I looked out of the backdoor and saw the sky was a weird greenish color and trees in our backyard were bending over and almost touching the ground. This was one of the first times I’d experienced a tornado as an adult and unfortunately, has not been my last. We live in a valley surrounded on three sides by mountains. When a tornado whips through it becomes trap and wrecks a path of destruction. We never know, during the spring and early summer months, when a surprise thunder storm will turn into a tornado. Along with the storms come frequent power outages. The power outages are a minor inconvenience compared to the rampant damage caused by the tornadoes, but I still like to be prepared with an emergency kit. I headed to Walmart to pick up supplies to have on hand in case we needed them.
I knew we would need the basics, a flashlight, extra batteries and candles, but I found a couple of other items that I wanted to include too. Two years ago, during one of the worst tornadoes our area had seen in decades, our power went out and stayed out. By nine PM the entire family had lit candles and pretended we were on an adventure. The candles were not producing much light and the “adventure” was wearing off fast. That’s when my daughter came through wearing one of the Energizer bright headlights that she used when she went caving. Talk about a difference! Suddenly, we could see! Since she is so protective of her beam headlights, I decided to add one to our emergency kit. Of course, I needed to pick up an extra package of , checking for the Energizer Bunny, of course, in case the power was out for a long period.
My emergency kit is handy to keep in the house or in the car. Here are the basics I include:
- A weather ready work flashlight with extra batteries (these are good if you have to go outside)
- An Energizer Night Headlight with extra Energizer charging lithium batteries
batteries (especially good for the car in case I break down at night. Not that I know what I am doing if I look under the hood, but it makes me feel better.) - Led candles (I love these. There’s no chance of fire if kids or pets knock them over.)
- The extras I like to have on hand:
- A blanket
- A small bottle of headache and allergy medicine
Finally, because it is so dark outside on stormy nights when the power is out, I added solar lights along our front walkway. I think they look good even when our power is on.
Do you have an emergency kit with work flashlights? What items do you include?
This is so great! I need to get some to have on hand!
Great idea for an emergency kit! Love how the Energizer headlight comes in handy as an addition!
emergency lights are great to have and are protective. I cant count how many times they have helped me when its dark – especially when bringing in groceries
Don’t forget the water and non-perishable food!
I definitely need to put an emergency kit together… oops!! And wow is that one huge tree!!!
We do have a mini emergency kit but would never have thought of packing headache/nausea meds. Have to add that in.
Living in Florida and hurricanes we should have one. But we piece it together if we get bad weather.
That is a BIG tree. We don’t have an emergency kit but should.
That is one massive tree! So scary! I try to keep flashlights dotted around the house so they’ll always be around during power outages. I really need to get on making an emergency kit.
Wow, that is one HUGE tree!
WOW..look at that Tree…. WOW… what a great idea to include Energizer in your emergency kit. I need to do that our Hurricane Season started a few days ago and I know we will be without lights many times over the next few month…LOVE the lights on the sidewalk, never thought about that. Thanks for sharing
We have an emergency kit, but we need to update it now that we live in tornado alley. 🙁
I’ve been really considering getting some solar lights to light up our front yard in the evening. Thank you for this valuable information, it will definitely help me to make a more informed decision.
I really like the headlamp because it keeps your hands free for whatever emergency thing you might need to do. I need to get one or two or three!
We need to put together an emergency kit, I love your tips of what to include. I can’t believe how huge that tree its – amazing and scary!
WOW that tree was a crazy size. Thank you for reminding me about weather preparedness, I live in Florida, so it is about that time for the Hurricanes to start rolling in.
Uh tornadoes are scary things! That tree looks huge! We’ve had our share of damage from hurricanes over the last couple of years, luckily everyone was okay. But.. we definitely need to keep prepared! Our electricity is constantly going out! Love your ideas for the basic emergency kit, we definitely need one!
I lived on the Gulf of Mexico for quite a few years and went through a few hurricanes. I always kept a hurricane kit on hand that included a flashlight, batteries, food, water, crank radio, etc. It’s good to be prepared just in case.
that is some tree, wow!
We do not have an emergency kit and that’s something I need to work on. So many scary storms lately and it’s just something good to have!
I have a wind up radio that has a USB port to charge cell phones
How tall was that tree? That is scary.
On the other hand, I love the solar lights outside your house!
Mitch
Those are necessities I need to add to our emergency packs! We loose power several times during the winter months usually so they would be awesome to have!
Holy cow that tree is enormous! We have a 72-hour kit that is in a backpack so we can grab and go if we ever needed to. It’s got food, water, basic first aid, flashlight, copies of important paperwork, etc.
wooooooooooooooooooow that tree is HUGE. HUGE!! we use the head lamps too- unfortunately when we lose power here it’s usually several days so the lamps help the kids be able to move more freely around the house.