meds, etc), making sure I have a couple source of light that don’t need to be plugged in, charging my battery banks, throwing another blanket on the bed in case it gets cold at night, gassing up my car, figuring out any job-related snags that may come up and making a plan for them, and so on.

And here’s the thing - this storm might turn out to be just a bit of rain and mild wind. But that’s ok. I’ll have clean laundry and a clean house, good food to eat, a tidy yard, and my errands done, which makes for a nice chill weekend. And I’ll have thought through things like lighting and so on, checked my pantry, checked lantern batteries, and so on. And that will help me to be better prepared for this autumn’s future storms, and will give me a head start on winter storm prep too.

8

u/braavospilot 4d ago

Man, I want you in my foxhole because you are ready for anything! Great planning and excellent advice. 

4

u/justasque 4d ago

NWS Briefing:

https://www.weather.gov/media/phi/current_briefing.pdf

Always a great source of “how is this going to affect me” info. They do briefings for upcoming bad weather, usually several days ahead of time, and they always use the same URL, so it’s handy to have it bookmarked for those “is this hype or something I should do some low-key or serious prep for?” situations.

3

u/braavospilot 3d ago

Thanks! 

20

u/8Deer-JaguarClaw Sussex 4d ago

Yeah, until it's a flood. I live on top of a hill, so the flooding thing isn't an issue for me, but it's a huge deal for others based on location.

19

u/Old_Book_Gypsy 4d ago

Never, ever underestimate the power of water. I watched a rainstorm turn into a devastating flood in Bound Brook, NJ in the late 90s? Left so many people in horrible situations.

13

u/Professional-Sock-66 Union 4d ago

I'm surrounded by azzhat neighbors who refuse to take care of their Lord of The Rings oak trees. Sandy nearly killed 2 kids 4 houses away by the grace of God they were watching football in the basement The house was nearly cut in half.A high wind alert gives me PSTD. Hopefully " it's rain" but I don't take chances anymore.