[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by SantaClaus

A hand pump and a hose dropped into a filling station's holding tank would be one way. Plus the interstates would be littered with abandoned vehicles with fried computers and full tanks. Oh man, how'd I get sucked into this thread!? Been watching too much rEvolution and Walking Dead!

I hear you. We, ourselves, have been watching too many "Doomsday Preppers".........I can't even imagine preparing an underground bunker to "exist in". Some of them are absolutely NUTS..........while some do have sensible, commonplace ideas for survival.

It does not hurt to have cash on hand (should the banks not be able to dole out your funds / and the credit cards no longer work due to lack of electricity, etc. Cash is King. It will be needed.

Definitely WATER as no one can live without water.
Especially in Florida. Ditto for basic non perishable food supplies.
Camp stoves to cook on.

Those young families (now back to the land or else practicing urban homesteading) with chickens for eggs, etc. and goats for milk, etc. will survive better than we will. Eggs and feta cheese will help one to survive. Put up veggies, ditto, from a home garden, which by the way I do not think is allowed in THE VILLAGES. Or, is it????? Are veggie gardens allowed in backyard?

Stockpiling gasoline in a hot climate does not sound like a good idea. The electric cars won't be able to "charge".........so those out west on ranches with horses, etc. would probably do better.

We'd all have to hope we are within walking or cycling distance of some "supplies".........if there are any available as the long haul truckers will eventually not be able to cross the country with the deliveries we take for granted. Anyone who has done a road trip east to west, has great respect for those long haul truckers, but without gasoline our supermarkets will slowly become empty, plus the clerks will not be able to run the cash registers.

Not a good scenario to contemplate.........no matter how one looks at it.

But in Florida, my number one priority would be gallons of water, rather than standing out in the baking intense sun for government doled out water supplies (as they did during Hurricane Andrew; that picture remains in my mind.......of the long lines, the hordes of people baking out in the sun , waiting for their water rations).

If a major catastrophe, as originally discussed, never happens...........the water and food will still come in handy during a hurricane or tornado.....

Being an eternal optimist is wonderful in many situations, however, it does not pay to have "ones head in the sand" with the condition the world is in at the moment. Even natural disasters such as earthquakes, could put one in
jeopardy.

P.S. The Miami Florida couple who bought one of our Vermont homes twenty years ago had been through Hurricane Andrew with some horror stories to tell, so I know what I am talking about. The wife was so traumatized by the aftermath of Andrew (their roof blew off........no water, no airconditioning, etc.) that she never wanted to return.
They stuck it out in COLD Vermont for eight years and then moved to Charleston, South Carolina.