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

What I find ironic is the after-the-fact actions taken by FEMA. Disaster occurs - FEMA tries to prepare for said disaster in the future, and they are labeled as an evil entity who is planning for the great NWO takeover. They really can't win - either they were not prepared.. or they are planning our doom.

Originally posted by TWISTEDWORDS
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.

How clever of you to use your electricity to chastise us......

Des

Lets clear up some misconceptions here.

FEMA doesn't get involved unless a state declares an emergency and the President signs off on it. Only two states have declared a state of emergency. The federal government is not allowed to step in unless the state says it can.

Most of the disaster preparedness money was funneled down to your local governments. Despite what ATS loves to believe, your local governments and states handle disaster emergencies, FEMA just provides support and money when it is called.

Disaster preparedness has only been instituted since 2006. That is only 5.5 years that preparations have been made. And no matter how much money you spend, you can't prepare for everything. It is not possible. Risks are analyzed and likely scenarios are prepared for. Texas is not spending money on preparing for tsunamis, if the chances are 1 in a million they will get one.
There is a bigger risk from hurricanes then a fluke storm that no one has heard of.
People need to be realistic.

Being out of power for a only a week is nothing short of miraculous. Don't think so? Go live in a third world country.

reply to post by butcherguy


Oh I know, thanks for the info. I just went over my mothers house and got some. It is not that big of a deal.

reply to post by vkey08


Because 2000 heat records have been broken and it hasn't stopped. Heat kills more people than any other weather event.

Originally posted by niceguybob
But we all got concerned when FEMA bought all those emergency rations, not because we hoped there would be no disaster, we were more pissed maybe they knew something we didn't know, and would'nt tell us.

Those rations were handed out last year in the 11 catastrophes that happened. I would know, I delivered 100,000 of them myself.

All part and parcel to the "just in time" inventory systems employed by the national grocery chains. In order to reduce costs associated with warehousing and to maximize floor space (ie profits). Retailers adopted the Just In Time system. The cost savings of bulk purchases, once placed "in the back" of your local mom and pop grocers gave way to spreading it out amongst the chain stores and regional/district warehouses.

So while you enjoy the 10 cents per item savings on baked beans at Giant, Food Lion, Walmart, etc. versus IGA and Bill and Nancy's on Fifth St. You actually have lost out on being able to make a run on the stores. Either by personal finances, choice or the desire to have a larger living room. Most people just simply do not keep more food on hand than they used to do. Call it a personal "just in time" system. Because long gone is the walk in pantry with shelves full of food. Even the McMansions that have seemingly unlimited cupboard space are usually filled with seldom used juicers, salad shooters, single use blenders and other specialty appliances, dishes and cookware.

In the 70's, FHA loans used to have a rider that stipulated that a garden had to be grown for so many years of the loan. This was due to supplemental funding of the loan by the Dept. of Ag. Growing up and moving into a new house, we had a garden (sorta) because of that requirement for a couple of years, maybe three. Why? We simply didn't need it as everyone else in the neighborhood had the same loan and both sets of grandparents had large gardens. Everyone gave away large grocery sacks of food to everybody. The few roadside farmer's markets were for exotic things like cantaloupe, watermelon, Sweet corn and heads of lettuce that few people grew in their own small gardens in large quantities due to space. Heck, I remember Grandpa trading turnips for cantaloupes at one because few people grew turnips locally.

Point is that their are now more people living un subdivisions than ever. if everyone dedicated a small area to a garden and decided who would grow what, the whole neighborhood could benefit from having a community garden far larger than anyone else could grow on their own. And imagine what would happen once they discovered canning

Grab a pen and paper and LEARN from the ANT! People are FOOLISH! Don't come knockin' on my door..when it all comes CRASHIN' down. Take a bite out of your Apple (i-phone/pad) when SHTF, it should hold you over til the next version is released.

As far as the infrastructure in the U.S. goes....well...that money is being used to build private islands in Dubai.

reply to post by jimmyx


Infrastructure is a local issue.

reply to post by nixie_nox

Infrastructure is a local issue.

Correct

Highways and bridges are maintained at the State, County and City levels with a percentage of federal funding but most of these don't have enough cash to make any big difference in the infrastructure without raising taxes or bond programs.

Electric is mostly privately owned and are controlled by the rules and regulations of your states Public Utilities Commission and are not going to go back and put in underground lines in suburban neighborhoods due to the cost.

We lost power for two and a half days. After the second day, I went out and bought a generator and extension cords to power the refers. After getting it all hooked up, the power came back on... Oh well. I'll have a generator for the future. We store up on canned food, enough to last several days. We loose power every year in southern MD but usually, only for a few hours. This storm blew large trees over bringing down the power-lines. First thing we do is fill all our jugs, pots, with fresh water. Next we get all the candles together, which we try to stockpile. We actually bought seeds this year and have then stored. We have .5 acres which is plenty of room to grow food. Weather we get the water to grow is another question.
i don't think we qualify as Preppers, but we do make common sense planning. It's gonna be rough when it goes down for sure.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
reply to post by vkey08

 

Because 2000 heat records have been broken and it hasn't stopped. Heat kills more people than any other weather event.

True. I remember the 89 earth quake in SF killed 63 people and in Chicago, over 150 died from heat related issues that same summer.

reply to post by itswhatev


I live on the east coast, right outside of DC. This weather is normal for the DC area. When one takes into account that the DC area is situated adjacently to a mountain range, and regularly lies at the interface of a mass of cool, dry northern air and warm, moist southern air while being intersected by a polar jet stream, weather like the most recent thunderstorms makes sense. Ironically, every year people talk about how the weather here is extraordinary.

As for the damage this particular storm caused and the supposed ineptitude of repair crews: a significant portion of power-lines in the areas outlying DC are above ground and aging. There are a lot of tall trees in the older, more established municipalities. So, powerful weather, above-ground power-lines, and lots of trees combine to make a big mess that takes a while to clean up and repair - not a conspiracy.

In regard to the topic - survival and misappropriation of government money - I found my portable stove helped me quite nicely and maybe some of that money should be spent on revamping the decaying power-grid that much of the DC area has.

After having lived through said DC outage, I came away with the following:

1. Really, really, really do not depend on the stores to have what you need. A zillion other people in the same boat already beat you to it.

2. There are different aspects to the lack of electricity. Darkness at night? No biggie, light a candle. No TV? No biggie, not much on anyway. No AC when it is 110 degrees out and the air is so humid it is like breathing soup? Daytime is OK, but trying to sleep that way sucks. It sucked before man invented AC and it sucks now.

3. People really do get crazy. I am not saying folks were gunning each other down left and right but you could really see it would not take much to get it there.

4. The diet becomes a little bland but no biggie. I am sure with time, I could get used to pretzels with Tabasco.

5. The length of the day/night grows without entertainment. It really does feel weird at first.

6. Maybe a repeat but if the weather was descent, this would not have been such a big deal. If it had been out where there was not the crush of humanity, this would not have been such a big deal.

7. Did I say sleeping in the heat and humidity sucks?

I love reading all these posts of people trying to make OP and others sound retarded because of what there saying.. This is the most drastic season we have had in a long time if ever I think.. We have broken over 40 thousand records this year, and thats JUST in the US alone.

If the government cared about keeping the power on they would cut down trees within a couple hundred feet of power lines.

We've got another round of storms rolling through tonight with more high winds expected. Expect more power outages.

We have water stored, food enough to last a lengthy emergency and two generators with gas stored to run them both. It blew my mind how many people asked us if we'd "lend" them a generator. We have power outages all the time. These people live here too and know this. Personally I think they should invest in their own rather than put wear and tear on mine because I had the foresight to buy them. We have a wringer washer with a gasoline motor and a "kick start". We use one generator for the well and if fuel runs out we have a "well bucket". We have chores to keep us occupied during the daylight hours and candles, books and something really old fashioned...... cards and board games for the evenings! We also have an old fashioned wood cook stove for winter emergencies.

reply to post by SeenMyShare


It's not like they aren't getting any warning this time around. They should go buy their own generator. I've lent things like that out before, they never return in the same condition, and half the time I have to go fetch them.

You sound like a good prepper.....hope you weather the winds well....

Des

I live in the Mid-Ohio Valley and we went 4 days w/o power. It was really hot, but we made it through. It really makes you appreciate the luxuries we have and you really feel for people who deal with more serious natural disasters.

reply to post by 1947flxible


Your quote from the article:


"Is this the work of a terrible terrorist attack? No, it is the complete disaster non-preparedness a decade after 9/11. Despite the fact that billions if not trillions have been spent since 9/11 on counter-terrorism and so-called “homeland security” measures, one of the major terrorist targets, the nation’s capital, cannot cope with a severe thunderstorm"

You and others seem to confuse HLS with the duties of FEMA.
HLS is bent on total control of us during our normal lives. FEMA is another animal entirely.