Survival skills are the essential abilities for elderly individuals to thrive in challenging circumstances.
Power outages are modern cripplers—lights die, heat fades, and tech goes black, whether from storms or sabotage. Days stretch to weeks with no juice. We have all experienced power outages. It’s inevitable. We have storms. We have generators, flashlights, and candles. The worst outages have been during and after hurricanes, lasting only a few days….
Heatwaves are slow broilers—temps soar past 90°F for days, frying you without relief. Power strains, bodies wilt, and dehydration ambushes fast. Every Summer, we have what feels like a heatwave in Florida. August can get to the high 90s and more. We have enough ocean winds to keep it from getting hotter, so it’s not…
Droughts are silent stranglers—water dries up, crops wither, and dust chokes the air, stretching months into years. Fires flare, wells fail, and survival turns lean. I have been in a drought, but not that totally dried everything up. Florida has had a couple of months in a row without rain, but we haven’t been as…
Blizzards are winter’s war machines—snow piles deep, winds howl, and cold bites to the bone, locking you in or stranding you out. Power dies, roads vanish, and frostbite stalks the unwary. I’ve never been in an actual blizzard that had white-out effects. I’ve lived most of my life in Florida, except for 10 years in…
A boat capsizing is a watery ambush—calm waves turn rogue, the wind flips your hull, or a wake swamps you, dumping you into the drink with no warning. It’s not just sinking; it’s fighting cold, currents, and chaos to survive. I have self-capsized a small sailboat and a canoe to practice righting the boat while…
Pandemics are silent, invisible reapers—microscopic invaders that turn bustling streets into ghost towns, grocery shelves into battlegrounds, and a simple handshake into a death sentence. One day, it’s a rumor from halfway across the globe; the next, it’s at your door. Cities lock down, supply chains snap, and the unprepared scramble as everyday life twists…
Earthquakes strike without warning—one moment, the ground is solid, and the next, it’s a rolling wave tearing through everything you know. They can topple buildings, rupture gas lines, and trap you under rubble in seconds. No forecast, no mercy—just raw power. Okay, I’m terrified of an earthquake. I’m amazed at those people who still live…
Tsunamis are nature’s bulldozers—walls of water triggered by earthquakes, landslides, or volcanic eruptions, capable of drowning coastlines in minutes. They don’t mess around: waves can hit 20-30 feet high, moving at 500 mph in the open ocean, slowing only to unleash chaos onshore. In the US, we call them tidal waves. I’m so glad I’ve…
Landslides are the earth’s silent assassins—tons of rock, mud, and debris sliding down slopes with little fanfare until they bury everything in their path. Triggered by rain, earthquakes, or human meddling, they can wipe out homes, roads, and lives in a heartbeat. I have never been in a landslide. Florida is below sea level, so…
Floods are nature’s slow siege—rivers swell, rains pound, or dams break, turning dry land into a watery graveyard. They don’t rush in like tornadoes; they creep, then overwhelm, drowning homes, roads, and hope if you’re not ready. I have had to evacuate an oncoming flood when Hurricane Dora hit Florida in 1964. We were renting…
Volcanoes are the earth’s pressure valves—when they blow, they spew lava, ash, and toxic gas with a fury that reshapes landscapes and chokes the unprepared. Eruptions can melt roads, bury towns, and turn day into night in hours. We don’t have volcanoes in Florida, but this is good to know if I travel where there…
Wildfires are relentless predators—fast, ferocious, and fueled by wind and dry earth. They can ignite with a single spark and devour miles of land in hours, leaving ash and chaos in their wake. Unlike hurricanes or tornadoes, wildfires don’t always give you days to prepare—sometimes you’ve got minutes. Do You Know How To Plan for…
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