Making your way about a darkened house at two AM can be an educational experience as you rediscover all the obstructions you ignore in the light. You become a sort of refugee in your own home. The rules are changed, and your usual way of dealing with the world has been stamped null and void. Add to this that your standard means of redress are ineffective if the power is out. No flick of the breaker will fix the situation.
Call the power company. You’ll find out that all the circuits are busy, the website is down, and your account has been canceled.
This little lesson in humility is a sample of what many people are going through: floods, fires, storms, and power outages. On one level, you can be sanctimonious and ask, “Why didn’t they have Go Kits ready? What? They didn’t know where the flashlights were?”
It may take a bit to get into the frame of mind needed to appreciate these problems if you happen to be among those who have not been landed in the sauce yet.
But it doesn’t seem to be a matter of if, just a matter of when.
I don’t know about you, but this scares the heck out of me.
It’s scary, indeed! I’ve had emergency push-lights (year round) on two floors & the cellar steps for decades (canned food, manual opener, blankets & water jugs in cellar, too), a small gas grill on the deck since Hurricane Somebody 14+ years ago, a box holding batteries, candles, matches, a battery radio at hand; and a wood stove in the garage for 8 years. We don’t have a power converter nor a generator (so far, we’ve lost power only for 2 days & nights) and can charge things in our vehicles. Too hair-raising to be caught off guard.
If I recall correctly, you live in New England, where all that is prudent wintertime necessity. So why is it that every storm – 1 inch or more – results in a rush to the grocery store?
LOL!! Right?! Can’t be some *pocalypse* or other EVERY time!! And oddly, most of my longstanding prep came from summer t-storms/winds/hail surprises — events that have grown fewer and/or powerlines stronger, thankfully!