I’ve read the post apocalyptic novels. But one interesting thing about disasters, is that people tend to want to help and that neighborhoods pull together rather than splinter apart in real life. Even urban areas. There may be some level of vandalism/looting but on the whole societies don’t descend into chaos during even prolonged disasters. They also don’t immediately revert to traditional gender roles, something that tends to happen in those novels.
In our state, we had a very bad hurricane on a neighbor island and the people if the island and state pulled together rather than looting or fighting and I believe are stronger for ties that were forged.
After a hurricane we spent two weeks without power, blocked roads, no water and no phone service. No cell service for anybody–all the towers are down. And the heat was stifling. Can’t use the car because it’s blocked in by fallen trees. The river absolutely stinks because the river bottom has been dredged up (although you have a couple days before that starts.)
First thing is your brain short circuits. Time for damage assessment.
Find your neighbors and go checking on people.
Glad you have a good supply of water. Not worried about food especially. That gas grill is great. Unfortunately you don’t have much ice to last very long.
Neighbors have chain saws and tractor to rescue car. Others have rain barrels. Some have spare tarps. Some have power generator.
I think the biggest thing is the absolute black at night. No streetlights, no indoor lights.
The roads close to impassable with fallen trees, power lines, debris. No traffic lights so you’ve got to just watch and take turns. Street signs are all down–you’d think you’d know where you live but all the markers just disappeared (now written on the ground in some subdivisions and the highway).
No credit cards–no electricity–so cash (in small bills) works fine. Grocery store open but nothing that requires refrigeration. No gas at pumps–no electricity. Goes on and on.
And then the cleanup–which can last years.
So water (fill tubs), food, shelter, power supply (solar to recharge), fuel for car, money. It’s easy to turn into a prepper when thinking especially about lack of electricity long term.
For those who have a gas generator, your ICE vehicles MIGHT serve as reservoir of gas for your generator for long-term electricity outages.
I say “might” because I think many cars have an internal device to keep someone from siphoning out gas. There are, of course, devices that can defeat that, but it varies from car model to car model. And, having looked into this once (primarily in preparation for an earthquake), these devices are pretty cumbersome.
Also, make sure you have oil for the generator.
ETA: And I should have added that it can be VERY dangerous to remove gas from newer vehicles, so you should proceed with extreme caution. There are ways to do it, but I realized it was too complicated for me. I have a five-gallon gas can and I change out the gas every so often. I also don’t use the generator for long periods of time to conserve the gas. Literally, YMMV.
Well this isn’t encouraging at all…
Ehhh, my husband is in IT and knows a couple of guys who are preppers. I think it just kinda comes with the territory for some of them. I like this quote from his mom:
Altman’s mom is a dermatologist and told The New Yorker, “Sam does keep an awful lot tied up inside. He’ll call and say he has a headache—and he’ll have Googled it, so there’s some cyber-chondria in there, too. I have to reassure him that he doesn’t have meningitis or lymphoma, that it’s just stress.”
LOL! I guess I’d just prefer the guy managing the technology that could take over the world to be less prepared for that disaster.
It’s probably good that he is concerned about doomsday scenarios. But, if any of the extreme scenarios happen, prepping won’t help.
Practiced some disaster cooking yesterday. Cooked some steaks and potatoes over wood coals in the fire pit. Everything turned out great and I am confident that in an emergency situation I could cook many things over the fire pit.
I usually refer to that as a BBQ
I’ve learned a lot from the fire-making challenge on Survivor. I’m confident that my spouse and I (seen in the photo below) could rustle up some rat and cook them over an open fire in our backyard.
When was the last time you tried it with just firewood that you split yourself? No charcoal briquettes, lump, pellets or propane. Straight from nature processed by an ax in a primitive fire ring.
Last Sunday. Although I admit the wood was obtained with a battery-operated chainsaw.
You’re missing out on a good workout then. Need to keep your body fit for the potential disaster.
…if done correctly. And you need to have a relatively strong and stable core, hips and back before you start hacking away. Otherwise, I agree.
I’ve been binge watching Naked and Afraid today. I think I’m ready for any disaster
The dry alder tree I’ve been nagging my husband to get rid of maybe IS quite useful after all. We can use it to smoke some fish we can (theoretically) catch from the lake…
I do it not infrequently. Not unusual. I guess you don’t camp much?
I have also done that in the winter in our woodstove when the power goes out.
I split wood when I was younger when we go to Vermont. I’ve had to make meals a few times when the propane wasn’t delivered. I’ve cooked things over the camp fire way back when in Scouting, but was surprised that cooking scrambled eggs over a fire place or wood stove really was not very effective at all.