Things I learned from Katrina:
1. Don’t drive in the middle of a landfalling hurricane. I had two trees nearly crush me and saw an interstate sign fly off its poles.
2. Trees do unnatural things when faced with 70+ mph winds for 12 hours.
3. Have three-days worth of supplies on hand — even if you live inland. You can’t depend on someone to come save you.
4. Civilization breaks down quickly without electricity. I pay my power bill with gratitude.
5. Civilization breaks down even quicker without gasoline.
6. Make sure your windows aren’t painted shut.
7. When things get bad, we get good. I was impressed with how we helped our neighbors after the storm.
8. Like an orange, you can tell what’s inside people when they are squeezed.
9. People (and organizations) who are rigid and can only follow a plan will fail after a disaster. People who are nimble and can improvise on the fly succeed.
10. Human beings are resilient creatures.