Power Back On, just under 24 hours

[Ringer]

My power is back on for the second time today, first time lasted about an hour. So far it has been on a little under an hour this time. Things were pretty uneventfull here. People were even surprisingly civil on my drive into work this morning although some do have a hard time grasping the "4-way stop" concept at intersections with the signals out.

The power is coming on in small pockets. The lines at the gas stations are 1 to 2 hours as they open up. Not much price gouging going on and no looting that I have heard of. Even the city of Detroit seems to be fairly calm. This just happens to be the hottest days we have had this year, great timing there.

I had to fight the urge to grab a lawn chair, 12 guage and 12 pack and park in my driveway next to my generator and gas cans. Seriously though, having guns and plenty of ammo on hand, even though deployment was not needed, was reassuring. For me this was a good wake up call. While slightly prepared: generator, gas, extra water, I learned I'm lacking a bit. Good thing is the wife agrees we need to be better prepared and stocked up, hopefully she will still agree in a month when this is all said and done.

A few basic things I need or need more of:
Gasoline, but storage is a problem
More water
More food on hand
Better supply of basic First-Aid items
Make sure the extra propane tank is full
Better Portable AM/FM radio and batteries
Flashlights and batteries - did OK here but need more LEDs for longenity
CASH-While we had enough on hand, could have needed more if this was extended.

I know there are a lot more things that may be good to have. But this is what I would have needed, or could have used at least, if this blackout had gone on say for a week.

 

[El Tejon]

Good to hear you are O.K.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Welcome to the light.

 

[Graystar]

I got my power back around 4:30am here in Brooklyn NY. My mom lives in Manhattan and she *still* doesn't have power!

 

[Arcli9ht]

Power came on for me in the past 10 minutes or so. A few things happened that kept me going stir crazy.

I got the new kid yesterday (Winchester .357 Trapper), about an hour before the power went out and had 150 rds of ammo on hand. So just through dumb luck, I was prepared for looters and rioters.

Also, I since I dont have a generator, I rigged up my car with my puny 140 watt inverter, so we had a phone and a radio. And I found a gas station, so I didnt have to use the "credit card" (siphon tube).

Nobody I know had much more inconvienience than losing the food in the fridge, so we have that to be thankful for.

Good to have the juice back, I'll be getting a generator within the month.

/Arcli9ht

 

[Dave R]

Ringer, those are some great, practical observations.

I think we at THR tend to focus too much on having the "right" gun and "plenty" of ammo. We sometimes forget how important CASH can be if the ATMs are down. Or Propane, if the electric stove is out.

True story. I was in the fringes of Hurricane Andrew, just north of Homestead. 2nd day after the wind blew through, I went to Home Depot to get some repair stuff. Turned out my Home Depot was the closest open one to Homestead. The checkout line went all the way to the back of the store, and almost everyone in the line who was from Homestead had the same two items:

-Generator so they could run their power tools and fridge (and maybe a window A/C)

-Propane tank and/or grill so they could cook.

That was a wake-up call to me about what you may need in an actual emergency.

 

[veloce851]

I highly reccomend these products.. http://www.freeplay.net/
I've got a flash light and radio from them.
Mine has solar and the crank, very handy, and you never have to worry about expensive batteries.

 

[Kharn]

It was pretty comforting when I was watching Fox News coverage of the power outage to think about the gun cabinet in the next room, the 900 rounds of .308 Nato under the bed (I just got the FAL, dont make fun of me), and the three foot lockers full of Boy Scout-grade camping gear (Boy Scouts need the tough stuff, cause they'll either break it or try to burn it) out in the barn. Be Prepared means having lots of .308 and propane.

Kharn

 

[Trebor]

I'm also in SE Michigan (suburb of Detroit) and we just got our power back about 2 1/2 hours ago (it's Friday at 4:45 right now). No water yet though. We live an apartment so we don't have a generator or anything like that.

My wife and I went though it pretty well. She was on her way home from work and got caught in a horrible traffic jam. It took her about 1 1/2 hours to get home, instead of the normal 30-40 minutes. The bad parts were that she kept having to gun the heat to keep the car from overheating and she was worried about running out of gas because she was driving on fumes (she knows better and says she'll repent on the gas thing).

I was just about to get in the shower when the power flickered and went out. I just figured it was a local outage, probably caused by some nearby construction, so I went ahead and took a quick shower before we lost all water pressure. I didn't know how serious it was until I went outside to get the mail and saw a group of guys standing around their car listening to the radio. As soon as I realized what was up, I left a note for my wife, grabbed a cooler, and drove to the Kroger store about a mile down the road for water and ice.

When I got to the Kroger I saw some people leaving with water and ice, but there was an employee at the door saying that they were closed. We had a brief, polite discussion and I was astounded to find out that they did still have water and ice, but decided to close because it was too much of a "hassle" to sell it anyone. She said the customers I saw leaving were let in before they decided to close. I told her that there was no water service anywhere local and that people were going to need that water and ice and they should sell it until they were out, and then close. I finally asked to speak to the manager and she left to get the manager. When she came back, she said I could come in and buy "a couple gallons" of water.

I took the opportunity and bought 10 gallons of water and five bags of ice. I stopped there because I thought that would be enough for two people for two or three days and because I was limited by my cash on hand. I had a single $20 bill and three $1 bills. The total came to $19.76.

Interestingly enough, while the store didn't have power, the electronic scanner and register were still working. I asked if they had a generator and they said they did, but that it had stopped working shortly after they started it up. They had no clue why the register was still working and at the time, neither did I. Later I figured they must have a UPS system for their computer system and that the computerized register was hooked up into that.

My wife got home right after I finished stocking the freezer with the ice. We only had a small amount of pershibles on hand and I put them all in the freezer to use it as an old-fashioned "icebox." I put the water and the two bags of ice that wouldn't fit in the freezer in the fridge to keep the water cool.

We spent the rest of the evening snacking on granola bars and M&M's and reading under the shade of a tree. We'd heard that Brighton, about 15 miles away, still had power so around 8 p.m. I made reservations for dinner at Outback at 9:15. We had a nice dinner and used the leftover steak for our breakfast this morning. After dinner we were able to get to Meijer and get some BBQ briquettes to cook food with and a couple other things we needed. We were even able to top off my car's gas tank after only a 10 minute wait. (Right place, right time).

Now we're just trying to keep cool (A/C is off to converse power) while we wait for the water to come back on. We considered evacuating to relatives three hours away who were unaffected, but have decided to stay in place.

Lessons learned:

Don't live in a big city and avoid working there if possible. Here in the suburbs, things aren't that bad. I'd hate to be in NYC or Detroit right now, or to have been trapped in the subway or highway trying to get home. My wife's commute was bad enough, and she wasn't trying to get home from Detroit.

Fill up the car when the tank is half empty. I've always nagged my wife about this, but now I think she understands why.

Keep a supply of water and non-perishable food on hand. We had absolutely NO water on hand and if I wouldn't have been able to get some right away we would not have been able to stay here. We were also short on "substantial" non-perishable food and a way to cook it. We did have a box of granola bars and lots of M&M's left over from our "Car rations" from our vactation.

Keep cash on hand. We use credit cards almost exclusively and sometimes I find myself with only a couple dollars cash in my wallet, or no cash at all. Fortunately, I had that $20 to buy the ice and water. My wife later told me that we had a coule hundred bucks in our "emergency stash" that I thought had been deposited in the bank.

Mandatory Gun Related Content: I had my normal CCW piece with me the whole time, but never felt in the least bit threatened or concerned about my safety (more than normal). Everybody was corteous and there were no confrontations anywhere near that I saw or heard about. Still, it was a little more comforting then usual.

I hope everyone else here is OK as well.

 

[Fudgie Ghost]

Power came on almost exactly 24 hours after it went off here in suburban NY. Did have some "lessons learned":

Next time I will have my ammo listing printed out, so I will know where the hollow point 9mm is.

I have a nice system of numbered ammo cans with a list detailing what's in each box---doesn't do me much good being on a floppy disk when there's no power. Moron!

Next time I will have all my ammo accessible (by flashlight), and not have half of it squirreled away where it is difficult to lay my hands on it. Moron!

I have a Stop & Hop, no more than 200 yds away from my house, so I quickly laid on a potable water supply. We had some "flushing water" in the basement, but not alot of drinking stuff.

Turned out to be nothing more than an inconvience---but ya never know!

 

[NIGHTWATCH]

I can remember the blackout of 1977 here in NYC. My mother, two brothers and I decided to do our weekly ritual, which was to walk along the avenue on a hot summer night. We would walk about twenty blocks, looking into store windows (before they were all covered by metal gates). We had decided to go even though the "Son of Sam" was on the loose. We figured we had numbers and would be walking on a very busy avenue. Having courage, we exited our building.

We had just stepped out onto the sidewalk when we could see the skyline of manhattan start to go out. I could see the twin towers go dark in about four seconds as well as surrounding buildings. Anywhere between 20-40 floors going black at a time. Then it hit Brooklyn. Seconds after the city went dark, we were struggling to see ourselves. Had it not been for the busy traffic that night, there would be no light at all. Thankfully we were not far from home and made it back quikly, but not 5 minutes had gone by after we closed our door, did we start to hear the looting and muggings begin to take place. Its a very unpleasant thing to hear.

Its pitch black and all you can hear is storefront glass windows being crashed into and women screaming. Being a teenager and it being my first blackout experience at the time, I thought it to be kind of exciting...up to that point. Up to that moment that I realized that despite living in a modern society, the stone age waited in the darkness. The worst comes out of many people in the dark. And it is a very helpless feeling to know that the only thing between you and madness is a locked door.

This blackout, the blackout of 2003 was a different experience totally. Im glad to say that there was no looting or violence in my area. It was for the most part quiet. And the power began to come back online about 4:30AM. Unlike 77 which lasted a hot and scary 4 days. When society broke down.

What made this blackout different were the terrorists. It was the experience of 9/11 that changed this city forever. And the collective attitude towards the darkness this time was one of determination. I thank God though that this only lasted 12 hours. Had it lasted longer, desperation would have eventually set in. And once again modern day people witness the horror of evil in the world.

I remember the blackout of 1977. Two lanterns, three cases of batteries, six days worth of food and water, first-aid kit, two 12GA shotguns, a few thousand shells, a police scanner, a bottle of whiskey, cigarettes and 26 years later, I was ready.

 

[michiganfan]

My wife who is not too crazy guns admitted that she felt a lot better knowing that I had that one.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

My power was "only" out for 20 hrs. Gestapo-like refrigerator discipline resulted in no lost food/milk. Generators were gone from the stores quickly, but should be going on sale cheap soon in the want-ads. Maybe I'll pick one up.

Water pressure was restored after about 6 hours, when the city got their pumping stations going.

I had a 30-year old coleman stove (with 30-year old white gas in the tank) so we could have coffee. (Thank God!) I also cracked open the fridge for a moment to grab some eggs to fry.

Thankfully, the gas tank was nearly full so didn't have to face the line. I hope the lines go down soon.

The worst thing was, the Gibraltar Trade Center in Taylor MI was closed, so no gun show. I need to pick up some ammo. Hopefully the show will go on today, but I doubt it.

Regards.

 

[280PLUS]

i see kharn has ,,,

experience with the boy scouts

"they'll try to burn it"

me, after seeing a bright flash in amongst the boys on the other side of the camp,

"what was that?"

the reply, in chorus, "nothing"

me, "well, i better not see a nothing like THAT again!"

glad its all working out, and people are getting things back up and running

it was also heartening to see looting, in the U.S anyhow, was non-existent

we were like right on the border, hartford lost it but east of hartford only had a flicker so it was just a news story here, the rumors abounded though

like it wwas still rolling across the country and we were due to lose it any second

m

 

[John Forsyth]

I was up there, Detroit, on a business trip. Arrived on Monday night. Having traveled quite a bit I know to have certain items with me at all times when possible. Cash, light, knife, and gun. I had them all. Thursday night ate at the New Seoul Garden in Southfield. Good food and good folks by the way. I will eat there again. They were serving till it was too dark and if you could pay with cash. I was with another engineer from my office and we had two rental cars. As we only drove mine, his was full if needed for a drive home on Friday. Didn't need it, flew out Friday afternoon.

It was very obvious that most city people are not prepared for events such as that. As I camp quite a bit, not having electricity is something I am used to. I sat outside the motel Thursday night, relaxed, and watched the show.

 

[dinosaur]

I just spoke to my brother in Brooklyn. They were out for 26 hours. For those of you who might not know, cordless phones do not work in a blackout.:banghead: Make sure you have a corded phone as usually the phones will work. Otherwise they were fine.