Keep a Tarp and Sandbag Kit Ready Before You Need It

After a storm, every store in the county sells out of tarps within the hour. The people who own one already are the calm ones. Put the kit together now, cheap.

The kit

• One heavy-duty tarp, at least 12 by 16 feet, stored dry and out of the sun. Cheap blue tarps rot in a hot garage in two years — check yours each spring.
• A handful of bungee cords and a coil of rope for tying it down.
• Ten to twenty empty sandbags with ties, stored flat. Fill them from the yard or landscape sand when a flood threat is real — filled bags stored for years turn to concrete.
• Work gloves and a utility knife, kept with the kit.

A tarp over a damaged roof section or a broken window the same day prevents the second, bigger disaster: water inside the house for a week waiting on repairs.