What If It’s Too Late To Bug Out?
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Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
About 3.4 million people had to leave their homes in the U.S. last year due to natural disasters, including hurricanes, floods, fires, and tornadoes.
The U.S. Census Bureau data is based on the nearly 68,000 responses collected in early 2023 to the agency’s ongoing Household Pulse Survey. Roughly 40 percent of respondents were able to return to their homes within a week. However, 12 percent were displaced for more than six months, and 16 percent were expecting never to be able to return to their homes.
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While these numbers are startling, what is more alarming is that climate-related disasters are occurring with increasing frequency.
If you’re a frequent visitor to this site, you know we often offer preparedness information, and we’ve published many articles on how and why to prepare a bug out bag. These portable kits are designed to help you survive for about 72 hours if you have to leave your home in an emergency.
The best advice is to be prepared, stay aware, listen for alerts, and to evacuate when a potential disaster is looming. But what if an emergency unravels so quickly that you cannot leave your home? The terrifying scenarios could include a fast-spreading wildfire, torrential rain that is causing flash flooding, or an approaching monster tornado. What if it’s simply too late to bug out?
For this article, we’ve gathered some tips for staying as safe as possible when you have no choice but to shelter in place.
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As we write this article, people in Vermont and other areas of the Northeast are reeling from devastating floods. Intense rain events, like the ones causing this disaster, are making the idea of a “once in a century” flood obsolete. According to the report released by the First Street Foundation, a non-profit weather risk research organization, a catastrophic “one in a 100 years” flood could occur at least every five to 10 years in much of the country.
Rapidly rising and rushing water can turn deadly in a hurry, and many people underestimate the danger. If flood waters are preventing you from leaving your home, here are some basic tips from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA):
As people who have faced the threat of wildfires know all too well, wildfires can develop, increase in intensity, and then change course very rapidly. Here are some suggestions for when you have no option but to stay in your home.
Although meteorologists have gained more accuracy in predicting hurricane strength and issuing evacuation warnings, these dangerous storms can have a mind of their own. Data from NASA shows that hurricanes are increasing in frequency, intensity, and the amount of rainfall they produce.
Here are steps to take if it’s too late to evacuate during a hurricane.
Tornadoes can strike quickly, sometimes without time for authorities to issue a tornado warning. Warning signs of an approaching tornado may include:
The safest place in a home when a tornado is approaching is the interior section of a basement. If your home does not have a basement, gather in a windowless room, hallway, or closet on the lowest floor.
Here are some other tips.
Exposure to radiation is a terrifying thing to consider. However, remaining in your home may be safer than trying to escape. That’s because the walls of your home can help block harmful waves.
If you are at home during a radiation emergency, consider the following steps:
In conclusion, we want to stress that it is important to have an emergency plan – or even several plans to cover different scenarios — in place. Being prepared can help you stay calm and collected when an unexpected event happens. You won’t have to think about what steps to take; you’ll just need to follow the ones you have already prepared.
The basic components of an emergency plan are:
To help you get started, you can use this form to create a family emergency plan.
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