Being Prepared

The Girl Guide motto of “Be Prepared” has stuck with me my entire life and I have evolved into one of those people who try to be prepared for anything and everything – that may or may not even happen. 

I constantly run “what-if” scenarios through my mind to make sure I have covered every possible outcome.  This has been most beneficial for planning vacations or even moving to a new country, however even I must admit that sometimes I can go a wee bit overboard.  For example, when planning to do the weekly grocery shopping, my mind goes through all the “what-ifs” days before we go: “what if they don’t have any broccoli this week” or “what if we don’t have enough ice packs to keep everything cold”.  I always see Lorne’s eyes rolling into the back of his head, yet he still patiently tells me everything will be okay.  And I really do want to believe him, but in the back of my mind, I still can’t help going through all the “what-ifs”.

Hurricane season for the Eastern Pacific officially began this year on May 15 and will end November 30. However, most storms that affect the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula (where we live) usually appear late August or early September.  The threat of hurricane-force storms decreases as temperatures cool down from October onward.

Last year we experienced our first hurricane while living here in Cabo.   Hurricane Nora was expected to hit us at the end of August, and we had almost a week’s notice to prepare for her arrival.  We had never lived through a hurricane before (or any other natural disaster) so it was hard to go through all the “what-ifs” in my mind when we had no real idea of what could happen, so we prepared the best we could with what we could.  At the last minute, Hurricane Nora shifted to the east, and we were very lucky to be spared from her wrath.  But then nine days later Hurricane Olaf formed, and we only had two days to prepare for his arrival as he was moving fast.  Since we still had things in place from when we were expecting Nora to arrive, we felt we were pretty much ready for Olaf.  For the most part, we were basically prepared, but after living through Hurricane Olaf we realized there was an even deeper level of preparedness we still could have had. 

With major storms like these, there are three main concerns:  wind, flooding, and loss of power.  We specifically chose this condo because it was on a higher elevation and away from the flood zone.  Although beachfront properties are amazing, the damages these properties can incur from hurricane force winds and storm surge flooding can be substantial.   We were also excited that this condo came with hurricane shutters already installed, something we knew we would need to have.  So, although we were protected from gale force winds and possible flooding, we had not really considered or prepared for the loss of power.

Stormy Weather is our blog about living through Hurricane Olaf in which our power was off during the storm from 8pm until 10am the next day.  I wrote: “And it was hot, really, really freaking hot locked inside. Before closing everything up, our inside temperature was already at 35C (95F) and with the power off, it was climbing quickly. We could not run the AC, and with the windows closed all the heat and humidity were trapped inside. Sweat was literally pouring off us, which naturally brought back memories of my one (and only!) time of trying hot yoga.”

Not only was it really freaking hot, but we also had no access to our water during this time.  We don’t receive continuous pressurized water from the city (like in Canada/USA). Instead, we have an underground cistern which gets pumped to a rooftop holding tank, which then feeds our electric pressurizing pump to send water into our condo.  With the power off we had no water to flush the toilets, have a shower with, or even drink as our water cooler also requires power to dispense water.

After the storm was over we knew we needed to be better prepared for the next hurricane season.  We spent a great deal of time researching, making many lists, thinking through all the “what-ifs”, and over this past year we planned, prepared, and gathered all that we would need for this coming season. 

Things we could pre-plan

• Have ready emergency phone numbers
• Upload insurance contact info and policies to the cloud
• Prepare a condo inventory in case of damage
• Scan and upload copies of important documents to the cloud
• Waterproof those important documents to protect from water damage
• Prepare a “to go” list to pack in case of evacuation
• Locate the nearest shelter and alternate routes to get there

Things we needed to add to our basic hurricane supplies

• First aid kit
• Multiple large flashlights (with extra batteries)
• Manual drinking water dispenser
• Absorbent “socks” to control water leaking in from patio
• Disposable plates, cups, cutlery
• Sanitizing wipes
• Carbon monoxide detector (and batteries)

Things we will need to do (when a “Hurricane Watch” has been issued)

• Arrange for the rooftop propane tank to be topped up
• Refill our empty drinking water ‘garrafones’ (20-liter/5-gallon bottles)
• Wash all laundry
• Air Condition the whole condo in advance
• Fill car with gas
• Get cash from bank
• Charge all electronics plus battery packs
• Refill prescription medications to have two months on hand
• Top up non-prescription medications (Advil/Tylenol etc)
• Top up food supply with items that can remain stable at room temperature
• Advise family of expected storm and set up contact person to report updates to
• Bring in patio furniture and anchor barbeque to the building
• Prepare hurricane shutters and windows for closing

In addition to the above preparations, we still needed to figure out how to deal with the loss of power that would come during a hurricane.  We decided that we could benefit year-round from installing solar power.  With practically unlimited sunshine in Cabo all year long, that free sunshine would be able to power our home and reduce our energy bill significantly.  Our solar power has been up and running since August 23.  So if the power goes off now during the day, we will still be able to power most electrical items in our condo which means, besides keeping the fridge on, we will also have access to our water.  This works great for any regular power outage we may experience, but not so much for power outages during a storm.

During a hurricane, not much sun gets through those massive dark clouds, so solar power is not an option to power our condo.  We discussed the possibility of adding battery backups for our home solar system, but to store enough solar power to run our condo day and night during a storm, we would require a massive number of batteries which would be, of course, quite costly.  As an alternative, we decided instead to install a generator on the roof that will be able to instantly power our condo if the power goes off.  This generator is propane powered and if our roof top propane tank is full, the generator would be able to run continuously for a few days.

In hindsight, if we had taken these extra steps last year, we would’ve only been mildly disrupted when Hurricane Olaf arrived.  But it was hard to think through all the “what-ifs” since we had never lived through a hurricane before.

We now feel much more prepared for this year’s season.  Just in time too, because Tropical Storm Javier is currently passing by us, showering us with a massive amount of rain.  He is 380km/235mi offshore from Cabo with wind gusts of 95km/60mi per hour.  As well, according to the National Hurricane Center, there has been some chatter about a possible hurricane arriving here next week.  And so it begins….

We still love living here.  Our weather is beautiful year-round.  We have gorgeous beaches, amazing fresh food, and the friendliest people all around.  Yes, we face the risk of tropical storms and hurricanes, but if we are properly prepared, the trade-off of living in such an amazing place is well worth it.

ps…  Don’t forget to check out the latest Snippets!