The following items are what make up your evacuation list our Emergency Preparedness Plan. The full checklists are available on the excel spreadsheet or pdf plan.
In case you need to leave in a hurry, (or get stuck in your car) a main focus on being prepared for “evacuation” is to have a well stocked car.
□ Water (a case of bottles would be excellent)
□ 72 hour kit food, high calorie meal bars, or other snacks
□ Cash ($20-30 in small bills and include some change)
□ Diapers/Wipes if you have kids
□ Emergency blankets/hand warmers (or an old spare comforter)
□ Jumper cables
□ Car shovel/pick
□ Pocket knife
□ First aid kit
□ Radio
□ Package of batteries (for flashlight and radio)
□ Toilet paper roll
□ Spare clothes for small children
□ Coffee can heater
The last thing you want to be thinking about in an emergency where you might not come back to “home” as you know it are the important keepsakes. Compile a list of items you would want to grab if you had the room and time.
□ Photos
□ Journals
□ As this list is personal, keep compiling as you think of things
Regarding a Car Kit: I live in Phoenix, AZ. It gets very hot here in the summer time (110+). You can imagine how hot it can get inside the car. What do you recommend I do? I feel like I can't keep the car kit in the car without is getting ruined. But, isn't the point of having a car kit to have it with you when you are out and about in the car? I'm very very new to Emergency Preparedness.
Jill, how about keeping those things in a cooler? Even a cheap styrofoam one would insulate things, and you could cover that with a quilt. Put the batteries in a ziploc bag to prevent issues, and tweak the food items to things that can handle the heat if necessary. Hope this helps!
I live where it is very cold. The water in my car kit would surely freeze and cause the bottles to expand. Any suggestions?
You will want to leave an inch or two space in the top of the bottles to leave from for expanding. Also, we have heard that using mylar bags for water storage is an excellent solution for car kits. It solves the problem of chemicals from the plastic leaching into your water.
You'd also want to insulate them as with Jill's problem of living where it's too hot.
Our car is too small!
Our family barly fits.
We can't go to the store and pick up food if we have all that in the car!
Any Ideas?
Thanks!
In your case, I would think that small bug out bags, or mini-backpacks, would work. Always have them ready to go, and bring them in the car with you, keeping them on the floor if you can. That way you're set up for an emergency, but you've got smaller packages to deal with.
What is a “coffee can heater”?
What is a “coffee can heater”?
What is a “coffee heater”?
Never mind, found the video, thanks!
You can buy inexpensive fabric car toppers that strap on to the roof of the car's exterior. I suppose that you could clear out your front “drawer” storage compartment on the passenger side and at least have money and emergency contat information in there, a spare credit card, batteries, a flash light and some medication like tylenol and a few bandaids. you can also put emergency things into fabric or metal lunch boxes and each child or adult has to hold a lunch box full of supplies on their lap while driving along.Those are the best ideas I can think of right now. I have a fabric car topper that I'm not using, to bad I don't know you or i'd give it to you!
Those are some great additional ideas. Thanks for sharing!
Your contribution to everyone is blessings. Thanks for caring. HalleluYAH!
Another item for your evacuation list is a plastic poncho to use as your private porta-potty on the side of the road if stuck in traffic.