Here in the US, there has been an unusual number of storms, but things like this can happen anytime, anywhere. If you are a musician or any kind of artist, you can lose an entire life's work in moments unless you do some planning ahead, but even then, there are no guarantees. Here are a few ideas of things you can do to lessen your losses in a worst-case scenario.
THE BASICS
With yet another major hurricane threatening, we here in Texas are being told to plan to evacuate in many areas. In Central Texas, we are used to flash flooding, so unless you have this on hand on a regular basis, you may not have time to get your things together like you would in a hurricane or upcoming blizzard. Here is what is being recommended for starters that you should bring with you if you have to leave your home to escape in a disaster situation--
Personal records, including birth certificates, ID and insurance papers
Drinking water
Full tank of gas (if you have a car)
Non-perishable food
Any needed medications (especially if you are diabetic or have some other chronic problem)
Pets and several days' worth of food for them
Bedding
Toiletries
Clothing suitable for the weather
Light source (flashlights/batteries)
Transistor radio (one that gets remote cities is best in case all local ones go out)
MUSICIAN SPECIFIC PREPS
If you are a musician, there is a whole gamut of items you could bring, providing you have room. As I suggested before, it would be a great idea to backup all your work electronically, and perhaps ship it to a remote website. You should also include as much as you can of things like your bio, digital pictures, scans of your records, and your accounting information if you can, like your receipts that are tax related, and have those put on a secure storage site on a regular basis so you won't be rushed to do it when word goes out to move. Backing it up on a CD that you've made to be read on any computer is also a good bet, but these can get broken, especially in the crunch of a rushed situation, so still keeping it out in cyberland somewhere is always safer. If you do have room, though, by all means, bring your records-there could be nothing worse than finding you can't file for insurance claims or weather an IRS audit because your records got destroyed in a flood, but put them in some sort of water/fireproof container in case you get stuck somewhere, or they might have been safer at home. Bring your favorite instruments, too, if you have room, and any old, hard-to-replace items if you can. Many shelters have been brightened recently with small, impromptu acoustic concerts held to cheer up people, and sing-alongs for the kids are usually a great break for the parents as well as the musicians. Newer things can always just be claimed if you have insurance, and you may even end up with better stuff in the end. Bring any written music you are working on, or, again, try scanning it and storing it on some remote site or emailing it to a friend for safekeeping until everything is over. Even moving things to a safer structure and putting them up at a higher level to keep it out of small floods (if that is all that is expected), and in a closet or more impact-proof part of the home can help ensure that it will be there when you get back, providing looting won't be an issue.
