Out of Pod Experience

For those that don't know. On June 29'th, a wonderfully violent storm blew through the NE part of the US and knocked out power in multiple states. Straight line winds around 80mph ( 129kpm ) knocked over tree, power lines, blew off shingles and siding on houses and barns, and bent some of the larger freeway signs. Joy.

Sharing some of my experiences and hope to see some others share theirs who were affected by the storm.

First off, in my area we had record temperatures during all of this. 100F ( 37C ) \o/

Saw the storm on radar rolling across my entire state 1/2 hour before it hit my location. Was able to fill a few water jugs, get the vehicle parked in the garage, and emergency supplies in the basement by the time the storm hit. Trees were being bent at angles I was certain they were going to break in half and some trees behind the house blew over. Chicken coup was flipped upside down by the wind. Luckily not a single chicken was lost, though they were drenched by the rain and happy to get put back in the coup once it was flipped upright. Every house, except mine luckily, had some wind damage. From shingles and siding being blown off to garage doors caved in, and / or trees falling on their house. It was amazing to see.

Right after the storm, 50,000 of the 65,000 people serviced by American Electric Power in my county alone were without power. The next morning, there were long lines stretching 1/4 mile down the road in all directions at the gas stations in my county as only 4 gas stations had power and were able to sell gasoline. The county north of me had 1 single gas station with power and they sold out of their gas by noon. Most banks didn't have any power and those who needed cash were unable to get it. All of the ice in my county was sold out that morning as well.

Took American Electric Power 4 days to get the number of people without power to around 25,000 to 30,000. Just got my power back this past Friday. Some people are still without power, though 95% of people who didn't have power now do have it back.

During my 8 days without power:

The biggest concern was water. No electric and no generator = no power to run the water well pump. As mentioned above, I was able to fill some water jugs shortly before the storm hit. Something that really helped was the 50gallon rain barrel I purchased the week prior, but water was still a concern. Didn't run out of water and still had nearly 65% of the water in my rain barrel left when power was restored, but now thinking of having a shallower well dug so I can use a hand water well pump ( current well is 180ft deep ). Barely any rain to speak of to refresh water supplies and the water in the creek was low, stagnant, 100ft away from the house down a 20ft embankment. Nice...

Taking a 'bath' out of a small bowel twice a day makes a person appreciate a nice shower in ways you will never understand until you are unable to take a shower for over a week.

Small 1 gallon propane cylinders attached to a small camp stove were what I used to boil water and cook some food daily. Big charcoal grill was used to cook other meat, but you just cant eat it all fast enough before it goes bad.

Being a hobbiest prepper of sorts, the week without has made me rethink my water plan. Probably going to spend the money on the second well and hand powered water pump and my number one priority.

What has your experience been with the storm?

OMG, I hope you had a long skill in queue.

Humans lived for quite some time without electricity. You should be able to deal for a few days.

P.S. With an electric powered pump in your well, perhaps a small solar panel would be a good idea.

As he stated with regards to wind damage, most likely the solar pannel would be mounted on his roof and taken out during the storm.

Given his need for power in such an event, and it sounds like he has a basement and some land to play with (British flats are tiny compared to American homes) I would probably have a diesel generator in the basement and pipe in and out air and exhaust. I plan on doing this when I get my own place in a decade or so (I hope).

UPS for the house in lead batteries and an emergency diesel generator plus solar panels, I will rule as a king after the Event .

I try

I recommend camping lights, like this one http://www.smart-camping-guide.com/image-files/camping_lights.jpg

Once charged it'll run for 12 hours+, more if you have an awesome car battery jumper battery with the car lighter dohickey hole

Gas generators don't run on nitro!

That's a pretty cool thing, but the car thingy can also jump the car if you forget to turn the lights off that time I was in class

A couple of issues.

The automotive engines produce DC I think. Your house is setup to receive AC. So you will need some kind of transformer to convert DC to AC. The bought generator will have that stuff already setup, no tinkering.

Second issue is more general and pretty much will come up with any choice you make. The generator has to be wired to the breaker board or whatever the thing is called that basically all electrical stuff in the house is connected to.

ohio ftw. my power went out for a couple seconds on the 29th, and the internet was down for a while, but that was it.

oh, btw, anyone in here know any good bars in phoenix?

Most general panels are firmly bolted to a house so if he had a wind powerful enough to yank a panel off then it would take the roof as well, at which point electricity is the least of his problems.

But he doesn't need a $5000 unit installed for one generator, though if he wanted to turn his home into a 0 energy house then that would be something to look at*. He can get a complete solar pump system that provides 24v for under $300. Sure it wont provide an excellent shower but it will give him running water and the panel is small enough to be placed just about anywhere. He can also get another one for his water heater providing him with warm water goodness.

*new technology solar panels are about as think as a quarter and can be rolled out into sheets. With the proper roof they would actually be recessed.

As to the car, aside from the AC/DC difference, I would like to point out that a good chunk of your cooling comes from the vehicle moving as air enters the engine compartment and gets blown out under the car. Given that the car would be stationary I'd say you would have about an hour before the engine overheats and seizes up.

We had some pretty incredible winds tonight in my neck of the woods. Nothing dropping power or whatnot but its a climate change that has been noticeable over the last few years and they are becoming for frequent each year. We have a number of young spruces that we have stabilized with your common tie-downs that you get for vehicles. Was only supposed to be a temporary thing but that was 3 years ago and we probably wont be able to release them for several more years until those trees have some thickness to them. As for the winds I won't be the least bit surprised if we get middle east style dust storms by 2040. The planet is changing and we have to change with it.

^ hence why i'd never wanna live on the south coast. also, humidity ftl.