Hurricane coming? Your most precious commodity will be ice.

I live in South Florida, the bulls-eye for many hurricanes and tropical storms. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was our worst. I managed to survive it without too much difficulty but I learned some valuable lessons from that monster storm. With Hurricane Irma expected to hit Florida in the next few days, I thought I would share a couple of those lessons.

In my humble opinion the best thing you can do when facing an epic storm is to get the hell out of Dodge. If however you want to stay behind to protect your property, then at least get your family (including pets) out of harm's way. It will make life a lot easier. Send your spouse and kids (and dogs and cats) to the in-laws or elsewhere. It is easier to look after 1-2 individuals than to look after 4-6. That may be easier said than done with Hurricane Irma as this particular hurricane may very well traverse the entire length of Florida.

As hurricanes are late summer/early Fall events it will be hot--- really hot-- when the storm knocks out your electricity and air conditioning. The most sought after commodity after Hurricane Andrew was ice. Ice to cool your parched throat. Ice to cool your water and drinks. Ice to keep food from spoiling until you can cook it up on your portable grill. We couldn't get enough of it and fights broke out whenever people converged on a site that had some on sale or where it was being distributed for free. Bottled water could be found fairly easily but ice proved much more difficult to locate.

Ice may not be an issue for you if you have a generator and lots of fuel to keep your refrigerator running nonstop. But when you're without power for an extended period of time (our neighborhood was without electricity for 2 weeks) obtaining and transporting fuel to run your generator (and keep your fridge running) can get difficult. You'll want to conserve your fuel as long as possible. Starting off with a large quantity of ice will save you from having to run that generator so often.

If you can, get yourself a large, marine-grade cooler and stock it with as much ice as possible. Before the storm, freeze as many plastic water bottles and jugs as you can. Fill the cooler with them. Do the same with your freezer and refrigerator. Bulk ice melts much slower than cubed ice. Cover your cooler with additional insulation to keep it as cold as possible. Try not to have empty spaces in your cooler or refrigerator as it will make it less efficient. Open your cooler (or refrigerator) as little as possible.

You will find that if you have enough ice and cold drinks to last you at least a week it will make an enormous difference in your physical and emotional well-being. You can put up with a lot of heat and misery so long as you can cool down and hydrate.

25 years after Hurricane Andrew I still remember the search for ice as being the most sought-after commodity after the storm (with generators being a strong second and commanding outrageous prices). A good cooler stocked with plenty of ice (that can last you several days and provide cool water as it melts) is worth its weight in gold.