Eris wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 9:16 am This is a great thread! Doing a "post mortem" analysis of preparations and how they worked out is an excellent idea.

For my part, my own preparations worked well.

I do *not* have a generator (yet), but in this incident I did not really need one. There were rolling blackouts for several days, but the power would only be off for 30 minutes at a time every couple of hours, so I really didn't have any trouble worth mentioning. I *do* want to get a generator, though, even if just a small portable one. After Hurricane Ike I was with power for 6 weeks, but we had a portable generator that we used to run lights, TV, ACs, and refrigerator. I really miss the security of having a generator available.

For the blackout periods at night, I had plenty of light from a battery operated lantern and an oil lamp. I also had flashlights and candles, but those were not needed.

My food was fine. I may have eaten healthier than normal, because I broke into my canned food supplies and made a kick ass vegetable soup. I still have plenty of food.

Water I did OK on, but it could be improved. I had a pipe burst in the well house on my property and I had to shut off the water. But I had 8 gallons of water in the pantry to start with and used about 1 gallon per day, so it lasted through the worst of things until the roads cleared and the stores reopened. I now need to replenish my supplies. Still waiting on a PVC pipe connector so I can fix the well - when I went to the hardware store they were sold out of a lot of PVC stuff, almost as if everyone in the area had a pipe burst. Who would have guessed such a thing would happen?

For cooking I broke out the Coleman camp stove at one point. When I made the soup the power went out just as the pot was coming to a boil, so I put it on the Coleman to finish cooking rather than wait for the power to come back on.


I did run out of cat litter and had to just scoop the box out as best I could rather than replacing the litter like I normally do. I need to build up a small stock of litter for the future.

All in all, though, I came out pretty well and am pleased. There's a few things I want to improve on, but overall I think I did good.

wings wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 9:00 pm The SO found amazing plugs on Amazon - I want to say they're 4" rubber disks. Don't really fit the drain, so much as use water pressure to maximum advantage. Highly recommend.

highdesert wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 2:54 pm I agree Eris, this is a great thread I'm learning a lot. In disaster planning you plan for the most likely occurrences, but with global warming it's not always the usual occurrences so have to plan for the unusual too. Probably the only positive of the pandemic is that we all stocked up on food, I have enough canned food for a week and much longer. I go through a lot of water so I need to stock up on more.

Eris wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 9:16 am This is a great thread! Doing a "post mortem" analysis of preparations and how they worked out is an excellent idea.

For my part, my own preparations worked well.

I do *not* have a generator (yet), but in this incident I did not really need one. There were rolling blackouts for several days, but the power would only be off for 30 minutes at a time every couple of hours, so I really didn't have any trouble worth mentioning. I *do* want to get a generator, though, even if just a small portable one. After Hurricane Ike I was with power for 6 weeks, but we had a portable generator that we used to run lights, TV, ACs, and refrigerator. I really miss the security of having a generator available.

For the blackout periods at night, I had plenty of light from a battery operated lantern and an oil lamp. I also had flashlights and candles, but those were not needed.

My food was fine. I may have eaten healthier than normal, because I broke into my canned food supplies and made a kick ass vegetable soup. I still have plenty of food.

Water I did OK on, but it could be improved. I had a pipe burst in the well house on my property and I had to shut off the water. But I had 8 gallons of water in the pantry to start with and used about 1 gallon per day, so it lasted through the worst of things until the roads cleared and the stores reopened. I now need to replenish my supplies. Still waiting on a PVC pipe connector so I can fix the well - when I went to the hardware store they were sold out of a lot of PVC stuff, almost as if everyone in the area had a pipe burst. Who would have guessed such a thing would happen?

For cooking I broke out the Coleman camp stove at one point. When I made the soup the power went out just as the pot was coming to a boil, so I put it on the Coleman to finish cooking rather than wait for the power to come back on.


I did run out of cat litter and had to just scoop the box out as best I could rather than replacing the litter like I normally do. I need to build up a small stock of litter for the future.

All in all, though, I came out pretty well and am pleased. There's a few things I want to improve on, but overall I think I did good.

TxChinaman wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 11:05 pm

highdesert wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 2:54 pm I agree Eris, this is a great thread I'm learning a lot. In disaster planning you plan for the most likely occurrences, but with global warming it's not always the usual occurrences so have to plan for the unusual too. Probably the only positive of the pandemic is that we all stocked up on food, I have enough canned food for a week and much longer. I go through a lot of water so I need to stock up on more.

According to articles I've read the past few days, the entire power grid in Texas was about 4 minutes away from a total catastrophic failure before they pulled it back from the brink. If there had been a total system failure, it would take a few weeks to restore power back to the state. Imagine an entire state blacked out for a minimum of 2 weeks. Millions of people stuck in their darkened homes, unable to go to work or work remotely. Unable to buy food because grocery stores don't have lights or refrigeration. No restaurants or fast food. Pretty much all retail shut down because credit card scanners and cash registers don't work. And no access to banks or ATMs to get old fashioned cash. Everyone runs low on gas because gas stations are closed. No TV, no internet, no way to charge devices. And most folks don't have the financial means to bug out to Oklahoma or Louisiana to live in a hotel for 2 weeks, even if they had enough fuel in the car to get out of state. Who knows how crazy and desperate people might get when deprived of food, fuel, and their devices for 2 weeks.