Well, we have now had 3 nor’easters in 10 days. Another is now due in early next week. That’s a lot of nor’easters. Additional today we had extremely light snow in the late afternoon. Tomorrow I am going to Manhattan for work - it was suppose to be a completely clear day - no, now during the evening rush hour there is to be snow or rain - at just about freezing temperature and I will be driving home. There was a time when I would not even blink at the idea of driving home in snow - now even rain if it might freeze on the road worries me.
As of last Saturday afternoon (a week after the first storm and 3 days after the second storm) there were 300,000 electric outages in the tri state area - most still out from the first storm. And outage is not necessarily one family’s outage - a single outage can be for an apartment building (or businesses) and may actually be lots of families with no electricity. There are still outages.
We were lucky though. The exact spot we live in was treated very gently by all 3 storms. The first storm had almost no snow - here. The second two we had maybe 3 inches of snow each overnight and by the time we went out the next afternoon - it was 95% or more melted and gone. The first storm passed to the west of us - the second one to west and east of us (at the same time) and the third one passed to the east of us. According to the news broadcasts the second two storms dropped 6+ inches of snow in our county - how all missed us we do not know and feel lucky.
So, a bit more about suggestions to organize in advance of possible weather or other emergencies. I know it recommended to have a gallon of water per person for 3 days minimum. I don’t know about you, but when we tried to do this we had no place to keep the water. We finally settled for 2- 1 gallon bottles of water stored in the basement on the top shelf of a metal shelving unit. I would use the water for a reenactment event when time was getting close for the water to expire and then use the new water bought for the event to replace it so it would stay fresh. So - if you do buy water - make sure you keep the water fresh.
We also had a plastic box that we put a jar of applesauce in and some other food items - no canned meat as we know we would not eat it. Again, make sure to use your supplies and replace them so they are fresh if needed. We also bought a sterno stove with cans of sterno which were in the box. It has never been used - we presume it is all still good.
As I mentioned in last week’s post - if you have babies or small children, make sure to have the food they use which does not need refrigeration as well as diapers and related items if they are still being used. Also make sure you have spare medications for any ailments or conditions and any sanitary items you or other women in the household might need.
We had thought much of this was overkill as we had never needed it despite nor’easters and hurricanes over the decades we have both been alive. If one community in the area was without electricity, then others would still have electricity and one could eat out and buy supplies as needed elsewhere. We have always been told to fill bathtubs with water which can be used for flushing toilets if there is no water or the water is not good. We have municipal water - this has never happened so we did not bother. Then came Hurricane Sandy.
Just about the entire Island (4 counties) was without electricity - there were a few spots here and there. Some villages have their own electric plants - off the grid - and always have electricity - well, some of them were the places the flooding hit the worst and even they did not have electricity. One village near my mom’s house did have electricity - she would go there once during the day to a casual type restaurant that was open and she would call us on her mobile phone, recharge it, and eat.
Mobile phones might or might not work, by the way. The antennas had been damaged and the remaining available was overwhelmed. One trick was that text messages go through easier than phone calls - something my niece had figured out in an earlier problem when she was a young teenager. She and some friends were at a mall some distance from home and she wanted her mom to not worry as they were okay (mall security had actually gotten all the kids together to be able to keep them safe) and to know where to pick them up - her mobile calls would not go through and she thought to text her mom. So remember, texts go through sometimes even if calls do not.
One of the county water plants had a sewage plant near it go bad - we are on one side of a major road - we had water. If we lived on the other side of the road we would have been on the that water system - we would not have had water.
Now, we had a certain advantage during Sandy and mostly used since then. We were about to go away on a trip in our RV when Sandy was coming - two days after it actually. So, we did not know what to do. There is a lot of work setting up the RV for a trip. I suggested to husband that we fill the water tank of the RV - if we could go, it was a major thing done to prepare, if we did not go and there was a problem with the drinking water (remember this is before it actually happened to the next area) we would have 25 gallons of clean water in the RV tanks - and if we did not go and did not need the water, it is relatively easy to let it back out. We have continued to fill the water tanks when a storm is coming if it is coming when the tanks are not winterized. Winterizing keeps the pipes and valves from freezing so we would not want to take the chance on same and add water to the tanks - also the water, while safe, it would smell and taste awful.
In addition after the first day and night with no electricity I figured out that we could go in the RV and watch TV - there is an antenna that lifts up and the batteries are kept charged. Husband calculated and figured out that we could run the TV and lights - and recharge cell phones, laptops, etc. - for 2 hours on the batteries (they would last much longer but would need to be recharged) and then run the generator in the RV for an hour which would also recharge the batteries from the 2 hours of use. Most importantly in the aftermath of Sandy when gasoline was extremely hard to get - it would only take 1/3 of a gallon of gas. We also used the propane stove in the RV to cook. We could not use the refrigerator as we would have had to have the batteries on all time.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Okay, I have run on and bored you enough what does all this mean?
One has to plan in advance “just in case”. Even if there has never been a problem in large storms, one never knows what will happen. Think of who is in your household - or might seek shelter with you if you have parents, siblings or children or good friends who might need help in an emergency. Think of what you and the others might need and try to figure out innovative ways to deal with same, in addition to the standard ways. Have alternate ideas of what to do.
Plan alternatives. You never know what might happen out of the ordinary for emergencies in your area. After Sandy all the bridges and tunnels to our Island were shut down - no way in or out except for official vehicles. Tunnels remained flooded for some time - damage in them is still be repaired now - 6 years later.
Hopefully you will never need what you have planned and stored - but that is much, much better than needing it and not having it.
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