Here in Atlanta, people all across the city woke up this morning to disaster. Unlike a normal day, many people are waking up in their cars, hotel rooms, gymnasiums or shelters. Unable to get to their homes after a relatively small snowstorm wreaked havoc in the city, they were forced to spend the night away from the comfort of their own bed. Cars litter the roadway where they were abandoned as they ran out of gas or their drivers opted to walk instead. The stories are endless. Hours to only travel a few hundred feet. Schools with hundreds of kids having to spend the night away from their parents. It is obvious this large metropolitan city was caught off-guard. How could something like this happen in modern-day America?
For most caught up in this disaster, the day started just like any other. The skies were clear when they left for work in the morning. It was a typical Tuesday morning in most offices as everyone started their work-week. For at least 24 hours, all the weather forecasts had been predicting a winter storm. Most areas of Atlanta were predicted to get 1-2 inches of snow with most of the storm hitting south of Atlanta. By mid-morning on Tuesday, the snow started to fall. It was obvious from the radar that the storm was hitting further north than expected. All at once everyone decided to leave work and head home early to try and beat the icy roads that were sure to come.
Even on a typical workday in Atlanta, the afternoon rush-hour can last for hours as people travel the roadways in good conditions. This was different. Everyone wanted to leave and get home at the same time. Even when road conditions were great, the Atlanta road system cannot handle that much load, and the roads were anything but ideal. The combination of the huge influx in traffic combined with the hazardous road conditions resulted in total meltdown of the Atlanta roadway infrastructure. Where were the salt trucks and the emergency vehicles? Why didn’t the city prepare for this event? They had to know it was coming, right?
If anything, this event should serve to open the eyes of the unprepared. What if this was more than a simple storm? Imagine this was a terrorist attack or other major disaster that caught everyone off guard. Everyone saw this event coming and they still weren’t prepared for it. How can the city possibly handle something worse? What if something happened and your loved ones were unable to get home? What if there was a dirty bomb attack and you had to leave your home while the rest of your family was at school or work? How would you rendezvous with the rest of your family when communication systems are overwhelmed? Did you know it was impossible to even place a cell phone call on the day of the 9/11 terrorist attack because the systems were overloaded with everyone trying to call their loved ones? It is easy to mock those who prepare and it may make you feel better about your own ill-preparedness to make light of those who prepare for the unexpected, but no one spending the night on the interstate in this “minor” storm was laughing.
How are you prepared? It is not a large investment to purchase 30 days of food and set it aside for your family. Most of our freeze-dried solutions will last 25-30 years in a dry, cool environment. Combine that with a water filtration and storage system and you will be well on your way to an investment for your family’s security. Don’t stop there. Talk about potential disasters with your family and formulate a plan for how you will react and what each of you should do if something happens while you are at work or your kids are at school. You don’t have to have an elaborately stocked underground bunker to get started on the path to preparedness. It could save the life of a family member of that of your own. If you need help getting started, stop by and see us or give us a call at TruPrep. Our associates love nothing more than to help people prepare for the safety of themselves or their family. One day you may look back at it as the best decision you ever made.
Prepare Today for a Worry-Free Tomorrow with TruPrep!
