Preparing for a disaster (or ANY crisis that can affect your local area) does NOT have to be difficult OR expensive. Don’t put your family’s safety at risk by using these 5 potentially deadly excuses.
Note: This is a guest post from Jeff Anderson.
Oury friend Jeff Anderson has learned several “survival tricks” over the years.
Some are from his days in the military (believe it or not, prepping for a disaster is very similar to prepping for a combat mission!).
And some strategies he learned the hard way as a devastating flood came crashing through his small Texas town in the middle of the night, dragging a dozen of the local townsfolk into a tiny river to their deaths, including two young children as they held tight to their mother.
Jeff swore that day that he was going to do everything he could to show people the REAL way to put together a survival plan—and without them going broke in the process.
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In fact, there are just 3 simple secrets that can help you survive ANY disaster, and you can catch a presentation of Jeff’s free online survival workshop next week.
I’ll be sharing the link for that webinar registration next week, but I wanted to make sure you knew about it ahead of time.
This is the same workshop that people all over the country RAVE about—like David W. who wrote to Jeff and said:
“Hi Jeff, I’d never heard of you until it showed up in an email link and I decided to attend your workshop. Your presentation was excellent! On point, interesting, and informative.
I have re-sent it to a number of friends and all three of my daughters. Interestingly I also watched a quite different, longer video done by <a well-known survival trainer> which, while also informative, paled in comparison. Thanks for your service to the country and also for what you are doing now!”
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[Top 5] “Deadly Excuses” You Might Tell Yourself…
It was being called “catastrophic”…
…“deadly”…
… a “monster storm” unlike anything the U.S. East Coast has ever seen before.
Hurricane Florence was churning on a devastating path straight toward small towns all up and down Virginia and the Carolinas.
Mandatory evacuation orders were given in nearly all of the expected flood zones to get people to seek safe shelter and get out of Dodge.
Yet, as usual, not everyone listens to evacuation orders—and…
Here Are 5 Reasons Residents Say, “No, I’m NOT Evacuating!”—And The Price For Their Decision…
It’s not hard to get the “truth” out of stragglers who think they’re smarter than Mother Nature and decide to brave the storm that’s headed their way.
In fact, after several interviews, here are the 5 most common reasons why people didn’t evacuate before the storm:
#1. “It’s a hassle.”
I know, I know…
Gathering up the extra food… photo albums… packing it all in the family vehicle… jockeying for what looks like the evacuation traffic’s “fast lane” of cars creeping along at 3mph…
Who the hell wants to go through all THAT nonsense, right?
Besides, as Tim Terman (a NC resident) put it:
“Once you leave, it’s hard to get back in to check on damage. My home is all my wife and I have, materially speaking, a lifetime of stuff.”
I get it.
Leaving your “stuff” sucks.
#2. “We have a good plan.”
Whether it’s coming from experience with other storms, or just a sense of confidence with their current supplies and options, many people stocked up to ride out the storm.
As one resident in South Carolina put it,
“We’ve got things boarded up. We’ve got a lot of supplies from Walmart, generators, so we’re good to go. We have our kits ready.”
That’s actually a very common approach—even for those WITHOUT any kind of plan.
And then there’s Phase 2 of this so-called “survival plan”…
#3. “We’ll just wait. If things get bad enough, we’ll leave.”
A lot of people have weathered storms in the past and didn’t experience heavy damage.
Others came back after evacuating from previous storms only to find that they weren’t hit as hard as expected… but their home had been looted while they were gone.
That would make ANYONE want to think twice about leaving again, wouldn’t it?
As that same S.C. resident continued…
“Of course, we’re keeping an eye on the forecast… so if something changes and we need to go, we’ll get out at the last minute if we have to.”
But then what, right?
These are the same people who typically ALSO fall into the next category…
#4. “I don’t know where to go.”
Evacuations are chaotic and confusing by their very nature.
Most people haven’t thought about where they would go if they had to leave their state or even just their local area.
And many towns don’t offer much help…
Emergency officials generally assign letters to evacuation zones for guidance – but most people don’t know what zone they live in and whether evac orders apply to them or not.
Some areas—like Myrtle Beach, SC—don’t have a major highway connecting them to outside areas which makes the evacuation process even slower and more confusing.
And once that decision IS made, nearly every shelter and hotel in a 150 mile radius will be booked solid – leaving very few (if any) options.
But here’s the #1 reason I hear the most…
#5. “I’m too old/disabled/set in my ways to leave.”
Many residents simply don’t see leaving their home as an option.
For some, it’s truly NOT an option.
Senior citizens… disabled persons… people who are unable to leave because they’re caring for someone who can’t travel.
And of course there are always a good handful of cranky “Get off my lawn!” types who refuse to let Mother Nature get the best of them, right?
Now, Compare These Reasons To The Death Toll…
About half of the deaths attributed to Hurricane Florence were from residents who were over 60 and stayed behind.
But it’s not just the “older” folks…
A 3-month-old and a 7-month-old from a separate family were among those whose parents didn’t feel like evacuating with a very young child was an option… and suffered the consequences as wind-blown trees crushed the children inside their home.
Then there are those who thought they had “a good plan” for sticking it out…
Like the couple who prepared for the expected loss of electricity by purchasing a generator… and ran it inside their home until they died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Look, natural disasters are NOT the easiest thing for most people to prepare for.
Most don’t give it any thought at all until it’s already too late.
And then there’s the expense of getting all that gear and supplies together—for some “event” that might never even happen, right?
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“15 Wild Foods That Will Keep You Alive in an Emergency”
“Echolocation: My Secret Survival Skill”
“Sodium for Survival: 8 Ways to Find This Essential Nutrient in the Wilderness”
I hear you.
But preparing for a disaster (or ANY crisis that can affect your local area) does NOT have to be difficult OR expensive.
Look, don’t make the same mistake that so many others make and just put things off until “later”.
Procrastinators die.
Hate to be so blunt, but it’s just the damned truth.
Be sure to grab one of the seats to my webinar, which I’ll be hosting next week, and let me show you the prepping shortcuts I’ve learned (the hard way) over the years.
Prepare. Train. Survive.
Jeff Anderson
The Grow Network is a global network of people who produce their own food and medicine. We’re the coolest bunch of backyard researchers on Earth! We’re constantly sharing, discovering, and working together to test new paths for sustainable living—while reconnecting with the “old ways” that are slipping away in our modern world. We value soil, water, sunlight, simplicity, sustainability, usefulness, and freedom. We strive to produce, prepare, and preserve our own food and medicine, and we hope you do, too!
