topic Re: Major crisis averted in Community Chat

Major crisis averted

songbird — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:32:12 GMT

Today is the hottest day of the year. You are sitting in your air conditioned house, happy you have that. Then the POWER GOES OFF.

That's what happened. All power went off. Scenarios of dying of heat flashes through your mind. Then 45 long minutes later you are saved. The power came on.

What would you have done? My husband and I immediately thought of running out to the shed for the generator. Then realizing it has less then a quarter of gas left in it. So we discarded that. Then we decided better then nothing. So we ran out in this heat.......thank you, God. The power came back on. Just as we were opening the door.....

Re: Major crises averted

SahmIam — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:31:48 GMT

Go sit in my car with the ac running (this is why you NEVER allow your gastank to go below half full). Or, drive to a store that is KNOWN to keep it's ac on SUPER COLD (that would be Aldi's for me).

I've been there done that and with young children/babies. I have asthma. I always have an escape plan in the event of severe weather conditions.

Off Topic (kind of): I was overdue by a week with my first child when the 4th of July arrived. In Baltimore, you can give up getting to a hospital as the majority of streets are blocked for festivities. My hospital was located in the heart of the city. So, DH and I packed my bags and we plopped ourselves down in the main waiting area early in the afternoon. As the hours went by, more and more pregnant women showed up doing the same thing. By nightfall, there was a VERY large group of us. 2 DID wind up going upstairs to L & D to deliver but the rest of us just hung out. The next morning, we all headed home.

Yep. I plan ahead the best I can.

Re: Major crises averted

chrystaltree — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:32:27 GMT

It's happening to a lot of people, it always does during exteme heat waves like this. I wouldn't have done anything except wait for the power to come back on like you did. I would have waited an hour and then called the power company, if it was a major outage they'd have the information on the automated line. My older daughter lives in RI and they lost power in the middle of the night, it was out for a few of hours. She thinks it was just their neighborhood because there was nothing in the news.

Re: Major crises averted

dex — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:32:34 GMT

@songbird @How hot is it where you live?I am happy to hear that your crisis has passed and you are luxuriating in coolness again.

Re: Major crisis averted

cherry — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:34:17 GMT

I would have gone to the movies

Re: Major crises averted

songbird — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:36:23 GMT

@dex wrote:
@songbird @How hot is it where you live?I am happy to hear that your crisis has passed and you are luxuriating in coolness again.

It was 104F yesterday. That's why I nearly....not strike that really panicked

Re: Major crisis averted

chrystaltree — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:38:09 GMT

@cherry wrote:
I would have gone to the movies

And then to the mall.

Re: Major crisis averted

QueenDanceALot — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:38:51 GMT

I would have turned on some fans and waited for the power to come back on. Brown outs happen during heat waves. It's not a crisis.

Unless you have some heart or respiratory problems it's not going to kill you to be hot for awhile.

Re: Major crisis averted

SahmIam — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:41:15 GMT

Is anyone having these extremes been notified that your power company is "rolling" the power in your area? We had this occur back in 94 when we had over 100 degree temps for over 2 weeks (heat index made it far worse).

I'm curious if, as an emergency procedure, they're doing this in order to keep power going for the majority the majority of the time. After I commented on @songbird post, my MIL called me to tell me they had just lost power; everyone on their street did as well as other streets in their neighborhood. Come to find out that about 2 hours earlier, a different section of her town experienced the same thing; 45 minutes of no power.

Re: Major crisis averted

goldensrbest — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:41:51 GMT

I would never leave my house without my dogs.

Re: Major crisis averted

KathyM23 — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:44:23 GMT

I would take my dog and go to the basement. It is always cool down there except in winter when we turn on the baseboard heat. There is comfortable furniture and I would probably take a nap until the air comes back on.

Re: Major crisis averted

songbird — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:45:34 GMT

@SahmIam wrote:
Is anyone having these extremes been notified that your power company is "rolling" the power in your area? We had this occur back in 94 when we had over 100 degree temps for over 2 weeks (heat index made it far worse).

I'm curious if, as an emergency procedure, they're doing this in order to keep power going for the majority the majority of the time. After I commented on @songbird post, my MIL called me to tell me they had just lost power; everyone on their street did as well as other streets in their neighborhood. Come to find out that about 2 hours earlier, a different section of her town experienced the same thing; 45 minutes of no power.

There is some confusiton over how long the power outage was. Prior to it, the power went on and offf. I was taking a nap (one way to wear away a day of heat) and didn't notice. My husband woke me up when the power went off. I asked him & he thought it was 45 minutes long

Re: Major crisis averted

songbird — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:46:37 GMT

@chrystaltree wrote:
@cherry wrote:
I would have gone to the movies

And then to the mall.

Yeah. But men would never think of that!

Re: Major crisis averted

millieshops — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:51:10 GMT

No crisis here, but the heat has changed my entire day. At 6 AM, the temp was only 77 but the humidity was already oppressive. I walked 50 steps out to the street. Almost any other day, I'd then walk for 20-39 minutes. Today? Turned around and came inside.

Later this morning I had planned to get on the LIRR and head into NYC. Just the thought of walking out to Penn Station into a taxi line felt wrong - and what if there were a power outage again in the City or even just the subway system. Worse than looking for a cab or Uber in the rain!

Re: Major crisis averted

kitcat51 — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 15:43:42 GMT

People should always be prepared to take care of themselves during a power outage & not wonder what they might do. Good grief if you have a portable generator have gas available to run it & have bottled water, easy packaged food, batteries for a radio, light & fan, a phone, emergency numbers & a check in buddy, know the nearest cooling center & shelter, have cash in hand, be prepared to leave if you need to & use common sense, don't panic. I've been without power for 3 weeks in winter & almost that long in summer so no heat, no AC & no running water...it was difficult but being prepared made it doable.

Re: Major crisis averted

RedTop — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 15:03:59 GMT

I would’ve sat still and waited to hear the generator kick in.......

Re: Major crisis averted

chrystaltree — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 15:05:29 GMT

@QueenDanceALot wrote:
I would have turned on some fans and waited for the power to come back on. Brown outs happen during heat waves. It's not a crisis.

Unless you have some heart or respiratory problems it's not going to kill you to be hot for awhile.

No electricity, no fans.

Re: Major crisis averted

SharkE — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 15:09:46 GMT

My power used to go out at least once a month up in Ind.

Always drunks running into electric poles/transformers, etc.

Squirrel ate thru cable one time.

I ran the tub full of cold water, and made like Orca.

Re: Major crises averted

lovesrecess — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 15:11:23 GMT

When we had a very severe storm and lost power in June, We went to the public library not far from our house....figured we could use their WiFi and read a book if we wanted. Got there...every window had been blown out and no power. Finally had to drive to another part of town to a library ranch with power and little damage....we stayed for a long time in wonderful a/c. Authorities say go to a mall if you don’t have a/c....but malls are getting harder to even find now. It is sad that so many people don’t even own a/c....so even with power they are sweltering in 100-plus temperatures. The library or a mall are two of the dwindling options for many.

Re: Major crises averted

lovesrecess — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 15:12:08 GMT

If you go sit in your car for the a/c...make sure your garage door is open first!