Margali's Griffin Wood Ranch

[Margali]

@Baymule Do you mean the yellow area, Zone A? There are some beautiful 19acre properties in there but not sure about it from hurricane aspect. I was think about staying in green and orange Zones B and C.

I know about evacuating larger animals. Do people take all their chickens and rabbits too?

 

[Ridgetop]

Zone 3 behind Galveston Island, let the island take the hit. Get a trailer your animals can fit in, keep the numbers down to what you can load up and run with. If work isn’t letting you go, then send hubby, kids and trailer ahead. Get some portable panels that you can tie to the side of the trailer so you can make your own pen if necessary. I’d say stop here, but I’m not far enough inland. Often times, towns with rodeo arenas open up to people with livestock. There are usually stalls that you could use or make your own pen.
Secret is, leave early.

Make sure you have 2 ear tags in place. Add an additional ear tag to other ear with secondary number for ID if necessary. If taking them to fairgrounds, etc., they can be comingled with other livestock if space runs short. You can also photograph them in the trailer with your phone for ID purposes since you have colored sheep. (Doesn't work for us LOL). We microchipped our horses in case of fire evacuation but expensive to do that with sheep. Remember to bring some feed as well since feed will be at a premium in evacuation areas.

You can come here if you have enough notice for evacuation.

 

[fuzzi]

I've read that people write their cell phone number on their animals with a Sharpie (permanent marker).

 

[Ridgetop]

Do it on the inside of the ear where it can't be licked off. Also you can paint a your name or phone number on their side with a 1" paintbrush and oil based paint. Oil based paint won't wash off in a rainstorm.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I'm in the 77577 area and have had more hurricane experience than I'd like.

Our experiences:

The only hurricane we evacuated for was Rita. Bad idea - we went directly into the path as it made an unexpected turn inland. We left several days early and had no traffic problems leaving. (My son waited several more days to leave and spent over 18 hours on the road and didn't even make it 50 miles.) We had all hooved animals with us - horses and goats. Chickens were left home. We went to family so we had a place for the animals. We waited several extra days to head home so we didn't deal with traffic from folks coming back. Lessons - have extra gasoline because most stations ran out of fuel. Take plenty of feed and hay if you have room.

Hurricane Ike was a Cat 2 when it hit. Cat 2 is not huge but when you are in the middle of it you'll wish you weren't, lol. We had no power for almost 2 weeks. The house had no structural damage, but we had window and roof damage along with tree loss. Barns stood and animals were fine. The barn is a 3-sided run in. Horses stayed outside (by choice) and goats stayed inside. This hurricane along with the experience of evacuating for Rita are why I now own a storm shelter, a whole house generator and even a backup generator.

Hurricane Harvey: Cat 4 - Thankfully, we didn't take a hit from the wind. We did however, have over 50 inches of rain. No flooding here even though roads around us were. We made sure we were well stocked with plenty of water/groceries/animal feed and hay. We all hated the mud, but animals were fine.

Hurricane Beryl: Cat 1 - We rode that one out in the storm shelter. We would have been fine in the house, but because DH is limited in mobility we thought it best to be in the shelter. Lost a portion of a large tree. Had a small amount of roof damage. Barns and all animals were fine.

I will likely not ever run from a storm again but only because I now have a hurricane/tornado storm shelter - rated for a Category 5. We also have a whole house generator and an extra backup generator in case that one fails.

You never know what a hurricane will bring. The only way to be sure all is well is to get out of harm's way. If you have a known place to go that might be your choice - but there are a lot of moving parts to evacuating with a bunch of animals. My choice is to be well prepared, well stocked and hunker down.

Welcome to the coast!

 

[Baymule]

@Baymule Do you mean the yellow area, Zone A? There are some beautiful 19acre properties in there but not sure about it from hurricane aspect. I was think about staying in green and orange Zones B and C.

I know about evacuating larger animals. Do people take all their chickens and rabbits too?

The orange area. And high ground if you can find it. Beware of creeks nearby.
Chickens and rabbits. If you evacuate, who will be there to feed and care for them? In a direct hit like hurricane Ike, it could be days, a week or more before you could even get back home. Ike blew every structure on the Bolivar Peninsula to smithereens. That and the storm surge, obliterated everything.

We were living in Livingston when Ike hit, it blew a hundred year old oak tree on our house. We didn’t have power for almost a month. Had to get the damage fixed and new weather head, electric wiring, so power company could turn power back on for us.

I’ve lived in hurricane country for most of my life. Ike was a direct hit and the only time I had damage until last year when Hurricane Beryl blew out a shed here and picked up a hoop shelter in the front field, lifted it over the driveway and threw it out in the middle field.

There is always plenty of warning, heed the warnings. The east side is called the dirty side. The worst of the storm is on the east side.

 

[Ridgetop]

Lessons - have extra gasoline because most stations ran out of fuel. Take plenty of feed and hay if you have room.

Once you are settledin yournew place, make sure you have a generator and emergency supplies. If you have to evacuate be prepared. Be sure to keep several gas cans of fuel on hand so you are not stranded.
For the livestock:
Keep emergency feed packed for livestock. When buying your trailer make sure that you will have room to bring feed for them. Turn the chickens loose and let them take their chances. Have "carry cages" for the rabbits with feeders and water bottles to mount on sides so you can evacuate them. (This assumes that you will only have a couple trios.) They can stay in those carry cages for up to a week.
For the family:
During hurricane season have the kids (and yourselves) pack "go-bags". Keep some emergency cash available to take with in a hurry. Have emergency 5 gallon water containers full, cases of bottled water, and canned goods. If you are stranded the grocery stores won't be open, and if on the road youmay need those things too. With hurricanes/tornadoes you often have warnings. In California we had no warnings of earthquakes and sometimes no warnings of fires.

You will adjust and learn to recognize weather patterns. Be prepared but don't borrow trouble.

 

[fuzzi]

We haven't had to "bug out" in years, but what you say is good advice.

Be sure to have external battery packs charged up. Your source of communication and information needs power sources. In a pinch you can charge devices using your car, but be careful not to waste gas.

Keep all your vehicles' gas tanks as close to full as possible.

Keep on hand

• Batteries
• Flashlights/lanterns
• Candles/lighters/matches
• Battery powered fans
• Solar chargers as backup
• Prescription meds
• Bottled water
• Pet/flock/herd food

I put bottled water in the freezers, keeping the frozen compartments as full as possible. I put "easy" meals like sliced cheese, milk, bread in a cooler so we don't keep opening the refrigerator. Frozen water bottles are my ice packs. I have a gravity water filter, too.

 

[Margali]

The weekend went by too quickly with kids visiting. We had a lot of fun in the pool.

 

[Mini Horses]

That's a positive! "Free" entertainment -- a pool! (That someone else can clean) And you can relax some,too