Preperation for a Short Term Disaster !

[RSKY]

There have been some posts lately about EMP attacks, hurricanes, power outages and other short term disasters. I have a question about such event since my area had a serious one in 2009 that few people know about. The "Great Ice Storm of 2009" broke off a quarter of the power poles in our county, blocked roads, and cut people off for a couple weeks. We were in the middle of the worst hit area. No power and temps in the 20's.

Questions:

What are mistakes you have made in such a situation?

What preparations have you made in case of a like situation happening again.

Just something to provoke thought and give people ideas. Who knows, something said here may save somebodies life or one of their family's lives.

RSKY

 

[tcreeley]

The hardest thing I have found is to get water- consume, wash, hygiene, and toilets. - Our elec was out just recently for 3.5 days. Our generator bugged out on the 220 so we had the fridge/freezer but no water. We were going through the last of our rain collectors. Another 2 days and we would have been stuck.

 

[coobie]

There have been some posts lately about EMP attacks, hurricanes, power outages and other short term disasters. I have a question about such event since my area had a serious one in 2009 that few people know about. The "Great Ice Storm of 2009" broke off a quarter of the power poles in our county, blocked roads, and cut people off for a couple weeks. We were in the middle of the worst hit area. No power and temps in the 20's.

Questions:

What are mistakes you have made in such a situation?

What preparations have you made in case of a like situation happening again.

Just something to provoke thought and give people ideas. Who knows, something said here may save somebodies life or one of their family's lives.

RSKY

I am a retired electric lineman.Have seen a lot in 39 years of service from people not being prepared.It got us thinking what we needed to do at our house.Two outside gravity fed fuel tanks gas/diesel.Whole house 17kv propane generator,big garden,canning and fruit cellar.Keep plenty of water and canned goods on hand.IMHO one cannot be prepared for all situations but many you can.

 

[dodge man]

We would usually have enough food and a wood burning fireplace. I agree we had a good ice storm here and water is the issue. We filled our bath tub and got by. We now have rural water so that痴 not really an issue any more.

 

[Garandman]

We took note of what Hurricane Sandy did to coastal areas, since we live near the coast.

Notably, people in areas that seldom lose power were without power for weeks.
Even if they had a generator, they usually ran out of fuel in a few days.
They didn稚 have enough gas cans even if they could travel to get gas. *

Based on that, we had the house in Boston wired for generator use, bought Inverter generators that don稚 use much fuel, increased our fuel storage for eight days, and added fuel cans for even more.

We also increased our medical supplies, and took a three day wilderness medicine course: wilderness training assumes you can稚 just call an ambulance. We purchased a family medicine book, assuming we壇 have no internet, even though we are less than five miles from some of the nation's best hospitals.

Finally, we made plans to 澱ug out because it is possible that we couldn稚 stay in Boston (we are very near the harbor). We even keep an unflatable boat and outboard, and a dirt bike.

Up north, after adding a propane fueled generator we also added storage capacity, and got a small Honda EU2000 so we could shut down the whole house system overnight.

* The smartest move we heard of was a guy who ran a PTO genset off his Kubota BX. Low investment, high function.

 

[RSKY]

Since I asked the question I will start first.

When the ice storm hit I was at work forty miles from home. I did have enough sense to stop and fill up with gas before I got into the worst hit area. Took me three hours to make the 45 minute drive. Then another five hours to make the thirty minute drive to another county, pick up my pregnant daughter, detour to pick up my mother (84 at the time) and get home. There were times the anti skid buzzer on the little Toyota AWD was going off for thirty or forty seconds at a time. Being in a rural area there were farmers with tractors (wow, I need a tractor!!!) out everywhere clearing roads. We saw four or five tractors in ditches stuck or on their sides. Ag tires slide on black ice. While all this was going on trees and limbs were still falling. I kept that RAV4 for five more years and never got the scratches from driving thru downed tree tops buffed out. Even though the driveway was clear when we got home it took over two hours the next day for five people to clear the 160' to the road. That many limbs and one tree fell that night. By nightfall on the first day we had eleven people staying with us because we were the only ones with gas logs in a cast iron stove and fireplace. No generator, but my wife managed to scramble eggs on the cast iron stove until they run out. Water for baths was heated in metal pans on that little stove and poured in a tub. Was two days before I made it back to work. Found a generator, drove forty miles for gas and groceries because I had no cash.

After reading the above you will be surprised at what our main problem was. We had no small bills for cash. There were a couple of local gas stations that somehow managed to get the pumps going with generators but couldn't take credit cards, how we pay for all our gas. Even some bigger stores were open with no power BUT it was cash only. We had a couple thousand dollars in MAD money in a lockbox in the house but IT WAS ALL IN $100 BILLS. Nobody had change. We now have a couple hundred each in $1, $5, $10, $20, and $50 with the other thousand in $100 bills. We also have a couple rolls of quarters. In a short term emergency as that was CASH IS KING.

We have a generator. It is not a large one, about 5500 watt I believe. The original 4000-watt I bought during the storm was stored with alcohol gas which ruined it. Every fall I crank it, put some kind of load on it, and run it until empty. I then change the oil and fill it with fresh no alcohol gasoline. I store the generator with 30 weight oil. That weight will stick to the parts over long periods of storage unlike lower viscosity or multi weight oil (so I have read).

I will also fill all the gas cans I have with alcohol free gasoline. Fill all my diesel and kerosene cans. In cold weather kerosene can be mixed with diesel to keep it flowing or to extend your supply. That comes from a heavy equipment mechanic brother-in-law who has run half kerosene in his diesel work truck while up north somewhere.

We have two freezers with various food items in them. There is a pantry full of canned and dry food items. We are on city water, no well pump, and keep two or three cases of bottled water stored somewhere in the garage. We can use books or magazines for toilet paper.

In other words I think we could take in both my daughter's families and survive for a couple weeks to a month with no problem even in the coldest weather we have here.

Anybody see anything I could change or have any ideas to add please feel free.

RSKY

 

[MossRoad]

Don't rely on a freezer and generator. Have plenty of dry foods on hand, like beans and rice, canned goods, etc... While a generator is great for short term outages, weeks on a generator is out of most people's planning and budgets. Gotta plan on running the generator only a few hours per day, at best, to run the freezer, fridge, and well pump. If you're going to rely on a generator to run a furnace for weeks on end, it won't be pleasant.

We have a wood burner and several years worth of wood. We can cook on the wood burner if needed.

We have a well. So we'd need to run the generator for water. Worse comes to worse, we could take the cap off the well and dip water with a small rope and a piece of pipe.

And one thing I've heard here on TBN several times from hurricane victims... keep a large stock of toilet paper. They said that's one of the first things to run out at the stores.

Also, keep a very good first aid kit. That's something we are lacking and I've got to step up on that one.

 

[Dadnatron]

I was without power in the middle of Denver in 1997. Freak snowstorm dumped about 10" of heavy wet snow when the leaves were still on the trees in Sept. We had not heat, so I took the fireplace stove insert, which I had previously removed from the fireplace, stuck it back in, and began burning wood. We all slept in the living room in sleeping bags until the heat came back on.

It was crazy as there was electricity across the street. The thing I have learned is that Fire is ALWAYS hot... and if you have wood and a way to burn it, even in Denver city limits. I grew up with wood heat. We had a house stove which heated the entire house. My grandpa liked it warm, and since there was no bill in the mail, he could keep is as warm as he wanted.

Now... I keep a generator and enough diesel for at least a week. I also have food available at all times. That doesn't count my 'prepper' food... or as my son's call it... the "Apocalypse closet."

When I build my house and barns... I'm going to add solar to one barn. That should provide enough power for the farm without issue. But, I always remember... fire is always hot.

 

[Looking4new]

I have enough TP to last the three of us for 6 months. 25 gallons of Shell V-power gas. (read that as no ethanol). 200 gallons of diesel fuel/furnace oil. 2 freezers full of food. A 8000 watt genny to run the freezers, fridge and well pump. There are two sizeable first aid kits, one for the people and the other for the animals. I also keep a quantity of cash on hand the biggest bill is $50.oo
I probably could be better prepared, but that is it for now.

 

[newbury]

Store a LOT of water.

Get a food quality tote or two.

They are easy to move by hand when empty, hold 200 to 300 gallons, easy to plumb and are relatively inexpensive.

I've been keeping one down by my sheds that fills with rainwater since 2012, use it for sawmill water and wash up water.

About last March our Mississippi "town" water sprung a leak between the meter and the house/sheds. We were losing several hundred gallons a day at least. The plumber advised it may take days to find the leak. Since we were only down there for a limited time I chose to put one of the totes by the house and we transferred water by bucket for most things not requiring potable water.

It was a great aid in keeping my wife from worrying about "running out of water". And like they say "when mama's happy, everybody's happy" and "When Mama's Not Happy - Nobody Is Happy!"