Advice on how to survive the impact and aftermath of a major storm doesn’t always get through to locals or tourists, leaving both to fend for themselves. If you are an expat living in a hurricane, cyclone or typhoon zone, or you are on holiday there, be prepared with these potentially life-saving tips.
Last week a major disaster almost occurred in Mexico, with Hurricane Patricia predicted to make landfall close to two major conurbations, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, on the Pacific coastline. Fortunately, the storm made landfall on a sparely populated stretch of the coast and then headed inland over the mountains which broke up the cloud and winds, downgrading the hurricane to a tropical storm. Though the storm has caused mudslides, flooding and damage the predicted catastrophic chaos and destruction did not occur.
The Mexican state and federal government acted quickly on meteorological advice, evacuating thousands of residents and tourists who were in the path of the storm.
Most long-term expats who live in the world’s hurricane, cyclone or typhoon belt will have a good idea about action that needs to be taken if any one of these storm types hit. But what if you’re an expat who is new to a storm region or an expat on vacation, do you know what to do if you can’t get out of an area that’s about to be hit by a hurricane, cyclone or typhoon? Read on to find out what you can do…
10 Hurricane-Survival Tips
1. Listen to official advice on the radio
Keep a wind-up or battery-operated radio available and find out the local radio station frequency. Official information will be distributed via local radio. Keep listening as storms can quickly change direction and intensity.
2. Only follow official advice
If you are told to go to a safer location, take a basic survival kit (see below) and head to the safe location. If you are told to stay put, stay put – a big problem for disaster control agencies is that safe exit routes are often blocked by people trying to get away, when in fact many would have been safer staying at home.
3. Prepare a Disaster Supplies Kit or find out where one is stored
FEMA – the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency – provides a list of basic items and additional extras, which includes water (a gallon per person per day), food, torch (flashlight), whistle, can opener, local maps and a battery-powered or hand crank radio. Download the Disaster Supplies Kit list (pdf).
4. The safest place in a building
Most emergency management organisations recommend staying on the ground floor (first floor for Americans), if possible in an interior room that doesn’t have windows. If a large enough interior room is not available, try to have as many interior walls between you and the outside wind as possible and keep away from windows, even if they are covered – a very strong wind can rip shutters and boarding off windows leaving anyone inside exposed. Lie down under a large solid piece of furniture, such as a table.
5. Close all interior doors and brace external doors
Use furniture or any other available heavy items to lend some strength to lightweight or flimsy doors which may get blown in by the force of the wind.
6. Avoid using open flames for lighting
According to the U.S. National Disaster Education Coalition, between 1984 and 1998, in the USA candle-related deaths from home fires following hurricanes were three times greater than the number of deaths related to the direct impact of a hurricane.
7. Store drinking water
If there is time, quickly store drinking water in a sink, water bottles or cooking utensils. Following a major storm, one of the first things to be damaged is the drinking water supply. On average, a human can survive for three to four days without water (and about three weeks without food).
8. Turn off as many non-essential appliances as possible
If the power goes out and then comes back on again, the surge of electricity could damage appliances and potentially cause another power cut. Once power is restored, turn appliances on one by one.
9. Don’t let the ‘eye’ deceive you
As the eye of the storm passes over, there will be a lull in the wind (read more about why an eye of a hurricane forms on BBC Bitesize). Once the eye passes over, the wind picks up again, in reverse, adding to and worsening the damage caused before the lull.
10. Flooding is a major concern
A Category 4 hurricane (e.g. Katrina) and a Category 1 hurricane have very different wind speeds but they may both drop the same amount of rainfall and may both cause huge ocean storm surges, both of which can lead to devastating flooding. Local radio should alert residents to potential flooding so keep the radio on at all times.
Where are hurricanes, cyclones and typhons most likly to occur?
The UK’s Met Office has a detailed but very readable information page about tropical storms, how and why they develop in to hurricanes, cyclones or typhoons and where in the world they occur.
The ’10 tips’ are gathered from the following sources:
- Department of Homeland Security – Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- Ready
- American Red Cross
