Pets' needs factored into hurricane preparation

Orlando | He might be your best friend, but is Fido worth risking your life over?

The answer is apparently "yes" for many folks, and that's prompted emergency management officials to start taking pets into their evacuation planning.

Nearly 80,000 people in Louisiana didn't evacuate as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans. Roughly half of them cited the inability to take their pets as the primary reason they stayed put, said Heather Rigney, disaster-preparedness coordinator with the Louisiana SPCA.

Largely in response to Katrina, the federal government in 2006 passed a law mandating that state and local officials take evacuees with pets into their disaster planning.

But North Carolina has been ahead of the curve.

The state established an animal-response team plan after Hurricane Floyd. Last year New Hanover County announced the coast's first pet-friendly shelter at Noble Middle School.

Dining in a disaster

Food is a popular topic at this year's conference.

No, not the stuff served up at the Rosen Centre Hotel, site of the 2008 National Hurricane Conference. We're talking about the stuff folks might have to eat after a major hurricane strike.

A half-dozen vendors are hawking their edible wares here in Orlando.

One of them is Heater Meals, which uses the same heater found in the military's MRE meals.

Company spokesman Dave Blandford said the heater, which turns "hot" when salt water is poured on the powdered iron and magnesium, will heat the food to nearly 100 degrees in ten minutes.

The selection of dinner meals ranges from barbecue beef to Southwest-style chicken. All have more than 1,000 calories and the cost per dinner, if bought in bulk, is about $4.50.

And the taste? Not bad.

Hurricane storage

One of the North Carolina-based exhibitors at this year's conference is 1-800-PACK-RAT, which markets steel containers that it will deliver, pick up and store for clients.

The franchise holder for the Southeast is based in Wallace and is part of the Murphy family's sprawling business empire, which includes hog farms and the River Landing golf course community.

Marketing manager Jon Payne said the company's containers, which come in 16-foot- and 12-foot-long sizes, were drawing interest from emergency management officials.

He said they especially liked the idea that they're collapsible.

The fact they're built to sustain winds of up to 120 mph also means they could be stored outside.

- Gareth McGrath