Being in the northeast part of the country, my region had a few days to prepare for the arrival of the storm. This was both a blessing and a curse (more time to prepare, more time to worry). Normally, when one thinks of preparing for an emergency (and in my community's case, an evacuation), one thinks of cramming whatever necessities one can think of into a bag and racing out the door in a harried hurry.
However, in our case, we knew of the storm's trajectory and timetable as far back as Wednesday...knowing that it would hit us over the weekend. There were repeated trips to the local retail superstores and small hardware stores for the usual items (batteries, flashlights, radios, etc.). Each trip was tempered with the pacifying thought of, "It's okay; there's still time to go back out again," while the reality of rapidly emptying shelves contributed to the anxiety. The goals even changed, as we originally had planned to hunker down in the house...until the local officials gave the mandatory evacuation order.
This was, however, the first time that I'd had to prepare for a multiple-life-endangering event* as a parent. In the past, if there was a meltdown at the local nuclear plant, or an earthquake, or a floating asbestos cloud coming our way, all I had to think about was getting myself out of harm's way (and deciding on the fly if I felt brave enough to save a stranger's life if it were in my immediate path). Even after getting married, I only had to open the plan up to one other fully-functional and intelligent adult human.
(*Apologies for the lengthy and self-invented term...but "natural disaster" didn't seem broad enough, what with the inclusion of nuclear meltdowns and the like.)
This time, my wife and I needed to make sure that three barely sentient younglings would survive whatever destruction this hurricane could wreak. As we went to sleep that night in our alternate shelter (a relative's house that was not in the direct path of the storm), we had more questions to ask ourselves than we would have if it had just been the two of us:
- Had we brought enough food and milk? (we have twin infants who survive on---primarily---pumped breast milk)
- Did we have enough diapers?
- What if one of us were up in a tree with our children in our arms when a gust of wind and a tidal wave came crashing over us, forcing us to decide which child we could hold onto if we began losing our grasp on the tree?
I'm happy to report that we have all survived (not that there was any serious concern to the contrary) and our home was undamaged (which was something to be more realistically concerned about). So we live to worry for another day.
In the meantime, here are some useful resources that I found for parents who would like to minimize (let's not kid ourselves with the word "avoid") the worries for the next hurricane.
ABC News Nightline had a useful story on how to discuss hurricanes with your children. Although the child being discussed is 8 years old (and mine are much younger), it does highlight the importance of how an honest (albeit non-graphic) conversation with your child can be pivotal in reducing their own stress.
Papiblogger also had a good, brief list of useful tips for people who have not experienced many hurricanes. Some might call these tips "common sense," but that term only applies if you have a lot of first hand experience with hurricanes (which most people outside of Florida do not).
