Posted on 10/08/2017 11:20:39 AM PDT by Kaslin
The takedown of the Puerto Rican power grid by Hurricane Irma will, we hope, provide a teaching moment. The United States power grid is vulnerable, and the consequences of a widespread failure, especially if lengthy, will be a disaster of monumental proportions. This should not be a new realization. Serious analysts such as the Foundation for Resilient Societies and the EMP Commission have been warning us for a long time. The warnings have been ignored or even actively opposed by the electric power industry.
America's electric grid can be brought down by sabotage or by natural forces, such as the hurricane in Puerto Rico. Hurricanes have limited geographic scope, but solar storms can affect the entire country. As was shown by the Puerto Rican experience, without electricity, credit and debit cards don't work. Cash becomes king. Without electricity, communications become dubious.
Among natural threats to the electric grid, solar storms are perhaps the most serious. A solar storm causes the Earth's magnetic field to move and induce large direct currents in long conductors, such as power lines and communications cables. The 1859 Carrington Event was so powerful that some telegraph operators were electrocuted by voltages induced in the wires. Fortunately, in 1859, the power grid did not exist. A smaller March 1989 solar storm crashed the Quebec power grid and destroyed a large power transformer at the Salem nuclear generating station in New Jersey. If the 1989 solar storm had been as severe as the Carrington Event, much of the North American grid could have gone down for months or years.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
“I hate being right sometimes. “
Well, then, JUST STOP IT!!!!
;-D
Well, there is no question that we have, as a nation, lost sight of who/what we are and what our “mission” is.
Canada FRee Press motto is succinct and to the point: “Because without America, there is no free world.”
We must keep the Faith!
And, Make America Great Again!
I had not known that about the Canada Free Press motto! How wonderful - and how true!
MAGA!
In the late 80s, severe ice storm in Springfield Mo. caused major power outages. Was contacted several months later for permission to put some of the lines underground.
In the 50s and 60s, the government had plans and provisions for civil defense/shelters and food stock piles.
Now, they just stock for the continuity of Government, and the American Citizen’s welfare is low priority for an event such as =battery operated, solar or crank recharge.
I would like to get a mechanism to be able to operate the well pump with a flip to the alternate power source. Hubby says he wire something up if needed, so no need to worry about it. So one of these days, I’m just going to hire someone to do it, if I can’t get him to do it.
In the sq. ft. gardening book, 3 4x4 ft gardens can grow the fresh veggies that are needed for a year. I bought several plans from Bountiful Gardens regarding garden plans that would provide the nutrients needed for your diet, as well as crops to replenish the soil.
We have been growing more and more of our own food since 2010. I freeze, dehydrate, and can what we raise, and what I get on sale. We can grow plenty of beans, tators, maters, wheat, rye and grains, onions, garlic, etc.
If available, we could raise chickens, rabbits, and keep a few goats. I used to milk a cow for my Grandparents when I was a youngin, so we could have goat’s milk, maybe.
I was cooking cheese burgers on a restaurant grill when I was 6 yrs. old. Didn’t do much other cooking till I was out of high school, and got married.
Bought a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook - no problems reading and cooking - any fairly intelligent person can do it.
For cooking, we have sterno stoves, fireplaces, fire pits, bbq grills, rocket stove and solar oven. I think I can use the rocket stove for canning, and solar oven for dehydrating.
Expensive to bury it in built-up areas.
The issue with food would be distribution.
Puerto Ricans of course are US citizens,
Mine went underground about ten years ago; 287 feet worth.
Bigger wires went in; too.
Now the lights don’t dim when AC and furnace fans start up.
I ran the old service wires in conduit to the barn, also underground.
(I still have a big generator ready for the occasional outage that appears; sometimes during nice weather!)
Just buy a small generator that you can switch to the well if needed.
With some limitations.
“Because without America, there is no free world.” WILL make a great motto/rallying point for our movement to keep the USA FRee moving forward!
If America ceases to be “. . . one nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for all. . . .” the world will enter a Dark Ages the likes of which cannot even be imagined by the world’s best and brightest Dystopian SCIFI Futurists/thinkers/writers!
We’d best do all that we can to preserve the USA & the US Constitution! The world is depending on us to do that!
MAGA!
We have 2 generators, but no switch or way of plugging something in for the pump. That’s the step that hubby won’t do right now. Said it wouldn’t take much to do it, and he’d do it if he had to.
I’d rather do it now than when there’s a longer term emergency. So far, we’ve always had more than enough water to get us through an emergency.
Generators are pretty good for most things, but we do live near the New Madrid fault line, so there’s several things I’d like to have done - just in case.
I hope at least one of the generators has 220v output.
That’s what my pump needs.
I’ve not sw1tches; either.
When the power goes out, I turn off the main breaker to the power line and plug in the generator to a 220v outlet in the barn. (it’s where the welder usually is plugged in.)
It was a simple task to make an adapter cable between the generator and the welder outlet.
When power comes back on, you MUST be very careful to turn off the generator before unplugging it.
Then you may safely turn on your house main breaker; after you’ve done those two things.
New Madrid; eh?
I’d think if (WHEN!!) that baby goes again that electricity would be the LEAST of your problems!
Just to be clear - it is not about the electricity - it is about how to get water from the well that has no manual way to do it other than a rocket bucket, which is not an ideal long term solution.
Yes, it is a simple task for hubby, but not for me who is clueless on wiring and that sort of thing. I’ve just been trying to get him to do that simple work, so that all I have to do is flip a switch and/or plug in something so that we can get water from the well.
The top 3 things- shelter, water, food. We have the shelter and food fairly well covered, but after our stored water runs out, we will need the well - hence a way to run the pump long enough to get at least 10 gallons a day from the well.
Other than that, electrical power is a convenience and not a top concern.
In general, we have run heavy duty extension cords to the refrigerators, freezers and window air conditioner or heaters for the power outages that last longer than a day.
We’ve always had enough water and alternate cooking methods to get by for several weeks in this manner.
But longer term, I want a way to get water from the well - preferably from an indoor faucet - to fill 4 or 5 - 5 gallon buckets every other day. That’s the minimum for my kids, grandkids, and great grand kids.
Got room for a big stock tank?
I’ve a 10’ diameter * 2’ tall one that holds about 125 gallons
My 50’ * 20’ section of barn roof can pretty much fill it with a one inch rain.
You’ve said a mouthful there, Taxman! I agree with all of it!
MAGA!
125 gallons would last my extended family, less than 2 weeks, but I have one of those Walmart above ground pools - holds about 4000 gallons and is filled from runoff from the roof. We have filters for several hundred gallons drinking water.
However, the pool water is needed for the garden and fruit trees in the summer, and in the long run, filters run out.
We have a well, indoor toilets, and a septic tank. I see no reason why we can’t have fresh water and flushable toilets even if SHTF - it wouldn’t take that much for hubby to set up something that we could use to pump water into several 5 gallon buckets a couple of times per week. That would means showers using a watering can and the bath tub, pour water from bucket into toilet tank for flush once or twice per day, cooking and cleaning as needed.
When the New Madrid experiences a big one, they say it could take years before electric is restored. Water, cleanliness, and sanitary bathrooms are all part of increasing one’s survival chances.
I don’t have to have lights, refrigeration, or even air conditioning, but water is a necessity, and I’m too old to be trekking to an outhouse in the dead of winter.
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