If you live in a wildfire-prone area or a tornado-prone area, you may own an RV for the sole purpose of having a safe escape route and a place to hunker down if need be. Even if you don’t live in a natural disaster-prone area, maybe you like the comfort of knowing your RV is there in case something else happens to you. House fire? Medical emergency? Hey, an RV can come in real handy…
How important is it to you that your RV is available in case of an emergency? Is it the reason you own it? Is it not important at all? After you vote, please leave a comment and explain your answer. We’re curious to hear your thoughts on this topic. As always, we appreciate your time and contributions!
I wouldn’t say a RV is an escape route for a tornado, hurricane yes, tornadoes form so rapidly out of seemly nowhere you barely have time to seek a safe place to shelter. If I hear of a tornado warning I doubt if I’m going to take the time to prepare to leave in a RV. Unlike a hurricane where you have a weeks notice or even a days notice when they finally pinpoint where it will make landfall, tornadoes may be 5 miles away and suddenly change direction and be headed right toward you.
In the winter, my Motor Home is snowed into our barn. We could use it to cook and sleep, but it can’t hit the road. In the summer, it is setting next to the garage fully fueled and except for the reefer fully stocked so we could use it in an emergency, though the only emergency’s we could have here are wild fires and tornadoes. We haven’t had any major wild fires in my area in my life time and tornadoes don’t give any warnings so the coach is not an important escape vehicle for us.
After experiencing Hurricane Andrew and several other hurricanes since, I have come to really appreciate having the motor home. Travel was always the reason we had it but hurricane escapes is a good primary reason to keep it, especially having a primary residence in a high hurricane risk area, Homestead, Florida.
I used my Motorhome a few weeks ago during an ice storm that left us without power for a couple of days. It was in the 20’s so the heat, stove and the coffee maker was very nice!
Since it was winterized, we had bottled water. No bathroom or showers …
When hurricane Sally hit, we used our MH generator to power our house refrigerator and freezer until power was restored. After power was restored, due to extensive damage, our neighbors lived in their MH for 9 months while their house was repaired.
We have been fortunate to date in not experiencing disasters. We have come close though. Although through insurance coverage and/or personal finances we can afford hotels, the major issue is that hotels etc do not always accept pets. Those that do charge ridiculous fees per pet. With my camper we don’t have to deal with that. So yes, having our camper for emergencies is very important to us.
Add some clothes and perishables and we’re ready to go.
I voted ‘not important’ but only because we have other redundant resources at our northern house and little likelihood of a disaster that would allow us to run. On the other hand… we winter in a RV park in south-central Texas. 2 out of the past 3 years we have been in conditions with iffy electric grid power and for all practical purposes, impassable roads. We fared much better than locals living in stick & brick dwellings. Lived for a bit off 12v systems & internal fresh water, stayed warm, food didn’t spoil and never needed a generator.
We live in Southern California close to the San Andreas fault. Having been through two major earthquakes in my lifetime it is comforting to know that we have an additional resource for water/food/and restroom facilities. When not in use, our RV is kept in a covered storage area with full water and food supplies to last us a week or more. Even if we are not able to travel during a disaster we are able to camp at our storage lot. Guessing that being prepared is part of being a boy scout as a child: never know when the next one will happen.
Also in So. Cal. Add the wildfires to your list as well. We evacuated twice in 03’ and 07’ here in San Diego due to the Cedar and Harris fires. As you stated, it is comforting knowing that we can live a bit with our rig stocked and ready at all times.
Agree with Kevin C., here in east San Diego County
Having the RV available in emergencies is “important.” I vascillated between “very” and “somewhat.” I settled on “somewhat” because we bought it for travel, not emergencies. Emergencies would only require a generator to provide power to the house during outages caused by storms and utility reactions to excessive demand from unusually high or low temperatures. Using the RV and its on-board generator is a welcomed luxury if the power goes out for several hours. We live in east Tennessee and our natural disasters are almost always storm-related (ice storms or tornadoes).
Had never really thought about it, but it’s good to know we would have our motorhome to use if you were ever to need it in an emergency situation.
Our motorhome is within 30 feet of the house and is our lifeboat if needed. Mostly, it is our escape vessel when power outages happen. Except for winter (when it would be winterized) it is ready to provide all the comforts of home.
Living in the Deep South, along the Gulf Coast, I would say that it is an emergency vehicle par excellence.
As a licensed and equipped Amateur Radio Operater, I have responded to at least 15 hurricanes and am equipped for many more. Messages that do not get out do not exist.
Stay ready, Stay safe. Always packed and ready to roll.
I didn’t vote. We live in ours full time (moving every 2-4 months). So it is always available. I can say when I head north in the winter to visit family for a week that I hate not having it. I like having everything I need right there with me.
The generator comes in handy from time to time for electrical outages that last more than half a day. I have fired up the genset and run an extension cord into the house to plug in the fridge, freezer, and a light. Four days was the longest time. But we certainly don’t own a motorhome for that purpose. It would be a pretty expensive generator!
Never really thought about it but it is a convenience.
Looking at the picture of a flooded town, it brings back memories of Agnes in 1972. From where I live, if a flood would ever come close, the Capital of PA, Harrisburg, would not be seen. I’m about 60 miles north and the elevations of both properties are quite large.
We prepare to leave within a short period of time. When returning from a trip, the RV is cleaned and filled with gas and propane. I do keep most of the non-perishables in the house re-packed in totes and ready to go. I also have meals in a reusable bag in the freezer to grab and go.We’ve had a few occasions where we needed to leave quickly for family medical emergencies. Although we lived at the top of the hill where we weren’t in danger of flooding, we had notice that the water treatment plant may go down so we filled the RV with water in preparation. There are other reasons than natural disasters when one might be more comfortable in a motor home when evacuating. The folks in Ohio had to leave quickly and won’t be back for awhile. Prayers to them.
We’ve been lucky so far but the RV is my lifeline, if only in my head. It takes away a lot of worry.
We have used ours a few times when having to evacuate due to threat of wildfires or smoke from them.
We would really like to have access to our RV for an emergency, but in the winter unless we know of an impending event before hand, it is very unlikely that we could gain immediate access to our RV. We keep it in a secure storage lot on the nearby military facility. While the road in and out of the facility is plowed, they do not plow within five feet of the RV’s. The facility managers site damage concerns by the plows as their reasoning for the buffer.
I keep my RV at our home base with the tank full and refrigerator stocked. We also have clothes inside. We can be on the road in a heartbeat but that may be delayed by hooking up the trailer and loading a vehicle. On a side note, I usually fill the tank before stopping for the night. We can evacuate in a hurry if necessary.
We live a few blocks from Northfork and Southern Railroad. If any fire, air and water got messed up we could move out in a hurry.
If it’s that important I’m flying not pulling a trailer. Don’t need that extra stress and distractions get quick to where I’m going. That’s how bad things can happen.
We have always had a van of some sort to camp in. We saved and when retired got our fancy Class B to travel in comfort. My daily driver. Always full of water, clothes, canned goods and tools. If our house caught fire, the first thing would be to back the van out of the carport and across the street, Then the wife and dog. Then whatever we could save. Power out, move to the van. Hurricane, go where we can. For pleasure, you bet, but I also look at it as another one of my insurance policies. (I no longer carry tire chains, salt and sand like I did when we lived up north – too much weight – cheaper to move South. 😆 )
We have used it numerous times when elderly family has gotten sick and we had to rush home to care for them. My wife can continue to work remotely and I have used it as a mobile kitchen to help feed everyone while sitting in the hospital waiting room.