Waiting for the Cavalry

“Numerical superiority is of no consequence. In battle, victory will go to the best tactician.” - General George Armstrong Custer, before his army was completely destroyed at the Battle of Little Big Horn

In many an old movie of cowboys and Indians, the settlers are saved at the last minute by the arrival of the US Cavalry division of mounted soldiers. During emergencies today, many people have the same expectation of being rescued last minute by fire/police/National Guard in helicopters, boats, etc. In reality most cities and towns barely have enough law enforcement and firemen to cover normal, everyday occurrences. To handle large events like a block fire they use Mutual Aid Agreements to call in resources from neighboring town. For large scale events like flooding and hurricanes, the towns next door need outside help too so the governor must call out the local National Guard or ask the federal government to send Guardsmen from nearby states.

Outside help needs time to arrive. Sometimes, as with hurricanes, a need can be predicted and outside help called in early and placed on stand by. The Red Cross frequently does this. But when a hurricane does hit the road to rescue is just beginning. Perhaps the storm hit hundred of miles away from the predicted spot far away from the waiting help. Perhaps it hit the rescuers. Even in the best scenario of perfect storm prediction, the outside help still needs to reach you. Road signs may be twisted or blown away, roads blocked with fallen trees or flooded with water. No electricity means no working gas pumps so fuel trucks need to be brought in. Organizing a rescue effort is extremely difficult and takes time and works slowly.

A few years ago residents of Rye and Mamaroneck, NY were forced to evacuate due to coastal flood caused by a tropical storm. My wife and I were asked to help set up a Red Cross shelter at Mamaroneck High School, 22 miles from our house. We had no problems with the first 17 miles but encountered many blockages just miles from our goal. Traffic on I-95 South was not moving so we tried instead local roads in Rye. Bad idea. We came upon blocked roads, flooded roads, police barricades, and quickly became lost with so many detours. We were very lucky that our car was not stalled out driving through flood waters and also lucky that we finally found the shelter.

BOTTOM LINE
There is a reason for 72-hour go kits. If you cannot rescue yourself and must wait for help, then be prepared for a long wait. 72 hours is 3 days of waiting with no fresh water and no electricity. And waiting to be found assumes that someone is looking for you and knows where to find you.
More on that tomorrow.