One part of hurricane preparedness people forget.

[Pab Sungenis]

Fill your gas tank now.

If evacuation is ordered, you might have to drive for a while before you can get to a station that is open and has gas.

Also, this kind of thing is manna to the profiteers. Expect gas prices to jump 30 cents overnight in the Northeast by tomorrow afternoon. Filling up now means you're less likely to fall victim to scammers.

[bluethruandthru]

1. My local gas station was out of gas yesterday morning!

People are filling their tanks and their gas cans for generators.

[KaryninMiami]

2. Other suggestions/tips from a Floridian

Make sure you have a car charger for your phone and if possible, an external batter charger as well. Also a solar powered flashlight (charge it up now and keep it near the window), lots of ice (keeps your freezer stuff cold as long as possible, and more water then you think you need. Fill up your bathtub with water as well since in most cases, if the power is out for an extended time, you will need the water to flush your toilets. Buy granola bars, peanut butter and crackers, pouches of tuna and salmon, nuts/trail mix and dried fruits. Also, I always stock up on red wine and some treats- which you will appreciate having handy as you listen to the wind howling!

[DinahMoeHum]

3. Also, charge up your rechargeable batteries and cellphones NOW. . .

and take out some extra cash $$$ out of the ATM.

[mainer]

4. And get cash out of the ATM.

It's good to have bucks in your wallet before the power goes down.

[malaise]

5. and purchase a car charger for your cell phone

Stay safe DUers

[Earth_First]

6. Freeze bottled water NOW use it to keep your freezer/fridge cool if power is lost...

As they melt, consume them.

Use glass bowls for candles, they are less likely to start a fire if accidentally tipped over.

[malaise]

7. Check your spare tire at the gas station as well

You are more likely to pick up a puncture post- hurricane with all the debris around.
Trust me - I picked one up yesterday.

[Raven]

8. Extra gas if you have a generator. If the power

goes out the gas pumps will be down.

[pokerfan]

9. Build a Cell Phone Charger in Five Minutes

You'll need a 1-amp diode rectifier, a 4-battery holder, an adapter plug for your phone, and electrical tape. You can get these in any electronics hobby store (and way cheaper online of course), but since Radio Shacks can be found anywhere it's a good place to go in a pinch.

The schematic is simple: a 1N400x diode in series with the batteries:



Cheapie wall-wart phone chargers output 5V nominal, but the actual voltage varies wildly, going as far high as six volts and usually stabilizing between 5 and 5.5 volts while under load. Cell phone manufacturers know this and design some tolerance into the phones.

A silicon diode drops around 0.7 volts (it's actually a curve: look up any datasheet) from the roughly 6V from the batteries, which brings us nicely where we want to be -- the little bit of extra voltage is handy in that it allows partially depleted batteries to still work with this circuit.

http://www.robots-everywhere.com/re_wiki/index.php?title=Ersatz_battery_booster

[ohheckyeah]

10. Don't forget to charge your Kindle. n/t