That time of year. What's in your cyclone kit?

[bob10]

Or perhaps even after a major fire, we still need to survive. I've got water covered, just had a 70 litre water tank with 12v pp installed under the new Isuzu tray, only a couple of food items, a few packets of rice, a packet of Farmdale instant milk powder, some Farmdale full cream long life milk, tea, coffee, tins of sardines , tins of tomato, all stuff that can be taken out bush before the use by date. When I pull my finger out I will be making beef jerky, cryovac it, put it aside. We have a large space case for our cyclone kit, which will live in the vehicle, a 5kva generator with full fuel tank with 20 litres of petrol extra, that's about it. Here are some ideas from Radio Darwin, they know what they are talking about.



How to make a feast out of non-perishable food - Drive - ABC Radio (https://www.abc.net.au/radio/darwin/programs/drive/a-feast-with-canned-food/13597782'sfmc_id=111653741&utm_id=1762789&utm_source=sfmc%e2%80%8b%e2%80%8b&utm_medium=email%e2%80%8b%e2%80%8b&utm_campaign=abc_regloc_darwin_sfmc_20210928%e2%80 %8b%e2%80%8b&utm_term=%e2%80%8b)

[Homestar]

Can’t wait until this turns into something resembling the last ‘Prepper’ thread…. Time for the popcorn.

[ramblingboy42]

the Mormons can give plenty of advice.....

[trout1105]

We have 32000l of rainwater, We also have our own bore water, I ALWAYS have a well stocked pantry with dry goods and tinned stuff, We run 3x freezers full of meat, veggies, fish and all the other odds a sod's that need freezing.
I have 2x 3kva gensets for power, lighting etc.

The only drama we had with the last cyclone was getting fuel for the gensets for a few days as the power was out everywhere including the service stations, Luckily the boat was full of fuel so that gave us an extra 80l that carried us through until fuel was available in town again.

The only thing I would do differently next time is to stock up on a lot more fuel[thumbsupbig]

NO I am NOT a "prepper" , I always have plenty of food on hand because I kill my own meat , grow most of our veggies and I usually only food shop every 2 to 3 months and when I do shop I shop in bulk[biggrin][thumbsupbig]

[Gav 110]

Or perhaps even after a major fire, we still need to survive. I've got water covered, just had a 70 litre water tank with 12v pp installed under the new Isuzu tray, only a couple of food items, a few packets of rice, a packet of Farmdale instant milk powder, some Farmdale full cream long life milk, tea, coffee, tins of sardines , tins of tomato, all stuff that can be taken out bush before the use by date. When I pull my finger out I will be making beef jerky, cryovac it, put it aside. We have a large space case for our cyclone kit, which will live in the vehicle, a 5kva generator with full fuel tank with 20 litres of petrol extra, that's about it. Here are some ideas from Radio Darwin, they know what they are talking about.



How to make a feast out of non-perishable food - Drive - ABC Radio (https://www.abc.net.au/radio/darwin/programs/drive/a-feast-with-canned-food/13597782'sfmc_id=111653741&utm_id=1762789&utm_source=sfmc%e2%80%8b%e2%80%8b&utm_medium=email%e2%80%8b%e2%80%8b&utm_campaign=abc_regloc_darwin_sfmc_20210928%e2%80 %8b%e2%80%8b&utm_term=%e2%80%8b)

Keep a tin of sweetened condensed milk in the car over a summer (or two) and it turns into caramel
Great as a dessert

I didn’t realise canned foods have a used by date
We have tins of pears from 2013 that make great crumble when we’re out of apples
Tins of tomatoes at the farm from god knows when still go well in a stew or curry
The baked beans split after a couple of years but still taste the same

If the contents go black and smell not as they should, don’t eat it, obviously it’s rotten but never been sick from tinned foods[emoji1531][emoji1531]

[emoji481][emoji481]
Gav

[Saitch]

Can’t wait until this turns into something resembling the last ‘Prepper’ thread…. Time for the popcorn.

Or, what the TV weather reporters have in their kits, for this season's 'Unprecedented, One in a Hundred Years' ​events?

A goodly reminder though, Bob.

[bob10]

Can’t wait until this turns into something resembling the last ‘Prepper’ thread…. Time for the popcorn.

Perhaps if you lived in the tropics you would not be so flippant. It's something taken seriously , especially in Darwin. Especially after 1974.

[jonesfam]

Funnily enough for someone that lives in a very Cyclone prone area I don't worry about it much.
Probably because I live 5m from the Roadhouse that has a huge supply of food/goods & that we have a big arse generator that runs the whole joint.
I worry far more that the 18 year old donga style buildings won't survive a big blow. The shed is reasonably nwe so I guess we all move in there if it comes.
We have had a few good blows over the years & the major damage has been trees down & power out, so far (touch wood) no major structural damage.
I suppose it will happen one day so we just tie stuff down & hope for the best.
I have been through 2 big ones, when I was a kid in the 6's in Proserpine & 1 in Karumba around 1990, not fun but we got by.
Jonesfam

[bob10]

We have 32000l of rainwater, We also have our own bore water, I ALWAYS have a well stocked pantry with dry goods and tinned stuff, We run 3x freezers full of meat, veggies, fish and all the other odds a sod's that need freezing.
I have 2x 3kva gensets for power, lighting etc.

The only drama we had with the last cyclone was getting fuel for the gensets for a few days as the power was out everywhere including the service stations, Luckily the boat was full of fuel so that gave us an extra 80l that carried us through until fuel was available in town again.

The only thing I would do differently next time is to stock up on a lot more fuel[thumbsupbig]

NO I am NOT a "prepper" , I always have plenty of food on hand because I kill my own meat , grow most of our veggies and I usually only food shop every 2 to 3 months and when I do shop I shop in bulk[biggrin][thumbsupbig]

I normally carry ratpacs, but my son-in-law has left the reserves and most of the gear is out of date. So it's supply our own, unfortunately. [bigsad] But hey, I had to learn how to make biltong, and home made sauerkraut,

when you stop learning, it's time to give up.

[trout1105]

Perhaps if you lived in the tropics you would not be so flippant. It's something taken seriously , especially in Darwin. Especially after 1974.

I spent many years in Dampier and Darwin and I take cyclones Very seriously.
The blow we had recently in Geraldton just proves the point that being prepared, cleaning up before the blow and tying everything down WILL save you heaps of grief IF the proverbial hits the fan.

I only lost a shed and a few smashed trees, It could have been much worse if I hadn't taken the right precautions before we got hit.

[bob10]

Funnily enough for someone that lives in a very Cyclone prone area I don't worry about it much.
Probably because I live 5m from the Roadhouse that has a huge supply of food/goods & that we have a big arse generator that runs the whole joint.
I worry far more that the 18 year old donga style buildings won't survive a big blow. The shed is reasonably nwe so I guess we all move in there if it comes.
We have had a few good blows over the years & the major damage has been trees down & power out, so far (touch wood) no major structural damage.
I suppose it will happen one day so we just tie stuff down & hope for the best.
I have been through 2 big ones, when I was a kid in the 6's in Proserpine & 1 in Karumba around 1990, not fun but we got by.
Jonesfam

If it hit the fan, would the roadhouse be the community shelter?

[reefmagnet]

Been through a few cyclones over the years, thankfully none too serious. Plenty of info on cyclone kits but, IMO, #1 & #2 is a genset and portable gas stove as it doesn't take very much at all to knock the power out for a week.

[trout1105]

To their credit Bunnings in Geraldton brought a couple of truckloads of gensets up a day or so after the cyclone hit and did a roaring trade on them.

At home we tend to get blackouts on a fairly regular basis (about 4 to 6 times a year) So I always have our 2x 3kva units fueled up and ready to go at all times and because the power is usually only out for a max of 24hrs this covers us.
When the cyclone hit the power was out for 8 days so now I will make sure that I have a 44 of fuel on hand as well.

[PhilipA]

You are not safe in Brisbane or even Sydney.
1893 Brisbane flood - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1893_Brisbane_flood)

Also 1974 was no picnic either
1974 Brisbane flood - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_Brisbane_flood)
And that was a near miss. My house at Northgate was not damaged but water was about 7 feet deep in my mothers front yard in East Brisbane. We now knew why the houses were built on stumps.

In 2015 we had an East Coast Low in Sydney which gave 213Kmh gusts at Kurnell. One house in my street in Avoca Beach had a 30 metre Blackbutt fall on the roof and was a write off. we had no power for 5days and all cell towers were out for a couple of days. We had no damage but over a foot of debris on the deck. Oh , one small tree came down but didn't hit the house. It was great that Erina Fair had a backup generator and many of the shopkeepers placed mobile phone chargers outside their shops.
Its anecdotal as I cannot now find the reference , but I read many years ago that the Barrenjoey lighthouse experience a 287Kmh gust in the 1890s. If that were to happen today The whole peninsula and Central Coast would be in ruins.
Nothing down here is built to Cat5. But look on the bright side. I owned a house on Magnetic Island for a few years which was built in 1926, and apart from some dents in the roof from falling trees was intact last time I googled it.
Regards PhilipA

[bob10]

You are not safe in Brisbane or even Sydney.
1893 Brisbane flood - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1893_Brisbane_flood)

Also 1974 was no picnic either
1974 Brisbane flood - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_Brisbane_flood)
And that was a near miss. My house at Northgate was not damaged but water was about 7 feet deep in my mothers front yard in East Brisbane. We now knew why the houses were built on stumps.

In 2015 we had an East Coast Low in Sydney which gave 213Kmh gusts at Kurnell. One house in my street in Avoca Beach had a 30 metre Blackbutt fall on the roof and was a write off. we had no power for 5days and all cell towers were out for a couple of days. We had no damage but over a foot of debris on the deck. Oh , one small tree came down but didn't hit the house. It was great that Erina Fair had a backup generator and many of the shopkeepers placed mobile phone chargers outside their shops.
Its anecdotal as I cannot now find the reference , but I read many years ago that the Barrenjoey lighthouse experience a 287Kmh gust in the 1890s. If that were to happen today The whole peninsula and Central Coast would be in ruins.
Nothing down here is built to Cat5. But look on the bright side. I owned a house on Magnetic Island for a few years which was built in 1926, and apart from some dents in the roof from falling trees was intact last time I googled it.
Regards PhilipA

Yes, it pays to be prepared for disasters, QLD had the mud army after the floods in 2011 ? the care army for the pandemic [ volunteers who delivered food etc to those forced to quarantine], and now we have pre-empted the cyclone season with the Emergency Volunteers, of which I & a few mates have put our hands up, to do what we can within our capabilities if needed. The least we can do.

VOLUNTEER - Emergency Volunteering (https://emergencyvolunteering.com.au/qld/volunteering)


EDIT, join the CARE ARMY. A QLD initiative to help our most vulnerable.

Care Army - Emergency Volunteering (https://emergencyvolunteering.com.au/qld/volunteering/care-army)

[Homestar]

Perhaps if you lived in the tropics you would not be so flippant. It's something taken seriously , especially in Darwin. Especially after 1974.

You completely misunderstood my post as usual. I have nothing against this and am prepared for what could come our way here, but last time a thread like this was started it ran off the rails big time after a couple of weeks and was eventually deleted.

[bob10]

You completely misunderstood my post as usual. I have nothing against this and am prepared for what could come our way here, but last time a thread like this was started it ran off the rails big time after a couple of weeks and was eventually deleted.

Sometimes you can be a hard man to understand, this post for instance would have been better as the first post, no misunderstanding here. No offence, but to me posting you are getting the popcorn out is just encouragement for those who have no interest in the subject, and just want to derail the thread. Not that that would happen in AULRO, of course. Any way, nice chatting to you.

[jonesfam]

If it hit the fan, would the roadhouse be the community shelter?

No! We have a Community hall that was built for that purpose in the 90"s.
If we get hit by a cat 4-5 both the Supermarket/general Store & Roadhouse would be in trouble.
The Supermarket is a Zinc/tin shed & the Roadhouse is 5 Dongas attached to each other, I doubt either would survive anything above a cat 3.
Our Accommodation Units are reasonably new & should be OK but the staff residences are all Donga style, old & I wouldn't trust them.
We keep the Compound very tidy but do have some big old Gums & Bloodwoods I'm not allowed to cut down as they are scared. I can & do have them trimmed.
Jonesfam