"In the wake of violent storms, the power remains out today for millions of Americans across several U.S. states. Governors of Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio have declared a state of emergency. Over a dozen people are now confirmed dead, and millions are sweltering in blistering temperatures while having no air conditioning or refrigeration. As their frozen foods melt into processed goo, they're waking up to a few lessons that we would all be wise to remember."
#1) The power grid is ridiculously vulnerable to disruptions and failure.
All it takes is a sudden storm, or even a car hitting a power pole to leave you in the dark- no AC, no hot water, no internet, no way to cook food.
#2) Without electricity, acquiring food and water in a major U.S. city can become a difficult task.
I've mentioned this before, but without electricity, most people will not have any way to cook food, take a shower or flsuh the toilet. As an emergency backup- a clean 35 gallon trash can can be placed in the shower and used to collect water that can be used for cooking, drinking of flushing the toilet.
A smaller Rubbermaid container or two can be substituted for the trash can. These are fairly cheap and can be found for under $5 at just about any store -Walmart or dollar stores included.
Protip: paper plates and hand sanitizer will greatly reduce the amount of water needed for cleaning.
#3) Most people are simply not prepared and therefore worsen any crisis.
If you lack basic supplies like flashlights, a first aid kit, food and water, you become a burden on the system that's trying to help people with REAL emergencies.
Don't wait until the last minute!! Because by then it's too late and the stores will be sold out of everything. By the time you're seeing dire warnings of impending doom on local TV news, everyone else has already:
1) Left the area for safer parts of the country.
2) Bought up all the supplies they could carry and left only empty spots on the store shelves for you.
#4) Cell phones are a fragile technology that can't be counted on in an emergency!
.If there's one lesson that stands out in past emergencies it's that people count on their cell phones way too much. We know from past experience that cell phones are the FIRST thing to go out in an emergency. In some instances an old fashioned land line corded phone may still work after the power goes out. plus- remember, if there's no electricity- there's no where to recharge your phone batteries!
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| Sony ICF-S10MK2 Pocket AM/FM Radio |
A portable, battery powered radio is the simplest way to receive information and updates during an emergency.
Good battery powered Sony radios are available on Amazon for $10-$15 dollars.
#5) The internet is wildly vulnerable to natural disasters.
According to news reports, these storms took down a portion of the Amazon Cloud, and this in turn shut down Netflix, Pinterest and Instagram.
Don't count on the internet or you cell phone to get updates during emergencies! A battery operated radio is among the basic supplies you need to be prepared.
Here you go- $10 Sony AM/FM Radio Amazon.com
#6) 911 and other emergency services are quickly overwhelmed
Sometimes the actual 911 call centers get flooded, damaged or the phone lines get cut and on top of that- they're not set up to handler 50,000 people calling for help at the same time.
You are own your own.
It's super easy to start setting aside some basic foods to last you or your family through at least 3 days without power.
Canned food are the easiest and cheapest. There's more info on the blog here:
This is also another good reason to think about improving your home defense and self defense skills.
#7 You May Be Your Own First Responders.
You have to expect that there may not be anyone coming to help you.
If there is a widespread power outage, storm or other large disaster, there won't be anywhere near enough Fire, EMS or Police to go around.
You are on your own
You may want to develop a plan to communicate and check on your neighbors- especially if you have neighbors near you that are elderly or have medical issues. There are other things to think about after a storm, earthquake or other disaster, things like leaking gas lines that need to be turned off, or damaged houses on your street or neighborhood that needs to be checked or searched for injured victims.
There's actualy a free program that gives you free training for a lot of this:
Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)
The program offers free training in first aid, shutting off gas lines, checking damaged buildings and safely extracting wounded people from them, small scale fire fighting, and assisting during disasters.
You can find more information on CERT Here: http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/
You can also download their training manuals for free here: http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/training_mat.shtm
They can be mock school bus accidents, train accidnets, chemical spills, fires at schools, almost anything.
There are excellent videos on Youtube that show the large scale drills. Your never obligated to participate in anything, but the large scale exercises are also a lot of fun believe it or not.
The CERT training is also offered to business and just about any large group of interested people, like churches or schools.
Here's a well done video that shows a good example of one of the large scale disaster drills- a tornando in the middle of the day.
#8) A national grid-down situation would be far more complex to repair.
Just about all the electric companies in the U.S. rely on labor agreements with other electric companies in order to supply the repairmen the need to repair damage during an emergency.
That means that if the disaster is spread over 3 or 4 states, the 'loaner' repairman that would normally come in from other areas to assist with the local repairs won't be available- because they'll all be busy fixing their own transmission wires.
It also means that what would have normally been a 3 day repair job could now take two weeks. That mean no electricity for two weeks for you. Let that thought sink in for awhile.
On the good side however- reliable portable electric generators are now available for $200-$300 that could supply a small amount of electricity after the power goes out- as long as you have gas or diesel for it. Lowes, Home Depot and even Harbor Freight have generators in stock these days.
Honda is one of the better names in small generators.
#9) Many emergencies arrive unannounced.
Tornadoes and earthquakes happen without any warning. Hurricanes can change course unexpectedly and small storms can rapidly grow to large storms.
If you think you're going to be able to breeze into Wal Mart after a disaster and then buy what you need, you're going to be in for a rude awakening!
There may not even be a Walmart left- and even if there is, it's going to be stripped clean and everything useful will have already been purchased two days ago.
$5 would get you:
A cheap $1 flashlight
1 or 2 cans of ravioli and some fruit cocktail
(free spoons and forks at any deli, convienience store or fast food place)
A jug of drinking water.
BAM- there's your basic kit.
*The titles in large bold type are reposted from:
http://www.naturalnews.com/036355_natural_disaster_power_grid_preparedness.htmlBut the individual comments are mine.
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