David and Lisa Sangelo live in Colorado. Their home sits on a hillside overlooking the St. Vrain River. Green rolling hillsides... Rocky Mountain foothills... and the highway connecting them to civilization. Early one morning around 2:00 AM in 2013, they awoke to sirens blaring. Their phone rang with a reverse emergency call telling them to seek safety. A voice boomed through the emergency system speakers in the valley: “Impending flood,” it warned. “Seek higher ground immediately."
Yet, David and Lisa remained calm. David said, “I got up with the sirens, looked at the valley and figured we were on high enough ground.” But less than 5 hours later, the family awoke to view of “total devastation,” according to David. The St. Vrain River was an angry, white-capped monster.
“The whole valley had turned into raging rapids with debris, propane tanks, whole trees, a refrigerator, and a big roof of a house just floating by. Houses were under water.” Chunks of the road below their home were gone. Washed away by the swollen river. To make matters worse, their home had no power, no phone, and no internet.
You can see a picture of the flood in this article: https://www.scmp.com/news/world/art...randed-floods-watch-waters-rise-and-wait-help
At this point David decided to leave Lisa and their children to walk two miles to the nearest town. But, David couldn't make it past the high water. He tried a second time and eventually made it to emergency personnel in Lyons, who told him to evacuate. But he couldn't leave his family behind, so he headed back home on foot.
For the next 24 hours, David and Lisa took turns sleeping, and monitoring the rising water. Finally, the family made the decision to hike out of the valley. Thankfully, they managed to scramble to the evacuation zone. From there, rescuers transported them to a nearby shelter to ride out the flood.
I'm not going to second guess David and Lisa’s decision not to evacuate when they first heard the sirens going off… they are grown adults and can choose what to do what they think is best. But, this story raises an important question:
Is it better to bug out and get mobile during a large scale disaster, or hunker down and shelter in place?
Obviously, a major factor in the decision will be the type and severity of the disaster. Here are a few more factors to think about when deciding to leave or stay.
Evacuation routes: You likely have a "normal" route you take when you leave your home. But, do you have a way to check the conditions of this specific road? Ideally, you should map out multiple "bug out routes". And have ways to check the accessibility of each before deciding on the best one.
Secure entrances: There is no point is staying home if you are unable to secure your house, hide out or bunker. If one of your entrances is exposed with no way to defend it, then you are better off getting out of dodge. Or if the emergency is so close that it blocks an entrance or exit -- for instance a wildfire -- then you probably don’t want to stay.
Working backups: Most people who plan to hunker down have a generator for minimal back up power. But, generators can and have failed during emergencies. So, before it’s too late to leave, fire up your generator to ensure it’s working and that you have enough fuel to survive. And, try to have more than one generator (gas, propane, solar).
Communications: If communications are down, it's a sign the disaster has had far-reaching effects. If you can’t get information via television, phone, or radio, you need to connect with another human being. If you live in a more rural area, make sure you and your neighbors have CB or short wave radios to talk to one another.
Emergency services: During a disaster, police and fire may not be able to respond to calls for service. You need to know whether they are still even active in any meaningful way. Think... when was the last time you spoke to or even saw a first responder? If they are unable to help, or worse, if the first responders themselves have evacuated town, you probably should as well.
Utilities: Are your power, sewer, and gas still functioning? If the answer is no, you need to see if you can communicate with the “outside world” to see if there are utilities working elsewhere. If so, head that way. If not, just hunker down.
Bottom line, you need to prepare to either hunker down or bug out -- as necessary -- during an emergency. In other words, you need to be versatile. Just some food for thought.
Yet, David and Lisa remained calm. David said, “I got up with the sirens, looked at the valley and figured we were on high enough ground.” But less than 5 hours later, the family awoke to view of “total devastation,” according to David. The St. Vrain River was an angry, white-capped monster.
“The whole valley had turned into raging rapids with debris, propane tanks, whole trees, a refrigerator, and a big roof of a house just floating by. Houses were under water.” Chunks of the road below their home were gone. Washed away by the swollen river. To make matters worse, their home had no power, no phone, and no internet.
You can see a picture of the flood in this article: https://www.scmp.com/news/world/art...randed-floods-watch-waters-rise-and-wait-help
At this point David decided to leave Lisa and their children to walk two miles to the nearest town. But, David couldn't make it past the high water. He tried a second time and eventually made it to emergency personnel in Lyons, who told him to evacuate. But he couldn't leave his family behind, so he headed back home on foot.
For the next 24 hours, David and Lisa took turns sleeping, and monitoring the rising water. Finally, the family made the decision to hike out of the valley. Thankfully, they managed to scramble to the evacuation zone. From there, rescuers transported them to a nearby shelter to ride out the flood.
I'm not going to second guess David and Lisa’s decision not to evacuate when they first heard the sirens going off… they are grown adults and can choose what to do what they think is best. But, this story raises an important question:
Is it better to bug out and get mobile during a large scale disaster, or hunker down and shelter in place?
Obviously, a major factor in the decision will be the type and severity of the disaster. Here are a few more factors to think about when deciding to leave or stay.
Evacuation routes: You likely have a "normal" route you take when you leave your home. But, do you have a way to check the conditions of this specific road? Ideally, you should map out multiple "bug out routes". And have ways to check the accessibility of each before deciding on the best one.
Secure entrances: There is no point is staying home if you are unable to secure your house, hide out or bunker. If one of your entrances is exposed with no way to defend it, then you are better off getting out of dodge. Or if the emergency is so close that it blocks an entrance or exit -- for instance a wildfire -- then you probably don’t want to stay.
Working backups: Most people who plan to hunker down have a generator for minimal back up power. But, generators can and have failed during emergencies. So, before it’s too late to leave, fire up your generator to ensure it’s working and that you have enough fuel to survive. And, try to have more than one generator (gas, propane, solar).
Communications: If communications are down, it's a sign the disaster has had far-reaching effects. If you can’t get information via television, phone, or radio, you need to connect with another human being. If you live in a more rural area, make sure you and your neighbors have CB or short wave radios to talk to one another.
Emergency services: During a disaster, police and fire may not be able to respond to calls for service. You need to know whether they are still even active in any meaningful way. Think... when was the last time you spoke to or even saw a first responder? If they are unable to help, or worse, if the first responders themselves have evacuated town, you probably should as well.
Utilities: Are your power, sewer, and gas still functioning? If the answer is no, you need to see if you can communicate with the “outside world” to see if there are utilities working elsewhere. If so, head that way. If not, just hunker down.
Bottom line, you need to prepare to either hunker down or bug out -- as necessary -- during an emergency. In other words, you need to be versatile. Just some food for thought.
