I Just Went 8 Days Without Power

The energy industry is heavily subsidized by our government. The energy companies have been making record profit.

So why do we still have a 3rd world power grid? Hasn't it failed enough? Between the profit and subsidies why haven't they replaced our current system? We can include water, waste water.

Storms are getting worst, its now common to have power outages in the States that last over a week, we need to adapt to the changing climate.

reply to post by starchild10


My thoughts exactly. Chances are, they never had to experience 100+ degree weather w/o electricity so their experience must have been far worse. Personally, I dont know which would be worse. Both have the downsides. The OP made some good points and most appreciated his sharing the experience.

Well, glad you're okay, but as you mentioned, it just goes to show how absolutely dependent we are on electricity.

Many folks wouldn't have made it the 8 days that you did without major difficulties.

It's interesting to see how quickly civil order broke down, just in the absence of power, even with citizens knowing that it would be back on eventually and that they will probably have to answer for their actions.

It's a testament to how quickly civil order will break down if there is no hope of electricity returning after a major SHTF event.

My town goes without power for a day or two or three days several times a year during a heavy snowstorm every year.

This is old hat to me.

reply to post by crazydaisy

I feel for you big time we got hit with a double dose of no power for a week or more, Irene than the snow srom on Halloween. All I can say is just be prepared thank God I have been preparing for the worst since 9/11 and it has paid off big time.

you have destroyed so many nations out of pure greed
the ball is just bouncing back

reply to post by Fylgje

reply to post by Fylgje


"this wasn't a normal storm"

You must be new in town. I grew up with storms like that every few years. The mountains of West Virginia can turn into a dangerous place in a matter of minutes. It's been going on for millions of years. It's a good thing you do not live near a river. Then you really would've been scared!

I bought a BIG generator after I read this.

We live in Georgia where it is hot hot hot but we don't use a lot of air conditioning. When it got up at and over 100 we did but we know how to hang without it. Yes, staying wet helps a LOT.

But I can't stand the thought of losing the food in our freezers because we rely on it. We usually have at least one deer in there and a lot of homemade meals.

It wasn't just this...but the other night we had a typical storm - nothing too big or dangerous - and the power went out several times and a large section of town lost power completely for 12 hours or so.

The grid is just in crap shape. If it doesn't get made better soon, it will be more like it is in India where power outtages are very common.

IF we can ever get our income up, I'm going to go as solar as possible.

reply to post by Fylgje


Great post, thanks! I'm gonna go ahead and get a T-shirt printed that says "You're a human being, act like one, Plz" in case this happens in my area!

reply to post by Fylgje


So, how was it living in the 18th century? I was complaining here in Chicago when I had my AC blasting and the 100degree temps outisde kept making my AC unit work overtime...

With this extreme heat that had to have been horrible... I'm glad to see that you got it back

Cool story, bro.

Not really.

Yep. I am in Ohio and lost power Friday evening until Wednesday evening. We were scheduled to get power back on today, but it was a blessing when it came on mid-week. Husband was fishing at Lake Erie and our generator would start but not put out power. Thankfully, there wasn't much rain with the derecho, and our sump pump could wait a bit.

I've never been so miserable. We've had extended power outages with icestorms, but nothing like this with excessive heat.

We are going to get a generator that runs on natural gas. It's high on the 'to do' list.

Rachel Maddow was talking about this problem yesterday on her show, citing Germany as having a company total of 28 minutes without power last year, and urging us as citizens to demand infrastructure spending and policitcal will to put the powerlines underground.

It makes sense as far as monetarilly. Although, in the long run would eliminate jobs. I dont know, I feel so terribly for my fellow american suffering. I see my neighbor locked out of her apartment, and I get her a bottle of water and a granola bar.. But this, this is unhumane. 8 days without power is a big deal. If the economy is important, what about the economies of these states? No power=no business

If this was record cold instead of heat, we might have had a lot more fatalities. Something that should drive us to a better power grid as well.

reply to post by Fylgje


You sound like a sissy.

I didn't have AC until I went to college and I'm in a hotter region than you, man up.

My area was hit by the same storm (I live in southern new jersey) and just got over having no power for 6 days - it just came on Friday morning- but the worst part, I live in an apartment complex, and the day after the storm, most of the apartment complex got power, even the person living next to me got power, but not I. So every evening, sitting in my dark, humid, squalid apartment, I was entertained by the hums of my neighbors air conditioners, the flashes in the dark from their televisions. For five days, straight, I got to see those around me enjoy the comfort of modern technology while I'm living like a caveman just mere feet away.

This should be a real eye opener to us all. This story reminds me of how much I take for granted. TPTB do such a good job at keeping people complacent it's no wonder many are ill prepared for such a senario.

I think the next purchase I make might be a gas generator and some solar power generators. Not to mention a pro pure water filter I've been seeing on infowars.com.

Maybe one day we will all be energy independant and mass blackouts will be a thing of the past. We should all try to be more energy independant and self sufficiant. Aleast that is what I am taking away from this.

Buy a generator.

simple.

I enjoyed reading your post OP. It was suspenseful and sincere.

You seem like a good person. What you got out of those 8 days was indeed a sip of part of what would happen if the SHTF. I used to work days and nights at the most busy grocery store in my small city. Here in Newfoundland we get a fair bit of snow. During the weeks of 4-5 feet of snow I would have to deal with all sorts of people. Customers would walk in and ask aloud if armageddon or the zombie apocalypse had struck just totally in awe of the line-ups of people acting as if it was the end of the world, as if we don't constantly deal with bad weather throughout the seasons, but that doesn't stop the more selfish people.

People purchasing full carts of one type of food, or ice, water, etc.

I remember a week way back when the water was cut throughout the city. West end would have water for a day, then the east, some days none was readily available for purchase. I can remember us selling all of the water in a couple of hours, and then we'd have to explain that to the other customers who just wanted a bottle or two. We do put a limit on some items, but during the chaotic fray, it is hard to enforce with all of the customers and not enough staff. During Hurricane Igor (when I wasn't working there), I know that the same sort of thing happened. People just lose their cool and think completely irrational with regards to stocking up on things and going completely overboard with their shopping lists.

I fear a Cat 2+ hurricane hitting our small peninsula just because I know that it would get out of hand and the shelves would be emptied in minutes.

I told my Mother to stock up on water for late July going into September because I fear that all this warm and strange weather will lead to more of these events where people will gladly knock over an elderly person just to get their own way out of desperation.

Many of these situations are hard to avoid, and we must prepare in advance, but the way society is today, most people either cannot afford to, or choose to wait until the last moment when everybody is going crazy for their own supplies when it is too late.

It makes me sick, but I do understand how it all works.

If major grids went down and snow/heat became a country-wide issue, I don't even want to think about how quick we'd go back into the dark ages.