Preppping For a Hurricane Lessons Learned From Helene

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[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, all right, welcome back to the Survival and Basic Badass Podcast, Kevin and Chuck.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, today we're going to talk about hurricanes. As you know, Hurricane Helene is kind of tore

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_04]: through a good bit of the country and causing a little chaos. Also, as you know, those of you

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_04]: who've been listening for a little bit, you know that I was at Prepper Camp. Prepper Camp

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_04]: was right in the middle of western North Carolina in Saluda. Turns out, I got to see quite a bit

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_04]: firsthand. We're going to talk about a lot of things you can do to prepare and plan ahead

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_04]: for a hurricane. But I also want to talk about some of my adventure through there because

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_04]: a lot of things came up firsthand that really brought to light where people's preparedness

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_04]: kind of fell short, where people came through extra and people helping out people. That's

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_04]: a really big part of what it all comes down to. So we're definitely going to talk about good

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_04]: supplies and good things like that. But I'm going to kind of take you through my adventure because

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_04]: you're going to see a lot of the things and the mistakes and the decision making, which I got to

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_04]: say is a big part of it. Was everyone at Prepper Camp prepared is what you're probably wondering.

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_04]: And I got to say it's about 50-50, but I was among those who were possibly

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_04]: among the 50 of one of them. Yeah, I was in one of the groups. We're going to get into it and talk

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_04]: about which one and how that went. So it could be a little sketchy. But that was the thing.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_04]: Everybody was like, well, it's a true test of actually putting your preparedness to the test.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_04]: Now, it was crazy. I mean, that's the whole thing. So here's what we got. So Prepper Camp

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_04]: was supposed to start. We were supposed to go set up everything on Thursday. And the hurricane was

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_04]: just kind of rolling into North Carolina there on Thursday and then kind of into Friday. And that's

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_04]: really when they got the bulk of the rain and all that stuff. And so they postponed on Thursday

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_04]: and they said, you know what? It's supposed to all stop raining by Friday at one o'clock.

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_04]: Show up then and we'll set up and then we'll do it all a day later and see what we can do.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, obviously nobody, you know, they were saying on the news, they were saying, oh,

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_04]: you know, it's going to be a record storm and storm of this entry is damaged and like that.

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_04]: They weren't talking like some big stuff, but it was only at the last minute,

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_04]: like the day before, the day before they were like, oh, this is really going to change and be bad.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_04]: And nobody was thinking, you know, crazy, you're like, oh, hurricane, whatever, I'll go,

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_04]: I'll deal with it. I'm not in the hurricane so it'll be okay. Right? That's the logic

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_04]: and we're preppers, right? So we're going to be prepared. So what was weird is

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_04]: we start driving and head out. We got all our gear and I have tons of water,

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_04]: lots of food, lots of that. That's no problem. Camping gear, stuff for electric, everything.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_04]: We're good. We're prepped. Now you notice I didn't say extra gas, but we'll get to that.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_04]: Right? So we're like, all right, no problem. We'll jump into this. Now one,

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm looking at the stupid gas gauge on my truck that says miles to destiny or, you know,

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_04]: what is it? End of destination or something. It has a little thing and it tells you how many

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_04]: miles you can go on your gas tank, right? Well, turns out that was a crock and that had

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_04]: nothing to do with reality of how many miles you could go. So, you know, basically when I

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_04]: go to leave the journey, it says I can get there and I can get about halfway back just on my tank of

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_04]: gas. We start going and going into it. We get about, I would say 160 miles from our destination

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_04]: and my gas gauge shows 250 miles to end a tank and I'm like, we're good. I can get back here.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_04]: You know, we're not worried about it and I am always like the most paranoid guy in the world on

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_04]: not running out of gas. I'm like, I'm not going to do that, but we also didn't realize there was

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_04]: going to be crazy devastation like there was as far as power out and like that.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_04]: So going in, like I said, we got to about 150 miles out and there is power everywhere

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_04]: up to this line and no problem. Everything looks normal. There is nothing. Then, and I'm looking

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_04]: and I'm like, all right, I got enough to get where I'm going and back to where I am. Right?

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm like, I'm good and I'm thinking I'm going to get gas short and that's not, you know,

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_04]: whatever. I'm not planning on pushing all that, but I'm like, I'm good. So I start going

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_04]: in from that point on the whole highway. It was 40 and 85 when in the whole highway is trees down.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_04]: And if you think of like, you know, like Kevin up the new North, you got the New York State

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_04]: through way here we have 95 is the big corridor that goes down through the south. This is a road

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_04]: like that where you have 50 feet almost to the tree line and, you know, of grass on either side

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_04]: and nothing. And this thing has trees all in the middle of the road and you're like, how?

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_04]: This doesn't even make sense, you know? And the whole way we're going, there's just trees

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_04]: down. There's power lines down across the highway. We came up to a car carrier that had power lines

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_04]: in between the cars in the car carrier and then down across on our side of the road.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_04]: And then we're following power guys in their truck coming in and they stop and we're like,

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_04]: oh cool. They're going to handle that power line situation. So they go out and they clear

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_04]: the power line out of the road on our side and they just leave it in the guys truck and

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_04]: on the other side to take off. And I'm like, oh, that's not really that cool. But we keep going

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_04]: and it's just tree after tree in the road. There is no power at the entire way in the

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_04]: rest of the way. And like I didn't even, I should have got pictures, but it was just

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_04]: you're so focused on, all right, this is what we got to do. I don't care about pictures

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_04]: right now. This isn't the time for it. We're just driving in an intense and we're trying to figure

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_04]: out. And so there's just no power the whole way. It got so crazy where there's so many power lines

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_04]: and row power lines and trees in the road that I would say in a mile of travel, we drove over or under

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_04]: probably 10 to 15 power lines in a mile. And it would be like that for like 15 miles. And it

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_04]: wouldn't be like, and so you're thinking, well, how are they going to recover power? Because

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_04]: every yard you look in, there's down power lines. Like every single yard. You're like,

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_04]: there's no way, you know? You've never seen it. You see one broken power line and you're like,

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_04]: oh, they got to come out and fix that. Yeah. Right. This is like every single one. And

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_04]: we would come up, it would be the trees would be like mudslide into the road where

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_04]: the entire lane is blocked by three foot high of earth with two giant trees on it.

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_04]: You're like, oh, that's weird. And then you drive out to the other side and half the road is gone

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_04]: and you're like, oh, that's a little sketchy. I got to get around that. So it was,

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_04]: so just all the way in was high stress and whatever. We show up, they're like,

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_04]: oh, we don't know if we're going to cancel. Oh, and so as I roll in though, I'm watching my fuel

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_04]: gauge thing cutting down. It goes from like 70 miles to 50 miles. And then like 40, and I don't

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_04]: mean like over time I'm watching that. I mean, I'm watching it and in the five seconds it goes

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_04]: 70 to 50. And then it's like 40 to 20. And then they're like, you have seven miles to the

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_04]: end. I'm like, what the hell is happening here? And you know, so I'm the prepping guy and I'm

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_04]: totally dropping the ball on my own situation. So bottom line, we go in, we go past gas stations

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_04]: that are clearly closed with the power out and we're like, all right, no problem. And it had been,

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_04]: like I said, at least 150 miles since we saw a gas station. And we get to where we're going

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_04]: and I'm like, well, somebody will help me out there. And if not, I got enough food and water for

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_04]: like 10 days. It's not really a big problem and whatever figured out. And I'm like, by then they'll

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_04]: get power on in town. And I because you're just not thinking it's going to be the end of the world

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_04]: where power never comes back on. That's the mindset, right? But I'm still dumb. And I

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_04]: still dropped the ball on that one. And you know, I think my wife would like me to

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_04]: point out that she suggested we get gas before. I am sure she wants you to point that out.

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, you feel like that definitely had to make it. So the so we go in, we got, I think it says

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_04]: like on the truck, like 22 miles to the end of your fuel kind of thing. And town is about six

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_04]: miles away. But the trick is it's a million back roads from where we are to the gas station. And

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_04]: you don't know which ones are closed. You're like, Oh, well, I'll just look on my map and

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_04]: on my phone. And it'll tell me, well, one, the map on your phone doesn't work at all

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_04]: because there's no cell towers at all. And you're like, Oh, well, it has like the memory.

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_04]: And it says like off whatever. Well, one, it's not showing you what roads are closed. And we're not

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_04]: talking about roads are closed, like there's a tree in the way. Because you're like, Oh, well,

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_04]: I carry a chainsaw and nothing's going to stop me. No, we're talking like the roads closed,

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_04]: because there's no road, like it's gone, like there's a big hole. Or there's 10 feet of mud

[00:12:03] [SPEAKER_04]: on the road. And right, there's no road. It's like that. It's not like if I have my chainsaw,

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_04]: I can just get through it. Now it's not like that at all. This is like bulldozer work. Yeah,

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_04]: bulldozer work. And you know, you could hike through it maybe it wouldn't be safe, but you could

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_04]: do it. But you're not driving through and you're like, Well, I have four wheel drive. No,

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_04]: no, like no. It's not that's it's not a four wheel drive kind of situate. Dude, most of these,

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_04]: it's not a four wheeler situation. Right. Like you could drive a mile out of the way through

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_04]: the trees and probably get by with a four wheeler. But you're not going through here

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_04]: in kind of situation. So it just it really changes the perspective on the level of preparedness

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_04]: you need with something like that. And that's what was going on here. And it was crazy. So

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_04]: we were constantly the whole way in getting like the flash flood warnings and that kind of thing

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_04]: on the phone. I mean, it's just nonstop buzzing on your phone. I can't watch the map because

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_04]: it's popping up every second. You're an immediate danger flash flooding. You're going to die.

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_04]: And I'm like, I'm on like a through way. What do you want me to do? I'm going like

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_04]: there's nothing here for you. You know, I just I don't know what to do. So

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_04]: we just kept pushing in and it was crazy. And we're going on. We get there. We get set up.

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_04]: I start talking to people prepping camp, prepper camp. Everybody's cool and awesome. And

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_04]: there were a decent amount of people there. The guy who ran the ham radio class, this guy ties

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_04]: like, Hey, I got this cool tent set up. I got a generator. I got Starlink. Everything's good.

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_04]: We can you know, hang out. And Ty was awesome and we hung out. And that worked out. Then

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_04]: we met some other people, Amanda and Jeremiah there and whatever that you saw in the email.

[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_04]: Some other good people who were there and took care of us and were like, Hey, you know,

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_04]: we're going to help you get to town and figure out some gas, whatever. It ended up

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_04]: the ham radio guys. Like I got a diesel truck and I got five gallons of gas left over from

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_04]: my generator for the weekend. So I'm happy to share and you know, whatever and take care of you.

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_04]: And that got me back. The five miles, the five gallons of gas. And that's the other thing we'll

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_04]: talk about is fuel mileage in your vehicle. Five gallons got me to a gas station where I could

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_04]: wait two and a half hours in line. I think it was more like three hours, but I didn't like

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_04]: set a timer. I just know I kept looking going, are they going to run out of gas? Are they going to

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_04]: run out of gas? Is it you know, in your panic during a line that's just forever like you can't

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_04]: even see the pumps from where you are. And you know, and you're watching like if people don't

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_04]: speed up to the next bumper, somebody's cutting in and cutting in snake in the line and you're

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_04]: like, Oh, what are you doing? I'll kill you. You know, people are ready to shoot each other

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_04]: and whatever. It was it was high stress. So there's all that. So they hooked me up. But that was the

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_04]: big thing, right? I'm looking at the truck and it's like, Oh, you get like 13 miles to the gallon.

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_04]: And I'm like, man, if we'd taken the minivan, then I'd be getting like 26 miles to the gallon

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_04]: and those gallons go a lot further. And I'd have a lot less stress. So that's something to think

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_04]: about when you choose your vehicle. Now, would it have had the height and the clearance that I needed

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_04]: for some of the areas we came through? Probably not. And actually, believe it or not, a little like

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_04]: two inches higher on the minivan versus the height of my truck would probably have not allowed us

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_04]: to go under some of the trees that we got in. I know a lot of guys with trailers weren't able

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_04]: to get out. And that was big thing. Like they're like, we can't take our trailer through

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_04]: here because we're too tall, you know? And and it's like I said, it was mostly power lines that were

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_04]: down. We didn't see like I said, I saw a lot of mudslides into the road. But we didn't have the

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_04]: tragic flooding that places like, you know, you saw in the pictures in Asheville and like that

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_04]: had anywhere we went, there wasn't really the flooding. But you saw tons and tons of trees

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_04]: that were just saturated and falling over. So anyway, one of the big things that came up,

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_04]: let's kind of get into the prepping stuff. So it just ended up I mean, I had a great time,

[00:16:56] [SPEAKER_04]: a good weekend with it. And it was just high stress because the whole time you're like worried,

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_04]: like am I going to get home? How am I going to get home? Am I going to be camping for 10

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_04]: days? Am I going to, you know, I mean, these are all the things that just go through

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_04]: your mind and stress you out. But it all worked out. And I was like, you know, I'm surrounded by

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_04]: good people and people who are out here having a good time and you know, whatever. And and you do

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_04]: that plus I was trying not to announce to the world that I'm the most unprepared prepping badass

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_04]: that's out there. You know, that's I'm just saying, but you know how that is. But

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_04]: the the other thing we just had had a good time. But as far as prepping what I wish I'd had, well

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_04]: first let's go through some things that were awesome and kicked ass. One, I had my wife there

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_04]: and she was there to give me the motivation we'll say to keep things moving and go in the

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_02]: right way. And it's always important to have your wife around for these sorts of situations

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_04]: to tell you what you should have done. Yes, that is always helpful. I will say a long time ago for

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_04]: my chicken coops, I bought this light bulb that has like a little solar charger pack with it.

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_04]: And it was like 10 bucks. And I was like, Oh, I can put the solar on the roof of the chicken

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_04]: coop and extend winter days, the laying, whatever. I had this with me. This thing was

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_04]: awesome because they actually where we were, they had shower houses that had water just not hot water

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_04]: and no light side. But it had I could take a shower. It was just cold. I brought this thing in with me

[00:18:40] [SPEAKER_04]: and hung it up outside and I'm like you know, and it was cool. And that made the day. I got to

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_04]: say that was that was great. Another big thing obviously food, water. Another big thing that

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_04]: made the day before the trip, I bought one of those like foldable solar packs that you can do that

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_04]: you see people carry on the backpack. Way that worked. And you know, they're on Amazon, they're

[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_04]: everywhere, but it has like the little USB ports and that kind of thing inside. You just plug

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_04]: directly into it. It was cloudy and overcast. And I'm like, I'm not going to get anything

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_04]: with solar. And my phone went from zero to 17% in less than an hour, you know, in the clouds

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_04]: and everything out there. So that was kind of huge because I was able to keep things going.

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_04]: I also because I was doing the, I was doing a talk on EMPs. I actually had brought a bunch of those

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_04]: little solar battery blocks kind of thing that you have to drop your phone. You see them for

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_04]: like 20 or 29 bucks now. I don't know, everything gets more expensive. I bought them for all like

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_04]: 15 to 20 when I bought them, but who knows what they are now. I had those that I could

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_04]: plug a phone in and charge, but it was nice to check out the solar and not drain those down.

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_04]: You know, I was able to leave those until you know, until I needed them as a last resort.

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_04]: Right? So I knew I always had a backup, but I got to say we went 150 miles before we could

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_04]: really connect to maps or have real phone service or send a text or do anything. And that's insane.

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_04]: You know, I mean, I'm not blaming anyone. I'm just saying it's not how we expect the world to be.

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Right? Right. One of the main things that I see with hurricanes is people going into water,

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, like the area is flooded and just like, well, I can walk through that. I can drive my car

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_02]: through that. We had a hurricane Irene hit up where I live about 10 years ago. And I remember

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_02]: being parked where the road was flooded at. I saw a guy on the other side in his pickup truck.

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, he's not going to drive through that. You could see where the guard rail went

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_02]: underneath the water. So it was the least, you know, three feet deep. And the guy got in

[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_02]: there about three or four feet deep and his truck started floating. I don't know how deep it ended

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_02]: up being, but he had to climb out and sit on the roof of his pickup truck, him and his girlfriend,

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_02]: which I'm sure she was talking shit the whole time. But I mean, it was it was deserved. Like,

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_02]: what do you do? Don't don't drive through that shit after hurricanes, you know, even after

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_02]: the hurricanes past. Be really careful about going on the about going into the water, you know,

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_02]: things have changed. You might think, you know what's underneath that water, but things have changed,

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_02]: you know? So a lot of that stuff is, is, you know, common sense. But, you know, a lot of people

[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_02]: get hurt doing it, you know, you could walk in water that's got a power, a live power line

[00:21:58] [SPEAKER_02]: in it, you don't you don't know what's in there. And a lot of people get hurt doing

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_02]: that sort of bullshit. The other thing is to be aware of is documenting or saving your phone calls

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_02]: for emergencies, you know? I remember after September 11th, that was in New Jersey, had a

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_02]: family in New York and I tried to call them and it was just everything was busy dead. And,

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, it's one of those things that you shouldn't be calling shouldn't be tying

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_02]: up lines with, you know, with bullshit that's not necessary, especially when there's real

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_02]: emergencies happen and people are, you know, in actual danger. One of the big things you see in

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_02]: a lot of these hurricanes is do people people getting, you know, thinking that they're not

[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_02]: going to get flooded stay at home. And then the floodwater raises up to the first floor.

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_02]: So they go up to the second floor, and water keeps rising so they get up in the attic and

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_02]: then they don't have anywhere else to go when the water keeps coming up, you know? You

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_02]: keep thinking the water is going to start going down anytime now, but you don't know,

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, there's a lot of rivers that, you know, will not even swell until, you know,

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_02]: a day or two after the rain is done because they, you know, because they're all the tributaries

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_02]: are still running into those, running into those rivers. A lot of spots don't actually flood

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_02]: until, you know, six or 12 hours after the rain started. So, you know, that's another thing to

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_02]: pay attention to. Another big thing to think about is a lot of these people, a lot of people think

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_02]: it's never flooded where I live, you know? I live high up in the mountain or I live up on a hill

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_02]: and it's never going to flood here. That's true. That's true until you get one of these,

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, century, you know, once in a lifetime storms that actually hits your area and,

[00:23:54] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, you don't know what's going to happen specifically when it's hitting you directly,

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_02]: you know? The other thing to pay attention to is your drinking water. Generally speaking,

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_02]: if you're on like a municipal water or something like that, the water will be fine. It'll be okay.

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_02]: But if that water starts coming out brown, take note of that. You know,

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_02]: stick to your bottled water if something seems off with your drinking water. A lot of those diseases,

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_02]: a lot of things spread with those kinds of diseases, you know, flooding. You know, it'll flood out

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_02]: the sewer side, the septic tanks, it'll flood out the sewer plants. You know, I know during

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Irene I was working at a wastewater plant and the river came right up over the water plant. So

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_02]: everybody that was flushed in their toilet was just going directly out into the river. And

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_02]: I know downstream, a lot of people took that river water in for, you know, for drinking water

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_02]: and you have to be conscientious. You know, I mean, honestly, you shouldn't know where your

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_02]: water is coming from. You should know where your water plant is and you should know where

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_02]: your wastewater plant is if you live in a city. A lot of people are on wells and a lot of people

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_02]: have leach fields and things like that. And that's, you know, that's a big plus as long as you don't

[00:25:21] [SPEAKER_02]: get directly flooded and your well doesn't, you know, your well isn't under five, your well

[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_02]: is not under a couple feet of water because that water is getting in there. And it's just mud

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_02]: that's coming in from outside where animals been shitting. I don't know where you piss,

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_02]: but you know, I mean, all that stuff is going right into your well if it's underwater.

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Wells are great because, you know, the ground filters out most of the stuff that's coming

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_02]: into it from the sides and that's great. But, you know, when it's underwater, it can get in

[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_02]: without getting any of that filtering and without any of that benefit of having that well.

[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_02]: A lot of diseases are spread during these storms, especially when people don't have

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_02]: great facilities to begin with. I know when Haiti had a hurricane, there was a big outbreak of,

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_02]: I think it was cholera, you know, some form of dysentery and it just spread like wildfire.

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_02]: One person got it, was, you know, poop in the wrong spot and it got into the water supply.

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_02]: People were drinking unclean water and getting sick and it was like a huge outbreak that,

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, really wasn't needed at all in crisis. But, you know, those things are,

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_02]: you got to be careful with those things. You know, they get out of hand fast.

[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_02]: One of the things I would say for preparing for a hurricane is make sure you have clean

[00:26:52] [SPEAKER_02]: drinking water. Make sure you have bottled water. Make sure you have, you know, jugs of water,

[00:26:56] [SPEAKER_02]: access to water, even water that, you know, isn't clean that you can use to like flush your toilet

[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_02]: or, you know, just wash your hands off, you know, with some soap. It makes a big difference

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_02]: having access to clean water that's not going to get you sick. Dehydration is a big issue

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_02]: and, you know, like Chris was saying, there's water everywhere. You know, it's all around you.

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_02]: No problem. But, you know, that water is not safe to drink and it's not safe to,

[00:27:32] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, it's not safe for consumption. And you really don't want to be drinking mud

[00:27:37] [SPEAKER_02]: water when it comes down to it, you know, you're going to end up getting dehydrated just from

[00:27:42] [SPEAKER_02]: from the diarrhea you have. One of the other big things that I think a lot of people missed out on

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_02]: in this situation was the battery powered radios. Cell phones weren't working, cell towers were down,

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER_02]: power lines were down, internet cable, Wi-Fi, all that stuff was down, and nobody had good way to

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_02]: information. And one of the few ways that that will always work is radios. Radio in your car,

[00:28:17] [SPEAKER_02]: radio inside, you know, if you're lucky you could go outside and start your car and just

[00:28:23] [SPEAKER_02]: sit in your car and listen to the radio. But those hand crank radios, they're usually bullshit.

[00:28:30] [SPEAKER_02]: They're usually suck ass. It's better to just have a battery powered radio where you can get,

[00:28:35] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, the alerts, flash flood warnings, the local governments and things like that that can

[00:28:40] [SPEAKER_02]: keep you on track for that sort of stuff. Another thing I see a lot of people doing

[00:28:46] [SPEAKER_02]: is not evacuating. Not evacuating when the told to evacuate that happened in Hurricane Katrina down

[00:28:57] [SPEAKER_02]: in, uh, uh, down in Louisiana. A lot of people just either weren't able to or thought we'll be fine.

[00:29:07] [SPEAKER_02]: It'll be fine. We've had hurricanes here before and they ended up drowning. They ended up, you

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_02]: know, not making it. I think a lot of, a lot of people overestimate their preparedness when

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_02]: it comes to these sorts of emergencies. You know, these are, this isn't, you know,

[00:29:25] [SPEAKER_02]: this isn't a rainstorm. This is a hurricane and it's a big deal. The wind, especially in these

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_02]: areas like Asheville where there's so many trees. I mean, it's right in the middle of a forest.

[00:29:36] [SPEAKER_02]: These roads that are these mountain road winding mountain roads that got washed out.

[00:29:40] [SPEAKER_02]: These, uh, powers power line was down everywhere because there are so many trees.

[00:29:46] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's basically a city inside a giant forest all around it.

[00:29:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Um, and uh, you know, that stuff people don't realize how long the power can be out

[00:29:58] [SPEAKER_02]: when it gets to be one of these big storms. You know, um, a lot of us think of, you know,

[00:30:04] [SPEAKER_02]: 12 hours is a long time to go without power and for most storms, that's the case.

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_02]: But in this situation, we're here three or four days later and there's still a lot of

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_02]: people out of power without power after the storm. What do you do? Well, I mean,

[00:30:18] [SPEAKER_02]: then it's time to start cleanup, right? You still don't have internet. You still don't have water.

[00:30:25] [SPEAKER_02]: But you have to be really careful because if you get hurt while you're cleaning up,

[00:30:30] [SPEAKER_02]: while you're doing stuff, there's not going to be anybody to get there to help you out.

[00:30:35] [SPEAKER_02]: You might be stuck with a with a broken leg or arm, uh, sitting in the mud for three or four

[00:30:41] [SPEAKER_02]: hours before anyone even notices you're there. Uh, a lot of these, um, a lot of these situations

[00:30:49] [SPEAKER_02]: it's best to take things slow and easy until, you know, until people with the trucks, the

[00:30:57] [SPEAKER_02]: power lot, power companies, the, you know, the earth movers can get in there and start

[00:31:03] [SPEAKER_02]: getting things straightened out. Um, when the, when the ambulances and the emergency rooms

[00:31:11] [SPEAKER_02]: and everything are overrun with, with victims, you don't want to be one of those people that's,

[00:31:14] [SPEAKER_02]: that's sitting in, in line in the emergency room for eight hours because you, uh, you know,

[00:31:20] [SPEAKER_02]: because everyone, every bed is taken, every doctor is, isn't available. You don't want to

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_02]: be one of those people, you know, you want to be at home, you know, chill out, listen to your

[00:31:32] [SPEAKER_02]: podcasts and hanging out with me. You don't want to be sitting in a waiting room with those,

[00:31:37] [SPEAKER_02]: with those gross sick people, you know, end up infected yourself with something nasty.

[00:31:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Another thing I see a lot of people do when power outages come along is stupid. If you're

[00:31:48] [SPEAKER_02]: listening to this podcast, you probably know, uh, don't run your generator in your house.

[00:31:53] [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, if it's a gas or diesel generator, don't run it in your house. Those exhaust creams

[00:31:58] [SPEAKER_02]: will kill you. You'll die of carbon monoxide and that's it. Just get a headache, fall asleep

[00:32:03] [SPEAKER_02]: and that's the end of your life. You don't want to be in that situation, uh, over something stupid

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER_02]: like that. Another stupid thing I saw people doing was moving grills into their house to warm them up,

[00:32:15] [SPEAKER_02]: catching on fire, burn the fucking house down because they don't know what they're doing.

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't be the asshole. Don't be the dummy that does that. Don't be the dummy that, uh,

[00:32:23] [SPEAKER_02]: lights their house on fire or poisons themselves by, by running stuff indoors that

[00:32:28] [SPEAKER_02]: isn't meant for indoors. Obviously don't walk swim or swim or drive through floodwaters. That's a,

[00:32:34] [SPEAKER_02]: a big deal that we already touched on. Um, be careful about electrical wires. They might be dead.

[00:32:40] [SPEAKER_02]: They might not be dead though. They might, you know, if the line's down, it might still be

[00:32:45] [SPEAKER_02]: live on one end of those wires and, uh, you'd want to be guessing on, on whether or not you

[00:32:50] [SPEAKER_02]: can touch it before you touch it. And then the last thing really is documenting your property

[00:32:55] [SPEAKER_02]: damage. You know, call your insurance company and see what services they provide, but also,

[00:33:00] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, keep track of what you have and what was destroyed, what was damaged.

[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Turn all that shit into the, uh, insurance company. They're going to try and fuck you

[00:33:08] [SPEAKER_02]: out of as much money as possible. Don't let them do it, man. Don't let them do it.

[00:33:12] [SPEAKER_02]: They'll rip you off if they can. Those companies never have any problem taking your pay,

[00:33:16] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, taking your payments, but as soon as it comes to paying out, it's a different story.

[00:33:19] [SPEAKER_02]: What we learn out of this hurricane, this is, that's like, uh, the biggest, um,

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_02]: uh, biggest thing we can do when we deal with one of these, uh, natural disasters is

[00:33:29] [SPEAKER_02]: what did we take out of this event? Um, how can we get better prepared for, uh, the next once in

[00:33:36] [SPEAKER_02]: a lifetime, uh, event that seemed to happen five or six times in our lifetimes. A lot of people

[00:33:42] [SPEAKER_02]: were out of power. And so I think that that's something that obviously everybody should be

[00:33:47] [SPEAKER_02]: preparing for whether you're in line of a hurricane. Um, you know, if you're on the

[00:33:52] [SPEAKER_02]: panhandle in Florida or something, or whether you're not generally in the line of, uh, hurricanes

[00:33:57] [SPEAKER_02]: like Asheville, uh, Asheville, North Carolina's mountain. I've been there a lot of quite a

[00:34:03] [SPEAKER_02]: few times. My, my grandma used to live there. I used to go visit her. Um, but what can you take

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_02]: out of these, uh, these events when these happen? They're, they're, you know, all you

[00:34:14] [SPEAKER_02]: can do is learn from your mistakes and, and, uh, make decisions that are going to prevent

[00:34:22] [SPEAKER_04]: those same mistakes from happening to you again. The, uh, the, one of the big things like we

[00:34:26] [SPEAKER_04]: always had the plan for like water filtration and stuff, but you see that, that flooding and

[00:34:32] [SPEAKER_04]: stuff going on in Asheville and you're not filtering that water. I mean, you can,

[00:34:38] [SPEAKER_04]: but I mean, it's a huge ordeal of separating that mud and toxic and disaster everywhere.

[00:34:45] [SPEAKER_04]: You don't, you don't want to be dealing with that. So one of the big things I would say

[00:34:50] [SPEAKER_04]: is one really pay attention to the weather and the things coming. Uh, when you hear

[00:34:57] [SPEAKER_04]: a storm's coming like take it seriously, you know, really watch it. Um,

[00:35:02] [SPEAKER_04]: one of the big things like people were putting their stuff high up, you know,

[00:35:06] [SPEAKER_04]: putting it where you know, it's going to be safe and not get damaged. Now, if you have

[00:35:12] [SPEAKER_04]: water cases of water and the floor in the garage and you're like, Oh, the water might get to two

[00:35:17] [SPEAKER_04]: feet in my garage. Well, okay, there are cases of water. You can probably figure it out,

[00:35:22] [SPEAKER_04]: you know, like you could move it as it goes, whatever that kind of thing. But there are a

[00:35:26] [SPEAKER_04]: lot of things that can't get wet and, and just understand that and maybe getting

[00:35:32] [SPEAKER_04]: some containers to store your stuff properly, your food, your that kind of stuff,

[00:35:36] [SPEAKER_04]: having that set up beforehand start to think of how you do your storage and hey, if some kind of

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_04]: crazy flooding. Now obviously there's places that flooding isn't going to happen, you know?

[00:35:49] [SPEAKER_04]: I know I picked my house out based on, you know, Hey, if there was a big flood,

[00:35:54] [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, again, you weigh all the pros and cons, but I noted, you know, the water table

[00:36:01] [SPEAKER_04]: and in the area, like Kevin is up on a big hill. The odds of Kevin's house flooding now,

[00:36:06] [SPEAKER_04]: he might flood from rain with two inches of surface water, three inches, four inches,

[00:36:11] [SPEAKER_04]: but he's not going to get flash flooding of huge amounts because he's actually near a creek,

[00:36:17] [SPEAKER_04]: but just the same, he's like 50 feet above the creek. So that creek's really going to rise.

[00:36:24] [SPEAKER_04]: Same thing with me, you know, the nearest creek is like 50 feet down in the whole sea level

[00:36:30] [SPEAKER_04]: thing, you know, compared to where I'm at, probably not going to get big flash flooding,

[00:36:35] [SPEAKER_04]: but you have to be aware of what's around you and what's coming. And obviously,

[00:36:39] [SPEAKER_04]: you know, if you're right underneath the Hoover dam, that might be different, you know, 50 feet

[00:36:44] [SPEAKER_04]: might not be enough, you know? I don't know, but we just have to take all that into account.

[00:36:50] [SPEAKER_04]: But just the same, could the flooding isolate you where you couldn't get out?

[00:36:57] [SPEAKER_04]: You know, how long do you have storage for stuff like that?

[00:37:00] [SPEAKER_02]: That does happen to me during huge rain events that it'll, you know,

[00:37:06] [SPEAKER_02]: flood out one of the roads that is one of the only road, you know, the only road

[00:37:10] [SPEAKER_04]: out of my area. Definitely can happen, right, where you're just stuck. And so, you know,

[00:37:16] [SPEAKER_04]: it's something to think about. To have a plan either one, I can deal with staying here.

[00:37:21] [SPEAKER_04]: You know, a lot of you guys have been prepping for winter storms and that kind of stuff.

[00:37:26] [SPEAKER_04]: You can, you know, you plan to, hey, I might get stuck and have to hunker down.

[00:37:32] [SPEAKER_04]: You know, the road might close out for three months, you know, that it could ice up.

[00:37:37] [SPEAKER_04]: Obviously, you live in a pretty isolated remote area if that's the case.

[00:37:41] [SPEAKER_04]: But just the same, you take action for that. You need to be aware of that.

[00:37:45] [SPEAKER_04]: And nobody saw flooding coming the way that it did, like as much as they got.

[00:37:52] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, in my mind, I'm like, right?

[00:37:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Where it's in the mountains, you know what I mean?

[00:37:57] [SPEAKER_04]: Mountains, how could I flood? I'm on top of a mountain, you know?

[00:38:02] [SPEAKER_04]: Even the great flood, they probably were pretty good for a while, you know,

[00:38:06] [SPEAKER_04]: that kind of thing. It's just, yeah, but turns out, you know, the unexpected can happen.

[00:38:12] [SPEAKER_04]: And that's one of the big things about prepping is, you know, being prepared for the unexpected.

[00:38:20] [SPEAKER_04]: All right. But one of the other lessons learned maps.

[00:38:24] [SPEAKER_04]: So I was talking to the people at Prepper Camp when I gave my lecture,

[00:38:29] [SPEAKER_04]: I was like, oh, am I get home back? I always have a map.

[00:38:32] [SPEAKER_04]: And the map I have in there is a Ram McNally road atlas for the United States.

[00:38:38] [SPEAKER_04]: But it turns out it didn't have all those little roads right there.

[00:38:42] [SPEAKER_04]: Now, and I, somebody came up and was like really drilling down with questions, you know,

[00:38:48] [SPEAKER_04]: what do you do? And I said, look, to be honest, I said, I live in North Carolina.

[00:38:53] [SPEAKER_04]: So I have a map of North Carolina that is more detailed and more specific

[00:38:59] [SPEAKER_04]: because the majority of my travel is there, right?

[00:39:01] [SPEAKER_04]: But if I'm driving from North Carolina to New York, do I have an individual map for each one

[00:39:10] [SPEAKER_04]: of those places? I don't. Right? It just, you do what you can do, right?

[00:39:16] [SPEAKER_04]: I have a detailed map in New York. I have a detailed map in North Carolina,

[00:39:19] [SPEAKER_04]: but I lived in both those places. Do I have a detailed map in New Jersey and all these other

[00:39:24] [SPEAKER_04]: places? No. In my mind, I'm like, well, I just have to get to a highway.

[00:39:30] [SPEAKER_04]: And you can always find a highway. And then I'll find that on the map and I'm good to go.

[00:39:34] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, when you're in a desperate situation, we couldn't get out.

[00:39:39] [SPEAKER_04]: Like we drove and they're like, oh, you're entering South Carolina.

[00:39:43] [SPEAKER_04]: And I'm like, oh, we're right on the edge here. And they're like, oh, but you got to turn around

[00:39:48] [SPEAKER_04]: and go back. And then, all right, now there's all these other random roads. Which one?

[00:39:53] [SPEAKER_04]: And then my wife is like, there's a car. Follow them. They probably know where they're going.

[00:39:58] [SPEAKER_04]: But you don't know. You don't know if they don't know.

[00:40:01] [SPEAKER_02]: They might live down that street and they're just going home.

[00:40:03] [SPEAKER_04]: And they're just going home, it's whatever. But that's the kind of thing. So

[00:40:07] [SPEAKER_04]: the more you can prepare for that kind of thing or draw out, hey, I'm going into this area that's

[00:40:13] [SPEAKER_04]: really remote off the highway, let me draw out a map. But the thing is, even if I drove

[00:40:19] [SPEAKER_04]: the map of where I was going in, I still, all right, that road's now closed. What's

[00:40:26] [SPEAKER_04]: your plan B? Well, I don't know. That was the problem. It's like every turn we took,

[00:40:34] [SPEAKER_04]: there's new trees in the road and new mud and whatever stopping you from going.

[00:40:41] [SPEAKER_04]: When you're running out of gas, you start to panic like, oh, I can't go here. What do I do?

[00:40:46] [SPEAKER_04]: All right, I got to go there. All right, I'm just burning gas for no reason. And

[00:40:50] [SPEAKER_04]: it's the unknown of, there's nothing on my phone that says, hey, in 10 miles, well,

[00:40:55] [SPEAKER_04]: it said in 10 miles, there's a gas station, but you don't know if they're going to have power or

[00:41:00] [SPEAKER_04]: whatever. And that was the thing. Do we take the chance and drive off the exit and go look for it?

[00:41:07] [SPEAKER_04]: And it may or may not be there. And the thing is the further from the exit,

[00:41:11] [SPEAKER_04]: the more likely they are to have gas if they have power.

[00:41:14] [SPEAKER_04]: Right. So you're trying to juggle it all and it was just crazy. So it's that kind of unexpected.

[00:41:22] [SPEAKER_04]: And I feel like a lot of people in prepping, and I'm guilty of this to some extent myself, is

[00:41:29] [SPEAKER_04]: something bad happens and then we react. Right. Like, oh, you know this, I'm never going

[00:41:37] [SPEAKER_04]: into the middle of a hurricane without gas cans in the back of my car. Well, yeah,

[00:41:41] [SPEAKER_04]: that's good now. That's not really helpful. Right. Now, you know, I had lots of coffee

[00:41:49] [SPEAKER_04]: because I had already learned that lesson. That's one of the things Kevin always talks about is go

[00:41:54] [SPEAKER_04]: camping, go do stuff where you get to test yourself. You get to test what's going on.

[00:42:01] [SPEAKER_04]: And that's where you learn these lessons. I would say that's where that ham radio and

[00:42:07] [SPEAKER_04]: being able to call out for help, you know, having even if it's the cheap bow fang with a better antenna

[00:42:12] [SPEAKER_04]: or something like that, some level of communication or at least have a neighbor, you know, who's going

[00:42:19] [SPEAKER_04]: to have that level of communication to be able to get out for some of these people in towns.

[00:42:25] [SPEAKER_04]: You know, I've been talking to a lot of people about what's going on in North Carolina here

[00:42:30] [SPEAKER_04]: and they're finding bodies and bad things. It's not pretty out there and these people really

[00:42:36] [SPEAKER_04]: got wiped out and it's like the water got so high and they're finding bodies in trees and,

[00:42:43] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, it's just like crazy. Yeah, it's like the death toll is over 200 now. I mean,

[00:42:49] [SPEAKER_04]: it's still rising but, you know, just still can't get in and you just,

[00:42:55] [SPEAKER_04]: there's no way the power comes back quickly. If you saw the devastation, it's just unbelievable

[00:43:02] [SPEAKER_04]: when you see every single line ripped down. It's like, oh, go put all the power in for

[00:43:08] [SPEAKER_04]: yeah, the entire town or a state's worth of, you know, stuff so that it's kind of unbelievable.

[00:43:15] [SPEAKER_04]: Another thing I wanted to touch on, did you see all the cars that were catching on fire,

[00:43:22] [SPEAKER_04]: people who had electric cars in Florida, the garages were flooding up. It got under the car.

[00:43:29] [SPEAKER_04]: The cars caught on fire and were burning down the house. There was like four or five instances of that.

[00:43:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Shit. I didn't think of that. I didn't think that they would light on fire like that though.

[00:43:39] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it was because of the batteries. It's the whole like lithium ion thing that they were

[00:43:45] [SPEAKER_04]: and so that was a thing. They were like, they were actually burning down their houses

[00:43:49] [SPEAKER_04]: with the flood because their cars, the fire department's fighting that. I saw a big story on that.

[00:43:54] [SPEAKER_04]: It's funny. A lot of the stories you'll see a lot at first and then somehow they all disappear like

[00:44:00] [SPEAKER_04]: Google's like, oh, we don't like that idea. No, it was funny. I saw it like as far as

[00:44:06] [SPEAKER_04]: the conspiracy stuff. I saw a bunch of stuff where people were talking about how they were

[00:44:16] [SPEAKER_04]: finding these little blue gel packets or whatever that they were seeding the storm and that's why we

[00:44:22] [SPEAKER_04]: got the big. But then when I went to pull up pictures so I could show you guys, not there.

[00:44:28] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm gone. You're not finding anything on the internet. DARPA took care of that buddy. DARPA

[00:44:34] [SPEAKER_04]: got you straight. If you do find those and want to put them in the comments, that'd be awesome.

[00:44:41] [SPEAKER_04]: The actual seeds is what they're saying. Yeah. Yeah. So they kind of look like the blue

[00:44:49] [SPEAKER_04]: like tide pods except small, you know, like little and they were saying that it somehow

[00:44:57] [SPEAKER_04]: had been tied. They were finding it in other countries as well with the storms. Now some

[00:45:02] [SPEAKER_04]: people were making an argument that it was part of the pollution that were it's causing it to

[00:45:09] [SPEAKER_04]: gel and you know, in the atmosphere we have so many micro plastics that they're just

[00:45:14] [SPEAKER_04]: clumping together in the in the clouds. So that that was another way you could go with that.

[00:45:20] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm not sure about any of that. I'm just saying that the internet changes the reality

[00:45:25] [SPEAKER_04]: every day. It's just constantly. So be aware of that. Another thing I did find an article

[00:45:32] [SPEAKER_04]: about King Mountain has that was one of the towns that kind of got wiped out in North Carolina.

[00:45:41] [SPEAKER_04]: They had a proposed lithium mine and they were like, oh, they had to go flood the whole area

[00:45:47] [SPEAKER_04]: because now the town's on board with turning it into a giant lithium mine. Yeah. Who's

[00:45:53] [SPEAKER_02]: after the lithium? I mean, I it's cell phone. It's the car batteries for your Tesla and your

[00:45:59] [SPEAKER_03]: right. Right. So is it Elon Musk that's trying to run people out? Who's and who's behind?

[00:46:05] [SPEAKER_04]: Did he not put all that stuff in space? Could he not have maybe?

[00:46:11] [SPEAKER_03]: You see where I'm going. Yep. He shot all those satellites up there and they all had like

[00:46:16] [SPEAKER_03]: five gallons of water and then when the time was right, they all shot down. Took it out.

[00:46:23] [SPEAKER_04]: Took that thing down. I'm picking up what I'm putting down. I don't know. That was just

[00:46:28] [SPEAKER_04]: the crazy end of it. But so like I said, having a stockpile of food and water and actually being

[00:46:36] [SPEAKER_04]: able to protect it and store it in a safe place that's going to be there. Now we can't see the

[00:46:41] [SPEAKER_04]: future. I mean, we saw a video of houses washing down the road. Right? Or I did. I don't know.

[00:46:47] [SPEAKER_04]: There were some like rolling through town. The guy's filming in a house goes by and you're

[00:46:51] [SPEAKER_04]: like really? Like, you know, that guy, I don't know what he could have done to prepare.

[00:46:56] [SPEAKER_04]: Right? I mean, I'm like, yeah, maybe seatbelts in the upstairs. You know, I don't know.

[00:47:03] [SPEAKER_04]: And you know, the same thing like tornadoes come in and wipe out people. Right? So there's always

[00:47:08] [SPEAKER_04]: times, but I would say storing your stuff in multiple locations is definitely a key.

[00:47:16] [SPEAKER_04]: You know, a tornado might wipe out your house, but if you would bury the 55-gallon

[00:47:21] [SPEAKER_04]: drama supplies, then that would be one set of supplies that would be safe. Now, if you had

[00:47:28] [SPEAKER_04]: buried your 55-gallon drama supplies and it wasn't watertight, and even if you were flooded with three

[00:47:34] [SPEAKER_04]: feet of water, you're probably not getting it. Right? But if that was one of your locations,

[00:47:40] [SPEAKER_04]: and the other one was in the attic, then you'd have multiple scenarios. Right? The one would

[00:47:46] [SPEAKER_04]: have been taken out in a tornado. One would have been taken out in a flood, but you'd still

[00:47:50] [SPEAKER_04]: have 50% of your stores in any given crisis. So think about that. Think about ways to do it.

[00:47:59] [SPEAKER_04]: But another thing, one of the people we were at prepper camp with, they had a hotel and it was

[00:48:06] [SPEAKER_04]: crazy because they showed up at one o'clock in the afternoon, set up their stuff, and the hotel

[00:48:13] [SPEAKER_04]: was 15 miles away, went to go back to the hotel, and the road was gone, and they couldn't get

[00:48:20] [SPEAKER_04]: back to the hotel. And so they're like, well, we don't even have something to sleep in or bottled

[00:48:26] [SPEAKER_04]: water or anything like that because you didn't know what was going to happen. And so that kind of

[00:48:36] [SPEAKER_04]: thing, always have some backup in your car. And I'm like, yeah, I have my get home bag,

[00:48:42] [SPEAKER_04]: but I really just have those thermal sleeping bags. I didn't have nice blankets that could

[00:48:48] [SPEAKER_04]: make your lives a lot more comfortable. I had water to share, but it was like, I don't know how

[00:48:55] [SPEAKER_04]: to help you, and I feel bad. It's like, ah, but that's the kind of thing. And people realize

[00:49:03] [SPEAKER_04]: how crazy it can get in the unexpected. So that's it. Any more things you'd want to stock for

[00:49:10] [SPEAKER_02]: a hurricane that I missed or? No, I mean, just like to reiterate bottled water because

[00:49:16] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, big storms like that can destroy your, you know, your clean drinking water,

[00:49:21] [SPEAKER_02]: wherever you get it from, whether it's well in the house or water plant. And, and, you know,

[00:49:29] [SPEAKER_04]: always carry an extra pair of socks, man. Communications and maps are always nice too.

[00:49:35] [SPEAKER_04]: I just got to say those people are really stuck where they can't get information in or

[00:49:40] [SPEAKER_04]: information out. And that's a big thing. And so knowing extra routes out is huge.

[00:49:48] [SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, and there's the normal stuff, but it's just, yeah, I need food and water. I need,

[00:49:54] [SPEAKER_04]: you know, to be able to maintain and need to be able to stay dry. But aside of that, you know,

[00:50:00] [SPEAKER_04]: maybe have some extra tarps, things like that in the garage that you'd be able to go to.

[00:50:04] [SPEAKER_04]: And hey, I can patch that hole in the roof. You don't know how many houses I saw with trees

[00:50:09] [SPEAKER_04]: through the roof. It was unbelievable. Dude, I saw probably like 15 houses with trees through the

[00:50:15] [SPEAKER_04]: roof. Not saying on the roof like whatever, because that number is way up. I'm saying through the

[00:50:21] [SPEAKER_04]: roof and it's, oh, there's a tree in my living room and I can't get out because I'm old and,

[00:50:26] [SPEAKER_04]: you know, not as capable. And that happens. So with that, stay safe and we'll talk to you guys

[00:50:33] [SPEAKER_04]: next week.

[00:51:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Friends of NRA. Visit friendsofnra.org to find an event near you. Stand up for freedom with the

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