Hi to all. I agree with a lot of things that people suggests about doing whatever it takes to protect animals in natural weather emergencies. I have been in New Orleans and other places. Many things that I have seen - has haunted me for a long time, but it is worth to see animals being happy when they get rescued. I have seen some authority figures ordering owners not to bring animals and it upsets me a great deal. Many people and I work hard to get so many of them out of the houses when we see that. After New Orleans' and Mississippi's ordeal, more people are aware of animals being family members than just being "pets" or "animals" to us. Thankfully. The North Dakota flood/Mississippi flood back in 2001 or 2003, if I remember correctly, no one knows how many animals died over there in Fargo when blizzard melts too quickly. Overwhelming numbers. It takes New Orleans to wake many of us, but in America, we have short attention span these days. We need to remember to take weather warnings seriously. Buy a junk or a crappy or used van that runs. Keep it as backup. Why? More room for cages! Back up cages or carriers with litters ready to go all set up inside at all times. It is a godsend for us. You'd be surprised how many of vans are cheap to buy and runs GREAT! I am not a rich person myself. Check CraigList.com or other thrift auto in newspapers, rural areas. MAKE SURE ALL cages have little fans and water sprays ready to keep them cool. Batteries stocked up, too, for little carriers/cages' fans to keep working. Tarps to cover your van from sun if you park in safe place. Garage stocked with couple gas cans to grab to put on top of van or extra extension behind van, not inside, if you run short of gas to keep AC running. Best first move: The ferrets are prone to heat so it is high priority that you take ferrets in any way you can. Or take all of them ahead of time and go to a friend's home or a family's home for a few days to see if it hits your area. It is better than to gamble or wait and see methods. I have done that with my babies when I hear a tornado that is too close to us. My friends think I am bonkers or crazy to pack all my\ babies in the cargo van and leave the area for a couple days, even a day, until it blows over. It paid off a few times out of few times. I rather leave than wait until the last minute to be stuck in the traffic. People were stuck in the traffic for hours in New Orleans, because they do not take the warnings seriously. No offenses. I take it seriously when I used to run a shelter (temporarily closed), because with ferrets, they are prone to heat, stress, and many others. I stock up meds to reduce their stress and helicobacter from hitting them as well. I have an emergency bag with all backup stuff in there - dishes, food, syringes, dry powdered meds, etc. to grab. It is like pregnancy bag that you pack to be ready at last minute. It works well for me with ferrets and others. Second move: Fight and bring animals with you. Third move: If Army or any other authority figures order you to leave animals behind, do everything in your power to take Anne's advice to put all information on the house, window, whatever it takes to get someone's attention to come in immediately to get them out. Keep shoe polish of white color for window, use snow spray. Best of all, use orange tape to tape on window and doors in stock. Bright, bright neon orange tapes with knife or scissors near you to use it immediately. White shoe polish works great if you have to rush. It is easy to scrape it off with razor blade afterwards. Or better, have a foldable sign with all info in big letters to open and tape on the window within a 30 second rush. Orange tape on a waterproof or sturdy poster. Fourth move: Pray it never hits your area or it never, ever happens to you. Smiles. I know I may sound overprotective than normal, but I have seen too much that it makes me much more prepared than ever. Hope any or all of these ideas help you all. Hugs to all fuzzies, April M. Crompton MN Wardancers Ranch and Rescue (Thanks BIG for letting me write a little long email just one time!) [Posted in FML 5705]