I got a glimpse of SHTF

Last night in Houston, TX a small storm cell rolled in. It brought very little rain pretty gusty winds. The sky was very menacing with the setting sun adding an eerie hue to the under side of the incoming storm. I was at home and decided to go to the closest main road (hwy6) and grab some fast food. glimpse

As I approached the busy road, I quickly noticed the sound of firetrucks and ambulances. I saw that traffic was a mess and then noticed that the redlights were out, so I took a side street to get to taco bell. I sat in the drive thru line for a few minutes watching the mayhem that was unfolding all around me. Finally it was my turn to make my order, low and behold the power was out at T. bell was out. I looked around and there wasnt power at any business around me either.

Emergency sirens everywhere, no power at any resturant, grocery store, movie theater, or any bussiness, upset commuters honking horns in gridlocked traffic, heavy wind, dark skys, and the ever menacing lightning crash every few seconds.

I was amazed at how quickly it all fell apart. people turned primal very fast. I went back home,where we still had power, and reported to the family that we werent going ANYWHERE tonight.

Our system is extremely fragile and the S can hit the fan at the drop of a hat. There is no reason for you to not have atleast a 72 hour B.O.B for you and your family. Yall stay safe now...yah hear?

With the hot weather and bad news lately, I would not be surprised if people start losing it pretty soon. I have already had a couple of near wrecks because people ran red lights and then glared at me when I honked at them, even though it was my quick reflexes that avoided a collision. I heard several pistol shots and one shotgun blast in the distance in my neighborhood last night, and that's not the first weekend night when that sort of thing has happened. That combined with the wonderful news brought to me on Youtube by the usual miracle workers DutchSinse and Suspicious0bserver makes me think that the prediction made by John Moore's inside sources may be right, and that it will be the climax to a crazy year.

Glimpse of SHTF, Taco Bell was without power. . .
Man you folk in Texas got it rough!!
Here in Kalifornia we have installed redundancies!
If starbucks power goes out, we got another one inside the Safeway THAT IS IN THE SAME PARKING LOT!!
If a McDonalds runs out of McRibs, we got another one two blocks down!
Always be prepared!
/sarcasm
/rant
/...

Folks do tend to fall apart quickly these days. I think it stems more from them not being sure how to take care of themselves in such a situation.

I live in the country. Out here it gets serious dark. I grew up here and we all learned to hunt, camp, etc. Not many people I know are concerned when a scenario like this arises because they know they will be fine. It's the folks who DON'T know how to feed themselves for 15 minutes after TSHTF that freak out mostly....and that would be scary.

I wish people would educate themselves a little more on stuff like that and they would probably be happier with a more secure feeling. If you know you can save yourself without having to wait for the government to come in and do it....then you are miles ahead of a lot of other folks.

Nobody has to be like Rambo, but everyone could benefit from knowing how to eat without getting it through a window or in a supermarket.

I have seen sights like you said happened there and it is scary. When it blows up like that more people usually wind up hurt than if everyone would have just stayed calm and assessed the situation before pulling a "Ricky Bobby" in the middle of the street.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


It was crazy, I could see the grocery store across the street and people were walking out of the darkened store without groceries and a bewildered look of "what do I do now". And the 'ricky bobby' situation was at every intersection. Everyone looked completly lost without electricty. ...sad really.

reply to post by Talltexxxan


This is a really interesting observation...people really don't have a clue how to cope when all our little luxuries are gone. Like electricity. Yup...I consider that a luxury...until very recently, we all just had to get by without it, and god aren't we spoiled now. It's simple things like not being to get the food we're used to, or suddenly being in a no power, no food, no information situation even in a city that will make people act very aggressively if they feel threatened. The world feels so different with all the modern stuff gone.

The same thing happened to me, it was after work....was a long day and I didn't feel like cooking dinner so I went to Subway to pick up a sub while driving home. While in the store a lady was buying subs for her family (from a city nearby), apparently the power was off for most of the day and she was complaining how she couldn't cook.

I looked at her and said, what if the power was off for a week, for a month....what would you do. She just looked at me and said the government would look after us. I was in utter shock. People are SO UNPREPARED, they actually believe that big brother, when things are at its worst, will look after you.


We all call ourselves civilized, but that "civilization" can be stripped very easily.

Originally posted by MidnightTide
The same thing happened to me, it was after work....was a long day and I didn't feel like cooking dinner so I went to Subway to pick up a sub while driving home. While in the store a lady was buying subs for her family (from a city nearby), apparently the power was off for most of the day and she was complaining how she couldn't cook.

I looked at her and said, what if the power was off for a week, for a month....what would you do. She just looked at me and said the government would look after us. I was in utter shock. People are SO UNPREPARED, they actually believe that big brother, when things are at its worst, will look after you.


We all call ourselves civilized, but that "civilization" can be stripped very easily.

edit on 11-8-2012 by MidnightTide because: (no reason given)

And these are the SAME EXACT people that watched New Orleans go to hell in a hand basket on live TV while they were waiting for the same government to come and rescue them. I have no clue how some people exist for as long as they do. They see it and still don't believe it. :shk:

Makes me think of a domesticated animal compared to one that grew up in the wild.

If a domesticated animal is set free, sometimes said animal simply does not have the survival skills to survive.

I grew up in the country, and if shtf, I know how to fish, what fruits to eat off trees, and also how to obtain drinkable water. In fact when I was younger, my definition of fun was trekking out into the forest and going into survival mode.

this thread is not specifically about the taco, it is refering to when we loose electricity and everythign shuts down people start panicing and misbehaving, think if it was more then just a few hours of no elctricity.. I get ya OP and I aree stock up and be prepare prices are rising people are starting to hurt, on the global incidents site, here in usa in new york and michigan there were food banks that forced to close their doors an out of food for this month, I talked to my son he is 32 lives in ca he said in the local newspaper of the large city the foods banks are nearly depleated and they are probably going close for the rest of this year.is is a large city with alot of poorer . I see uglieness about to happen. I feel sorry for all peope across the globe, americas crops all but failed this year, and last year alot of it failed. I know the frecast as of 2 years back was for a 5-10 year extreme drought here in america. Think about it, it goes far pas the taco ihas truemeaning of whats to come

reply to post by Talltexxxan


im west of ya, Val Verde County. small small city less then 34,000 san antonio is some 150 miles away. Feel rather safe out here,

Originally posted by Talltexxxan
Last night in Houston, TX a small storm cell rolled in. It brought very little rain pretty gusty winds. The sky was very menacing with the setting sun adding an eerie hue to the under side of the incoming storm. I was at home and decided to go to the closest main road (hwy6) and grab some fast food.

As I approached the busy road, I quickly noticed the sound of firetrucks and ambulances. I saw that traffic was a mess and then noticed that the redlights were out, so I took a side street to get to taco bell. I sat in the drive thru line for a few minutes watching the mayhem that was unfolding all around me. Finally it was my turn to make my order, low and behold the power was out at T. bell was out. I looked around and there wasnt power at any business around me either.

Emergency sirens everywhere, no power at any resturant, grocery store, movie theater, or any bussiness, upset commuters honking horns in gridlocked traffic, heavy wind, dark skys, and the ever menacing lightning crash every few seconds.

I was amazed at how quickly it all fell apart. people turned primal very fast. I went back home,where we still had power, and reported to the family that we werent going ANYWHERE tonight.

Our system is extremely fragile and the S can hit the fan at the drop of a hat. There is no reason for you to not have atleast a 72 hour B.O.B for you and your family. Yall stay safe now...yah hear?

Yet...when agengies hold DRILLS everyone freaks out!!!!

NOW does everyone see why DRILLS are important to train for these situations?!

Families should hold their own drills too!

reply to post by Talltexxxan


I wish I could find a link to or a description of it ( and will try to do so ) but several years back the Discovery channel had a show about the reality of an apocalyptic situation... It was hosted by the guy who did the show Connections... anyway the premise was that we don't need nukes or giant rocks from space for civilization to topple... we just need to lose power for awhile. Even regionally - as it would create exodus that would subsequently overwhelm system after system and ~bam~ we're back to the stone age.

Scary stuff!

~Heff

when and if the system finally collapses (power gone, money useless, food scarce, no fuel), it would take less than a week for the normal order of things to collapse into chaotic anarchy. if as long as that.

reply to post by Hefficide


It was from "Connections" - James Burke. I loved that series.



The scene of the effects of a massive power failure begins at about 5:10, but the whole thing is well worth watching.

When Hurricane Irene hit last August, my spouse was deployed and I hadn't lived in North Carolina long. It would be my first hurricane, so as soon as I had any inkling that Irene was headed my way, I stocked up on everything I could. Irene made landfall right on top of me. Those 18 hours where she parked over the Carolina coast were scary, as I hunkered down alone. I did not have power for almost 4 days afterward and was glad I had plenty of food and water. Once the hurricane passed, I observed a lot of interesting behavior. In my immediate area- all military families- everyone was very kind and willing to help each other out. Neighbors were checking on neighbors, helping to cut up downed trees, etc. However, the radio and "word of mouth" report was that some lower-income areas not even 15 minutes away experienced looting, people siphoning gas out of others' parked cars, and other bad behavior. I was disappointed to see the "primal" mindset people got because they were not prepared. It was as if survival at any cost, even just for the short term, took over logic and civility. So I learned an important lesson regarding preparedness. We cannot turn a blind eye and pretend that a massive emergency or natural disaster won't happen. Spending a little time preparing now will save a lot of heartache later. We should always be ready.

reply to post by Talltexxxan


I remember reading a similar story a couple or weeks to a month ago only there is the last part missing which described the dude was in his car with his family. He was at the fast food place and left because their lights were out. Noticed the tornado clouds heading his way and made it across the street into a loading dock ramp that was partially underground and I remember reading him saying as soon as he backed into that loading dock ramp he watched debris flying past his car and he made it out safe. But, as he drove home there was chaos on the street with trees and powerlines down. He said it took him an hour to get home but finally made it.

Either this story is a copypaste or you Texans always have these types of problems... or

Maybe I have acquired the power to read stories from the future lol

reply to post by Talltexxxan


We had a power outage friday that lasted for over 10 hours.
It is amazing how much we depend on electricity.I have a gas
water heater and furnace.Everything else is electric including
my stove, fridge and freezer.
I have a way to cook when the power is out.I use chafing dish
fuel and take one of the racks out of my oven,a couple of short
2"x4" boards...Mama is a cookin' in the kitchen.

it's been said before; we have no idea how fragile the system is, esp large cities. think about it; EVERYTHING- food, water, utilities, gas- must be brought into a city. like an animal that must be constantly fed. I fear we will see more Katrinas in the future.
human beings were not meant to live in large cities. they are unnatural. people--especially young men--in urban environments will act unpredictably and ultimately self-destructively; we just aren't progammed for urban living. cramming laboratory animals in cages, even with adequate food and water, leads to stress and violence. imagine the cage when the food and water stop...

reply to post by Talltexxxan


Your tale reminds me of a time when I had hit rock bottom.

I had become behind on some child support back 2010. At 148 a week when you make 250 after taxes, It can be easy. Anyway, I had my daughter over to my house for Father's day. It was just me and her when I heard a knock at the door. It was the police doing "sweeps" for child support on father's day. Needless to say I went to jail after finding someone to take my now frantic 10 year old daughter.

3 Day's later, I had managed to sell one of my two cars to bail out. This bought me about five days (losing my job in the process) and I was right back in jail for child support AGAIN. With a 2,200 bond, I wasn't going anywhere this time.

During that time in jail, I lost my house, everything in it. And my usually loving and supporting mother decided to take my second car and literally give it to her new boyfriend of 2 months (She was on title due to licensing issues). When I was released, four months later. I was jobless, homeless, friendless, and penniless in the middle of December in Michigan.

All shelters were full, as is usual during the winter time. So I soon found myself sleeping under a bridge in the dead of winter. Long story short, during the next three months begging for change and saving for a boarding room I had gone through the terrible realization that the first thing to leave me was my morals. I had done things that I had criticized other people for doing when they were in dire straights. Like stealing, pan handling, picking food out of trash etc etc.. Horrible things that, when I had money, couldn't imagine how anyone could let themselves do such depraved things.

I'm not much of a writer so I'll keep my point clear and concise. When the SHTF, you WILL do ANYTHING to survive. And believe me, it does not take long to get to that point of "depraved indifference" when the SHTF. I can only imagine if I had my kids or a wife to feed too. I woulda been in prison for sure. If not for getting into trouble. Then to get too "three hots 'n cot".