What is TS doesn't HTF?

[Jonas]

If TS never HTF, I will be one happy camper. I would also be delusional if I believed that TS will never HTF... and delusions can and will kill.

I remember Hurricane Rita well. By the time FEMA found our small town, things could have been dire... but things weren't dire at all. Everybody was working together, looking out for friends and neighbors, caring and sharing. Bigger cities like Beaumont, to the south of us, were on the verge of collapse.

Lessons learned (in no particular order):
1. Make friends with your neighbors before a disaster, not during or after.
2. Find out everybody's skillsets before those skills are needed.
3. If you don't have a necessary item before a disaster, you won't be able to correct your oversight during or immediately after a disaster.
4. If you don't have independent communications, you're at the mercy of the main-stream news media and your battery supply.
5. "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" is an oxymoron. You're the moron if you believe that statement.
6. If something needs electricity to work before a disaster, it will need electricity to work during and after the disaster.
7. Hauling water is hard work.
8. Boiling water to make it potable uses up lots of time and fuel.
9. Freezers thaw and food spoils.
10. Human bowels and bladders have little regard for the state of the local Water and Sewer Department infrastructure.
11. Cooking on a camp stove or barbecue wears thin after a week or so.
12. Paper plates are easier than china plates (if you don't understand, reread #7).
13. Paper towels and paper napkins are easier than linen or cotton (if you don't understand, reread #7)
14. "Just In Time" grocery store deliveries won't be.
15 Gasoline station pumps without electricity won't pump.
16. Alkaline batteries will go dead if not replaced.
17. Oil lamps won't burn without lamp oil and wicks. Get extras of both.
18. Barbecues, camp stoves, and oil lamps won't work if you don't have matches to light them with.
19. Good hand tools work anytime. Electric tools won't.
20. Board games, card games, and books can replace television, but only if you have them on hand.