DC Grocery Stores Out of Food, Gas Unavailable, Grid-Down As Summer Heat Rages

Originally posted by itswhatev
Being onm the east coast myself, and dealing with these storms every year.... Because we do get them EVERY year... And every year they come out of "nowhere"... It's almost comical to know that after all the billions spent on making this country "safe"- something as simple as a thunderstorm can cripple so much..

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

What really CRIPPLES us is all the technology we boast about...in a very ironic way.

This is an excellent way of evaluating our own survival plans, there must be many ATS members in the stricken areas, perhaps when they get back on their feet, they can tell us what they found worked best, fared best practically, etc. It would give us all an insight to what it really is like to survive on our own skills and supplies for a few weeks, where they found things worked well, or fell flat. I know that this was a weather related situation, but the situation is unimportant, it is still a survival situation at the end of the day and many people spout off the same lame advice to new preppers, some real personal feedback would be like gold dust to some of us.

I hope that they fare well through this, I know some people will say, it's only an accident, it's not as if we are being invaded from space, well, I hope that they will be savvy enough to get through a similar situation, if it hits THEM.

Some people freak out if they run out of toilet paper, yet the shop is only 5 mins walk away, what would they be like if the shop was empty, no running water and no electricity.

Why is this such news, is it because it's in DC? Where were all of you when the Northeast was going through 11 days of this in freezing and sub-freezing temps? Where were all of you when the power companies were making excuses and sitting flying copters around for four days "assessing" the situation? Where were all of you when old people were dying from lack of heat, freezing to death? I'll tell you where... comments like :

"you don't know what living like that is like, a few days without power is nothing"

or my favorite

"Suck it up, it will end, and you'll get through it"

That did more harm to our psyche's than anything else, why because it felt like no-one cared that everyone was almost wiped out by that storm..

Now all of a sudden there's outrage and threads popping up right and left on this site? There's a word for this.. it's called hypocritical and it's almost sickening.. Just because this is Washington DC this time and not 5 states in the Northeast, it's some sort of huge aberration. Well here's some words for you guys in Virginia that refused to send help to us when we needed it:

It will end, you'll get through it...just suck it up...

reply to post by 1947flxible


I wonder what would happen if everyone spontaneously decided to either purchase/build their own power source, or simply learned to live comfortably without one? What if everyone was also prepared with extra food and water?

It is not impossible.

Pain in the rear? Yes, temporarily - but then sweet, sweet independence.

And isn't living through all of these power outages also a pain in the rear?

Obviously the power grid will not be updated any time soon. Time to stop waiting for it to happen, and make other plans.

Because like it or not - either way it'll suck temporarily. The only thing we have control over is the intensity of the suckiness, so to speak.

You can either get things done ahead of time, spending your time and money to prepare for an emergency before it happens (while stores and banks are open and the power is on) - or you can get things done later, after an emergency has occurred and it is much, much more difficult.

Be kind to your future self and prepare for the next big thing that comes along - you'll be so appreciative of your past self when the time comes! Anyone (including yourself) that thought you were crazy for preparing before, will consider you a hero and a genius afterwards. You may even want to throw yourself a parade.

*giggling at the thought of what that parade might look like - perhaps it would lead with a banner that reads "Yay for Spam!" - the possibilities are endless*

It makes me smile to just think about all of us becoming self reliant.

We can do this.

Originally posted by ChrisF231
Why don't we bury the power lines?

ConEdhas slowly started to bury the power lines in NYC and LIPA has also done do for some of the newer housing developments on Long Island.

I know it's expensive but I think the money saved from having to do repairs every time their is a strong gust of wind will make it worth it.

I think its to do with keeping the wires cool, if they get too hot, the wires will droop, and possibly short out with ground arching.

Why is this such news, is it because it's in DC? Where were all of you when the Northeast was going through 11 days of this in freezing and sub-freezing temps? Where were all of you when the power companies were making excuses and sitting flying copters around for four days "assessing" the situation? Where were all of you when old people were dying from lack of heat, freezing to death? I

reply to post by vkey08


more than likely we were all on this forum, making posts, much like this thread....
we were watching fox news this morning and they were hyping up this storm and the fact that so many have been out of power this long. I said something to my hubby about it, there's ice storms that go through every year and leaves damage much like what we are seeing now. I've been through a few of them. and well, we are doing now, just what we did then, just kind of waiting it out, making due till things get back to normal. and at least for me, I would prefer to bake than to freeze. but, I got to say, one would do good to have a stash of cash when such disasters strike, because there's been plenty of stores that stayed open, even without electricity, hoping to unload the parishables before the turned bad, there was a pizza place that was even giving away pizzas, but without cash, well, you were stuck driving all over the city looking for someplace that had their electronic payment systems up and running. and well, gas was kind of hard to find also, so driving aimlessly around wasn't that wise either.

reply to post by dawnstar


Well of course this event was caused by the weather. I was speaking to the lack of sufficient power supply when the weather is sufficiently hot or cold to overload the grid.

Power transmission lines are usually not buried because they are high tension cables . They are stretched when they hang them on the towers in order to decrease the electrical resistance of the lines, to cut power losses during transmission. It would be prohibitively expensive to run high tension cables underground, so most underground cables are short runs where the power losses are negligible.

reply to post by dawnstar


Actually every time i came on there was nothing about it until about 10 days into it.. and even then everyone was just saying "oh my complaining? you don't know tough" 2.5 million over 3 states out for 11+ days (up to two and a half weeks in some spots including mine) in sub freezing weather, somehow didn't make as much of an impact on this site as Power out in DC in a heat wave... The October storm up here was far from an ordinary Ice Storm.. (in fact there was very little ice) it was on the heels of a Category One hurricane only 1 1/2 months prior and would have been classed as a Cat 2 if it were a hurricane.

I do agree however that Cash was very needed, terminals were down, ATM's didn't work, Gas was short, it was far from a cakewalk..

reply to post by rickymouse




Look here for coupons. Click on "Bakery" to find Bisquick.
printable-grocery-coupons.blogspot.com...

I feel for these folks. 100 degree temps and no air conditioning. You can find ways to stay cool, but getting ice for food and just getting food can be a nightmare in those conditions. I'd send a care package to ATS members, but is the mail even getting through?

Out of interest, the thunderstorm we had here in the UK a few days ago was unlike any I have ever witnessed... and I have seen quite a lot. I love a good storm, so always pull up a pew and watch.

This one was very strange in that I barely saw a single lightning bolt strike the earth... plenty of flashes, but I think they were all going upwards. The thunder wasn't sporadic, it was constant with peaks. The rumble didn't stop once until it had moved away. Lightening flashes and thunder were every few seconds, not the minutes we are used to. The sky was also green. Something is definately "off".

Interestingly, I wonder what would happen if we were forced into a cashless society and had a power out? Then you'll see looting!

Originally posted by DAVID64
reply to post by rickymouse

 

Look here for coupons. Click on "Bakery" to find Bisquick.
printable-grocery-coupons.blogspot.com...

I feel for these folks. 100 degree temps and no air conditioning. You can find ways to stay cool, but getting ice for food and just getting food can be a nightmare in those conditions. I'd send a care package to ATS members, but is the mail even getting through?

edit on 4-7-2012 by DAVID64 because: add

I spoke with my Daughter and Son-in-law last night, they live in Bethesda MD. They were told that *maybe* they would have power back on by Friday. They just moved there a few months ago, new job, and really missing San Francisco with the balmy temps there. They have no mail delivery yet. It's been a delicate balancing act of finding gas, and places to recharge phones, and open places to eat out nearby. My Daughter works at a high security government facility, so she can take a shower there, but her Hubby is not allowed in due to security there. Her work place has generators running to keep things going.

They feel lucky to live in a second story building, as there are starting to be a few problems with break-ins in the ground floor places. Mostly because anyone living there who has a place to go stay, has done so. Leaving many places vacant until power is back on. She said at least they can leave their windows open being on the second floor.

I Pray for all those poor people suffering in that heat, and lack of supplies. My Daughter said they lost everything in their freezer, and their poor spoiled rotten old cat is miserable.

Des

I used to live in Northern Virginia, and I can tell you that the power grid in that whole area is like a delicate spider web anyway. Every time a decent-sized storm rolled through, the power went out. It was a given. I'm sure it's no better now. That whole area needs the power grid reengineered or something.

reply to post by saladfingers123456


You'll see looting anyway.

Yea I can't find milk.

And we are having another heat emergency today and tomorrow.

Now you have to understand something here, these cities only had a few hours notice of this storm.

the NWS screwed up and didn't alert Baltimore and Baltinore only had a whopping 30 minutes to prepare.

Irene could of been much worse then it was, the cities did a good job of preparing for it. Because we had advanced notice of Irene.

But a derecho is a term no one has heard of in years, much less prepare for it.

Instead of acting like spoiled Americans, consider this. It wasn't just a severe thunderstorm, it was declared the worst non hurricane event the mid atlantic area has ever seen.

There were four million people without power. Getting that many people back on the grid in just a week is actually pretty outstanding.

Gotta love the microwave society.

Originally posted by Catalyst317
reply to post by RealSpoke

 

You are 100% on point! Our infrastructure is failing and nothing is done about it. Bridges are falling apart with no repair in sight, gas lines are exploding due to corrosion and the weight of buildings on top of them that were not designed for such pressure, dams and levies are at a tipping point where they need major repairs as well. If the government does not do something about it, then we will not have to worry about terrorists destroying our country, time and mother nature will do it for them.

The reason why we spend so little on infastructure is cause our civilization is about to fall apart! You all need to watch the documentaries "collapse" and "prophets of doom"! Those who scare easily should not watch these
Docs! Our infastructure needs to be revamped cause there is no way we will continue on the wasteful path of excess we have been on! Our world will have to change voluntarily now or later after the collapse! and for those in denial "keep moving nothing to see here"!

Originally posted by RealSpoke
A thunderstorm can cause outages for this long? We need to do some serious infrastructure spending in this country and stop giving it to bankers.

oh c'mon...we can't let Obama look good, we need to get romney elected, and spending money on infrastructure is so...so....socialist.

reply to post by nixie_nox

Yea I can't find milk.

A good thing to stock in the pantry is nonfat dry milk. It stores well, and even though it may not taste 'just like' milk, it is better than having none at all. Another option is the whole milk that is aseptically packaged and doesn't have to be refrigerated. Parmalat is one company that packages it. It tastes good and you can keep it on the shelf until you open it.
I know it doesn't help you now, but something to add to your preps for next time.

Originally posted by jimmyx

Originally posted by RealSpoke
A thunderstorm can cause outages for this long? We need to do some serious infrastructure spending in this country and stop giving it to bankers.

oh c'mon...we can't let Obama look good, we need to get romney elected, and spending money on infrastructure is so...so....socialist.

Hmmmm.
Seems to me that GW Bush took a lot of flack for Katrina. Even though Ray Nagin initially refused federal help (smart move )
Good for the goose, good for the gander, right?

Originally posted by joeraynor
I have been in around 20 hurricanes in south Florida, and this was on that level. I seriously thought something was really up, for a storm that horrendous to hit from that far inland... it came blazing through like a freight train, not stopping for anything. The sky roared- so much so that I was looking for the funnel clouds. After it was over, I had patio furniture on my roof, and the streets were all baricaded with fallen trees every block or so.

Ditto. I have never seen anything like it. It was calm and quiet and pretty and then boom, I heard a freight train, the trees were suddenly sideways and I was surprised it wasn't a tornado.

Give me a break. What do you think mankind did only 80 years ago and beyond with no power. Jeez, there are still some humans on this planet who live off grid and survive just fine without electricity. Spoiled Human Beings is what we are now.