From East Texas (USA) and I am glad to have electricity back!

[sidpost]

I live in rural East Texas and the high winds recently took down a huge number of trees and with it electricity. The town closest to me still doesn't have power a week later for all of its ~2K residents and the larger city I went to yesterday with ~82K residents is only partially powered!

Being an avid camper and pseudo-bushcrafter, I personally did okay. With zero time to prepare, things could have easily gone much worse. When I went to sleep, things were totally normal with enjoying a cold drink before bed signing off my email for the day. I woke up to what easily could have been tornado damage but, was simple straight winds apparently.

Living on well water was the hardest thing since I was limited to what I had on hand. I knew better but, what can I say, over ~15 years I apparently forgot the lesson so, roughed it harder than I should have.

Since this is my primary home, I really need to think about a whole house generator to save my cold food and provide some relief from nearly 100F daytime temps with extremely high humidity resulting in relative temperatures of 110F~120F (43C~49C) in most of East Texas. I did fine but, elderly folks around me found the temperatures to be life-threatening.

In terms of food, I did fine with the canned beans and similar stuff, doing most of my cooking using sunshine and a dark surface but, I could have done a fire with downed wood or fired up an alcohol or white gas stove.

I am undecided about what I will do when the "smoke and dust" settles but:

• I need to rethink where I put stuff I do have so it is easier to find and access
• I got lucky and saved multiple aquariums but, I should have more than "LUCK" on my side
• I need to be more diligent about making sure enough fresh fuel is on hand
• I need to make sure solar panels, batteries, and related gear are in top condition over time
• I need to make sure I have more chainsaw gas on hand and additional chainsaw chains!
• I also need to start periodically starting and putting fresh fuel in everything, even generators, and chainsaws buried in the barn for seasonal uses!
• Finally, a safety TRANSFER SWITCH for electricity so I can ensure I don't back-charge and kill a lineman working to restore electricity so I can actually tie a generator to a house circuit.
  
  • Running extension cords through open windows and doors to Freezers and Refrigerators is a real risk when the wind changes directions!
  • I need a generator that can run my well so, I have fresh water for more than just drinking to avoid dehydration and heat injury!

 

[crosslandkelly]

Sounds like you had quite a time of it, hope all goes well for you.

 

[Nice65]

It’s good to hear you’ve been able to refresh your list without things being any harder on you than they were. A few lessons learned without serious injury can only be a good thing.

Fitting a safety transfer switch so you can run the house with the doors and windows closed, and not back feed the mains circuits, would definitely be high on my list of priorities if your power outage is anything longer than a couple of days, or due to ongoing wind/rain.

 

[sidpost]

Yep, been here ~10 years and only had power out for a few hours, mainly during Winter when a frozen limb or tree took out a single line.

Guess I got a little too complacent and let it bite me harder than it should have but, all in all, I came through in good shape with only some minor problems so far.

The bugs and effects of heat and humidity were among the hardest on me physically. Turns out the bug bites and lack of a good first aid kit were something I easily overlooked in the past but, two of the insect bites appear to be infected now! Really only have myself to blame for not having a good first aid kit with alcohol wipes and some good BandAid's to keep them clean better. Hit the pharmacy today and got some Over The Counter (OTC) stuff to take care of the infected bug bites. Being able to do the laundry and have clean dry clothes more than once a day helps too!

I suspect not being able to shower daily and have fresh clothes each day was what made the difference with the bug bites. In the past, I would just shower at the end of the day and put on some clean clothes which was always enough but, not keeping the bug bites truly clean seems to be what got me this time.

That heat dome over us is brutal. One of the linemen here from 1,000 miles away to help restore electricity died of heat stroke yesterday as well which is truly a sad event. Heat like this is hard on people used to it but, those from other areas not acclimated to it can find themselves in real danger much faster than the locals generally. I didn't really think about heat stroke personally because I live here and stay hydrated and I am used to it. I also recognize when I need to let up and take a break to keep from overheating. Linemen from far away don't have the luxury of that experience so, focused on restoring power get blindsided by the symptoms of heat stroke and don't recognize they are in danger.

 

[TLM]

A transfer switch (here) has to be connected in such way that the house cannot be fed without using it. Apparently it is fairly common as the el company men just checked ours and said OK.

I have two generators, the larger one is able to run the house normally and the smaller one just essentials.

 

[Van-Wild]

Welcome back! Good thing you were prepared!

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

 

[Falstaff]

Thanks for the real life feedback. May I suggest you drain the seasonal small motors to prevent them gumming up and the fuel going off. Keep the fuel in larger containers and keerp rotating it by using it in something in regular usage, e.g. a car.