Tips for Women at Home In Storm

Okay, so I'm not on the coast or in some dangerous line of fire of Hurricane Katrina. But, I've been in the rain for an hour now "water-proofing" on the fringe of the storm. I've been mopping water for an hour -- need my toasty robe, hot coffee, and a break.

We had blowing rain all night and our share of water. We're under flash flood warnings until this evening, expecting 3-6" of rain ON TOP OF 4-6" of rain we already got over the weekend= WATER EVERYWHERE.

Got our basement drain fixed over the weekend after it flooded all the carpet.

Here's my tip:

We used our new HOOVER DUAL V STEAMER WIDEPATH WITH AUTORINSE as a WET/DRY VAC (Detail) to remove 25 gallons of water then. Was my Moms back to school power tool self gift. This thing has one of the best "drying features" on the market--pulls water out of carpets with a 12 AMP motor and has the best smelling carpet cleaner I ever smelled.

I'm not sure that it's designed for such a prupose, and I wouldn't have thought of using it unless we'd just bought it. But, it's working great in a pinch. If you use something similar, just be sure to dry your hands before plugging in. (If you are wet and frazzled...you'll need this reminder.)

The brushes on it are great, too, by the way. Worked great on the stairs yesterday.

(If you buy one, buy at an appliance store such as Sears where you can get insurance added...a lot of plastic parts reports say are expensive to replace).

Tip #2: If water is leaking into your fireplace...put a towel or bowel inside to catch drips and empty as needed. Hard to have this kind of rain and not have leaks in fireplaces...just contain them so they don't drip down further into the house.

Tip #3: Tip off your gas tank in automoble. Lines around here have been 10-15 long. Prices may not skyrocket, and I hope they don't, but be prepared.

Tip #4: Batteries for radios/flashlights in case of power outs.

Tip #5: Shave your legs and wash your hair...I don't really know why, but it just makes you feel more prepared come what may.

Tip #6: Buy Ice Cream. Again, purely pyschological. If something should happened, we need comfort food. I have a fresh apple pie on hand also.

Tip #7: Check drains...remove any leaves, dirt, mud that may have filled drain holes. This was a problem with our basement. Any basement doors, double protect with plastic and some heavy weights to keep water out.

Tip #8: If the gutters have water pouring over them instead of down the side drains, you probably need to clean out the gutters. Wait for a lull in the rain, take your cell phone with you, and have someone hold the ladder. It's slick out there. I crawl out an upstairs window. Wear gloves...keeps your hands from getting too cold, and watch for nails sticking out in the gutters when raking out leaves.

Tip #9 If you've had standing water...buy air deoderizers and carpet deoderizers...burn candles, open windows to ventilate when you can. Something about the smell of wet carpet. Uggh. Gotta love that.

Tip #10 If you happen to be blessed with an in-ground pool to maintain, you need to set it to waste or you'll have water everywhere. I had to waste 15-20 minutes twice this week on our to prevent overflow.