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It's more than just a ticket. Welcome to Radical Personal Finance, a show dedicated to providing you with the knowledge, skills, insight, and encouragement you need to live a rich and meaningful life now while building a plan for financial freedom in 10 years or less. My name is Joshua. I am your host and today we continue our series related to National Preparedness Month in honor of September, which is officially here in the United States, the National Preparedness Month.

And today I'm going to share with you the experiences of one man as he went through Hurricane Katrina more than 10 years ago. A couple minutes of preamble here before I read this particular man's experiences. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters in our modern era in terms of loss of life, impact, etc.

It was absolutely awful. But what often happens is it's hard to get the stories of people who were involved in it up close. And Hurricane Katrina was unique in the length of the devastation. With most hurricanes, most natural disasters, their effects are relatively localized. And very quickly after a disaster, other first responders, other companies can come in after the fact and get things put together pretty quickly.

And then, of course, we all go on and we forget about the people whose houses blew away or whose property burned up, etc. And those stories are just kind of lost to the next drama of the day. But Katrina was different. It was unique in the way that the circumstances of the disaster unfolded.

And it was a very long disaster. It was a very long time. And especially as relates to things like the physical violence that happened, the loss of life, the looting, just the interactions with people. It was a really, really bad disaster. And a number of years ago, I came across this account in an online forum.

It comes from a, I guess, kind of a prepper survivalist forum called zombie hunters.org. I'll link to it in the show notes for today's show. You can read it yourself if you would like. But this particular experience was written in March of 2007 by a man whose screen name is Raptor.

And I am going to read it to you, including some of the follow-up discussion, because it's extremely well-written and it gives a firsthand account of somebody who was in it. The unique thing about this particular man's experience is his level of preparation and his wealth. And I want you to see how, because he wasn't destitute, he weathered the storm much more successfully than many other people.

But even so, look at how, as I read his examples and I read his stories, look at how helpful his money was to him in this circumstance and how he was able to use and deploy that money in the furtherance of his own business, in the protection and care for his own family, and in the care for his neighbors and friends.

It's an excellent account of somebody who was thoughtful and was prepared and it shows how money and physical preparations come together. Now, you should know that some things have changed in the last more than 10 years since Hurricane Katrina. Some of the technology references and such that he mentions are a little bit out of date.

The technology has changed. Some of the circumstances have changed, etc. I previously recorded a version of this show where I gave extensive commentary trying to give up-to-date information on this, but it became so cumbersome that I've decided to delete that and now I will just simply read you his experiences without my commentary.

One more bit of preamble. Take note of what he shares and consider what you would do in your own life. Don't try to just simply say, "Well, I've got to freak out and do all these things that he did or do all these things that he suggests." Very rarely when you listen to an account as extensive as this will you be able to do all of these things, but there are two responses that I would recommend that you have.

Number one, if there is something that Raptor talks about that you come to realize is deficient in your own planning or in your own thinking, think of something simple that you can do to take action so that that deficiency is corrected. Number two, think about what you would do if you were facing circumstances like this so that prior to you ever facing them you've thought about what it would be like.

One of the most valuable things you can do is when watching the world, consider the circumstances that other people are going through and then formulate your own ideas on responding to them. Even if you do nothing actually in terms of action, that process of thinking through and wargaming the scenario will help you to be prepared for such eventualities happening to you and will hopefully put you in a position where should you face such a circumstance in the future, you can sit back and you can make decisions more quickly.

You can be less likely to be overwhelmed by the stress of the moment and to freeze up and more likely to sit down, think and face the facts hard on and make better decisions. I want to remind you that this account is a true account of people who are on the ground.

Of course, I can't verify it intensely, but I have no reason to want to. There's no reason why I see that this person would lie about these circumstances. Rather, this is an anonymous posting, so of course we can't actually verify it, but I see no reason to doubt this account.

This is an unfiltered account of one man's experiences in the middle of a horrible and devastating circumstance and the lessons he learned from it. We go to Raptor now with his story. I live in a suburb of New Orleans called Metairie. Parts of it were flooded briefly, though a small portion was flooded due to the 17th Street Canal failure for about two weeks.

My home was not flooded and sustained relatively minor damage. I evacuated my family, including our pets, to Atlanta on Sunday at noon after making sure other people I know, including employees, had left and did not need transport. I thought I was the last one out as everyone I knew told me they were long gone.

I listened to the mayor order a mandatory evacuation of the city as I passed Slidell, about 30 miles east of the city. My wife was behind me in another vehicle the whole way, frustrated that she had to leave. The whole world was going west to Houston. I decided at the last minute to head east, into the storm's projected route to avoid the traffic, since I calculated I had only 18 hours to escape.

I did not want to risk being on the road for this storm. As it turned out, we made a great decision because the traffic was mainly headed west. We momentarily slowed down to 50 mph on parts of the I-10 highway, but for the most part I did not slow down to under 80 mph until we were past the Contra Flow area, about 25 miles north of the coastline on I-59.

We picked the right window and the right direction for our quick escape. We spent the night in Birmingham after a 6-hour drive (we were tired and emotionally spent) and drove with a heavy heart to Atlanta the next morning. I got us settled into a hotel near a relative's home.

I then told my wife to go find two furnished corporate apartments for us. We knew we were going to be in Atlanta a while. She asked how long (she always assumes I have the answer to everything). I said maybe permanently from the looks of things, which really angered her.

We wait until the last minute to evacuate due to the reluctance of both my wife and mother to leave. My house is an older home built of concrete block and stucco. It has hurricane shutters, a 30 kW diesel generator with 300 gallons of fuel, and is on a relatively high ground (about 5 feet above sea level).

I have always stockpiled food (shelf stable and MREs), water, firearms, ammunition, medical supplies, and basic disaster supplies, and I consider myself reasonably prepared. I also keep a small boat in the garage. I shut down my business on Friday at noon after we completed our much-tested hurricane backup plan. I sent everyone home early and told them to contact me Saturday and Sunday if they decided to evacuate.

I told them we would regroup Monday or Tuesday. My usual hurricane rule was enforced for my employees. That is, you will not be penalized in any way if you miss work for one or two days due to an evacuation. Little did I know that it would be three weeks before we would gather as even a partial group again.

I gave a two-week pay advance to everyone before they left, telling everyone to be safe but to communicate with me. I normally do not do this, but since payday was next Friday and Katrina had me spooked, I did it. This two-week's pay helped some lower-paid employees evacuate to safety.

I kept everyone on the payroll and forgave the two-week pay advance for all. I did this to retain everybody, and I was not disappointed by anybody. Most were moved and some moved to tears when we met again and regrouped. Work provided some normalcy and security during these dark days.

Katrina of course hit, and you know the story. Carnage, looting, flooding, death, etc. Around Wednesday after Katrina, I was going crazy with worry. My employees had not all checked in. Our office had no communications. The whole 504 area code was down. Property was obviously in need of attention, and I was concerned about the business.

I decided to go back and deal with the issues. I left my family back in Atlanta and went back alone. I got to my home, despite the fact that the city and parish were sealed off. I know the city well, and I knew it could not be sealed off.

I got through unchallenged. The flooding and most of Jefferson Parish had been pumped out by then. Upon arriving home, I cranked up the generator, and I had power, HVAC, internet, landline, telephone. I could dial out, but no one could dial in. I neglected to empty the refrigerator when I left, so I did have that mess to clean up.

That is a particularly nasty job, but a large thick garbage bag, gas mask, and chemical gloves make the job easy. Once home, I assessed the damage and secured what little damage was done. The wind caused little damage to the entire city. The flooding is what caused the bulk of the damage.

I fixed what I could, and then went out to check on other people's property. I sent digital photos via the internet to my wife in Atlanta, who contacted and forwarded the pictures. I found out some friends from Lafayette, Louisiana were coming down to the city on rescue parties by boat the next day.

They were turned away for some obscure reason and stopped by my house to check on me. They agreed to stay a few days to help out our friends. That began the role I played for several friends, being the forward staging area for friends and business associates trying to get back to their businesses.

The generator made life comfortable, but it burned copious amounts of fuel. My 300 gallon supply was supposed to last 10-12 days, but 300 gallons was only a 7 day supply. I had to drive to Baton Rouge with empty drums to buy diesel. Gasoline was in very short supply, but diesel was non-existent for civilians for about a week.

I had plenty of natural gas for the grill, seafood broiler, water heater, and dryer, but it was useless for the generator. I have since added a smaller, 15 kW air-cooled gas-powered generator to supplement the diesel-powered set. The diesel ran like a champ, though, for 3 weeks straight, about 500 hours.

I stopped it twice a day to check the oil and coolant levels. I changed the oil and filter only once after 200 hours. I had neglected the oil and filter stockpile and had enough for only one filter change. I also had trouble finding the right oil and filter for about 4 weeks, so I ran it with dirty oil.

I made many forays into the city with friends and family. Some were clandestine, and others were overt and authorized. I passed looters actively looting stores and was shot at on at least one occasion. I will never forget one trip I made. I hired 9 off-duty police officers to go with me into a flooded area and check on my property.

This officer was an acquaintance and a true blue cop, a real Joe Friday. However, before we left, he said, "Now, if something happens and we shoot someone, we're just going to keep going and not stop, okay? Do you understand what I'm saying?" The three things I remember most about the time was the oppressive heat and sun during the day, and pitch-black nights and the chaos and uncertainty of the whole situation.

The following is my list of what worked and did not work. Communications. Text messaging worked well all through the worst of the incident. The messages were often delayed, but they got through eventually. A BlackBerry proved to be a valuable and useful means to communicate. A pager also worked, but was only a one-way system.

The text message interface on a PC also worked great, assuming you have internet service. A cell phone with a different area code was invaluable. I bought a prepaid cell phone in Atlanta. The Singular system was dysfunctional, but Verizon and Sprint did work. I used Singular and Virgin Mobile, which is a Sprint reseller.

The cell phone with a different area code allowed you to dial out and to receive calls. Forward your key telephone numbers to this cell and you can remain in communication. The entire 504 area code was unusable for about 30 days. We forwarded our phones before we left, but the entire network, including call forwarding, went down.

So all of our phones just rang, or you received an out-of-service message, which is not good for business. CB and FMRS radios were useless in the city due to significant range limitations. Around the house, a cordless phone with a paging and intercom function worked better than the FMRS radio, since it would ring when you were wanted.

I would carry the cordless phone and use the intercom function. Marine VHF was useful for local area communication, though it is strictly illegal to use it for this purpose. A 12 volt VHF unit on a boat in the driveway is good for about a mile to handheld sets. Though handheld sets could get through to the base station at this distance only if you could see the other person.

They could also be used in the car on the highway and were useful since the channels are not much in use inland and the squelch function is useful. Be sure to get the VHF units with the ability to use alkaline batteries. Telephone landlines worked well, and in non-flooded areas the telephone landlines never went down.

Cable was not robust and went down early and stayed down for a very long time. DSL, since it uses landlines, did not go down at all. Satellite dishes were blown away and like cable were inoperative. The internet was invaluable. I set up a routine check-in time for all parties with someone outside of the city.

I surfaced to communicate and check in at 9am, noon, and 6pm to communicate with my wife while she was in Atlanta. Keep your cell phone batteries charged, so have a car adapter, 110 volt adapter, AA adapter, and spare batteries. Anytime you see a place to charge them, charge them up.

Keeping these items charged will be a pain in the neck. A TV made a poor news machine at first. AM and FM radios worked well. The internet was more comprehensive but had a several hour lag time. A spare satellite dish had dish TV back up and working in no time.

A spare dish also had satellite internet up and operating. I recommend satellite TV and internet as long as you have a spare dish. Lighting - Darkness, darkness, and more darkness. Post-disaster streetlights will not work, and the place will be incredibly dark. When there was no moon, the darkness was surreal.

Park your cars so that their headlights shine on likely areas of egress to your house or the place you are visiting. Use the remote fob switch to make the headlights and backup lights go on in the event you hear someone outside. You can also use the car panic switch to set off the horn for a distraction.

Use a car battery booster with a 12v to 110v inverter to plug in a 110v area light to provide some area lighting if your generator is not operational. Use floodlights sparingly. They attract too much attention in a dark city. Spotlights with rechargeable batteries were less useful than those which took D-cell batteries.

The charges could not be relied upon when you needed them, and recharging them once depleted was a pain in the neck. A 12v corded spotlight is cheaper and more reliable. Note that they can also be plugged into the battery booster. Attempt to create appearance of many more people than you have.

A group of 6-10 is more likely to thrive than a small group. A person alone is in great danger and should consider leaving. Spotlights are not useful for area lighting, regardless of size and type. Lanterns are much more useful for area lighting. LED and fluorescent are great inside, but Coleman double mantle lanterns dual fuel are great outdoors, but only outdoors.

I buy only D-cell, AA, and/or AAA to simplify inventory needs. Avoid candles and hurricane lamps. The light is poor for candles and both bring heat and more importantly fire risk into the house. Full open flame of any kind should be kept only outside. Keep a low profile. Be able to establish your bona fides with a picture ID with your company name and address of work, as well as a letter on corporate letterhead, notarized with a corporate seal on it.

A white pickup truck with a corporate logo and people inside dressed in personal protective equipment will be the key to transportation. Make sure it has a sign on it. Magnetic signs with business name work well. Impersonating a responder is illegal, but impersonating a business is not. Use the term safety guy or personnel guy.

These folks are always in and out, and nobody either hates them or really needs them, so you will not get drafted by the locals. Do not, I repeat, do not say you are an insurance adjuster or in the insurance business, even if you are. You will be taking your life into your own hands.

Seriously. They're considered equal to child molesters. Personal Morale and Stress Morale is vital to all on scene. Cleaning yourself up and putting on clean clothes is a good morale booster. Washing clothes is a pain, but it is important to have clean clothes available, even if you have to do it by hand.

As long as the water from the tap is clear and not murky, cloudy, or odiferous, you can use it to clean clothes in an electric washing machine, assuming you have a generator. If you are the leader, act like one. Express concern about your people, whether you actually do care about them or not.

They must think you care about them and will help them. It helps if you're sincere, but even if you're not, pretend to be sincere. Your life may depend on it. Get lots of rest at night. The night is the worst part. It will be very, very dark, which to city dwellers can be scary and disorienting.

Sleep is the best way to handle this problem. However, if possible, always have someone awake 24/7. Preferably set up shifts to ensure all get adequate rest, but the group is covered by someone awake. I had a rule that no one went outside alone at night for any reason. If you heard something unusual, you wake up the person who just got off of duty or the person about to go on duty and have them go with you.

The person on watch also had the car remote control to set off the car lights or the car alarm. The nights were stressful due to the darkness and unusual quiet. Without power there were no AC compressors, no cars and no people sounds. The only sounds were frogs croaking (yes, in the city frogs) and silence.

My generator installation was no noisier than an AC unit, but with the central AC units and the generator we were the noisiest thing for many blocks. Add inside and outside lights and we stood out for some distance, hence the concern about security at night. Drinking water gets boring, so have something like Gatorade mix or tea.

Keep a positive attitude and a smile on your face. Your mood is contagious. Heat saps strength, stamina and morale. Stay out of the sun, cool and hydrated. Make sure everybody has enough water and is drinking it, not just holding on to it. Read about heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Know the symptoms and act fast if you think the person is being affected by the heat. Do not underestimate the emotion of seeing a beloved or even familiar place ruined. Several cops committed suicide as a result of the stress. Do not underestimate the level of stress involved. Fire is a hazard and a real possibility.

Have a fire watch and remember, you cannot call the fire department or an EMS. There were instances of several houses catching fire and setting a neighboring house on fire. A 24 hour a day fire watch could save your life. Have the garden hoses ready outside in the event a neighbor's house catches fire.

Smoke alarms in the halls outside bedrooms and carbon monoxide alarms in every bedroom and other strategic points are a must. The carbon monoxide alarms are mandatory if a generator is used. Fuel and Power. Always have enough fuel in a vehicle that can carry your group to a safe point without refueling.

Always have a plan to get you and your group out to a safe place. Spare fuel in 5 gallon cans is dangerous. Store it outside in a shady spot. Hide it, because if you do not, it may be requisitioned. Diesel was almost impossible to find initially, but gas was easier to find after the third week.

Note, for clarity, I mean in the greater New Orleans area. I had to travel to Baton Rouge or Huma for diesel fuel until about the third week. Consider a tri-fuel generator and hook the generator up to natural gas. Natural gas remained on in most unflooded sections, but failed in flooded areas.

So do not rely solely on natural gas. Have the capability to run on liquid gasoline as well. However, a natural gas generator would have solved my fuel problems. Generators are noisy and will disturb you, people nearby, and attract unwanted attention. Find some way to keep the sound down. If you have a portable gas operated generator, retrofit a car muffler to it and build a soundbox of some kind.

You want the noise signature to be as quiet as possible. Ideally, have a large one permanently installed with quality sound deadening material around it, as I did. Alternatively, dig a hole and put the generator in it and cover it with plywood. Allow for drainage. Build a sandbag berm around it, cover the berm with plywood.

Enclose it in a building not connected to the house. Root the exhaust outside. Keep its noise to a minimum. Have an electrician come and put a manual disconnect switch so you can hook the generator to the house. You can do something as simple as putting in the disconnect switch and providing a 50 amp 220 volt plug so you can hook up a portable generator to the house circuits.

Avoid having a standalone generator in the backyard with extension cords. Plan ahead and do it right. Also, to keep the peace with your neighbor, plan on running one or two 15 amp circuits to their house if they do not have a generator. That is enough to run a fridge, lights, and fans.

Or a fridge and a small window AC. Weapons. Type and quantity is less important than training and proficiency. All those debates about which is best is a meaningless discussion. The best one to have is the one you have right now in your hand. Learn to use it proficiently, including the ability to take it apart and repair it.

Make sure you can hit a target at 35 meters one handed with either the left or right hand. Stop debating what is best, settle on what works for you, and spend the time training with it. Do not openly brandish weapons. The National Guard and cops will take them away, despite any laws protecting you.

Have spares, so that if cops take them away you have others. Do not resist attempts by law enforcement officers to confiscate weapons. It will not end very well for you. Be prepared to be forcibly removed from your premises and leave your pets or have your pets killed in front of you.

National Guard and law enforcement officers are not necessarily helpful. To be trusted, or your friends. Trust yourself and your friends. Keep a low profile, avoid confrontations, and be respectful and friendly, not subservient to the National Guard and police when contact with them is unavoidable. Obey their instructions, at least when they are around, if possible, and not counter to your goal.

Never confront them, or actively or violently resist them. You will lose and become just another unidentified body found in the rubble. Cash Documents and Commerce A good way to make a friend is cold, soft drinks. Trade hot for cold if you can when you're giving them away as gifts.

I went through a lot of cokes. Image important documents on a scanner, and store them on a flash drive or online by emailing them to yourself at an online webmail account. Driver's license, passport, social security card, birth certificate, marriage certificate, insurance policies, vaccination and medical records for family and pets should be imaged.

Use an online bank and have multiple accounts. Keep multiple credit cards with a $0 balance, so that in an emergency you can at least buy gas, a hotel room, and some food. You need at least $1,000 of cash on hand. More is always better, but do not carry it all in the same place.

Split it up in different pockets and use credit cards wherever possible. Keep your cash in small bills like $5, $10, and $20 bills along with a credit card. Checks, traveler's checks, and money orders are useless. Don't waste your time with them. Take photos of your insured property and make sure that they are not more than two years old.

Use a digital camera and store the photos in multiple places. Any photo albums, documents, or similar such things can be digitized, so if the original is destroyed, you at least have a copy. Look around your house and see what falls into that category. It's amazing how much you lose when you're looking at just a house slab.

Back up your data in multiple places and set out a contingency plan for your business. We use nothing but laptops and have contracted with an off-site server to store all of our data files. Everybody can use a virtual private network to set up wherever we may finally stop, assuming they can get to a high-speed internet connection.

In-forwarding malfunctioned, so all our lines did was to ring when they did not get a system busy. Have a contingency plan to notify all customers of a number change, or arrange with a telephone company to use a trunk-forwarding service. We set up a toll-free number and manned it with a small staff to disseminate contact info.

Emails worked fine, as did text messages. Websites also worked well as a means to disseminate telephone numbers. Looting, looters, and requisitioning Police will loot. It is called requisitioning. They will take your spare gasoline, supplies, ammunition, first aid kits, ice, water, guns, and even your vehicle. They are worse than looters in that they have the force of law behind them.

They looted cars, booze, TVs, as well as the necessities such as food, water, and clean clothes. Avoid looting parties. They tend to be undisciplined and have numerous armed people. If you join them, watch your back and go only with a group you know, and then stick together. Take only what you need and make restitution when you can do so.

Even when you need it, looting is wrong. It belongs to someone else. The law enforcement officers and National Guard will be hot, tired, scared, and grumpy. Avoid them at all costs. They will be well-armed, better trained, and are more likely to shoot you than the looters. Always approach them slowly with your hands visible and in a non-threatening manner.

Politeness, though not submission like you're guilty of something, and a smile on your face and a comment like "Boy, am I glad to see you guys. Thanks for the help." If you are unsure of the situation, extend your hand and a handshake. Their actions will tell volumes as to their intent.

Never curse them. Do offer them a cold Coke or water. If you do not have a cold drink, say "I would offer you guys one, but I don't have one." The US Coast Guard were the best guys. They were most useful, professional, and least dangerous, as long as you were not hostile to them.

The worst were the National Guard units and the local police department. They were stressed out, lost their homes, separated from loved ones, etc. They were heavily armed and dangerous. No offense intended to any member of these units, but that is my observation. When you travel, travel in groups. No fewer than two.

Four in two vehicles are better. If you leave your vehicles, make sure someone, or preferably two people, stay with them. Have a prearranged sign and countersign for the group. Include a trouble sign and countersign. Do not shout everybody and anybody's name when you think you see trouble. Use a signal when concerned or needing help.

You do not have to be silly about it, but a shout of "Hey, Mr. Murphy" is a whole lot more innocuous than "Hey, George and Louis, there are five guys coming towards me." In the latter, you have conveyed to the party coming at you that there are two other people who will be coming shortly.

On the other hand, if you shout "Hey, Mr. Murphy" while looking at the group and waving in a friendly-like manner at the people coming at you, they may assume that you are addressing them and waving at them and not calling your buddies to come outside and help. It may just give you the edge in that situation.

Look out for people's pets. Save the ones you can. Bring food and water for them since it is likely no one else will. Many pets were abandoned and died a long, lingering death as a result. Be very careful to avoid any injuries of any kind. If you are injured, cut, get a blister, etc.

Treat it aggressively. Even a simple scratch in a disaster zone can be life-threatening. Get vaccinations for hepatitis, tetanus, and anything else you can talk your medical doctor into giving you. Do not take supplies from the Red Cross, Salvation Army, or others unless you or someone you know truly needs them.

Supplies are limited, and others in need may do without because you wanted something you did not really need. I saw a single mother with a baby and toddler go without water when an "alpha" male barged in line and took stuff meant for her. The "alpha" males simply put the water in their pockets and walked away.

I "found" her some water when the "alpha" males suddenly "dropped" their water and ran for their lives. Be compassionate, but do not be silly. Sometimes sympathy targets (old people, disabled people, kids, and women) are used by looters as bait. Do not be in the disaster area if you can avoid it.

Leave the area until the situation stabilizes. If you have to be there, stay only as long as necessary. It is not a game, and it is definitely not fun. Food Water and Ice Ice is a very valuable commodity when the temperature is 95 degrees and the humidity is 100%.

Keep some handy to trade, or barter for favors. Use empty water bottles to make it at home in the freezer. It is a good barter commodity. Safe potable water is critical. You cannot have too much of it on hand. I had 10 5-gallon bottles of water on hand, in addition to 6 cases of 20-ounce bottles of water.

That was nowhere near adequate. Water is either safe or not. If you have the slightest doubt about the water, then it is not safe to drink it. Unsafe water from the tap can be used for flushing toilets and washing clothes. It can also be used for washing you, but do not drink it, and keep it away from your eyes, nose, and mouth when showering with it.

However, unsafe water from the tap and a 5% to 10% solution of bleach can be used for cleaning dishes with soap as long as the final rinse is in boiled or clean water. Be sure the water has cooled and add 2 or 3% bleach to the rinse water. You can rinse the plate to get the food residue off with the running, unboiled water before washing them, but wash them with boiled water.

If possible, dip them in a mild bleach solution in the rinse cycle and hand dry. To make clear water safe, boil the water for 5 to 10 minutes at a rolling boil. You can also add chlorine before boiling it if you're really nervous. Be careful and let the water stand at least an hour to avoid burning yourself.

Boil as much as you can at one time because it is a pain in the neck to boil water. I used a seafood boiler and natural gas for this chore. Keep the pot covered when the water is boiling and cooling. Store it in a clean, preferably sterilized container. Used but clean 2-liter soft drink bottles are perfect for storing boiled water, but wait till it cools to pour it.

Potable water should be used as much as possible. For example, water used for cooking rice and spaghetti can be reused for cleaning the pots and dishes. An outside propane or natural gas burner with a large boiling pot will make quick work of producing many gallons of safe drinking water without the heat and humidity in the house.

This boiling pot can also be used to sanitize plates, silverware, and pots. You can attach a large activated charcoal filter to an outside water hose to filter water that you boil for drinking. Boiling may or may not remove toxic chemicals in the water. Use bottled water from a known source, if at all possible, for all drinking, food preparation, washing, and bathing.

Water in a pinch can be made safer by filtering it and adding a small amount of Clorox or iodine tablets to the water. Murky or smelly water should not be used for anything, if at all possible. You may be tempted to use the dishwasher and put it on heated water in the sanitized setting, but do not take the risk.

It's just not worth the risk. Plan on hand washing and sanitizing the dishes yourself. Paper towels, plates, and disposable knives and forks work very well, and many times are better than real china and silverware. Have lots of paper towels, garbage bags, and disposable stuff on hand. Garbage disposal is a problem.

There was not garbage pickup for two months. Plan on bringing it to the dump yourself. Sanitation is important and garbage stinks after a week in the sun. When you bring it to the dump, put it on the trailer. Do not put it in the car or trunk. You will never get the stink out.

Note, you can freeze bottles of unsafe water for ice. Just label it as unsafe and do not use or drink the water. Food is important for morale. Cook it and present it well. Sit down together and eat together. This is a great morale builder. Simple menu items are important since fresh items are limited, such as spaghetti and meatballs, red beans, rice, and meat, sausage, hamburger, chicken, and rice, hamburgers, macaroni, and cheese, scrambled eggs, grits, toast, steak, and canned veggies, jambalaya, and meat of any kind.

Use MREs only for lunch when out and about or as a last resort. Everybody should sit down and eat together at least once a day for better morale. Vehicle Four-wheel drive was not important but was useful mainly due to the higher ground clearance it afforded. Bring rope to tie to branches to move them.

Make sure the vehicle has auxiliary storage like a roof rack, a roof cargo carrier, a trailer hitch back porch, or have a trailer. Anything that you can use to carry additional bulky cargo like roofing shingles, gas, clothes, food, water, etc. I used my boat as a means to carry cargo such as garbage and fuel.

It was all I had so I used it as a utility trailer. It had 2 to 18 gallon gas tanks, so filled up those tanks and then I put three 55 gallon drums in the boat. Use what you have. Make sure your vehicle is in good shape. A broken fan belt, bad tire, leaking water pump, or battery with a dead cell is useless and dangerous in a disaster zone.

Be sure to have a can of fix-a-flat, 12-volt air compressor, battery booster, tire plug kit, flashlight with spare batteries and a plug-in 12-volt spotlight (they're cheaper and more reliable than those needing a charge), as well as basic tools like a screwdriver, pliers, and crescent wrench are invaluable. A 12-volt to 110-volt inverter (no more than 100 watts to avoid blowing fuses or worse a fusible link), small first aid kit, and rope will also be invaluable.

A 110-volt trouble light with a 25-foot cord to plug into the inverter will serve multiple purposes of light and power. Just do not overload the inverter. Be sure to have spare oil, brake fluid, automatic transmission fluid, and antifreeze. It doesn't have to be in the car. You will not be able to find it.

The cargo area, if not "hoseable", should be covered in plastic to prevent the spread of contaminants. A cheaper car or pickup truck will attract a whole lot less negative attention than a bling mobile. Park the Mercedes and Lexus. Drive the pickup truck. Tools Basic tools like a socket set, wrench, and screwdrivers, etc.

A cordless electric screwdriver and drill will also save you a lot of energy and sweat. Other useful tools. Crowbar, large and small, for breaking glass and prying open windows and doors. Pry bar for opening doors. Large bolt cutters. Claw hammer, axe or hatchet. Small sledgehammer and wedges. Small, medium, and large.

Handle protective equipment is very important. Hard hat, safety glasses, gloves, leather and latex respirators or face mask. Steel-toed shoes with steel soles. Gas chainsaw. Nice, but not required unless you live in a wooded area. I used the rope in car to pull large branches out of my way. A tree handsaw is just as useful and less costly in an urban area.

In a wooded area, buy two chainsaws. One is not enough. Tarps of several sizes are good. You can always trade them if you do not need them. An electric sawzall is particularly useful, assuming you have a generator. Chain and padlocks will always come in handy. Electrical extension cords? Get several and buy the thick contractor grade.

Also, a power strip with a surge suppressor for each cord will be useful. Tape, electrical and duct. Spray paint, white, orange and black, for signs, warning and messages. Preprinted signs, like "Looters will be shot" are not as useful as handmade signs, since the preprinted ones may indicate no one is around.

Also, date any spray painted signs so people know it is up post-disaster. Boats in urban settings and flood water. If you have the misfortune of dealing with a flood, there will be all kinds of hazards that you will encounter, such that even the oldest of salts will be in a challenging environment.

Operate the boat only at idle or slow speeds. Do not let the boat get on a plane. Displacement speed only. There will be signs, wires, tree shrubs, debris and many other things that will destroy or damage an out-drive. Better to hit something at slow speed. Trim the engine up to reduce your draft.

Travel in pairs and maintain radio watches. Be wary of manhole covers if you go in the water. The covers may be gone. There are ditches and various other obstacles that are not apparent. Do not walk in the water, if at all possible. Always wear a personal flotation device, even an inflatable one is better than nothing.

Navigation will be difficult since road signs may be obscured, and your GPS will likely have a nautical chart rather than I-10 on it. Have someone on the boat who knows the area. Power lines may still be energized, so stay away from them. Do not touch them. For the record, rescued people are not always grateful to be rescued.

They may be in shock, terrified, disoriented, and/or potentially dangerous. Always have at least one other you can trust in the boat with you. You can concentrate on steering, and he/she should concentrate on the people in the boat. Never assume people can swim. Provide a personal flotation device for all and make them wear it.

If nothing else, it will be reassuring for them. If you encounter hostile people, exit the area ASAP. Always know how to get out of an area quickly. Do not fool around in floodwaters. They are nasty, disgusting, and dangerous. Do not handle any floating bodies unless you want a very, very unpleasant experience.

Do not ford the water in your vehicle if you can avoid it. Check the depth on foot before you even consider fording water. Most vehicles can get their drivetrain damaged by as little as a foot of water. The vehicle will also kick up wakes into people's homes. The people in the house may object violently to you flooding their already damaged house.

If you do ford water, do so at an idle speed and pay close attention to water depth. If in doubt, back up to higher ground. Judging the water depth is deceptive since cars have different heights. Oftentimes the center of the road is the highest side. Consider using the sidewalk, lawns, or road median to at least keep part of your vehicle high enough not to flood.

Elderly, infirm, pets, and kids. None of these belong in a disaster zone and should be evacuated as soon as possible. Pets will be destroyed at the slightest bit of inconvenience to the authorities. Chip your pet and evacuate them. Keep their shots current and board them with friends, families, or a boarding facility.

There were numerous instances of pets summarily destroyed for a variety of reasons, including simply spite. Two deputies in St. Bernard Parish are facing charges for shooting pets for no apparent reason. The incidents were captured on videotape. Despite this, they would never have been charged if left to the local officials.

One can only imagine what else went on and was not uncovered. An elderly woman recounted to me her story about how she refused to leave her home because her pet could not come with her. The law enforcement officer simply shot her beloved pet in front of her and said, "Now the problem is solved," and put the woman in a boat.

I heard from others in different areas that they were forced to abandon their pets under threat of physical threat. Some of these pets survived, others did not. In a truly bad situation, you should assume this attitude will expand to children and non-able-bodied people as well. In fact, in wartime, this type of behavior has been documented in various parts of the world.

There was also the case of 32 nursing home patients that were abandoned and subsequently drowned in St. Bernard Parish. In another case, an elderly woman and her middle-aged, quadriplegic son were told a special van would come get them. No transportation arrived, and they both died. If you are handicapped, elderly, have children or pets, make your own plans to evacuate.

Do not rely on any government plan to assist you. Rely only on yourself. Evacuation Issues Leave early or late. A tough call depends on your circumstances and how likely your risk is to be versus that of staying put. Just do not wait too long. Allow 12 hours to get to safety.

Which route to use? Be flexible and do not be afraid to use back routes. Speed is less important than steady progress away from danger. Keep a close watch on your gas tank. Look for gas at half a tank. Search diligently for gas at a quarter of a tank. Look for a safe place to stop at an eighth of a tank.

Do not run out of gas. If you have to use your reserve tank, find shelter nearby and wait until it is safe. Gas gives you options. No gas leaves you vulnerable. If necessary, abandon one vehicle and strip all fuel from it. Discard stuff in the following order, if necessary.

Goods to make things fit. Magazines, clothes, ice chests, food, spare tire, tools, adults, children and elderly, pets. Never discard water or fuel. If someone has to be left behind, at a safe place obviously, leave two people and give them cash and a credit card, water, cell phone and set an alternate rally point.

If possible, travel in two cars. Evacuation is very dangerous. Your car could break down and leave you and your loved ones stranded with an impending disaster en route. Two cars capable of carrying all is the safest way to travel. Do not rely on the law enforcement officers to assist.

They will be busy and the phrase "SOL" comes to mind. What to bring? See the above list but include at least 5 gallons of gasoline, food, simple stuff like bread and peanut butter, and at least 1 gallon of water for every two people. Be sure to carry the gas on top of the vehicle, on the roof rack, not inside the car.

It will make everyone nauseous otherwise. Have maps, a laptop with an internet card to stay in touch with the outside world, and a GPS is also very useful. FMRS and CB radios do work well here but are obnoxious to have on all the time. The driver's job is to drive and do nothing else other than keep an eye outside the vehicle.

The traffic will range from a creeping 10-20 mph to 60 mph bumper to bumper traffic. It is demanding and tiring to drive like this for 6-12 hours at a time. If possible, appoint one of the passengers navigator. The navigator is responsible for keeping track of the location of both vehicles, nearby alternate routes, and maintains communication with the other vehicle.

Other passengers can be utilized to find accommodations, gas, and other necessary information via cell phone or internet, as well as tend to the needs of the other passengers or driver. A 12V TV can provide invaluable news. The traffic will be moving very slowly. 10-20 mph is not unusual so be patient and do not plan on being able to get off the highway for anything for at least 5-8 hours.

A pee bucket is absolutely vital. For males, a simple 32 oz cup with a lid, a 2L bottle, and a funnel or a wide mouth 1-2L juice bottle will work nicely. Women may use the same thing but with a funnel. Be sure to have a towel handy. Do not dump it on the road unless you are traveling very slowly, which is normally the case.

Keep it sealed in a ziplock bag in between uses to avoid messes. Kids, especially pre-teen girls, may pose special problems due to modesty issues. Talk to those involved. It will be a problem, and stopping may not be an option, assuming you can even pull over. It depends on the situation, but generally the farther away the better.

Yet, the closer the destination, the easier it will be to get there. Where you go is up to your budget. I suggest someplace with family and friends to help you assimilate in case the stay is a long one. For stays over 2 weeks, a furnished, corporate apartment is generally a better deal and more comfortable and normal than a hotel room.

Evacuation by Air This is the safest and easiest way to evacuate, but you cannot take much with you. This is generally best if you have a house elsewhere or you have small children, elderly, or infirm people to remove. When you leave, be sure to leave your car parked at an inside garage and at least one level above the ground floor.

Do not count on this method unless you own your own plane, since flights are generally booked well in advance. Personal Gear You should always carry the following. A butt pack with flashlight, pistol (assuming you have the relevant permit), reload, cigarette lighter, pepper spray, Leatherman tool, latex gloves, small hand sanitizer, and digital camera, spare batteries, and spare data card.

The camera should be kept in a plastic baggie to protect it. Why the camera? So you can show others what you saw and get their input into situations. Water (at least one bottle), clean towel, spare shoes, spare clothes, and wading boots. I typically wore a jumpsuit and running shoes.

I changed my shoes to steel-toed boots when I got out of the car and again when I got back in. A hat and sunscreen were also very handy. Sanitation Wash your hands, wash your face with a clean towel before you go into the house if you have been out on expedition.

Hand sanitizer and plain old alcohol works great if potable water is not available. Thick plastic or chemical resistant gloves as well as latex gloves to protect yourself from chemicals like chlorine. Leave your shoes outside and do not track any crud inside. If you wear a jumpsuit with shorts underneath, shuck the jumpsuit and put it in a garbage bag along with any towels used.

Leave your boots outside. Everything dirty goes in the washing machine. Anything recovered from the floodwater stays outside. Set up a hose and bucket with dishwashing liquid to clean off anything nasty and leave it outside. After writing that initial response, Raptor goes on to clarify, "This was an overview of my experiences over a three-month period.

Even after the power came on, after about twenty-two days, things were still dicey. Hurricane Rita also provided some excitement. My area of town was restored to some level of normalcy by February 2006. However, the rebuilding of the city itself has stalled, and the social disintegration, which was crudely sewn back together, has continued to unravel." And then he asks if there are other specific questions from his fellow forum posters.

Now in a follow-up post, Raptor was asked a few questions. I'm going to read several of the follow-up posts to you because they're quite interesting to get his personal experience. He writes, "Let me provide a little more background on myself, though for privacy's sake I'll not be too forthcoming.

I'm white and middle-aged. I've done very well in life. Missouri is not in New Orleans proper, so the New Orleans Police Department had no jurisdiction in Metairie. Sheriff Harry Lee was in charge, for better or worse. He did things differently in Jefferson Parish. My family has lived in New Orleans long enough to have participated in the first Battle of New Orleans." One questioner writes, "How did you secure your home during the nights?" I'll provide more details later, but briefly, my house sits up eight feet off the ground, with only two ways in (and out) when the hurricane shutters are down and dogged.

It is made of concrete and only the two doors are exposed. You can see both exits from the middle of the house. One person, assuming he is awake, can control access quite easily. Note, this security comes at a price of limited exit in case of a fire, hence my emphasis on fire safety.

Question, "Did your stockpiled food last as long as you expected and what changes to your inventory would you have made?" I'll write more about this in another post, however food quantity was not a problem, since I had been laying in supplies for my family, plus two, and at any given time I had fewer people than I allowed for in the provisioning plan.

The taste quality of the food I had on hand was the real morale killer though. So, while we did not starve, we did give away a lot of the MREs, but kept the canned and dry stuff for our consumption. Also, the heat killed your desire to eat, and between the taste and the heat we had plenty of food.

Safe drinking water was in short supply though. Another questioner writes in with this comment, "I'm not at all surprised that the police are one of the most dangerous groups out there in New Orleans. From what I heard and read on other blogs, there should be a lot more prosecution from the corrupt and crooked cops than what they did to civilians out there." Raptor writes, "There is currently a case going to trial soon involving seven police officers accused of murder during Katrina.

If you google the Danziger 7 you can read all sides about the case. There are many unclear issues and I do not want to go into that matter. What is clear is that two people who were in the wrong place at the right time were shot and killed. One was shot seven times in the back, not once in the front.

This person was mentally handicapped, had no criminal record, none had criminal records, and was claimed to have had a weapon and shot at the police. In a time of unrest, keep a low profile, do not openly brandish weapons, and do not look like some warrior out of Road Warrior.

You will survive a lot better if you look like a utility repair guy or responder than you will looking like trouble. Stay away, for the people you do not know, with guns, whether or not they have badges, if at all possible. My motto is, when someone from the government shows up at your door and says he is there to help, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction." Question, "If you saw police, for evacuation purposes, coming to your home but they did not see you, is it a crime to hide out and to protect your home and pets?

Like if they call to see if anyone is at home, you just pretend you didn't hear it?" During the first three weeks, there was utter chaos on the street. No one knew who was in charge and those in charge, when they did make a decision, which was a very rare event, could not communicate instructions reliably.

That meant local commanders were left to their own discretion. At one point, the mayor of Orleans Parish, the city of New Orleans, made a statement that martial law had been declared. The state attorney general quickly denied that and said the mayor has no such authority and martial law is not legal and in fact unconstitutional, has been since General Butler left New Orleans in 1865 and martial law was ended under Louisiana law.

How does this matter to your questions? At one point, the cops and National Guard were kicking down doors and searching homes and forcibly removing anyone they found. Pets could not come and if you resisted, they would arrest you. Any and all weapons were confiscated and resistance was futile. In other parts of the city, they would knock politely on the door, inquire about you and give you water and MREs.

Legal or illegal, it was whatever the local commanders, the organized guys with the guns wanted it to be. Sounds like a fundamental lesson in personal liberty to me. Now following that comment, there's some back and forth in the forum thread on some more mundane topics and also on the law enforcement issue.

Raptor provides his information after some other comments in this way. He says, "I'm not going to defend or condemn the New Orleans Police Department as a whole. I think many were good, loyal and public servants and a few bad guys led by idiots. Common sense was washed away. Unfortunately, idiots seem to abound in the world today.

If this garbage can happen in New Orleans, it can happen anywhere. That is not paranoia, simply realism." Goes on to attach a link to a site that deals with the mass destruction of people's pets in a school in St. Bernard Parish and there was some prosecution there. And he points this out.

"Finally, I would also point out that it was not just the New Orleans Police Department and Louisiana National Guard breaking into homes and dragging people out. It included Texas, New York, Arkansas, California, and other state police, wildlife and fisheries agents as well as National Guard units and regular army.

All that I encountered proved bribeable. Greed is hardwired into the basic human brain." Now of course another commenter goes on and asks how he engaged in bribes and what the average bribe was. Was it money, supplies? Did they come back for more or just go away? And this I think is some of the more interesting interaction with Raptor and is a good example of why one of the reasons why money and supplies are so important and so valuable because they give you the way to buy yourself into and out of situations like this where all of the government agents, the guys with guns, are in charge.

So Raptor goes on and writes this in answer to that question. "It really depended on the situation and the person. I would look at the person and see what they may want at the time. The bribe might be as simple as a cold coke or Gatorade or may have been a few hundred dollars.

Let me also stress that no one ever said to me, 'I'll let you do it for a hundred dollars.' My experience is that the only people uttering phrases like that outside of the movies are about to either set you up or they are so corrupt that your life is possibly in danger.

View it as if you are giving a tip. I have lived in third world countries and can generally read people, especially officials. When paying cash I would hand them a drink and discreetly use a $20 bill or $100 bill as the napkin wrapped around the drink. I would then offer my hand in a handshake and keep the same smile on my face.

No winks, nods, or anything else like that. When I traveled I kept an ice chest with soft drinks, Gatorade or water along with MREs and about $1,000 cash in $10, $20, or $100 bills in my pocket separate from my wallet and ID. Never ever take out your wallet, reach in and take out money, nor should you whip out a huge wad of cash.

Do not say, 'How much will it take?' Do not be overt or crude. You will be surprised how much you can do with a smile, pleasant banter, and something a person wants. The most overt I got was to hand the guy my papers, let him tell me to get the heck out of his face, and then ask him what I had to do to get where I wanted to go.

I would wait for his reaction. If he offered information I would then say, 'Well, you seem to be in charge. Could you approve it?' I would wait for the response and either conclude the deal knowing it would be expensive or go elsewhere. If his reaction was belligerent and negative, no amount of persuasion would work.

You should leave immediately and either try later or somewhere else. I also gave out suntan lotion, mosquito repellent, ice, clean towels, baby wipes. These were always welcomed. I also would give out MREs and drinks to people, looters or survivors, as well as a $10 or $20 bill on occasion.

My logic for this was, I did not like the MREs, and if I could avoid a confrontation and danger to me and/or my group for an MRE, cold coke, and $10, that is a cheap transaction. Besides, a magazine or cylinder of bullets can cost more than the $10. What is interesting is that most looters were generally satisfied with a cold coke and a few kind words.

Having said that, I always kept a compact 9mm or .357 snubby in my pocket, and when I was being nice to the looters or survivors, I also was ready to end the conversation suddenly and, if necessary, violently. Finally, try to use the same checkpoints of people there know you.

Just like in business, it is not what you know or what you have so much as who you know. I used two main checkpoints, and I became known as Ben. (Ben Franklin is on the $100 bill.) I knew I had made it when one sentry waved and shouted to his commander, "It's okay, it's Ben!" When that happened, there were cokes all around for everyone, and everyone needed a napkin to reinforce the positive experience of seeing me.

They never asked for money, but they remembered me and treated me well. I always took care of them. There were six guys at that command post and checkpoint working the day shift, and they were there for six weeks. I was kind of sorry to see them go. One final note.

The value of barter goods changed rapidly due to supply and demand. Initially, real MREs with a heater inside, of all things, were in high demand. Then they became the proverbial fruitcake. People gave them to you, but nobody really wanted to eat them. Gas was worth its weight in gold, and diesel was even more valuable initially.

But once the supplies were up and available, they lost their value beyond retail for barter purposes. Personal toiletries like sun tan lotion, mosquito repellent, baby wipes, of all things, hand sanitizers, and clean towels all were very useful to trade. The one item that held its value was a cold soft drink or bottled water.

I suspect in cold climates, a hot drink would hold the same value. Now, from here, and of course, I'm reading from a forum thread, so there's a conversation happening. Feel free to read the entire location, but I want to read the entire forum thread yourself in the show notes.

But you don't need to, because I'm giving you the gist of the story from this particular person's perspective. And I think it's important to do so. I want to provide this for you in an audio format where you can listen to it. But he shares, Raptor shares an interesting story of what happened that just gives a little bit of local color into what was happening in the local situation.

He says, "My business partner, who has significant wealth, had a home that was flooded. Inside the home was, as I referred to it, name brand art, originals whose artist names would be recognized by most people. The collection was worth a lot of money. He lived in an enclave, which has a pool house over 3,000 square feet, never mind the main house or guest house.

Anyway, a few of his neighbors hired Blackwater to provide security while the place was flooded. We could not move the art out since the risk of name brand art in a boat is too risky for the insurance company. The art was hanging on the wall about three feet above the water level and was safe, but we just could not get to it safely because of debris, etc.

So these Blackwater guys hunkered down on the second story of his home and a couple of neighbors' homes and kept looters out. They lived there for over two weeks. Anyway, the water finally goes down and we drive in with a truck and with several guys, including my partner and I.

We chainsaw and yank trees out of the street so we can drive the truck up to the front yard and load up the artwork. There were about six of us and two of my guys are providing security, but we're not openly carrying weapons because we knew the Blackwater guys were around.

We had them stashed away so we were not mistaken for looters. Anyway, this nondescript guy with a Glock and two mags and a holster comes walking up to my partner nonchalantly. My partner hands him his card and says what was obviously a password to this guy. The guy is cool and everybody goes to do their thing.

Meanwhile, the Blackwater guy and my partner were talking. I noticed something about the Blackwater guy that does not look right. I couldn't place it at first, but then it hit me. His pants were pressed and he was wearing a clean t-shirt. Meanwhile, I look around at our guys and everyone is drenched in sweat and looks like a bum, especially me.

However, then it really dawns on me. Not only is the guy clean, but he's not sweating very much at all. I then eye the guy and realize he's one of those very lean muscular people who, because they have so little body fat, hardly sweat. It is then that I realize his nonchalant walk was really just that.

He did not need that Glock to kill everyone there. He could probably rip everyone's head off and kill them without need of a weapon. We were absolutely no threat in his eyes. He had been camping out in a flooded house for two weeks and was going home, and he looked better than we did after being on the job less than an hour.

No lesson, just local color. Now, in a separate post, Raptor goes on and again, this particular forum is quite militant kind of appreciation for weapons and such. But he talks about this, and I think it's important, an important lesson. He says, "I'm going to climb on my soapbox now, and I'm not addressing anyone in particular.

Too many people think planning and preparation involves having the best rifle, the best shotgun, the best pistol, and enough ammunition to hold off an army. Too many people turn it into some kind of video game. When the SHTF, it will not be pretty or fun. It will be dirty, grimy, and smelly, and not something that you want to do.

I would prefer never to have to go through that situation ever again. However, two monster storms have hit in my lifetime, Camille and Katrina, and I certainly expect another, so I deal with it. Preparation involves many more skills than firearms and gunsmithing, stockpiling food and water. In addition to worrying about the adequacy of an arsenal, you should worry about how do I perform basic plumbing jobs, how do I disconnect or reconnect an electrical meter from a house, how to fix the generator, flat tire, or nail on a tarp or shingles to patch a roof.

Basic electrical, plumbing, car repairs, and carpentry skills are always skills that you can use, and if necessary, trade for goods in a prolonged SHTF situation. Knowledge and skills are fundamentally valuable. In Orland's Parish, there was one guy who stayed open and did nothing but fix flat tires on cars.

He had a skill very much in demand, and no one messed with him because he was "harmless and useful." A perception of "harmless and useful" is a very good position to be in. Fundamentally, you cannot stockpile enough food, water, and ammunition to last the rest of your life. However, knowledge and skills do not go stale, nor can anyone take them away.

Technology may change, but you can adapt your skill set. The other skill is the mindset of survival and awareness, identifying potential risks and how they evolve, coping with the stress, and thinking outside of the box. I like to quote a movie line, "The hero, when asked what his favorite weapon was, said, 'My brains.'" Not saying firearms are not necessary, all I'm saying is training and knowledge are every bit as important.

Now another listener or writer writes to Raptor and talks to him about the idea in his commentary on bribes, and I thought his discussion here was useful for you to hear. Somebody alleges that Louisiana has a higher bribe culture than other places. Raptor writes this, "I was waiting for someone who was going to make that comment about the culture of corruption that exists in Louisiana.

I cannot imagine anyone being insulted by someone saying they come from a culture of corruption." I agree Louisiana has that reputation, and certainly having an ex-governor in jail for the last five years and a congressman with $90,000 in the freezer does not help that image. I take no offense at your statement, nor do I deny or defend any one of the scumbucket politicians.

Nor, for that matter, do I advocate bribery in any form. In fact, I have a reputation for not giving a dime to local political campaigns or politicians in any form whatsoever. I cannot stand most of them. However, in a chaotic situation, money is one more tool to consider using.

I brought up the subject since there was so much conversation about whether money was useful in a disaster. It is. I would also point out that historically people have been able to buy their way out of death camps, across borders to freedom, obtain important supplies, and get transportation from behind enemy lines with money, gold, diamonds, and promises of money.

Blood shits. Bribery has worked in the US Civil War on both sides, Khmer Rouge, Nazi, Communist China, even North Korea today. Greed is hardwired into the brain of normal people. It is a weakness and opportunity that can be utilized in an emergency. It is up to you to know when and how to use it.

At some point, I do agree you will have to explain your actions to a higher power. I'm cool with that too. However, I do want to address the stereotype of Louisiana being inherently more corrupt than any other place in the US. Let's go over some politicians who got in trouble and gives a list of politicians who are in jail for bribery and corruption.

In a later question, Raptor is asked about why it is that he was involved in trying to get through checkpoints. He says this, "As far as Ben's, I spent fewer than most would assume. The cold drinks were quite welcome and effective. As for what I got out of it, if you're asking if I engaged in nefarious activity during this time, absolutely not.

I have business and real estate in the city that required attention. I got access and assistance in a time of chaos when others were wrongfully denied access. Nothing more. The biggest thing I received was to be left unharassed. I went in to secure my property. If I did not do it, no one else would.

Given a choice, I would have preferred to have stayed in Atlanta with my family and simply not dealt with the situation. Unfortunately, the buck stops with me." Now, much, much later in the forum discussion, there are a couple of other unique insights from Raptor. And here I'm going to provide a little bit of commentary.

First, somebody had previously written this suggestion, "I have enough money with you for at least two weeks. Many of those who arrived here had very little in cash, relying on checkbooks and credit cards to fund their purchases. Guess what? Their small banks down in South Louisiana were all offline, and their balances, credit authorizations, etc.

could not be checked. Another thing, don't bring only large bills. Many gas stations, convenience stores, etc. won't accept anything larger than a $20 bill. Some of my guests had plenty of $100 bills but couldn't buy anything. I think it may be a good idea to have a bug-out bank account with a national bank so that funds should be available anywhere they have a branch, rather than keeping all of one's money in a single bank, particularly a local one or credit union." This is, of course, over and above one's bug-out stash of ready cash.

Raptor writes back and, of course, reminds us, "Forget precious metals and debit cards. In the early days of a situation like this, cash and an Amex card is the answer." Now, that was Raptor's perspective, but I just want to reiterate, it's important to make sure that you always have money, and you should have that money in the most fungible forms, the most readily accepted forms.

And so cash is always your solution. And what people often forget, cash is not always your solution. Cash is frequently your first solution. And so when we think of a concept like diversification, you want to practice diversification in every area of your life. You don't put all your money in one bank account.

Now, is it possible that you don't put all your money in one bank account because that bank could go down and could go bankrupt? Sure. FDIC protection, sure, it's valuable. That'll protect you in that situation. But you don't keep all your money in one bank account because if your bank is a regional bank or a local credit union and your local area is wiped out, as these banks were in New Orleans, you don't have access to anything.

You don't have access to your money. So you diversify your banking systems. You make sure that you have money in local accounts. You make sure that you have money in a national bank account. You make sure that you have cash in various forms. Sometimes the $100 bill is the bill that you need because that's what opens the door to access to town or something like that.

But in other situations, you need those fives and tens. So you make sure that you set aside a diversity of money. One of the things I frequently have recommended to people whenever you're putting aside emergency cash, what I recommend you do is set aside, let's say you're going to set it aside in $1,000 chunks.

That's a convenient form to set it aside in. Make sure you have a few hundred dollar bills, some fifties, twenties, fives, tens, and ones. Put all of those things there. Make sure that they're all there. Similar things, precious metals don't work. They don't do you any good in the context of a hurricane.

A cold case of beer in a cooler will buy you probably more than precious metals will. But on the other hand, if you're in a different situation, then that cold case of beer doesn't do what precious metals will. So don't, this is the error in people's thinking is basically all of these forms are valuable and it depends on the actual disaster.

So if you diversify your savings, if you diversify your cash holdings, then you have options. Same thing, good American Express card or a few different credit cards that buys you a whole bunch of things really fast. It would be a pain to always keep tens of thousands of dollars around in cash just for emergencies, but you can easily keep aside significant amounts of money that would be available in a course of weeks and then just float those weeks with the use of credit cards.

Couple other points here made by, a couple other points made by Raptor. And first, of course, with pets, you are responsible for caring for the members of your family. So that's pets or if that is elderly people or if that is handicapped family members or if that's young children, you have to think differently.

My circumstance, having young children is different than your circumstance if you have elderly parents, but you need to think ahead and take responsibility for those in your life, including your pets. So again, here is a comment by a different person. "When help gets there, you may get it whether you like it or not.

There are numerous reports of aggressive overbearing behavior by those rescuers who are first arrived at disaster scenes. It's perhaps best described as, 'I'm here to rescue you. I'm in charge. Do as I say. If you don't, I'll shoot you.' In one incident, a family who had prepared and survived quite well were ordered, not invited, to get onto a truck with only the clothes on their back.

When they objected, they were threatened. They had pets and wanted to know what would happen to them, and they report that a uniformed man, agency unknown, began pointing his rifle at the pets with the words, 'I'll fix that.' " Raptor's comment, "Prepare for your pets. Do not turn them over to the authorities and expect them to be returned alive." Additional comment, "There seems to be a cumulative psychological effect upon survivors.

This is clear even, or perhaps particularly in those who were prepared for a disaster. During and immediately after the disaster, these folks were at their best, dealing with damage, setting up alternative accommodation, light, food sources, etc. However, after a few days in the heat and debris, perhaps worst of all being the smell of dead bodies nearby, many found their ability to remain positive and upbeat being strained to the limit.

There are numerous reports of individuals becoming depressed, morose, and withdrawn. This seemed to happen to even the strongest personalities. The arrival of rescuers provided a temporary boost, but once evacuated, a sort of after-action shell shock seems to be commonly experienced." I don't know enough about this to comment further, but I suspect that staying in place has a lot to do with it.

There is no challenge to keep moving, find one's survival needs, and care for the group, and one is surrounded by vivid reminders of the devastation. By staying among the ruins of one's former life, one may be exposing oneself to a greater risk of psychological deterioration. Raptor's response was this, "Do not underestimate the psychological toll that a disaster will take on you and your loved ones.

The impact will be much worse than you think. These post-disaster problems were evident in a lot of people. PTSD-related problems, domestic violence, suicide, and depression were epidemic. The stress also likely accelerated the deaths of many elderly people who could not deal with the stress and related issues." That's Raptor's point.

I would simply say one of the most valuable reasons for you to be prepared is to seek to maintain any degree of normalcy and low stress in your life that you can. Now, you can't evade all stress in life. You can't evade all disasters that would happen, but anything you can do to keep your family together, to keep yourself together, and to maintain any normalcy that is possible will help.

And if you're in a situation where you see significant toll happening, don't be scared to spend money or whatever is needed to make sure that you attend to the psychological and emotional and spiritual needs of yourself and your family. Those things have a very long-term influence, and it's important to make sure that anything is possible that you maintain your health in those areas.

One other question came in this way. Another commenter had written this, "Your personal and/or corporate supplies and facilities may be commandeered without warning, receipt, or compensation. I've had numerous reports from in and near the disaster zone of individuals (for example, boat owners, farmers with barns, tractors, etc.) and corporate groups (such as companies with heavy equipment, churches with halls, etc.) finding an official on their doorstep demanding the use of their facilities or equipment.

If they demurred, they were told that this was an emergency situation and that their assistance was being required, not requested." Raptor responds with this comment. He says, "I ran into this myself with fuel. Both gasoline and diesel were requisitioned from me. It pissed me off each and every time, but I did give it to them.

So I guess I have no one to blame for this but me." Another commenter asks Raptor specifically, he says, "Who requisitioned it from you? How did they go about it? Did they ask nicely? Did you just go out and find them taking it or what? How do you think things would have played out had you politely but firmly declined?" Raptor responds with his experience.

He says, "It varied. They were all locals and they did stop after fuel became available after about two weeks. Finding fuel, especially diesel, was difficult in the first two weeks. Apparently they had diesel generators. My pickup was diesel and I was carrying fuel to a generator from my building to get it back up on line.

I made several trips over several days with about a dozen fuel jugs in the truck bed to get fuel for the generator. I later obtained several drums. I found they did not try to requisition a whole drum, probably because it weighs 500+ pounds. Five-gallon jugs on the other hand, when carried in the pickup truck bed, were easy to requisition.

They are a nice handy size. It was not done in a threatening manner, but it was clear that you had no choice in the matter. You could be a street attorney and protest, and they would give you problems and take all your fuel, or you could be a good citizen and give them two or three of the jugs of fuel and go on your way.

They also did not have any receipts to give you for your "donation." I did ask for that once. They also did not give me back the empty jugs, which were even more difficult to find than diesel. I tried to trade empty for full once and was told they did not have the jugs with them, but I could come back later with more full jugs to give them.

I likely gave up the fuel too easily, but I did not want any trouble from the law enforcement officers. I knew what happened to troublemakers. If I had made a stink about it, I probably could have kept the fuel. I can be very persuasive. However, I am also sure that would come at a price more than the fuel was worth at the time.

My comment was that, in retrospect, it still angers me. However, I would likely do the same thing under the same circumstances. That concludes the forum posts from this particular thread that I am going to read. Now obviously, I hope this format has not been too disjointed. I wanted to keep this in the minds, in the words of somebody who had been through Hurricane Katrina.

And I had previously tried to record the show with my updating all the things that were out of date and providing commentary and expanding. It was just, it was too convoluted. So I've just kept this in the words of this particular poster, Raptor. And I hope that you will take the lessons or whatever the examples are from this situation and apply it, apply them to your own circumstances.

I will simply say this, one of the most valuable things that you can learn about Katrina or from Katrina is probably how quickly it really can happen here, wherever here is for you. And it's hard to overestimate. Katrina changed the face of US government response. It was such a boondoggle on different scenarios.

I remember a number of years ago, I read President Bush's, former President Bush's biography and he, autobiography and he talked about Katrina and I just, it was such a boondoggle at all levels. But when the things break down, they can break down very quickly. And so you need to be prepared for such an event.

You need to be flexible in your thinking and you need to have multiple options considered. If you run a business, think about what would happen with your businesses. Think about some of those things like with your employees. Can you, could you pay your employees? Do you have the reserves, et cetera?

In your personal situation, just think about things like that. Now, chances are a hurricane like Katrina will not happen again, but there will be something else, whether it's an earthquake or a forest fire or something else that happens. And those types of events can make a big, big difference.

So I hope these thoughts from somebody who was through it are useful to you, from somebody who wasn't trying to publicize anything, wasn't trying to make a political comment, was just talking with their online friends about their experience. I hope this has been useful to you. So go out and prepare accordingly.