Try to Imagine your Toy Collection in the Path of a Hurricane…..

Try to Imagine your Toy Collection in the Path of a Hurricane…..

Now try to imagine you are on a sand bar, a peninsula, a lower plot of land, and now the Hurricane is a Category 5.  As I write, the “odds” are favorable for a near miss, but one never knows.  Hurricane Irma is bearing down on the United States and has a strong potential to hit Florida.  What would you do with your toy collection?

Florida has a particularly difficult time when storms approach and everyone wants to exit.  The two major north-south thoroughfares, I-75 and I-95, tend to chug along at about 8 mph when things get tense.  The state, arguably, is about 400 miles in distance if you are in southern Florida. Plots of land tend to be  more densely populated on average and fewer people have an extra trailer.  So load just a car or two in this scenario.

So I repeat, what would you do?  You have a car.  Oh, you have a child or two, a wife, a cat.  You are welcome to take two cars; but keep in mind this doesn’t help with logistics.

So with your one car, what would you do with your collection?  The heavily populated Florida land mass tends to average around 8-15 feet above sea level.  Storm surges from Category 5 hurricanes often push 20 feet and above.  -Dilemma eh?

Times like this stretch your brain.  Myself, on a personal note, I chose to thin my collection about 8 years ago.  This particular scenario was thought of so that my choice was to lessen my risk.  Still, this scenario stinks.  I have about 90 or so premium toys.  Some of the toys are insured, but do the toys matter?  Arguably, no, safety and family come first.

As this mind energizing exercise runs through your brain, let’s keep our thoughts and prayers to the non-theoretical problems facing the citizens of Texas.  I wish them a safe recovery from Hurricane Harvey.

As for the citizens of Miami, of the Islands, of the soon-to-be named parts of the Atlantic and Gulf costal cities; prayers for them too.  This will be one heck of a ride, as a 150 mile wide storm averaging 185 miles per hour (sustained) may tend to not be kind to most all areas even near its path.  Irma is one hellacious scenario.  Use this discussion to plan for your emergency response for your toys, your family, and your loved ones too.  We will be quite thankful if this is just a dry run and practice.  Unfortunately, the odds are that many costal communities will be ravaged and the area of toys will be inconsequential.