A Creative Energy Source - A Must for Hurricane Season

by Bob Anderson, PhD, CMSgt(Ret)  

In 2005 I was in Iraq when on September 27, 2005 Hurricane Rita hit land in a relatively unpopulated area about halfway between New Orleans and Houston.

This was shortly after hurricane Katrina.  For the first time ever, the city of Houston attempted evacuation, something the city was not equipped to do.  Fortunately, the main damage in Houston was the disruption caused by the evacuation.

My wife (Pam) and I were living in a town northeast of Houston at the time.  Pam was alone with our many pets.  She made the decision to evacuate and loaded three dogs and a small aquarium with fish into her SUV.  

She was on the road for 18.4 hours and didn't make forty miles. When I was finally able to reach her by phone, I told her to turn around, go back home and shelter in place where she had a better chance of survival.

She went back and did as I asked.  Traffic was terrible and miraculously found gas at a remote station off the beaten path. She survived.

What amazed me was an application she came up with. Electricity was out after the storm.  She used an inverter to alternately power a fan, an air pump for the fish and a small refrigerator.

The AC/DC inverter plugged into the cigarette outlet in her car. With a long extension cord, a lot of ingenuity and some patience she survived and so did our pets.

Actually the gold fish didn't, but Tank did.  Tank was a Plecostomus, he is also called an algae eater and we had had him for about six years. Tank was our buddy and part of the family. The gold fish were less essential. I would go down to Pet Smart and buy a dollar's worth of their 10 cent gold fish. Out of ten, 3 to 5 would survive.

The dogs lounged in front of the fan and she saved hundreds of dollars worth of food that would have ruined - had it not been for a $35 inverter and a $10 extension cord.

Pam thought ahead and got WAY-OUTTA-THE BOX with the slickest new idea for an old appliance I had heard of.  Bear in mind we had a generator in our supplies, but I was just blown away that her solution was so simple, practical and workable.

Thankfully the next day Pam found shelter with her cousin Angie for herself and the pets which was a life saver, as the heat had become unbearable.  

With hurricane season upon us, I thought I'd share some interesting data about hurricane Rita.  According to Wekipedia, "Many of the evacuees got hit by the storm anyway: even after Rita's winds dwindled down to Category Zero, there were massive rains (over 12 inches in some spots) and even some tornados throughout the South Central US. The storm surge was as bad as anticipated and did a vast amount of damage, but this damage occurred in an isolated rural area on the Texas-Louisiana state line. There was major flooding in New Orleans as well, but this happened in areas which were already destroyed and depopulated."

"As the evacuees were still making their way back to Houston, former FEMA director Michael "Brownie" Brown (who scandalously was given a fat consulting contract with his old agency) went to Capital Hill to testify before a House select committee. This was about as friendly a venue as Brownie could have hoped for, even though it was not exactly friendly (and Brownie didn't help his cause by responding combatively at times when he should have been showing contrition.) The panel had 9 Republicans on it and only 3 Democrats. (House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi refused to appoint any Democrats, since her party favors an independent commission. The three Democrats on the panel volunteered on their own.) "

This should be a reminder that the government is really not going to be able to save your life. You need a quick, smart outta-the-box mind. Like my baby's.

Hurricane season is upon us - Plan Ahead!