Get yourself a generator dude!
When I was stationed in Maine for a few years we bought a house with a wet basement/sump. Didn't realize what that meant lol. So when we lost power that first spring (we were getting a real nice rainfall at the time) I had to bail while the wife went and bought a generator. Good thing was that next winter it saved my ass bigtime. Don't think I would have had one if not for that wet basement.
Ahh, but here's the problem with generators: fuel. There are fuel shortages in these sorts of things. Also my car was in the garage, with a dead battery. So even if I had one I was SOL.
People who usually never get this kind of cold weather really do suffer with these events. And as we have heard people die.
I've been through a number of cold snaps growing up, so I know how to deal with it. Preventing freezing pipes, not warming up cars within closed spaces, filling up buckets of water, etc. But you're right, it's not something people in the deep south are accustomed to.
The most annoying part was the advice for frozen pipes. They told us to not drip. WTF. The whole country drips. I'd rather water pressure be low and/or the provider cutting water for a few days than having to deal with the busted pipe.
I dripped the whole few days and my water bill might be higher but that's nothing compared to the $10,000+ and insurance claim BS. And boom, my pipes did not burst.
I have to say, losing power in FL after a hurricane is nothing like losing power in the winter. That cold can go right through you. If I ever moved back north I would make sure my house had either a fireplace or woodburning stove. I had a friend who when they lost power in the winter they turned on the gas oven and opened the door. Provided enough heat by you have to make sure it doesn't go out.
I thought about that during all this, if it would be worse during the summer or winter. Honestly I'd rather have it in the winter. At least the food you have won't go bad. And you can always bundle up and put on more clothes to keep warm.
Power here in central Texas went out at my house Monday at 4:30 am. I went and started at my dad's house (thank God he lives close so he can see the grandkids). Dad's house lost power yesterday at 1 am. Power restored yesterday at 9 pm at both houses.
The bad part is that now my alarm system says my back door is open at my house... I'm not sure what that's about, but there's not much to steal unless they want huge piles of children's toys or an Xbox 360.
Yeah my alarm got fucked up too. I just reset it. Good to hear y'all got out of it too.
Hearing calves' ears are falling off in the plains. I didn't know this was a thing. Damn!
In Arkansas, ranchers are fitting pantyhose over the heads of calves in a desperate attempt to keep them warm. In Montana, they’ve been duct-taping calves’...
www.dallasnews.com
That's horrible.
That's simple. Just open up all your doors and windows.
Sorry man. I realize this is an extremely difficult time. I'm not trying to make light of that fact. Hope you're getting through it ok.
Well it was 32 or below and pretty windy to boot. All things considered I did OK, even though after talking with some people the people in my area had some of the longest sustained outages. At least we still had running water. Still, some people had it much worse.
Hazelwood, Missouri was cold as fuck. Lost Internet, had a bipolar manic episode, got Baker-acted, just got back today. It was fucking cold, even at the hospital, and the snow is at least a foot tall in some places.
I'd take that over what we went though. Oklahoma was #2 in this polar vortex and no one there lost power, save from some really rural areas.
TX needs to really look at their infrastructure and consider joining the national grid or other contingencies. I'm not sure how many people knew who ERCOT was or if they did, didn't give them a second thought. Now there's no where to hide. I only hope this stays at the forefront and not buried in a few weeks.
Thanks everyone for checking in. Everything is back to normal ops now. Hell week is over.
