Outage fun in NC

[riptides]

The greater DC area still has about 300k people without power. This is four days after the storm came through. Word has it, maybe by Friday for full restoration. The heat index is about 100, and the next four days will be the same.

It is a mess in and around this area.

I heard at the height of this storm in the mid-atlantic area it was 5.1 million without power.

Check out the graphic. "The ferocious storm that blew through the Washington-area Friday night is a weather system known as a derecho."


http://wtop.com/41/2925683/Timeline-of-derecho-that-hit-Friday

 

[creekbend]

Our local News Station reported this evening that there were still 70 substations and 93 transmissions lines still down due to the storm. We were very lucky. We lost power only twice - once for 4 hours and another for around an hour. I feel sorry for the elderly in retirement facilities. They showed on TV that portable generators were incorporated just to run fans. Here's wishing everyone the best.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Nothing run to the well pump, but the recently added 60 gallon pressure body is near full pressure & looks to be good for 19 gallons or so of draw down (plus there's a couple of 50 gallon poly barrels if needed).

I would strongly recommend storing a week or so's worth of water for your family/household. Estimate 1 gallon per person per day. Places I've seen give higher estimates per person, but honestly, I have tested this, and 1 gallon per person per day is plenty for me and mine. Maybe I don't wash my hands as much as other people do. I don't know. It's really cheap insurance against a problem. If you like, you can usually find plastic, food-grade, 55 gallon drums for $10 or so on Craigslist. Or buy 5-7 gallon containers at Wal-Mart. Whatever you like.

Whenever the power is out, I take solace knowing there's 40 gallons or so of water downstairs and I don't need to fret about using up water pressure.

 

[nikdfish]

I agree absolutely. We put those barrels in a while back & keep them filled & treated with bleach. The end of the summer I'll dump, refill & treat again. I keep a dedicated potable water RV hose & a self priming siphon hose (in sealed storage) for use with them with them. I also keep a lb. or so of HTH granular calcium hypochlorite stashed in case of emergency where fresh bleach is unavailable...

Nick

 

[dmccarty]

Don't forget you have a bunch of water in the water heater.

One of the reasons we went with a conventional water heater was for water storage. A whole house instant water heater would not work for us because we have an all electric house. We ended up with a very efficient 80 gallon water heater which would give us quite a bit of drinking water during an outage.

Later,
Dan