Hurricane Irma headed for “catastrophic” impact… fuel shortages strand Floridians… no escape for many

There’s something to be said about getting out of the way when bad things are headed in your direction. In the same way that you should never stand on the railroad tracks and play chicken with an approaching train, you probably shouldn’t challenge a category-5 hurricane to a game of “who’s the bigger badass.”

Truth be told, Irma is the bigger badass.

Updated storm tracks from the NOAA predict the storm savaging Miami, then barreling its way through Georgia and even Tennessee. Along the way, it’s going to unload outrageous winds on Orlando, Gainesville and possibly even Macon, Georgia. Mass evacuations have been announced and over 650,000 Floridians are currently attempting to flee the state.

Fuel shortages are being reported across Florida, causing some residents to be unable to flee. Via Phys.org:

The only way to drive out of the Florida peninsula is northward, and motorists leaving Miami have found many gas stations cordoned off with yellow tape, signaling they were closed due to lack of fuel.

The State of Florida has even released this color-coded panic chart. If you’re in the purple or red zones, you should probably leave.

People are beginning to panic

One of the irrefutable truths about preparedness is that the greatest threat comes from the masses of unprepared people who panic. While Hurricane Irma obviously poses a tremendous threat in terms of winds, rain and flooding, it’s panicking people who shoot each other, rob each other, steal your gasoline and loot your home. And it’s lack of preparedness that tends to lead people into panic mode in the first place.

Now we’re learning that the power in parts of Florida could be out for days or weeks. This will only lead to more looting and desperation. According to CNBC:

With Irma set to hit Florida as early as Saturday night, parts of Florida was expected to lose electricity for days, if not longer, and more than 100,000 people may need shelter…

Yet how many people were wise enough to prepare for such a scenario, even with over a week of forewarning? The answer, sadly, is “not many.” Most people just don’t plan ahead. Most people get stuck in the day-to-day “normalcy bias” of thinking that nothing catastrophic could ever happen to them, so they don’t invest in backup generators, emergency water filters, stored fuel supplies, emergency food and other supplies. Most don’t have a bugout plan, a bugout vehicle or even a paper map. So they freak out and add to the burden of problems that impact everyone else. Truly stated, lack of preparedness is the greatest threat in almost any disaster.

The mainstream media only adds to this by routinely mocking preppers and survivalists, as I explain in my podcast:

Direct hit on Miami?

According to official weather sources, the hurricane track will send it directly into Miami:

If the eye of the hurricane rips into Miami, it will of course cause tremendous damage and flatten many buildings. The economic damage will be immense, but there shouldn’t be any loss of life unless people fail to heed the warnings and evacuate the area.

Sadly, there will almost certainly be some casualties from the storm as buildings collapse onto citizens. If they had evacuated, of course, they wouldn’t be there when the roof caves in on them. And that’s the lesson in all this: When s##t hits the fan, try not to be standing in front of the fan.

If you’re not into preparedness, you’ll soon be in trouble

This is true across all sectors of preparedness, by the way. It’s the same advice on everything: When the stock market crashes, try not to be holding your retirement investments in stocks. When Bitcoin craters, try not to be holding your speculative investments in Bitcoin. When a civil war breaks out on the streets of California, try not to be in the path of destruction of the left-wing lynch mobs.

You get the idea. Be nimble. Avoid and evade disasters. Have a bugout plan and some portable wealth (i.e. gold coins, etc.). Don’t get seduced by the normalcy of everyday life. Understand that you are living in crazy times and that crazy things are going to happen with increasing frequency. Be prepared for anything to happen, and expect a lot of crazy things to happen without warning.

At least with Hurricane Irma, we’ve all had several days of warning. When the next stock market crash unfolds, there will be no warning. If North Korea detonates an EMP weapon over America, there will be no warning. If the Yellowstone supervolcano goes off, there will be no warning. Most events don’t give you any warning time at all, which means you need to be prepared at all times for almost anything to happen.

Here are a few of our sites that can help you stay informed and get prepared:

GEAR.news (covers preparedness gear)
Survival.news
Nuclear.news
Bugout.news

We also offer a host of preparedness supplies at the Health Ranger Store.