Urban Escape Part #1

Back in the 1960s through the 1980s the primary evacuation scenario was based on nuclear war. Your options were to evacuate every-time there was tension between the US and USSR (which was often), or wait until the sirens went off and it was probably too late. Today’s urban evacuation scenarios are more varied and complicated. Worsening civil disorder, spreading epidemics, lack of water and food supplies may force you to evacuate after a period of days. Floods, uncontrolled fires, gang assaults, and nuclear or biological contamination may necessitate immediate flight with minimum preparation. The following considerations are based on many years of planning, re-planning, and testing of urban escape plans and routes.

Considerations: Time and Distance
The further in to the urban area you live, the harder it is to escape. The gauntlet of blocked streets, bridges, overpasses, shooters, civil disorder, fires, and other hazards multiplies with every mile between you and open country. Areas on the fringes of the city, or into the true suburbs, are far easier to escape from or even holdout in. Consider this when relocating, but jobs and family obligations may dictate where you must live.

The sooner you move to evacuate the better. Once even a small part of the general population starts to evacuate your chances of automotive movement, with a significant amount of survival goods, is about zero. As anyone who lives in the city knows, even a slight increase in traffic, or disruption of flow, brings everything to a halt. A 10-20% increase in outgoing traffic combined with the inevitable accidents and breakdowns will stop everything. This will be followed by panic, road-rage, and chaos on the highways. Unless you head for the hills every time there is bad news, you probably will not beat the crowd.

Planning Your Evacuation
If driving your vehicle filled with survival and camping supplies is viable, you should definitely try it. To this end you should have supplies in tote bins ready to just put into your vehicle and go. Of course you should never let your fuel tank get below half-full, and if the conditions indicate that you may need to evacuate soon, keep the tank full. Every mile you can get by vehicle is one less that you will need to walk. Most people will head for the expressways and main roads that will jam up quickly. Now is the time to use topographic road maps found at truck stops, google earth, and just driving around to locate backroads, side roads, alleys, and other drivable surfaces that may offer clear routes. Rivers, railroad tracks, and other features that cross your escape path will have only limited crossing points at bridges, underpasses, and tunnels. Try to get past these before they are closed off. Once these choke points are closed and the roads are blocked you will have to abandon your vehicle and walk. You must be prepared for this eventuality. All of your main survival supplies must be in backpacks and/or wheeled carriers.

Be sure that sturdy hiking boots and all-weather clothing are included in your supply bins. If water obstacles are anticipated a canoe or inflatable raft should be included in your equipment. You may want to carry a large bolt cutter in your vehicle for opening gates to service roads and shortcuts. There are going to be a lot of less prepared and more desperate people out there, so being well-armed will be an absolute necessity. Getting through an urban area requires close-range volume of fire more than long-range accuracy. You need to quickly disable and/or suppress hostile fire while escaping the danger zone. Large caliber, large capacity handguns, short barreled shotguns, and carbines are all effective. I also recommend carrying lots of smoke grenades to facilitate screening of movement. These are available at Paintball supply outlets.

Stay tuned for Part #2 of this series! Get more critical training at Survivalist.com