Besides having evacuation plans it is important to have plans for safe ways to stay put, and at least a general idea of where to go when the closest places with power are a good distance away and very possibly already crowded. In our case we stayed put. Everything in our region was without power with the superstorm, not our neighborhood or our town but a much larger area. It took us a week to have power back; some neighborhoods are still waiting and there are enough support services in place for them now. Our area retained potable water. Heck, even MREs were distributed by the military in our town for those who ran out of food. (We still have food left over even after sharing with neighbors: nuts, crackers, cookies, canned beans that are precooked, fluids, etc. but we like to keep a pantry because we were both raised that way and because of personal experiences with hunger.) Some water heaters require external 110 V power to work their thermostats and light the flame. Some fortunately do not. With the second option it is possible to have hot water without having electricity and that can become very important. Even with a gas furnace heat can be lost because of the powering of the thermostat and fan. Alternative options for that appear to be few and fewer still for adjoined housing, but are certainly worth investigating as we plan to do. State regs will vary as will the amenability to such solutions among condo associations. Know that because of lobbying and a House of Representatives block of a regulating law that landline phones are NOT required to have backup batteries so may not work, AND the battery back-up regulation for cell towers is now less than one day. Better IS possible; years ago AT&T used to have 30 day cell tower battery back-up. Part of being able to stay home includes knowing your neighbors and which of them you can trust if you need someone to help you. People here found that the different cell phone providers varied greatly in performance and some people with the smaller and cheaper providers that piggyback on the infrastructures of other companies did not get any cell service at all pretty much from the start of the difficulties and relied on neighbors when possible. If you have a cell phone and if a tower in your area stays up (We never got below one bar here on AT&T so had some service.) it pays to have a cell phone charger that you can use in your car. Remember to not run down your car battery by driving some with at least part of that time. Essential items for staying put: fluids, medications, covers for large carry cages to turn them into snuggly places, plenty of blankets and clothing that can layered (including pants w sweatpants being able to be used over regular ones) food, batteries, battery lanterns and radio, etc. It does not at all hurt to have cloth face masks because you can wear them to warm the air you breathe. Be sure to have hats and hoods (including head cover for sleeping). You get the idea. If candles are used be careful with them, of course. Never use a propane cook stove or an outdoor grill inside or too close to your outside walls. Propane and gas grills and gasoline generators (and in some locations also charcoal grills) are highly illegal in or next to multiple dwelling structures in many states due to explosion, fire and asphyxiation hazards, but there are professionally installed natural gas generator options that will work in some cases but usually require both association and township approval and are costly. Of course, if gasoline is carried use one of the proper types of cans and do not fill a car inside. Roll the car outside the garage and put an oil pan or other drip pan beneath to catch any spills then put that in a safe area away from any flame or heat sources like hot catalytic converters to evaporate, and do not put gasoline soaked rags into dumpsters. Finally, when staying put also have your evacuation bags ready in case it becomes impossible. Sukie (not a vet) Ferrets make the world a game. Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.miamiferret.org/ http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html all ferret topics: http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html "All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow." (2010, Steve Crandall) A nation is as free as the least within it. [Posted in FML 7608]