Ok Richmond Va here is my basic hurricane preparation plan for hurricane Irene. It doesn’t look like Irene will go nearly as far West as Isabel did so with any luck we won’t have all the tree damage and power-line issues that we had for weeks after that hurricane.

It is advisable to have some type of plan and backup ready to go. If you have a generator make sure it is running and get all your cables and cords together for immediate use. I also recommend a chainsaw and make sure it runs and starts quickly. Have back up gas for both. I keep 4 or 5 gallons of gas for the generator and one for the saw.

I’ll never forget not having ice. So I fill my large Igloo cooler full of ice and a few beers and some gallons of water. These I can always take out if I need the space. I charge my solar lantern for a full day and make sue I have backup AA batteries and 6volt flashlight batteries. Have three or four flashlights. I get some extra bags of pretzels and chips for the kids and a bag of rice which is easy to cook and will run fine on my generator. You also might want to have a Coleman stove or hurricane oil lamps for longer power outages just in case. You can get all these at Walmart or Target cheap and don’t forget a few extra bottles of gas for the stove. If you like booze go ahead and get wine and spirits and something to do after dark like some good books or Dvds. A small type of pen light would be good for reading at night. Paper plates, cups and plastic utensils are nice since there is no running water. Any other ideas?