During this California girl’s adventure called Hurricane Gustav in 2008, I came up with a plan to use my refrigerator as a giant ice chest. It is modeled after many years of house boating where extended vacations called for keeping food fresh for up to two weeks. Keep the refrigerator and freezer door shut with, upon pain of death, only one designated door opener… it worked.  The plan is very successful if you know the event is truly about to happen and you can start freezing the water in advance and stock every inch of the freezer with gallon jugs, but it will also work if you make room in the family freezer for as much water as will fit. If the power is out for some time, you will lose the stuff in the freezer anyway, so plan some menus!

In advance of the inevitable power outage, organize the frig so you can find what you need fast and take everything out that does not need to be there or that will be used right away and put it in the family ice chest. When the power goes out take a few frozen jugs from the freezer and put them in the refrigerator which is a first class ice chest if it is not opened and closed by every family member every chance they get. Insulated freezers are even better, but get warm because most of them only have limited ice in them when the power goes out. With careful planning, the ice in the last of my freezer jugs stayed frozen for four days. I only opened it once a day, got what I needed and closed it again…fast.  As the ice melted in the frig, we had ice water which went to the ice chest. We did not even think about going for ice until the fifth day, and then the power came back on! My point is, we were well over the 72 hour – take care of your self- time frame and had ice water to drink every day. 

The image used is a watercolor painting called "Here's Looking at You" A tribute to 9-11.

A Manhattan to Manhattan… by Rob Beilby, Artist "This watercolor was done for my wife, a United Airlines Flight Attendant, to respectfully commemorate September 11, 2001. It is meant as a loving toast to the fallen. The prospective is from an interior window table at the famous “Windows on The World” restaurant, a top the twin towers."

The genesis of DHS, the painting is registered with the Library of Congress