My family and their needs come first. After that and only after that will I consider saving material possessions like my gear.
Preparation, staying aware, and acting early is essential to any family's well-being. Keep in-mind that community warning programs are designed to suit the entire community at-large... your needs may be greater or different depending on your individual situation and the threat at-hand. The last thing anyone should do is rely solely on community programs. They get outstripped quickly because the resources are limited in numbers and ability and the demand on them due to those who refuse to prepare and refuse to heed warnings is overwhelming. Knowing this, when they don't work for you, you only have YOU to blame. YOU are responsible for your family's safety. Step #1 in living up to this responsibility is accepting this responsibility.
So, we bought a house where flood risk is minimal. We have a tornado shelter and a weather radio and stay abreast of severe & fire weather conditions. We keep our lawn trimmed short and keep our property clear of branches & brush. We maintain insurance on our house and valuables and take pictures and record serial numbers. We keep online & off-site backups of our personal & financial records as well as intellectual property. We stay stocked on resources and we practice response plans. We stay ready.
The main hazards my area is prone to are tornado, wildfire, flood, winter/ice storm & earthquake. Of these my gear are really only vulnerable to tornado, wildfire & flood. Unless you consider it a threat that me being cooped during a winter storm means I'll be wearing my equipment out until the storm passes lol.
For tornado, I'll put my basses into the storm shelter BEFORE the storms threaten. For wildfire they go into the back of the truck BEFORE fires threaten. For flood they go in the back of the truck and we leave BEFORE the rains come and BEFORE mass evacuation makes escape impossible.
Even if I have ample time when it actually hits the fan, I will only work to protect my most important basses... my 2 Wals and my Status Kingbass. Recording equipment, mics, amps, effects, cabs & lesser basses are non-essential and/or replaceable, and therefore expendable. If there is enough time & room I may take additional basses, but only valuable, irreplaceable pieces.
If I were to try to save *all* of my gear in a hurricane scenario, I would put everything into hard cases, then into space bags, and then tie everything down in the attic. When I can get back into the house, I will protect my breathing from mold. Upon removing my gear from the house, I will spray off the space bags with bleach because floodwater is sewage and I really don't want any part of that nastiness. With any luck some of my gear will have survived the trial.
), my matching GB 212neoX (its light!), medications, a box or 2 of my fave 100 LP's, a handful of photo albums (before your pics were stored on a cloud), some human and kitty supplies, clothes, blankets, & flashlights all in my Pathfinder. The rehearsal space that houses my V4B & 410 is in the center of an old brick brewery less than a mile away ... it'll probably be ok
