Contraptions for use in event of ‘The Big One’

Vendors storm hurricane conference

Solar-paneled generators resembling props from a Buck Rogers movie, perfect for powering your refrigerator after a hurricane. Bathtub water bladders. Peel-and-stick roofing tarps.

What amounted to the country's highest-profile storm-product bazaar continued Thursday at the National Hurricane Conference in Orlando, drawing hundreds of window-shopping public officials from across the Southeast.

Organizers say 225 companies staffed colorful exhibit booths in a spacious Rosen Centre Hotel ballroom, hoping to lure attention - and lucrative government contracts.

Vendors at this mini-carnival hawked hurricane shutters, mobile restroom trailers, packaged food, debris-hauling equipment, and a litany of other goods and services.

And they handed out freebies as well: black golf tees, white mouse pads, tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce, orange flashlights and trays of chocolate balls.

"Oh, my gosh, it started out extremely small," said Max Mayfield, the retired longtime National Hurricane Center director, who has attended and organized these conferences since the mid-1970s. "Now, they're coming to us. In the beginning, I'm sure they went out specifically seeking sponsors. Now, the exhibit hall is overflowing out into the hallways."

Some of these curious hurricane innovations fall on the exotic side of the spectrum.

Mayfield said he was fascinated by:

•Portable solar generators, capable of powering household appliances for families that lose electricity after a severe storm.

Solar Stik, the St. Augustine manufacturer, believes these contraptions - which resemble science-fiction weather vanes in photos - can replace gasoline-powered generators.

• 65-gallon plastic bladders, each designed to convert a bathtub into an emergency drinking-water supply container.

WaterSafe of Fort Lauderdale sells these contamination-fighting bags online for $29.99. Added bonus: siphon pump included.

•Adhesive roofing tarps, perfect for slapping atop areas of minor damage - no nails required.

These UV-treated sheets purportedly stick to shingles, tile, concrete, metal and rubber, claims a Miami Lakes company.

At the booth of West Melbourne-based Relm Wireless Corp., regional sales manager Brian Rodrigues showed off a handheld radio to Columbia County fire Chief Tres Atkinson, a potential customer.

Atkinson's department responded to the F2 tornado that tore across Lake City in early March, killing one, causing millions of dollars in damage and knocking radio transmitters offline.

"We had a communications problem. We're looking at different options for the future," Atkinson said.

Another Brevard County-based company with an exhibit at the National Hurricane Conference was Suntree-based Emtel Corp.

Emtel Chief Executive Mitch Auerbach spent Thursday demonstrating his company's emergency communication systems to conference attendees.

Source http://blogs.usatoday.com/weather/2008/04/a-bladder-as-bi.html