The US federal government says to have at least enough survival supplies and a plan to make it through several days of everyday life being altered severely.

But even basic level planning may not be enough; here is one guy's experience.

The stretch of U.S. 59 that rarely had more than a few cars anywhere within eyesight was littered with broken-down vehicles, and my stepmother’s car quickly became one of them. After several hours stalled in the now blistering heat, the old Buick’s radiator gave out. This forced my father and stepmother to pile everything they could from her car into my dad’s pickup.

It was then that the real scares began — not from the hurricane, but from the confused and ill-prepared people who were stranded along the highway. While my father was moving items from the broken down car to his pickup, someone decided to break the back window of the Buick to steal a half-empty water bottle.

This was mere hours after the evacuation had been issued. Luckily, my father was able to siphon enough gas from the Buick to keep his F150 running just long enough to make it to Nana’s house. Unfortunately, the situation became even worse from there.

The hurricane did not make landfall in Houston like it was predicted. Instead, it hit the coast and sheered quickly to the northeast, headed directly toward where my father had evacuated to – my grandparents’ home. Less than an hour after they arrived, my father had Nana and Papa in the storm cellar; he also ran to all of the neighboring homes and offered them shelter.

Overall, 17 people were in a storm cellar that was built for 10. As the storm finally hit, my father made a final dash to his truck and he learned firsthand how powerful the storm was. As he reached the truck to grab the only portable radio that he had, and what would soon become the only means of outside communication for days, he was suddenly hit by a gust of wind that took him off of his feet and slammed him into the side of the house. He was able to shake it off and make it back to the storm cellar as the outer wall of the hurricane closed in on them.

Luckily, and due in no small part to the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, my father had the foresight to have a storm shelter installed in between property he owned and my Nana’s home. He had also had the shelter stocked with a pallet of MREs and about 300 gallons of water. However, he did not foresee that the hurricane would score a direct hit on the small town of Zavalla.

The scary thing is this guy tried to plan and certainly had a better survival plan than many of the people he was with.

But even his planning only went so far. What happens when the water runs out? Could 17 people really eat MRE's for days on end?

Appropriate planning for a survival crisis requires more than a few days supplies and more than even what the government says you should do; to learn more about this, check out Survival Life.