The Boy Scout Motto is "Be Prepared." I have always fancied myself as one who follows that creed. However, the June 29th Derecho which hit the state showed I am woefully ill equipped for a real situation. Sadly, I’m not alone.
I was one of the lucky ones after the power outage. I had minimal damage to my home and property. My power was back on within two days. I never lost water service and the phone and cable came back on as soon as the power was restored.
I was sweating bullets, literally and figuratively. The inventory of my freezer is vast. I have five deer in there, two wild boars, an unknown amount of trout and salmon, peaches, blackberries, and a host of other products which feed the family. During the two days of intense heat and no power I never opened the freezer. I prayed the rock hard meat would take care of itself until Appalachian Power got me back on the grid. When the lights came on, I lifted the lid and sure enough everything was intact. The same could not be said for the refrigerator where most everything was lost.
As I previously mentioned, I’m lucky. During the following week I covered stories where folks took everything from their freezer, including last fall’s deer meat, and brought it to a central location to be tossed into a garbage truck. It was a shame and painful to watch, but there was little anybody could have done at that point.
Therefore, I plan to prepare. I realize I probably can’t afford a generator with the potential to run the entire house and the heat pump. However, I plan to get a generator which will at least keep the freezer and refrigerator running and possibly a small heater. I’ll have an alternative heat source, since this usually happens in the winter and I’ll not be at the mercy of thousands of weary linemen who were doing their best to fix a web of problems.
Once the lights are back on and normalcy returns, we should all do a wellness check on ourselves. How prepared were you when the derecho hit with no warning? What would have helped you the most through this ordeal? Critically evaluate your readiness and fix deficiencies. We live in
It’s often mentioned power plants and substations are high value targets for terrorism. We just came through a week which proves we probably aren’t ready for an extended period of no electricity in
When gasoline became in short supply due to no power to pump it from the tank gas lines formed, people were in literal fist fights over the gasoline. When restaurants had no power to prepare meals people were resorting to food pantries and volunteer shelter meals.
Despite our hearty reputation in