Part 7: The Natural Disaster Bug Out Bag
What to have ready if you need to hit the road with only a 2-minute warning.
I’ve been watching videos of the terrible flooding in the Southeastern U.S. after Hurricane Helene—houses washed away with no warning and entire neighborhoods obliterated.
It’s just… wow.
Here’s a video that shows how quickly flooding can happen:
The same kind of next-to-no-warning situation can occur with tornadoes, wildfires, volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes—heck, even power plant malfunctions.
This got me thinking: it might actually be wise to have a bag ready to grab and go, just in case, and I’ve been contemplating what should go in it.
But first, a note about the post title. A lot of survivalists and bushcraft folks have bug out bags geared more towards heading into the woods and surviving for a month off foraged food while living in a makeshift shelter. This isn’t really that kind of list.
Here, I'm focused more on scenarios in which a person (and their roommate(s), partner, family, or pets) needs to evacuate on short notice to get out of harm's way. The assumption is that there's someplace they can head to find shelter and safety, even if it's a little ways away.
BUT, there’s not necessarily a guarantee they’ll have a home to come back to - at least not right away. : /
Here’s the list of what I’ve come up with so far:
Wallet/purse items (assuming this is a no-brainer)
Passport
Phone charging cords
A week’s worth of any medications
Printed list of any key medical info
Printed list of key phone numbers
Printed list of any important account numbers
Safe deposit box key(s)
Copy of home/renter’s insurance policy & insurance contact info
Copy of title to house, car, etc.
Portable external hard drive with copies of important files
Proof of pet vaccinations (especially rabies)
Digital and printed photos of partner, family members, pets (in case of separation, worst case scenario)
Easily recognizeable matching t-shirts (or jackets/entire track suits) for partners, family members (a little cheesy but also potentially important in case of separation in a worst case scenario)
Extra pairs of socks, underwear, etc.
Toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss
Baby wipes
Disinfectant wipes
Snacks
A couple days’ worth of pet food, pet treats
Notebook/notepad and pens, including sharpies
Flashlight/headlamp
Walkie-talkies (aka two-way radios) pretuned to same channel
Printed map of city/state/region
Cash and checkbook
Any particularly important small family heirlooms (e.g. jewelry) or copies of special family photos.
Emergency whistle
CBD oil (for those of us who need a little help keeping calm)
A few more things to consider that might benefit from a video overview:
Portable battery bank for phone/laptop charging
Personal locator beacon (PLB) or a satellite messenger
Emergency signaling mirror
And to hold the above items, either:
A dry bag — note: there are also dry bags for laptops.
This video is focused more on dry bags for kayaking, but it includes a couple options relevant for a bug out situation. I couldn’t find a better video that wasn’t AI-generated (grrr). I’ll keep looking.
Or an anti-theft backpack
That’s it for now. As with the other posts, I’ll continue to update this as I think of / learn about other useful items.
Stay safe, everyone!
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Previously on The Thoughtful Prepper...