Community Chat

[SANNA]

For me it is a good excuse to stay home,indulge in eating too much  of forbidden foods like potatoes, pasta, ice cream.... And drink.  And watch lots of TV.

😛🍟🍤🍝🍕🍔🍷🍸🍾

[Lila Belle]

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@tansy wrote:

How do people stock up on their RX medications?  I need to use a mail order company.  I get a 90-day supply but cannot refill a prescription until I only have a 10-14 day supply left.  

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I know !

I stopped my mail order and use my local Rite-Aid. I've had no problem getting my RX's when there is a weather thing going on. No 90 day convenience and saving a few bucks but I've never had to wait or worry about getting our needed meds.

[Reba055]

What I don't understand-and we see the same thing here in FL. Why don't you just stay stocked up with things you would need in an emergency?

I always have tons of bottled water, batteries, tons of canned goods, and everything else you could need in the case of a hurricane and being without power for days.   If you live up north, would you not have the same supplies stocked for snowstorms?  It's not like you're gonna get stuck with bottled water, you can always drink it. And same with caned goods. Just buy what you would eat, not potted meat or something, gross. 

At first I used to think maybe people had limited funds so they couldn't afford to spend the extra money. But then I realized, those people probably still don't stock up as a result of weather reports. Where would they all of a sudden get the money to run out and stockpile. 

I do realize some places like NYC are small so space could be an issue. I guess some people have a different comfort level, but I don't want to be in that madness when warnings are issued. So much easier just to sit back and watch the craziness on TV, lol. 

I've also been without power for days so I know it's quite possible and I prefer to be prepared and as comfortable as I can be in that situation. 

[Mominohio]

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@VCamp2748 wrote:

Probably better to be a little insane now in prep for a storm that may or may not cripple the city, than to be one of the crazies out on the streets, having their cars sliding into others or getting stuck if it does get that bad?  If people feel like they have sufficient provisions for a few days, then they'll probably stay home & out of the way of snow removal crews and emergency responders.

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This pretty much sums it up.

And part of the panic before hand is the fact that people who would spread out the 'regular' shopping are all jammed in the few days before the storm because they are being told they won't be able to get out. And when they see the shelves starting to empty, they tend to over buy or try to replace the what is missing with more of something else, thereby emptying even more shelves. 

And as others have pointed out in other threads, in many areas, once those shelves are empty, and the storm moves through, getting them stocked back up can take more than just a few days. More and more people are aware that the supply chain is super sensitive to disruption, with places not carrying more than a few days of regular supply. Throw a storm in, and it is interrupted, and availability sketchy for awhile.

[Mominohio]

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@Lipstickdiva wrote:

No kidding.  No offense but look at the number of threads here about this snowstorm.

Remember last year all the frenzy over the snow NYC was supposed to get?  And they got a light dusting.   

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I think that part of the problem is that many places in this particular storm's path just aren't equipped to handle what is forecast. 

Many of us live where winter does strike every year, in some manner or another, and many of us live (or have lived) in snow belt areas, or areas of the country that have these types of warnings on a regular basis, but when they start talking about snow in terms of 'feet' and not inches, it does become a game changer, even for those who live in areas that experience that on some kind of a regular basis. 

Throw that into areas that just don't get snow in the 'feet' category, and you have to expect not only the frenzy, but almost need people to get that way before hand, as they are in a bigger mess after the storm passes. They are not going to get back to 'normal' in their area for much longer than those who routinely deal with such things.

[Mominohio]

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@Krimpette wrote:

I think some of the posters are not aware of the true severity of the situation with this storm.  It's even been referred to as "life threatening".  Schools are likely to be closed through a good part of the week.  It's not just the 20-30 inches, but it's also the resulting drifting that  is going to occur when the winds get up in the 40-50mph range for most of the day on Saturday, into early Sunday.  Anyone who thinks it's being overblown is more than welcome to trade places with me......you just won't be able to get here.

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Great point. That much snow will cause flooding as it melts in some areas, and there will be roof cave ins due to the weight of snow. There will be power outages, some will be only a day or two and some have the potential to be much, much longer. And unlike summer storms, it may take reinforcements to help get the power back up, awhile to get in because of the heavy snow making roads inaccessable for a time.

[Mominohio]

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@Lipstickdiva wrote:

Being without power, if that happens, is what would bother me.  The snow doesn't bother me at all.  I'm from Ohio.

A few years back, we had an ice storm. The ice was so heavy in some places, it pulled down power lines and knocked down trees, which then took down power lines.  Luckily, we weren't affected but one of my bosses was without power for nearly a week.      

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I remember that storm, and we were without power for five days. We, fortunately, had a generator, and have always lived prepared, but it was amazing how many people we knew that didn't even have a way to live in their own homes for those five days. I'm talking families that had two Eagle Scouts, yet went to an area that had not lost power and stayed in a bed and breakfast.

I just had to shake my head.

[Mominohio]

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@novamc1 wrote:

If cars and people will stay off the roads., snowplows and salt trucks can do their job without running into interference from moving, wrecked or abandoned vehicles. The roads can be kept clearer throughout a storm for essential and emergency travel, and people will find the roads more easily traveled when the weather clears

.It is unnerving to be traveling on a major road such as the Capital Beltway and suddenly your lane ends because a huge pile of snow is blocking part of the lane.  It's there because a plow couldn't get to it to remove it.........some broken-down car was probably in its way.

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I think this is so true, especially for areas not used to snow and the major metro areas. Out where I live, enough people stay off the roads, and we are rather spread out anyway. But hit the big cities, and people just give up, abandon their cars and the major roadways become virtual parking lots. I remember it happening even in the Chicago area not too many years ago.

If all the hype in the media and by the governmental officials get more people to get home and stay home, more stupid businesses who wouldn't ordinarily shut down and keep their employees off the roads to do so, more school systems to take heed and not get kids stuck on buses like happened in GA that time not so long ago, it is probably worth the lives, money, and time saved.

[Mominohio]

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@Shorty2U wrote:

You are right. This has always happened! I used to work at a supermarket and whether its 2 inches or 2 feet they are predicting people swarm to the stores and buy everything in sight. YES its good for business but dont people have food on hand at all times? (We have food to last for weekks in our home).

And FYI when those shelves become empty the milk, bread, egg etc vendors are called to re-stock! So everyone is making them drive in bad weather so everyone can eat while theyre snowed in.

I used to see people come to the store i worked at in snow mobiles, sleds, you name it. We only closed one time in all the years I worked there and that was during the 36 inch snow storm in 96.

Also- I just read through a facebook friend that they observed 2 people were arguing over gas pumps in our county because the snow has now begun!

Its unbeleivable!

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It is amazing the number of people who live day to day in relation to their food supplies. I remember not too long ago, I saw a woman in a national news cast that was whining to the reporter about having small children in the house and only a couple of days worth of food, lamenting about how they just weren't gong to get through it. The storm was causing her to cry on TV because of her lack of preperation.

SHE LIVED IN BUFFALO!!!!

What the heck. Who lives in Buffalo for more than ten minutes and can't see that coming? And by the looks of the neighborhood and her house and clothing, it wasn't a poverty issue and lack of funds that kept her pantry so low.

[Mominohio]

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@Burnsite wrote:

I'm not in the path of this bad storm and hope that everyone stays safe and is careful!  Generators (starting them up and where you put them) kill more people than storms in S FL.  Trying to fix things leads to accidents with chain saws and falls off roofs.  Be prepared for a storm but even more importantly, be careful _after_ a storm.  Down here, more casualties happen after than during a bad hurricane.

I am a veteran of a dozen FL hurricanes, two of them catastrophic in my town.  And. . .I would agree that people stock up too much. When a hurricane is two days away and you have the clean city water, fill up a tub and buy just a bit of extra water.

I see people with pallets of water coming out of Costco.  At this pre-storm point, people already have water. 

People also buy out canned goods--those we need for a week maximum.  Not four shopping carts full.  I hope those cans get donated to the food banks and they probably do much of the time, but people who work and get into the store late?  They don't get what they need for a day or two if others have stocked up for a month. 

People down here in SE FL do overbuy.

Folks _should_ focus on gas (with a long power outage, the pumps don't pump and where I live, the deliveries stop).  They should store faucet water in containers, not buy it all at the store (some drinking water, sure).  Water to rinse out clothing, use tub water.

People do not need alcohol in a storm.  They need their wits about them.

They need flashlights, flameless candles (a blessing in a long power outage).

Rags and blankets to stop water from entering the house, with hurricanes or floods. 

Pet food!  Baby food!  Refills of prescription meds if they are within two weeks of being refilled.  Those things are important.

Cans of beans. . .you need a few for emergencies, not a shopping cart full. 

I always buy produce and fruit before a storm, because shipments stop and that's what I crave.  Some does spoil and gets thrown away.  But I have all I can use, because everyone else is buying canned cheese and beans and soup in that aisle. 

And they overbuy water, if the water supply is still good where they live.  Fill tubs, sinks, etc.  If you have little ones, that might be a problem, but no one needs 100 gallons of water unless they are running a storm shelter.

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100 gallons of water is nothing  in a real emergency. People need to have on hand, the MINIMUM of three gallons per person per day. A family of four would burn through 100 gallons of water in just a few days. 

Many sites tell you one gallon per person per day, but factor in cooking, clean up, and perhaps needed for sanitation and toilet reasons, and three per person can be conservative. 

Water for sanitation becomes every bit as important as drinking, because disease will spread very quickly when clean water supplies are not available.