"But we still don't understand why you want to prep."
Posted on 07/05/2012 5:09:44 PM PDT by Kartographer
My observations will be preaching to the choir in this forum but here goes: · Gasoline was gone within 24 hours. Lines were just like the 1970s fuel embargo. · Ice became the chief commodity and was in short supply or no supply. · Water was out for most people at least for the first two days. · Most big box stores and gas stations were up on generator power by day three. · A new shipment of 250 generators was sold in a few hours. · Temperatures in the high 90s added another layer of difficulty.
(Excerpt) Read more at rural-revolution.com ...
Preppers PING!
I don't think you'll need to ping the zombie-apocalypse types. they can smell a thread like this.
As Newt said, this unfortunate situation is just the merest hint of what it will be like after an EMP attack.
Prepare for that eventuality and something like the last week will relatively easy to survive.
A Virginian by birth and most of my life... Now live in Alabama. I have NEVER, in my 52 years, witnessed a storm such as the “derecho”! (Our family was home for the 60th wedding anniversary of my husband’s parents.)
Some of our family just got their electric power back today. Living in the country, they had access to water and ample supply of food staples. Too bad for the deer meat in the freezers... except for those who had generators. Ice was a scarce commodity.
Regarding neighborly kindness, my husband, sons, brothers-in-law, and nephews helped clear neighbors’ yards of fallen trees the morning after the storm. My job, according to my 81-year-old father-in-law was to keep the “coffee perkin’” in our camp percolator!
Thank you, God, for your many blessings!
Most common response I hear when I bring this up?
Aww, that will never happen here!
I point out that we kept a hurricane kit ready in FL (and used it following the Wilmacane) just in case.
Oh, pshaw, don’t stress, there will be plenty of everything. Heck if we run out the government will be there to help.
Back in 1975 we survived the Ice Storm here in Central IL. Our small town went 10 days without gas, electricity, running water, etc. Nobody had a generator, everybody helped those who needed it. Knowing how to use one and my dad having one, I volunteered to cut downed trees from power lines and helped the cops patrol at night. The only grocery store in town opened up and led folks who needed food around inside with flashlights until the food was gone; taking anything from promises to cash in payment. Only help we got from the government? National Guard brought in a huge water trailer. I’ll count on friends and neighbors first and any, or all, government helpers last. Experience is a hard teacher but you will learn the lessons or you won’t survive.
"But we still don't understand why you want to prep."
Hmmm.....May be time for a thread on gensets. Yeah, we don’t like to think of the noise and issues with attracting attention in a long term power loss, but in the short term~
We've had two of them in Virginia this year, one earlier this Spring.
What has happened is they've given a well known type of storm a special name (about 1888 according to an article on the internet).
My power went out for 10 seconds. Gas didn’t change at all here.
Been running some speed checks on the Internet. Before the storms in VA & MD, it had been smoking. Now it’s dragging. I suspect the slowness may be in re-routing caused by inop server farms.
Anyone else on the East Coast experiencing the slow Internet speeds?
I live in a hard-hit area. It was interesting in a variety of ways. I learned some things.
First, there was very little warning. For hurricanes and even tornados, you get a little warning. I also have alerts sent to my cell phone and computer. In the summer in the DC area we are continually getting “severe thunderstorm warning” alerts, and the warnings start to sound like the Boy Who Cried Wolf. On this occasion the dog warned me that this was not a joke. I had five minutes between the time there was a slight spattering of rain and the time there was a terrible, tornado-like roaring noise overhead.
Second, I’m glad I had supplies of canned food, water, toiletries, medications, gas, horse feed, propane, and other goods, because the next day the supermarkets couldn’t process payments, ATMS were out of cash, banks were closed, the gas stations ran out of gas, and stores that had no electricity couldn’t even handle cash transactions.
Third, even if I had a generator, it wouldn’t do much good, since I couldn’t have stored enough gas or diesel to keep it running very long. Best just to get used to life without electricity.
Fourth, the rabbit my son got tasted great.
We were okay. It is AMAZING how much work you can get done if you’re not able to Freep for several days!
Not just gensets, Sarajevo, but I think a look at alternate power sources might be in order. And to reduce generator signatures.
I think I’ll do some digging...
LOL!
I've been told that friends in VA may not get power until next week. Some people are helping get trees cut up and out of the way but some are still sitting on their lazy behinds waiting for Hussein to save the day. I still don't have the purple unicorn I was promised from him four years ago so they'll be waiting a long, long time.
Hey, GW1, what sites do you use for speed checks? I’m interested in finding reliable ones.
Generators are noisy, expensive and dangerous. People kill themselves with generators even in good times. I started to get one to protect the food in my fridge and freezer, until I did the math. The generator costs more than it would to replace all the food.
My plan now is to use solar to generate enough power for a few lights, fans, and small appliances. Possibly a small fridge to make ice and store some food. Of course that takes a bank of batteries and panels on the roof.
“What has happened is they’ve given a well known type of storm a special name (about 1888 according to an article on the internet).”
I’d heard the term “derecho” as far back as the 1980s (tornado geek that I was)...but for most of my life fast-moving line thunderstorms like that were just known as “squall lines”. Is there any actual difference between the two?
I’m using an app on an iPad called Speed Test, by Ookla. There are several good apps avail. This one correlates faithfully to what I observe firsthand on the device I’m using, so I’ve learned to trust it.
Right now, I’m in NC. Normally the site “pinged” would be in Wilson, NC. For some reason lately it’s been pinging Richmond, which is a bit unusual.
We were without power for 10 days when hurricane Ike hit Ohio in 2008.
We survived on a generator, on and off, and were just fine.
Americans have become a bunch of wusses.
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