How Do You Cope When Your Power Goes Out?

[SparkleNana]

Do you have any ways of making things magical when your power goes out?

When the storm has passed over, and the power is out on a summer evening -- all the neighbors on our street come out of their houses and chat and catch up until it gets too dark to stay outside. It is like the time before television and computers - when people were outside more. That is magical. Especially when the power comes back on before too much time passes.

Last time the power went out in a big area - but one part of town did not lose electricity. Everyone crowded into the little old diner i n that part of town. Those waitresses deserved all the big tips they earned that day -- they were flying! And everyone was SO HAPPY to go in and get coffee! And hot food!

 

[Cathymac]

Very timely, as we just dealt with this on Wednesday!

We live in an area where the power very seldom goes out and if it does it doesn't stay out long...we live in the same loop or grid as the hospital, Wal-Mart and most of the businesses in our small city. So it's rare for our lights to be out longer than an hour or so. However, on Tuesday, due to the remnants of Gustav, the north power plant went out and there were trees down on powerlines that had to be repaired before power could be restored. So, we were out from sometime before 6:30 am when I (thankfully!!) woke up until around 4:30 pm. Several in our state are expected to be powerless until Sunday or later...so thankful we are not in that area!

The schools my kids attend are both in areas that had power, so they went to class. DH was home from work and we just sat and talked, read and took a 3 hour nap (not a great idea, since I couldn't sleep that night!) If the kids had been home or if it was night, we would have lit oil lamps and candles and muddled through. Sometimes we take our candles out to the back porch and watch the rain, but it was way too windy this time to do that-we would have been drenched!

Since we are all electric, cooking was a challenge. DH and I ate sandwiches for lunch, and had grilled burgers with fries cooked on the grill burner planned if the lights didn't come back on. Since they did, we still grilled the burgers, but I cooked the fries inside. All in all, it was not an unpleasant day!

 

[FrostyShimmer]

I went through a hurricane about 5 years ago. It was funny because in Canada hurricanes aren't generally a big threat. We usually deal with the rain from what's left of tropical storms when they pass over. That year, though, the conditions were perfect, Hurricane Juan hit us dead on. It was a category 1 or 2, but they've argued that the way they determine the category isn't accurate that far North (a bunch of scientific jargon I don't really understand) Anyways, no one believed it was going to hit. They were showing video of people playing on the rocks in the ocean as it was starting. I couldn't even convince my parents to take the lawn furniture in or put the barbeque away.
We were without power for a full week. We had to sponge bathe with bottled water. We had one radio with no spare batteries, and two flashlights. We didn't even have candles as my mother was afraid of the fire hazard. The worst part of it was that we had no food in the house, and there was no power near us to get any food for several days.
My father was one of the people out doing repairs the next night, and when he came home in the morning, he brought 3 donuts from a place that had power to open, but no fresh baking coming in. After having not eaten in 35 hours, that donut was one of the best things I've ever tasted. It was the only time in my life I've ever remembered going hungry (I should mention we did have a chocolate bar split between us for breakfast the day before).
On the news they were showing how neighborhoods got together and cooked up all the food they could find on the barbeques of neighbors. It was really something else to see how people joined together to share their resources.

Now I have a box set aside with a crank radio, candles, extra batteries, a flashlight, and canned food. I want to get a little campfire stove too. We've never lost power since I made my emergency kit though. lol.

 

[starflake]

We play games by candlelight and read by flashlight. If it's out for a while, different portable electronics provide another fun diversion. If others still have power, we go out to eat and wander around the city/town.

One of my fondest "magical moments" is when we make s'mores by cooking the marshmallows over a candle instead of in the fireplace. :flower:

 

[RadioJonD]

Now I have a box set aside with a crank radio, candles, extra batteries, a flashlight, and canned food. I want to get a little campfire stove too. We've never lost power since I made my emergency kit though. lol.

Being ready is the key! One of the items I have is a radio scanner. Police and fire isn't the only thing one can receive. I keep our local utility frequencies programed so I can keep up with the progress of power restoration. By knowing the location of substations in your area, you can always tell about how long the outage will last.

Same thing goes for water. Just this week, I heard local workers talking about a serious water main break in our small town. Of course this was relayed to the local fire department who rebroadcast the information over their radio system. I was able to jump up, make coffee, and fill a few containers before the water was cut off.

The longest we have ever been without power was in 1993. An ice storm hit Northwest Alabama and pretty much destroyed the power grid. I think it was three days before we had power. I had to go on twelve hour shifts where, thankfully, we had generator power to the radio room where I worked.

In one neighborhood near where my Mom & Dad lived, a man had a portable generator. He rotated it's use between several homes so that people wouldn't loose everything in their refrigerator/deep freeze. He made his rounds alot that week!

For short term power loss, we usually listen to the scanner and a battery powered radio. Sometimes we will work in the yard depending on the season and daylight.

 

[Cinnamonstix]

We lose power alot here in winter...but we heat with a woodstove(that we can also cook on) and live near a river where the water is clean so it's not a big deal. We can transfer all our food into our shed or bury it in clothes hampers in the snow to preserve it.

We live in a rural area but it must be tough in the city.

 

[HouseElf]

When we lose power it is usaully because of a lightening strike, or freezing rain.

We have flashlights in areas of need (they plug into the wall so they are always charged - they turn on when power goes out), a box with candles, candle hurricanes and lighters ready. Keeping warm (much easier then warming once you are chilled!) is important in the winter, so we have the boys put on sweaters and their warmer clothes. If really prolonged (like an ice storm) we have a generator, and food, water and medical supplies for a month (hopefully we would never need it!).

I keep the boys busy with reading books to them aloud, and playing board games. I will also break out cookies and make hot chocolate with our camp stove (outside). We try to make it into an adventure - if Mom and Dad are relaxed and in control - they will feel secure.

 

[luludou]

There was a freezing rain storm at my mom's house a few years ago. They were 14 days without electricity! + everything frozen solid (streets were VERY dangerous), trees were falling everywhere! it was BAD.

Now my parents have a propane gaz fireplace, a big generator and candles and food in store for a while.

Since they live in a house all the family members who lived in appartments and were freezing came over to stay for a while (everybody bringing the food they had in the fridge instead of losing it) and they had a wood fireplace then + they used the bbq outside. They only had a small generator to keep the freezers going. The worst was nobody could get out to go to work everything was closed everywhere.

 

[SparkleNana]

Freezing rain storms are the WORST!!! 14 days without electricity is a loooonnnnngggg time!

 

[Lana]

A couple of years ago we were out from Friday afternoon till Monday. We had some friends that let us use a generator so my husband kept our 2 chest type freezers and fridge going. That was in summer. This past with ice was just a few hours.


We always have to dig for items. I think I will put a container together. May have to check into a generator too. Hopefully if are prepared it will not happen!

 

[FrostyShimmer]

A word on generators: Please ensure you are using them properly!.

The year we had the hurricane we also had one of the biggest blizzards in our province's history. The snow was so high we couldn't open our front door. Even the trains were stuck....and you know its bad if a train can't get through.

Once again, there were power losses, but this time it was cold and people were now equipped with generators, many of which had never used them before, so they set them up in their family room's etc. with the house shut up nice and tight to keep the heat in. The results were tragic.

I've heard of a few more deaths resulting from using generators in closed spaces in the last few years. I'm sure to many of you this is obvious, but sometimes people simply don't realize. It's better to put the warnings out there.

As my Dad says, "You may be grown up, but you're never too old to die."


:bigsnow:

 

[KimD]

Grab the generator out of the garage and get it running. We are used to power outages for up to a week if you don't have a generator you could be in trouble. We have a smaller one that we bought right before a big icestorm (bought it just incase we were expecting a heavier than normal snowfall that year). Ours is smaller but my mom has one that sits on its own trailer type thing that will run her whole house including furnace if its too bad for too long we all head there and camp out in the livingroom. Not fun for to long anymore with 22 people and four dogs in the family.

 

[FrostyShimmer]

Grab the generator out of the garage and get it running. We are used to power outages for up to a week if you don't have a generator you could be in trouble. We have a smaller one that we bought right before a big icestorm (bought it just incase we were expecting a heavier than normal snowfall that year). Ours is smaller but my mom has one that sits on its own trailer type thing that will run her whole house including furnace if its too bad for too long we all head there and camp out in the livingroom. Not fun for to long anymore with 22 people and four dogs in the family.

We have a generator as well. I didn't mean not to use them, just to make sure people were using them safely. Just wanted to clarify. :grin:

 

[Winged One]

We used to lose power a lot when I was growing up - but candles, a kerosene lamp, an old gas cooker (really only good for pots) on a small bottle, the open fire with plenty of wood around, meant we were usually fine. Only once do I remember my mum having to break open the powdered milk.

We lost power for a half day recently, and it was an eyeopener as to how we were used to the benefits of city life (power outages don't happen often anymore here - climate not extreme enough). We always have candles and matches, and a torch, but we were rooting around to find them initially a bit. We also have battery powered radios, and plenty of board games/books to distract us. We still have an open fire too, so heat isn't an issue (although the main heating runs on gas, but it does need electricity to do something - DH knows the technicalities of all those things). We actually changed our cooker during renovations last winter, and now have electirc oven and gas hob (and the gas never goes out). I keep a lot of tins and non-perishables anyway, but we'd run out of milk fairly fast (we go through about 6 litres (about 10.6 pints) every 2-3 days, and I can't make fridge space for more than 6l at a go).

So I have made sure now that there is a box with a couple of candles, a small old torch and batteries, matches, and a couple of drinks and snacks easily found to get us started if we do lose it again. (Having gone once last year, it then proceeded to go about 4 more times - the city is getting too big for the power generation available and there are threats of blackouts for this winter again).

 

[SparkleNana]

My most serious fear - when the power goes out in winter - is having the water pipes freeze and break. The resulting floods can cause huge damage. Even if there is no flood, there is big cost to replace the broken pipes.

 

[KimD]

Frosty didn't think you were. I agree that they should be used the right way. There was a house not far from here a few years ago that blew up because someone brought their gas generator inside to use. I beleive in safety first.