Bug Out

When the ice sheets retreated from our area at the end of the last ice age, they left a terrain of hills, valleys, and wetlands that still define our region. Usually, this is all scenic and not too much of a bother.

The glacial topology was just something I took for granted until last fall when our Great Flood arrived. I had been late at work, and by the time I left for home, there had been hours of torrential rains. I had to detour around several sections of the state highway that had flooded on the way home. Getting off the highway, I eventually came down the hill into the valley of the small brook near the foot of our hill. The brook is usually almost invisible. But that night, there was enough water to sail a small sailboat ( centerboard up) from the foot of my street to the next small city – about five miles.

When I got home, I found the basement flooded. And the amazing sight of one of our small freezer chests floating on about six inches of water.

We got off lightly. About seven blocks away, a small dam was approaching failure, and several houses’ foundations were washed away.

After this came the clean-up. After the cleanup, we realized that we might have been forced to evacuate under slightly worse circumstances.

Over the winter, spring, and summer, I have been evaluating and preparing the family’s “bug out” plans. These include prepositioned documents, supplies, and materials. 

Now, I am persuading the rest of the family to come up with options for the very likely possibility that they may not be able to reach prepositioned supplies because they are at work when the emergency happens. Many of the materials I’ve read on evacuation seem to concentrate on evacuation from your home. But many of us work away from home. What sort of preparations do you need to make for those situations? We can’t afford to leave those areas of our plans blank. Think about messages left for other family members. Previously prepared rendezvous locations and small survival equipment for our cars and on our person.