SHTF Lessons From Irene and Alfred

[Dr. Cadmium]

Here in the northeast, we were hit twice this year with bad storms that caused heavy tree damage in large areas, resulting in several hundred thousand people losing some or all of the following:

- Electricty.

- Landlines - including normal telephone service, DSL and cable.

- Cell phone service. Not all towers have backup generators and batteries, and by 24 hours after Irene hit many of the ones that originally still functioned had stopped working.

- Road access. Many roads were blocked for several days by trees and/or downed power lines. Some people were trapped in their homes and apartments by fallen trees and/or wires, with no way to call to get help.

In some cases entire towns did not have power, phone service or working gas stations for over a week.

Basically, there were clusters of tens of thousands of people stuck in their homes without electricity, phones, gas, water or heat.

This is probably the closest to any large scale SHTF scenario I've experienced. Here are a few observations.

1) The shelves will be bare at stores. In both cases, but particularly Irene where there was more warning, the shelves were cleaned out of essentials at local grocery and convenience stores a couple of days before the storm hit. The concept I often see in post-apocalyptic films of just walking into an abandoned store and loading up on anything useful is mostly pure fantasy. Stockpile fuel, batteries and non-perishables now when they're available.

2) Keep cash on hand. Finding a working ATM or bank branch with power was a chore or impossible for many people. And many of the businesses that were open couldn't take credit or debit cards because they didn't have power and/or a working terminal (phone lines were down). What's even more worthless than federal currency? The plastic used to make credit cards.

3) Diversify your fuel. The regular gas sold out first at local stations, then the higher octane ratings. Diesel was last. It makes sense to have at least one thing around that runs on diesel in case that's the only fuel you can find. If all of your vehicles and generators run on regular gas, you could be SOL in a real crisis. Also, having natural gas appliances or an outdoor grill is advantageous.

4) Keep a small stockpile of electrical adapters and parts. That generator is no good if you don't have the right plugs or wiring to hook it up. Finding the right plugs and adapters was near impossible without traveling out of state. They're not items that stores carry in large quantities to begin with, and several enterprising individuals bought the most sought-after parts and were selling them at 3-4 times normal retail to the desperate and impatient. Also, your generator can and will fail when it's most needed, because if you're like me you don't run it very often and then when you do you work it overtime. Keep spare parts for that, too.

5) If you or your family require prescription medicine, you may not be able to get it in a crisis. Many of the pharmacies were closed because they didn't have power, and there were shortages of some items at the ones that were open because of out of town customers. Many people reported problems getting prescriptions filled at different pharmacies than they normally used. This area requires careful thought and planning - do you have a backup pharmacy, can you stockpile or get extra of some medications, are there non-prescription alternatives you could use in a bind?

6) Get locking gas caps for all of your vehicles.

7) Stay friendly with your neighbors, because some day you may need each other more than you think.

8) Learn conflict avoidance and resolution skills. Many fights broke out here at gas pumps that were completely avoidable.

9) The newspaper becomes a lot more useful when everything else isn't working. That, and a good radio will help you stay in touch.

[NHsorter]

Thanks for the list. A good reminder of some things I need to take care of. Great post.

[tn-dave]

great post -- No matter you much reading/research and preparing I do for such an event I know until I have actually been through something like this I will have forgotten a lot of things.

I do need a "cash stash" in my vehicle ASAP. No matter how much silver there is at home in the safe it's not going to do any good when I'm 30 miles away from home and the Speedpass I use for gas isn't working

[barrytrot]

Good list. A couple items I didn't think of. Thank you!

[Mossy]

Put extra legal documents in a vac bag. Likewise a little extra cash.

I don't get the bit about "electrical adapters". If you mean "heavy duty power cords", fine. If you mean the makings for a suicide cord, not so fine. Get a transfer box installed, don't mess around with make shift stuff like that.

[fasteddy]

Dr C thanks for taking the time to post...it is very good. Here in Houston we had 6 million people in the dark for several days...in the hardest hit area near the coast we carried our side arms on our sides in holsters...so a good holster is nice also....my funny story...preface, nearly every station is out of gas or cant pump due to lack of electricity and if they are pumping the lines are over 1/2 mile long....I pull up to the fuel pump and start pumping fuel...i am the only one at the station...all the other handles have bags on them....a nicely dressed lady drove up in her Jag....she was waiting patiently...I was smiling at her...I filled both tanks on my F350, started filling a 55 gallon drum, she got out and started fussing at me for hogging gas...I asked her when did they start putting diesel engines in Jags...she looked at me confused and stated wont that work in my car...uhhhh nope.

i keep 300 gallons of diesel, over 100 gallons of gas, several bottles of propane along with 275 gallons of water at all times....rotating stock of course.

[Dr. Cadmium]

This was by no means meant to be an exclusive list, it's just a few lessons from our own experiences here.

I don't get the bit about "electrical adapters". If you mean "heavy duty power cords", fine. If you mean the makings for a suicide cord, not so fine. Get a transfer box installed, don't mess around with make shift stuff like that.

Having a house properly wired for a generator is the best option, but having some wiring skill and a box of various connectors, spare extension cords and heavy cable is still a really good idea. Not all generators, homes and appliances use the same plugs and as I mentioned they're not a heavily stocked item in stores.

It's a frustrating scenario when you have the generator, fuel, cable and house hookup but you're missing one of the plugs to complete the connection because you're borrowing someone else's generator or you're trying to help them by lending them yours.

[Mossy]

Wiring a house for a generator is best, agreed. What often happens is the home owner or DIY handyman wires the system so the generator can feed the power company's feed line in, and power company's don't like their workers being killed. (Drives up insurance, or something.) One of the problems is that the modification to the house often relies on the main breaker being left in the "Off" position to keep the juice out of the street wires. Bad idea. Too much chance some well meaning idiot will throw the breaker back to "On". Best choice might be to throw the main (for safety) and use bolt cutters on the feed out of the breaker to the house so said well meaning idiot kills him or her self instead of the power company worker.

Those twist clip plugs some generators use are pretty expensive, and rare.