That picture, GearCrave readers, shows the Coralville neighborhood of Iowa City, Iowa, your humble GearCrave editor’s current home. I moved here from downtown Chicago to live with my lovely lady until she and I can move to the west coast next Spring. That little red dot on the image above marks the spot of my home. I am one of the fortunate ones, I sit atop a hill that is about 20 feet in elevation above the water line. My neighbors just four blocks away have been evacuated, their homes and businesses damaged or destroyed. It has been quite an ordeal for us in the past week. In this article, I’ll share with you a bit more about this story from a Gonzo perspective, plus some gear and gadgets you can use to prepare yourself for just such disasters should they happen to you. I never saw this one coming– if it happens to you, here are a few tools to keep you ready for the worst.

The Story

None of us were expecting this. The same could be said for nearly every American tragedy of late, that no one really saw it coming. We expected the rivers to swell, but we didn’t expect those waters to rise so high and reach so far. On Thursday afternoon, I cycled through the city, photographing the rising waters and our defenses against them. This was to be the peak, the inches of water that would only flirt with our sand-bagged infrastructure, then fade away altogether. In a matter of hours, however, storms attacked, levees cracked and businesses, homes, hopes and dreams were washed away. Below are thumbnails of one of my favorite watering holes (no pun intended), as taken by yours truly before the levees broke, and by the news media after the water came rushing in. (click for full size)

None of us were expecting this. Iowa City is a culturally progressive little city in the heart of the Midwest, with a wide range of fine restaurants, college bars, architectural landmarks and informed citizens. Between Chicago and Denver, Iowa City is a small beacon of culture surrounded by America’s farming heritage. It just so happens that much of Iowa City’s acreage rests on a 500 year flood plain, and none of us expected that this would be the one year in 500 where the record would finally break. It did, and we only had a few days to prepare. Should you ever be faced with such a disaster, here are a few things that might help protect you in times of danger. Hell, I sure could have used them in the past few days…

Disaster Needs #1: Clean Drinking Water

Whether there is a flood, hurricane, earthquake or tornado, your most important need will always be drinking water. All of the aforementioned disasters could potentially disrupt the water supply, and if you’re not prepared you could wind up dehydrated, dead, or worse- fighting with the local emergency support for one extra gallon of drinking water. If you’ve got spare space in your home or apartment, get yourself four extra gallons of water and stash them in case of emergency. This will last you four days on your own, enough to figure out an evacuation plan. Nothing else on this list matters if you don’t have clean, safe, drinkable water.

Disaster Needs #2: Spot Satellite Messenger

If you’re in a disaster-prone location, from the tornado plains of the middle south to the streets of San Francisco, communication is your second most important need after water. In emergencies, you can’t count on your cell phone– you’ll lose service in an emergency faster than you can slide your phone out of your pocket. After the attacks in New York on September 11th, it took days to restore cellular service to that area. In a similar event, you need communication and you need it fast. With the SPOT Satellite Messenger, you’re always in communication with family, friends and emergency service thanks to a fully reliable satellite connection. You can check in with your personal contacts with a push of a button, and never have to worry about losing a signal… For more on the SPOT system, check out GearCrave’s recent giveaway for the SPOT satellite messenger.

Disaster Need #3: Electricity Generator

You know what you’re looking at above? That’s my local power station, as of Friday afternoon. That is just over seven blocks away from my house, under f#$king water. It is amazing that my power is operating right now and I am typing these words into GearCrave’s backend. The fact that I still have power, as shown above, is a miracle. In times of disaster, power is often one of the first services to go. If this could happen to you, we recommend a good power generator. You can buy power generators from local stores like Lowes, Home Depot, Ace or Menards starting at around $400. To power your entire home, you can do so for just over $600. On day one or two, you likely won’t care much about lost power. But after a few days, when the fridge starts to stink, the darkness gets to your head and your xbox is taunting you, its time for some gas generated power. We suggest checking out Lowe’s supply of portable power generators.

Disaster Need #4: Wind up radio

Once you’ve gotten your water taken care of, you’ve communicated with your friends and family, then you’ve gotten your power needs under wraps, you should also consider a last-minute radio system. Should you run out of gas or your generator should fail, you can always count on a wind-up radio. Radios don’t require too much power, so a few twists of a crank an provide you with a couple minutes of radio goodness. Tune in to your local weather or emergency station, and you’re getting all the crucial updates you need to stay safe. Many of these include a flashlight and other tools, so your safety is just a few cranks away. Don’t buy a plug-in emergency radio, because this one will always outlast your generator or fuel supply.

Disaster Need #5: Booze

We’re not joking. You’re likely going to need some booze to hold you tight through an emergency. Issues like boredom, depression, fear, even pain arise in the toughest of times, and a touch of liquor might dull the edge a little bit. Should you or a loved one sustain an injury, alcohol can help clean a wound and provide a little anesthesia. If you grow bored of sitting, day after day awaiting rescue, a cocktail or two in a night can take your mind of the issue at hand. Be careful, however, as a single drink can push you off the edge toward dehydration. If you have a drink, be sure you have plenty of clean water to follow it up with.

In our own case, our friends own the local liquor store around the corner. On Thursday, before the levee broke in the Coralville neighborhood of Iowa City, we helped our friends build a sandbag wall around their liquor store, in hopes to save their business from the destruction of the rising waters. Bootleggin’ Barzinis in Coralville is hopefully safe from the waters that are grasping for the top of the walls of sandbags, but we won’t know until later this week. Like the Barzinis and so many other businesses and homes in this area, we need all the help we can get. If you can, take a moment to visit the Red Cross website and see if there is anything you can do to help. Sure, this ain’t Katrina, but with 20,000 displaced in this county alone, there are a lot of people in need that take precedence over any of the gadgets, gear and style topics we cover. Spend a little, if you can, and help out a few of your friends from the Midwest.

Thanks for reading, GearCravers, we’re proud to report that business as usual resumes today for GearCrave content. I may be floating on a fence post while writing these articles, but you’re crazy if you think a natural disaster is going to keep us from bringing you The Cool.

Cheers,

Mike Payne

Editor

GearCrave.com