Something else about the recent blackouts

[Ruark]

I was contemplating our blackout experience the other day, and another angle crossed my mind. We often hear of preppers and people interested in a problem arises situations talking about the national power grid going down, and the nightmarish scenarios that might ensue. The CDC did an analysis some time back and determined that if the national grid went down, 90% of the population would be dead within a year, the primary causes of death being disease and violence.

The experience we had a couple of weeks ago was just a TINY EXAMPLE of what that would be like. It was a good yardstick for just how prepared we were for such an event. Stupidly, we didn't have any firewood put back, and we're sitting here on 7 acres of cedar and scrub oak. We DID have a big, freshly filled propane tank, enough to cook on for a couple of years. That was a huge help. We had a 12-pack of bottled water, and 4 gallon jugs we were able to fill up before the power went out and there was no well pump. We were able to wash dishes using a TINY bit of water. But if it had gone on, say for weeks or months, and not local, but nationwide, it would have been a different story. It was a wake-up call.

[dhoobler]

https://www.amazon.com/Second-After-Jo ... 0765327252

[Paladin]

Good thoughts!

One other thing to keep in mind is that even if you are prepared, in a massive disaster friends and family will probably be looking to you for help.

With the recent blackouts, I ended up taking care of my parents for several days. We had more than enough food for ourselves, but supplies went a lot quicker when the number of people in the house multiplied.

Don't waste, but always have more than you think you'll need. An example is that I filled up my vehicle's tank of gas before the storm, just in case... not ever imagining I would really need the gas... good thing I did... I ended up needing to drive regularly through the snow and ice to get my wife to work. She had extra shifts due to the storm. I have front wheel drive which works in the snow, and she didn't. So even though I didn't need to drive anywhere for myself, I ended up driving a lot... during a time where all the gas stations were out of gas. But I had more gas than I thought I needed, so fuel was never an issue.

For emergency management operations, my GO Bag always had 72 hours of supplies. I like to have at least 30 days of storable food for the household (including the dog).

Lots of people were using generators, which is great for the short term. But emergency generators aren't made for running full time and they require lots of fuel to keep running. I see generators as a necessary stop-gap, but solar doesn't require storing flammable fuel and can generate power over a longer time.

[Paladin]

Lights Out is another fictional work on the subject that's worth a read. Its based in Texas

[philip964]

Usually with Hurricanes I have some time to stock up.

This freeze caught us by surprise. I was most concerned with bringing plants inside, wrapping pipes and covering things I couldn’t bring inside.

I didn’t realize we had little bottled water, no full gas tanks and not a full pantry of food.

By Wednesday I realized I need to go out and shop. ( btw we did not lose power, gas or water )

All traffic lights were out, zero restaurants were open and all grocery stores were open but dark emergency power only. All refrigerated food was roped off not for sale. With the boil notice there was no water anywhere. I realized with all the driving to find food I really needed to get gas. Lines at stations backed out into the streets. People in front of me brought three and four ten gallon gas jugs.

I realized I was seeing end of the world stuff only on a minor scale.

What happened was minor. The temperature in Houston went below freezing in the day time.

I realized how bad it would be if we had let’s say a nuclear exchange.

I realized I needed to be a little more prepared.

What if things were bad for 6 months a year? Geez.

[carlson1]

This is just me, but I don’t believe we were caught by surprise. The News Meteorologist did an unusual great job. We were told at least a week in advance of the weather coming and it was weather like we haven’t seen in decades. I don’t know how many people listened and prepared, but we did.

We had more food than enough. We had water that was adequate for us and senior neighbors. That is without touching any of our emergency supplies. We had our generator ready along with 20 gallons of gas ready for our generator. I don’t know how long we could have went, but I feel we were prepared.

I know a lot of the parishioners of my church had a hard time. Having a 4 wheel drive F-250 became part of my ministry as we tried to take care of our elder members. It was definitely the storm of a century. A lot of of lessons should have been learned. Self preservation rather than government preservation.

[BigGuy]

This is just me, but I don’t believe we were caught by surprise. The News Meteorologist did an unusual great job. We were told at least a week in advance of the weather coming and it was weather like we haven’t seen in decades. I don’t know how many people listened and prepared, but we did.

We had more food than enough. We had water that was adequate for us and senior neighbors. That is without touching any of our emergency supplies. We had our generator ready along with 20 gallons of gas ready for our generator. I don’t know how long we could have went, but I feel we were prepared.

I know a lot of the parishioners of my church had a hard time. Having a 4 wheel drive F-250 became part of my ministry as we tried to take care of our elder members. It was definitely the storm of a century. A lot of of lessons should have been learned. Self preservation rather than government preservation.

We need a like button.

[2farnorth]

I'll probably catch a bunch of grief for this statement but what the heck; A year from now most people will have forgotten that it happened and will be no better prepared for the next event.
Most families have only 3-5 days food on hand. With out electricity much of that will spoil. Keeping gas in cans for more than a couple of months is not advisable since it to will "spoil".

[flowrie]

One other thing you might want to consider stocking is liquor. Not necessarily for consuming, but for trading, for gas, food, medical supplies, etc...
We filled up both cars before the freeze, also,stocked up on food at the store. One thing I did not plan for was the power outage. I do have a small generator, but never had to use it. Never lost power. But I have not started it in years, so need to check it out to make sure it is operational and also purchase a larger one. Also stocked up on gas, about 17 gallons in containers, but that was for the autos, not the generator. Yesterday I purchased a siphon kit in case I need to use car gas for a generator.

Just added more drinking water, now have about 75 gallons. Need to add more. My next project will be adding a transfer switch or similar to connect a generator to the house.

So, still have lots of things to add, fix, think about. It’s an ongoing project.

[Mike S]

The CDC did an analysis some time back and determined that if the national grid went down, 90% of the population would be dead within a year, the primary causes of death being disease and violence.

Do you happen to have a link to the CDC analysis? That sounds like a good read.

[powerboatr]

This is just me, but I don’t believe we were caught by surprise. The News Meteorologist did an unusual great job. We were told at least a week in advance of the weather coming and it was weather like we haven’t seen in decades. I don’t know how many people listened and prepared, but we did.

We had more food than enough. We had water that was adequate for us and senior neighbors. That is without touching any of our emergency supplies. We had our generator ready along with 20 gallons of gas ready for our generator. I don’t know how long we could have went, but I feel we were prepared.

I know a lot of the parishioners of my church had a hard time. Having a 4 wheel drive F-250 became part of my ministry as we tried to take care of our elder members. It was definitely the storm of a century. A lot of of lessons should have been learned. Self preservation rather than government preservation.

we watched the weather reports and prepared a bit, we didnt believe the weather people, because it just didn't get that cold here before. when it did arrive and we had 1F to 4F for 48 hrs it was a shocker.

we did have food, 4x4, took care of my parents next door, as well as neighbors. we made a few trips to the grocery for the folks on our street that got caught unprepared.

we have 100 gallons of water and fuel for generators. we were lucky and had power the whole time. had flickers on off on off sat and early sunday but the power company fixed it. we get our power from henderson plant and it runs on natural gas.

i can run the big generator for 16 to 18 days on 100 gallons of fuel, and can easily double that if we cut to run times to just, to recharge batteries and re chill freezers. having the bus in the garage is really a big help in times of outages and the like
take away for future
Have a bit more non perishable items , a warmer coat and gloves. and listen to weather folks
i have 3 propane tanks for grill and one was empty prior to the event, so next time all 3 will be full also have a 100 gallon propane tank to use for aux heat or cooking.
we did loose water pressure all week (10lbs or less) so i could trickle refill the 100 tank, but parents had to relay on bottled water. Used up a good bit of my supply to keep them in water.

we are also beefing up insulation in the rv garage, reload room, man cave area. while it was 1-4 outside i kept the heat at 65 and it was fine, but could have been better. this past week i added additional insulation to the rv garage and now have r35 all the way around.
main house was actually hot, with temp set at 51, its very well insulated (6" spray foam all walls and roof, r 19batts in walls and r 30 batts in roof).

it was a learning event for certain.

[AndyC1911]

I'll probably catch a bunch of grief for this statement but what the heck; A year from now most people will have forgotten that it happened and will be no better prepared for the next event.
Most families have only 3-5 days food on hand. With out electricity much of that will spoil.

Keeping gas in cans for more than a couple of months is not advisable since it to will "spoil".

I actually did an experiment a few years ago:

I filled a 5-gal can with regular gasoline in July 2015 and added 2 oz of Sta-bil (from AutoZone) as per the instructions - cool little measuring method in the Sta-bil bottle, btw. In late November 2016 I used it and my car engine ran perfectly fine - pretty interesting considering that that gas had been stored in my garage for 16-1/2 months and gone through half a summer, a full winter and then a full summer again.

I'm not fond of the idea of keeping a flammable substance like that in the garage, but 1) I had no other place and 2) consoled myself that it was in a new military, metal jerry-can with good seals.

[carlson1]

I'll probably catch a bunch of grief for this statement but what the heck; A year from now most people will have forgotten that it happened and will be no better prepared for the next event.
Most families have only 3-5 days food on hand. With out electricity much of that will spoil.

Keeping gas in cans for more than a couple of months is not advisable since it to will "spoil".

I actually did an experiment a few years ago:

I filled a 5-gal can with regular gasoline in July 2015 and added 2 oz of Sta-bil (from AutoZone) as per the instructions - cool little measuring method in the Sta-bil bottle, btw. In late November 2016 I used it and my car engine ran perfectly fine - pretty interesting considering that that gas had been stored in my garage for 16-1/2 months and gone through half a summer, a full winter and then a full summer again.

I'm not fond of the idea of keeping a flammable substance like that in the garage, but 1) I had no other place and 2) consoled myself that it was in a new military, metal jerry-can with good seals.

I always add Sta-BIL to my gas that is going to set a while I have yet to have problems.

[tomneal]

Post by carlson1 » Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:31 pm
This is just me, but I don’t believe we were caught by surprise. The News Meteorologist did an unusual great job. We were told at least a week in advance of the weather coming and it was weather like we haven’t seen in decades. I don’t know how many people listened and prepared, but we did.

I am going to claim it's because of the "Boy who cried wolf"
The Meteorologists have been predicting the "Storm of the Century" so often that folks don't believe them. (Less than five inches of rain in Houston, is NOT the "Storm of the Century". It's not even the storm of the year.)

The wife and I were prepared but we kind of stay that way because of hurricanes.

[powerboatr]

I'll probably catch a bunch of grief for this statement but what the heck; A year from now most people will have forgotten that it happened and will be no better prepared for the next event.
Most families have only 3-5 days food on hand. With out electricity much of that will spoil.

Keeping gas in cans for more than a couple of months is not advisable since it to will "spoil".

I actually did an experiment a few years ago:

I filled a 5-gal can with regular gasoline in July 2015 and added 2 oz of Sta-bil (from AutoZone) as per the instructions - cool little measuring method in the Sta-bil bottle, btw. In late November 2016 I used it and my car engine ran perfectly fine - pretty interesting considering that that gas had been stored in my garage for 16-1/2 months and gone through half a summer, a full winter and then a full summer again.

I'm not fond of the idea of keeping a flammable substance like that in the garage, but 1) I had no other place and 2) consoled myself that it was in a new military, metal jerry-can with good seals.

we store all of our gasoline in the storage barn metal building, its not insulated, but has vents and gets HOT as hades . i use stabil in each 5 gallon jug and so far never had an issue. i never store gas in the rv garage. only exception is the chain saw premix fuel. It gets a cool spot by the back door mudroom in the rv garage