This has been an incredibly active and severe storm season here in North Georgia. Tornado sirens have gone off four times for us this spring, compared to just once before in the five years we have lived in this area. I cannot begin to describe what it is like to catch, cage, and move the rabbit cage to a safer location in the midst of a storm with tornado sirens going off full blast. The humans are running around hollering and the rabbits are just running!

I know many parts of the country regularly deal with hurricanes, tornados, floods, and wildfires. People in those areas are probably more familiar with what needs to be done quickly. After our experiences this spring, I've been doing some online research on emergency preparedness. I realize more now than ever before that everyone needs to have some plans in place should they need to relocate both humans and pets in a hurry. In addition to natural disasters, there are train derailments with chemical spills and terrorist attacks that could lead to unexpected and speedy evacuations or an inability to be able to go home in the first place. I included a couple of links to House Rabbit Society articles with experiences and suggestions that could help jump start your emergency preparedness if you haven't already got a plan in place. There are more links in some articles to other sources of preparedness information.

At the moment it has been such an active season, it has been hard to make any major adjustments. In the near future, we need to look at what we keep on hand, where it is best stored, and how to make sure we can gather and transport ourselves, Tigger and Shadow, and basic necessities in a hurry should it become necessary. In reading the preparedness plans, we have found we have some problems, but also some blessings. Some good things are already in place.

We don't have a basement for tornados, but we do have a half bath and a room sized pantry on the first floor that are interior rooms which become our tornado hiding places. The pantry is large enough to hold the week of food and water recommended for emergencies and can also hold the bunny cage when we have to stow them safely during a tornado threat. We have always had batteries on hand and flashlights in every room, since we found out early on that sudden power loses and a roaming black rabbit aren't a good combination. We have coolers and frozen cool packs that are kept ready in our original refrigerator that we had put in the garage. We have a couple of battery operated combo camping fans / fluorescent lights. A camping fan with a frozen cool pack can be a makeshift personal air conditioner for humans or rabbits. We also turn the fluorescent light on and put it in beside the rabbits cage when it goes into the pantry, so that when the power goes out with the storm, Tigger and Shadow still have some comforting light in their strange location. We have a weather alert radio with a battery backup that is kept in the first floor half bath. We also have a small battery powered transistor radio stored there.

We have done enough tornado drills this spring to know to quickly get the rabbits into the cage and stow it in the pantry. Then we grab purse, wallet, cell phones and keys and head for the half bath. It is nice to know that when we get there and the power goes out, the weather alert radio or the transistor radio that are already there can keep us informed about the situation. On one day it helped us to know to keep ourselves and the rabbits right where we were, because there were two back to back storms that produced tornado warnings, one right after the other.

Rabbits hate to be picked up, but make sure you practice and have some way of getting hold of your rabbit quickly should you need to. Tigger and Shadow have been trained to hop in their cage to get their treats, but it was still a little tricky getting them there with all of the storm sounds and sirens going off. Fortunately we didn't get any direct hits and even the near misses came with 15-30 minutes warning. We want to be better prepared for the future, so if there is less warning, we will be ready.