THE POWER GOES OUT - What should you do?

Originally posted by r2d246

Originally posted by phroziac
Eat ice cream before it melts. I always keep oil lamps on hand also.

You've been watching revolution!

You beat me to it!

Some of you folks are really scary.

Checking for EMPs? Grabbing your guns? Looting stores?

Let's take a common sense pill.

I know that it's all fun and games to think you're the hero in a post-apoc movie, but let's be rational.

Sometimes the power goes out. Light up a lantern, flashlight, or candles. Bundle up if it's cold out. Fill up some large pots with water, if possible.

If the power doesn't come back on in an hour, go to bed. Sleep on it.

See what the day brings.

FIRST THING WOULD BE NOT TO PANIC!!!!

I would haul butt to the nearest grocery store and stock up even more than I already am and get ready for the show down to begin. I have plenty of stuff but at that moment that would be one of the many signs for me that things were about to get crappy.

To all of those greedy people out there.....

The additonal supplies I would be aquiring at last minute would be also to help out my fellow man so we have enough food and water to prepare for the future.

I would also instantly arm my entire family with a fire arm for protection from the turd burglers that are going to freak out.

Light a candle? Get a flashlight? Light a hurricane lamp (Or lantern). There are many possibilities it isn't the end of the world however,, it would be the end to my entertainment blah.

Guess we'd have to tell campfire stories instead of net surfing or watching the boob toob.

Well if it happened during the day, I wouldn't do much at first. I'd try not to open the fridge/freezer too much. If it happened at night, I may whip out some candles, but it would depend on what was going on at the time and how much light I felt as though I needed. If I really needed a lot of light I have a coleman electric camping lantern.

If after about 12 hours the power hadn't come back on I would start to become more concerned. I would then go to the grocery to some extra groceries.

After that I'd make my weapons available should I need them. I would also start calling people if I could get a signal and if my phone wasn't dead planning our next potential moves in a collaborative effort.

After another twenty-four hours if there wasn't any news as to the cause of the power outage I would bug-out and go to a friends private property that's within about 30 minutes of where I live. This private land has a pond that has fish in it and is on a large plot of land surrounded by a large iron fence. There are only two ways into that land and one of them requires a key plus it's outside the city even if just barely, making it's location somewhat ideal imo because it has potential resources nearby without the madness of the hordes of people in the city being constantly around. When I wen there I would take everything I could carry in my car/s. I'd take all our camping gear, any food we (me and my wife) could fit in the car, our child, and if I still had enough room, our pets (specifically the cats, might let the corn snake go(he'd be better off)). If there was any way to carry even more, I'd start bringing archived information from this age. I'd pack my video camera, and my external hard-drive. If electricity were to return or if we could find a way to produce it, both of these items could be invaluable int he future, especially the external because it has about 80 gigs of music on it.

Anyway, I could get more detailed, but that's pretty detailed as it is. Any questions?

reply to post by ldyserenity


Naw, you'd just have to find ways to produce you're own electricity. I think I'd try to make a turbine generator using either a river or a bicycle. Perhaps it would even be possible to recharge old car batteries to keep a charge when you weren't using it.

Hide under the bed until the power is back

To give you ideas .. watch this show



you dont like surprise ?
make reserve of food and water
lots of batteries and other usefull stuff like candles and matches etc etc

or come to me and i will help you survive

I always seem to live in fragile areas so my power goes out often. I wouldn't do anything. However, I make sure to always have all my gas cans full. I already have a lot of water and food stocked. I keep my LP tank full (250gal). I also have 2 five gal tanks of propane and 8 small bottles plus several cook stove options. I have solar small battery chargers and solar lights (small cheap yard type). 15 oil lanterns full, about 700 candles and two generators. Now if you asked what would I do after 4 days, I might have a different response. Because I would then worry about my 4 freezers full of food

reply to post by rickymouse


Well if the Shtf me and everyone on here is coming over. The password to enter your place will be ATS okay

reply to post by r2d246


Maybe time to evade the area before but the generator info is good as well..

reply to post by ldyserenity


Can play 500 rummy and Yahtze. I wonder if many of the new generation even know of these games.

1st, I would keep calm (you panic then everyone else will)

2nd: Lighting oil lamps candles or flash light. Make sure they work before hand.

3rd: Do a head count and make sure you know where everyone is or going. Check neighbors to make sure they are well (never know when you need to ban together)

4th: Security, make sure the home is secure, lock doors, windows, gates or any other point of entry.

5th: Comms, bat. operated radio to here what is going on or for EMS to instruct you what or where to go.

6th: No matter what news you hear see #1

7th: Dont be a hero or Rambo (unless no other options are available).

8th: Keep lights low, talk soft and dont show what you not willing to loose (food, weapons, loved ones)

9th: Food, water and meds, if not already ration it out to meet your needs. Then hide drygoods out of sight just encase looters get in.

10th: I could go on, but you (OP) need to think of a emergency plan that works for you and your area. Me if the lights go out doesnt mean much Im so far in the sticks I have to have the sun shine pumped in

I would climb out on my roof and wait for the government to come rescue me... and feed me, and relocate me, and give me an EBT card for groceries... oh, and an Obama-phone. Got to get my Obama-phone.

reply to post by r2d246


I just had this happen to me a week ago. I live in Hardin CO KY. After dinner one evening we sat down to watch some mind numbing television and relax and out of nowhere...at 730 pm our power went out. There wasnt any wind. There wasnt any storm. NOTHING. My teenage daughter called me from Elizabethtwon (about 15 miles away) and told me the entire city was dark. The first thing I did was step outside on my porch to see what was happening in my world. I live within EYE shot of FT Knox KY. You could see the glow above FT Knox so they still had power. Me, being a blonde, went to my laptop and of course could not get online. Our internet is electric. LOL I then took my cell phone to the front porch and googled power outage Hardin CO KY and believe it or not a news blurb popped up from a Louisville KY tv station saying the main line at LGE power had been accidently severed and power would be restored in a few hours. It was out 3 hours. We sat on the porch for the entire time and enjoyed the silence and listened to the teenagers talk about how it was the zombie apocolypse..lol.

Had I not been able to google what was going on I would have called my dad in OH 5 hours away and asked him to get on his HAM or CB to find out what was going on. If it HAD been some sort of emergency I would know from him.

In 2009 during the ice storm our power was out for 2 weeks. We had no water. No gas. No electric. We were very unprepared. We packed up our pets and kid and drove 5 hrs on solid ice to Central Indiana and stayed at a hotel for a night then drove to my parents house in OH until power was restored. We came home to 3 ft of water in our basement .

We have since developed an emergency plan that consists of first COMMUNICATION (my dad HAM and CB) Shelter (we have a meeting spot outside of our home) and supplies (we have a BOB and some basic supplies that we can sustain ourselves for about a month if need be.

Throw down the controller and curse!....because you had finally made level seventeen!

Turn on the radio (the battery operated one) to make sure it wasn't and EMP.

Radio is dead?....fill the bathtub with water (while cursing about FINALLY making it to level 17)

Radio is working, blackout is local (curse about finally making it to level 17--light a candle..play guitar)

Power goes out......first thing I would do is wait 10 sec, cause it's usually back on that fast. If after just a few minutes I am probably grabbing my wireless phone. If it's dead (assuming it was charged) and/or it has no signal, I might start to worry about EMP or Solar Flare. If it is dead I would go see if the cars would start.

If you have phone and car things will probably be all right. Might be a day/or two/ or even a week depending on the issue.

But if phone and/or car are out I would fill up everything possible with water. Maybe chat up the neighbors next, we are in a new neighborhood and we don't know to many people yet, in fact most of the lots aren't even bought. See where they stand. See if anyone has a working radio. A transister or ham might very well survive an EMP/Solar Flare. See if anything is transmitting and make decisions from that I suppose. If kids are at school plan to make a long walk to find them I suppose.

Originally posted by JustSlowlyBackAway
reply to post by r2d246

 

Fire up the generator and plug in the refrigerator and freezer? Possibly draw some water and fill the tub and water storage containers? Check lanterns and candles for light....

How did I do?

I'd leave the generator off until I figured out what had happened.

I've got enough battery back-up capacity to last a couple of days, used sparingly. I would rather know what is happening first, I would run as much water as possible and gather candles and flashlights while I was waiting to find out though.

For those who dont know a can of crisco will burn like a candle and last for weeks. All you have to do is put like 1 to 3 wicks in depending on the size of the can. So if there was a case of people raiding the shelves, chances are there will be vegetable shortening when other things are gone. I could never eat that crap, but I like to keep a couple of cans on hand just in case I need a few long burning candles and wanna conserve the wax ones.

If the power goes out i'm going to sit in the corner an eat all of my ice cream with a stupid smile on my face

I think too many people here assume "the power goes out" as a major catastrophic event. The orignal question could be taken simply, "the power goes out" as in for a few hours or a day. Most people don't do much or they do a few things, depending on the time of day, the climate, if at work or at home etc. I'm sure that most people don't grab their guns and eat all the ice cream in the freezer every time the power goes out. Probably the most important thing to do if the power goes out is to determine WHY the power went out. Based on that determination, maybe get the family games out, a few flashlights and candles......or grab the guns, eat all the ice cream in the freezer and grab your BOB - just in case.