Houseboats as hurricane emergency support vehicles or search & rescue?

by Don
(CT)

Wondering if houseboats are used as hurricane emergency support vehicles for victims, casualties, or search and rescue?

I was wondering about houseboats in the gulf area and how they survived the recent hurricanes. Did any of them provide support after the fact?

Were they taken out of the water before hand? Did they go into deep water, or have very adjustable dock lines for the tidal surge?

As you can see I am a novice at houseboats and was just wondering about if houseboats can be used to help in search and rescue, or helping out hurricanes or disaster victims.

Thanks, Don.

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Reply - Answer
Well Don, you maybe a "novice" at houseboats, but I have to say that you have a very valid question here.

As to houseboats riding out strong hurricanes, well this is highly unlikely, since houseboats can sustain damage as easily as other boats, if not worse because of their high wind & wave catching upper structure designs.

Now about using houseboats for emergency support, I think they should. For example, if we take the fire department being called to a residential building fire, the fire department usually brings a large fully equipped bus to feed, comfort and shelter the fire evicted tenants during the ordeal.

Time is of essence here, since many of the fire victims haven't had time to prepare for the wind, rain, or cold conditions. Also important to do since many of the survivors & victims maybe in a state of shock.

This brings me to an excellent example. Because of being a Coast Guard Auxiliary member, and speaking from personal experience, we have actually used our houseboat as a "mobile Command Post" in a simulation training exercise.

In the Training Exercise, we were simulating a passenger aircraft with 250 passengers aboard, crashing into the lake, just south of the airport. There were many survivors and crash victims floating/swimming around the crash site.

We had many different support personnel on hand, such as the Fire & Police Departments, Medical & Ambulance teams, and multiple Coast Guard vessels doing search and rescue in the crash zone.

Like your question suggests, our houseboat was an excellent "mobile radio command post" for such an event. I imagine it could have very easily and quickly been transformed into a "medical triage center" for disasters or tragedies such as this.

Houseboats are large, stable, and comfortable platforms for a multitude of gatherings, preferably happy and joyous events, however in an emergency, it was one of the best vessel choices for obvious reasons.

I would love to see, hear, or read what others think about using houseboats as temporary emergency support vessels.


Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about using houseboats in emergencies. Feel free to use the "Click here to post comments." link found at the bottom of this page.


Thanks again for sharing, IAN from all-about-houseboats

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