Emergency Supplies List for Blackouts and other Natural Disasters

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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Something for all Homeowners to include in their Information Packs for HouseSitters and for HouseSitters to ask for:

I am doing my Christmas HouseSit on the Gold Coast Australia and from 9:30pm Christmas night until 2::30am New Years Eve (5 1/2 days) there has been NO electricity. Last year I was in Moree NSW when it flooded with water 1 metre from front porch and 2cm from back porch. The previous year I was on the Central Coast near Gosford NSW with burning gum leaves and ash falling into swimming pool and all over house. It would be a great idea to include some information for situations such as these.

I was able to borrow a Primus Gas cooker and a gas bottle (home owners said they had one but I could not locate it). I had some portable rechargeable lights, a candle, and some matches with me.

A few days later, they told me they had bright battery-operated lights in the broom cupboard in laundry which was really helpful. I borrowed a small Esky from a friend, and found out a few days later, they had one in a shelf in a storage room in the garage.

Please put a plan together advising your HouseSitter where emergency lighting is, where a portable stove is (if you have one), where the Esky is and where to go to buy Ice, how to deal with fridge/freezer contents when lost, what to feed the animals if their food is spoilt, or had to be given away, and where back up supplies are just in case.

I am observant and knew where a lot of things were, such as an ignitor for the gas stove, spare dog food pouches, etc. Other items I had to hunt for, and other items I did not know about until we had had several in depth conversations.
I was able to give contents of 4 freezers away to someone who was Disabled, who had bought a chest freezer last year.

I have been HouseSitting for these people for two to three years. That has been to my advantage as most of the neighbours know me, and now we have all got to know each other better. When the 3-legged dog over the road was running around the back yard before Christmas, I knew who the owners were and was able to let them know right away. The value of having a consistent HouseSitter. All this whilst lookin after a beautiful 5 month old King Charles Cavalier puppy who is still in (and requires) training!

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I travel with a 1000 watt solar generator with built in flashlight. We installed solar panels on top of our minivan to charge it. We use it every time during drive days as the whole family will plug in their tablets and laptops into it. If we are traveling to our next petsit during the weekday, I drive and my husband is able to work the whole day. It’s strong enough to heat up our 700watt kettle

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@karenfay sorry to hear you went through the terrible Gold Coast Christmas night storm. We are also staying there and were in the thick of it too, but not to your extent as we are at my parents house. It’s really hard to plan for natural disasters unless you live in an area prone to them. Queensland is one of those places. I think we all just get too blase about summer in Queensland as it’s always some kind of natural disaster. As you say, it would be good if owners let sitters know where emergency equipment is. We do detail this in our welcome guide but it doesn’t cover every scenario as it’s very hard to do. Hope you are recovering ok. There is still much clean up work to be done on the Goldie.

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Here in Stockholm, I could put them out on the balcony!

I googled “Esky”, so that is a cooler box.

Australia sounds terribly dangerous. You experienced a natural disaster on almost every sit! The news here also reported about alligators swimming in the streets.

For guests, it is extra difficult. Good that you already knew the neighbours!

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I travel with an AGM battery in the back of my car, and I nearly brought the solar panel I charge it with me. Then I thought that is silly as I will be on the Gold Coast and would have no reason to use it. I was able to keep my phone charged up but I had to drive around or keep car running to keep battery charged. At least I still had my phone to use, as I had to keep driving out to make calls as the phone tower was out too, so no mobile phone reception.

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Hi Karen. We also got caught in that huge storm - which was not predicted so you couldn’t even prepare. We were only without power 48 hours though and luckily the ice in the ice machine stayed frozen most of the time, so we could keep a few key items cold. But we had to bin pretty much all the freezer contents. Luckily, too, there were christmas candles dotted about the house that we ended up having to use. But yes, in areas where such things are likely to happen, very wise for every HO to have an emergency pack clearly identifiable and easy to grab. AND shown to the sitters. This has also reminded me to keep phones etc. topped up. My phone was at 6% when power went out so I could only make quick contact to a couple of people to let them know I was OK. I feel for you. It was not a fun experience.

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I hope you, @chickenlicken, and @karenfay are faring better from last night’s storm. What a way to welcome in the New Year! At least I’m with family and not on a sit yet. I know at the time of booking my sit on Bribie Island from this Saturday I asked about their emergency plans for a cyclone but I’ll be asking for more info after these two storms!
Take care!

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We are doing fine and the puppy is happy which is what is most important. Luckily he isn’t afraid of thunder and lightning, like some high anxiety dogs I have cared for. Although he did jump last night when there was a particularly loud thunder clap right over the house. It hasn’t been easy to take him out to go to the toilet before bed, especially in that huge storm on Christmas night. I wouldn’t want him to become afraid by insisting he go with huge amounts of thunder and lightning happening. I have had to wait until the weather clears up before I take him out.

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I have been HouseSitting for the past 4-5 years and I have done a lot of HouseSits. Being in natural disaster situations does not happen at each HouseSit. Three situations in over 4 years isn’t that bad.

No alligators in Australia. There are crocodiles up in Northern Territory and the northern parts of Queensland. They are not are problem anywhere else in Australia.

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Doubt THS would bother requiring such prep, because such disasters are rare and they can’t even get many hosts to do basics on welcome guides. If you’re someone who’s going to do sits in such conditions or in areas where such happen frequently, it would make sense for you to ask about such info and to prep yourself.

This thread might be useful: Natural disasters sit - #54 by ElsieDownie

Also, there’s TONS of info available online for various disaster prep, which anyone can search for. Of course, you need to have online access and some electricity source, so it pays to prep. There also are many apps and gov’t and weather agency alerts that you can sign up for, depending on where you’re headed.

I grew up on the Ring of Fire, where we also had frequent typhoons (which other folks often call hurricanes elsewhere), and used to work in news, when we’d often send folks into the worst disaster zones to do coverage. What we easily saw: Typically, people who stay calm and help one another tend to do much better.

While I was growing up, some typhoons left us amid lots of destruction, without electricity for weeks or months. We sometimes also lost water for long stretches, so we’d have to go get water or fire trucks would visit neighborhoods with water. The more clean containers you have, the better, because even if someone shares water, you need storage.

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For my next HouseSit, I shared the information about what happened. She has left her Esky out just in case, as well as a torch and other items for emergencies in case the power goes out or anything else happens. I think it is a good idea for home owners to be prepared and leave an Emergency Box with basics like a candle and matches, recharged lighting or torches, even a gas stove, gas bottle and advise where the Generator is if they have one, especially where there are those special plugs in their electricity boxes to run their entire house this way. They would have to leave spare fuel for these too just in case so that we can keep their fridges and freezes running to they don’t loose all their food.