I started this website the week before Hurricane Harvey and Houston flooding. Afterward, life was not normal for a while and I decided to take a step back and reassess my priorities. Home automation is great and convenient during normal day-to-day life. But in some ways was a detriment to life in survival mode. We lost power for 3 or 4 days. What good are automated lights or a Nest thermostat or a robo vacuum or extended wi-fi when you don’t have electricity? Our house flooded twice in 2 days. What good is a water sensor to alert you of flooding when you don’t have electricity? Also, even if we had electricity and a flood sensor could alert us to flooding, the water rose so fast it wouldn’t even matter. We were trapped in our home, although safe, for several days with no really reasonable way to escape other than by boat. And even if we could’ve left there was no where to go and really no great way to get anywhere. So we hunkered down.
I learned a lot about how important it is to be prepared and capable of surviving without expectation of rescue. I also learned that there are way more people who are not prepared than there are people who are. I don’t want to be a burden on the government or others if I can help it. I also don’t want to take away precious resources like first responders when others may need their assistance more than me.
As a result, I’ve tweaked my plans of home automation a little. It’s still something I enjoy and am interested in. But I’m also combining it with an interest in prepping and survival. Solar panels and batteries are a priority now. We bought an RV, a 4Runner (which I plan on lifting and adding a snorkle). We’ve developed evacuation or hunker down plans. We have plans for dealing with flooding, wind, fire, etc. We have brainstormed scenarios where we’ve considered the most ridiculous thing that could happen and ways we could prepare for it. Things happen that you don’t expect. I have done some work in resilience engineering and risk management in my job.
We really want to get a Tesla battery and solar panels but they aren’t installing in my area of Houston yet. I’d really like to have a boat not just for fun but as an alternative evacuation vehicle. I’d like an extra generator or two with housing that silences the generators while they’re running. Having a generator running in the middle of the night just invites the looters to com and steal your fuel, your generator, and makes you a target. People know who is prepared and they are either resentful or vengeful. It’s best to lay low.
If we did have to evacuate, I’d like to know how my house is doing. If there’s been damage, a camera can help but with no Internet or electricity it would be useless. Also, a regular old radio was our only way of getting information about the rest of the world. We had phones, computers, and iPads but with limited cell service and no way of knowing when electricity would be back, we limited the use of our devices. I should’ve bought a solar charger for our phones before Harvey. I thought about and decided against it. I’ve never had much luck with solar chargers working very well for my smartphones. But it would’ve been better to have something than nothing.
I’ve got more thoughts and ideas for home automation improvements and emergency preparations that I’ll discuss in another post someday.