I have no idea if we will be hit by another Carrington Event or not, My goal when I post such is to make people realize just how much our modern society relies of electrical power. Rather it EMP, a Carrington Event, hackers, or saboteurs, all of which have capacity to bring our electrical gird to its knees. As be pointed out by myself and many others our capacity to replaces most of the largest of transformers is very limited and spares of these are almost non-existent. A major event caused by any of this things could leave vast swaths of the country without electrical power for months and months. That means no clean water, not sewage treatment and so on and so on...
A grid down scenario is what concerns me most.
What I’ve noticed in reading comments here and on other sites is that people overwhelmingly worry about their electric appliances and electronic gadgets being unworkable, while glossing over the WATER and SEWAGE systems’ dependency on the grid.
Drinking water and hygiene are NUMBER ONE priorities, far more important than the internet or the dang air conditioner.
Folks, Kartographer has made this point repeatedly.
Are we paying attention? Are we preparing?
Do we have even a week’s supply of clean water for drinking, food prep, and bathing for each family member?
Have we played the “What If” game—as in, what if the disaster lasts longer than a week? Is there a water source nearby? Can I get to it, and will I be able to transport a supply of water back to my shelter? What dangers or obstacles lie between me and the water source? Am I likely to be attacked while driving or carrying water? What if my filled water containers are too heavy to carry on foot? Do I have containers in various sizes, and a wagon or wheelbarrow (or ghetto car—grocery buggy) to transport them?
Do I have enough bleach/cal hypo to sterilize a year’s supply of water, or fuel to boil it? Bathing in impure water is as dangerous as drinking it.
What if I run out of toilet paper, which then requires more water to be allocated for body hygiene, as well as for washing whatever clothing or cloths are soiled as a result of not having toilet paper?
Hurricane Katrina—electricity was out for months in some areas. My house was not underwater, but nothing was coming out the faucet because the electric pumps were down. I had to drive miles out of the way, around the flooded areas of New Orleans, all the way to Baton Rouge, several times, to buy water and gasoline, over the next several months. What if there’s no gasoline near enough to buy or siphon?
Could you still get to water?
People were rescued from rooftops a few days after the flood; they’d been surrounded by contaminated, undrinkable water. I saw them as they were brought into the Baton Rouge shelter, nearly dead from dehydration, and needing antibiotics for lacerations.
Someone I knew died weeks after Katrina from a bacterial infection, because his legs were cut up while swimming through debris and sewage-infested water. I remember there were fears of cholera. These things made an impression.