You wake up in the morning and hear a weather broadcast similar to this, “This is a weather alert. There is a severe windstorm in your vicinity. You should start your windstorm preparation now!” But, where is it? How soon before it will hit? Your mind races with all sorts of questions. The big question is what can you do now (and should do now) to get a handle on your windstorm preparation?

Windstorm Preparation

What Is a Windstorm

If you are like most people, you ask yourself what constitutes a windstorm? According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, one of their definitions is very specific. This is the one we will use for our article.

Windstorm, a wind that is strong enough to cause at least light damage to trees and buildings and may or may not be accompanied by precipitation. Wind speeds during a windstorm typically exceed 55 km (34 miles) per hour. Wind damage can be attributed to gusts (short bursts of high-speed winds) or longer periods of stronger sustained winds. Although tornadoes and tropical cyclones also produce wind damage, they are usually classified separately.

Now some windstorms are as much as 300 miles per hour (MPH). Can you imagine the damage that can occur to buildings, ships or trees? Windstorms are nothing to sneeze at, and windstorm preparation is essential.

Types of Windstorms

Strange Winds

Some of you may have seen some of my previous articles about weather phenomena. Depending on where you are in the world, you may hear some of the below names for wind storms.

• • • Haboob – I understand from my reading that a haboob windstorm can be accompanied by a thunderstorm and a massive quantity of sand or dust. These huge windstorms may reach a height of 1,000 metres (about 3,300 feet).
    • Derecho – “widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a land-based, fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms.”
    • Williwaw – I was first introduced to this windstorm when I was watching one of the episodes of Alaska:  The Last Frontier and Otto Kilcher explained what a williwaw was.
    • European Windstorms – By whatever name you call these windstorms, they can be exceptionally fierce. According to Wikipedia, you can often hear the countries of the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland refer to European Windstorms, but “any country in Central Europe, Northern Europe and especially Western Europe is occasionally struck by such a storm system.”
    • Hurricanes – According to Life Science, “There is an old expression that a hurricane is Mother Nature’s way of telling us that she is angry. But of course hurricanes are not just a byproduct of nature’s ire.” Composed of three parts, you have the rainbands, the eye and the eyewall. Hurricanes can also be referred to as typhoons or cyclones.
      And, no matter what their wind speed, none of the five categories they can fall into can be taken lightly.

    This is just a tiny list of the windstorms that might crop up at any given time. They can all be nasty as nasty can be and even prove to be deadly. They make it all the more necessary to practice windstorm preparation.

Windstorm Preparation

What can you do to prepare for a wind storm? Our recommendations are that you be aware and get to know the windstorms that can occur for your area and start preparing now! Don’t Wait!

Many of the pieces of advice that we offered up in one of our previous articles, Charge Your CellPhone Before a Prepper Bug-In Emergency, can be used to keep you and your family safe. Do you have the items you need to have on hand? You know, the ones I mentioned in one of our articles when we first started out – food, water, Medical Supplies / Sanitation / Safety, communications equipment and alternative power. But, don’t forget to put your important documents in a safe place.

It’s all about preparing in order to survive. Here, let me break it down more for you.

Before Windstorm

• Why not start out with a plan on what you should do. That will make it easier when it actually comes time for you to start your windstorm preparation. This would include knowing how to turn your utilities off if need be.
• Stock up on your emergency supplies. Don’t forget to have enough on hand for your pets. Again, food, water, first aid items, etc.
• Remember – check the condition of your roof. If there are any loose or missing shingles, make sure you get them fixed.
• What does your front and back yards look like? Are there any toys, umbrellas, light chairs that could blow away, or worse yet, blow into your house or car and create damage?
• Backup your computers often. It wouldn’t hurt to have a weather app on your cell phone, either.

During Windstorm

• Stay in your house, if possible and get away from the windows!
• If you are already out in the windstorm, don’t drive through flooded areas. Arizona has a saying, “Turn around; don’t drown.” Water depth is very deceptive, and it only takes six inches of water to make you lose control or stall out. Believe me; you do not want to be caught in the middle of a large body of water when there is more potential for rain, especially since your car can float downstream in 18-24 inches of water. Alternatively, if you are in a haboob, pull over when it is safe to do so.

After the Windstorm

• If you have lost power, leave your refrigerator and freezer closed as they are insulated. The longer that you leave them closed, the longer the cold will stay inside. Hopefully the power will come back on soon enough before the food turns mushy.
• The next step would be to go ahead and check outside for damage, but be careful as there may be broken glass, felled trees, or toppled branches. After you do that, check with your neighbors and family to make sure they are okay.
• Do you have gas appliances? If you smell gas or hear a hissing sound, open the windows, turn off the gas, and get out. Call the gas company and let them know right away. Wait for their permission to use open flames or electric switches indoors until they say it’s safe.
• Contact your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance company if you have damage to your home and/or contents.

Windstorm preparation saves your life and the lives of your family and pets. Do not procrastinate. Take my information seriously enough to act now – before it’s too late!
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Prepare to Bug In is a subsidiary of Borlok Virtual Assistants, LLC. Our mission is to learn as much as we can about bugging in and survival techniques and then to pass that information on to our readers. Enjoy!