Urban Survival 101

[AnyDream]

Not prepared in the slightest!

Have you been affected by the power outages across the city MD?

Yes. This is the 2nd day it's been out - it's some kind of widespread meltdown. We also had a massive storm yesterday morning - trees etc down all over the place - but that's not the problem in our area. I boiled the kettle at 7.30 yesterday morning (ie - well after most of the storm affected areas lost their power) and the power trucks came through at 2am and revved their truck and flashed their yellow lights and shouted at each other outside my bedroom window - net effect: MD is cranky and sleep deprived but still no power.

So, besides food spoilage, the main impact to us has been lack of hot water - and no boiling water for tea/coffee (ie - morale takes a hit right there LOL). We can cook if needed on our gas BBQ, and I'm at the public library charging my devices and sucking up the internet like it's fresh air LMAO. But tomorrow it'll be much hotter, so the cooling/comfort part of it will kick in then.

I had the foresight to go and buy a solar/dynamo cranked lantern (FANTASTIC - and I'm seriously considering getting another), and a cheaper one for the kids (a total fail because they kept fighting over who was winding it and it had stuff-all charge). We didn't have batteries for the other lamp we had, and DH chucked our old esky away but never replaced it. Plus most of the supermarkets in the area also had outages so there was no cold food available anywhere. I also got a hexi stove and a small billy/kettle, so I can boil small amounts of water to sort out the caffeine crisis but not much else LOL.

What we did do well:
* zero-battery eco-friendly lantern
* bathed all members of the family for 2 days on the hot water still in the tank by allocating each person one bucket and a scoop (hey - it's how 90% of the world's population clean themselves - you stand in the shower recess and off you go).
* we prioritised hot water for hygiene & food preparation
* once we passed the 12 hour mark, we cleaned the fridge out immediately instead of leaving food to spoil.
* we kept the deep freezer closed the whole time so some of that food may still be usable
* I found a local cafe where they were happy to let me plug in my phone to charge, plus I've scoped out all the good power point spots at the public library .

Things I think we need to improve on:
* we need a storm kettle or metho-stove - to heat larger quantities of water for washing plus in a widespread or longer lasting emergency it would be better for heating/cooking packaged food than a BBQ.
* We need a new esky & add ice/dry ice quicker to our fridge/freezer.
* We should keep emergency batteries (for lamps) and a tranny radio.
* Information - as at 4pm yesterday, I was still unsure which supermarkets were open/had fresh or chilled food
* Phones - need some charging alternatives - solar? Identify more public places with power points? Get a car charger?
* think about diversifying household fuels - eg we would cope better if we had SOLAR (duh) - or a gas stove or hot water.
* Money - we don't have an emergency fund, but the extra expenses this week can make you vulnerable if you don't have a slush fund.
* Neighbours - we should get to know them a bit better. Knock on the door and check how they are doing, share info/resources in a crisis

No. 5., We've never lost power for this long either. It isn't something I expected to happen here.

[Miss.September]

We have a diesel generator!

When we moved here originally, the transformer to our pole was damaged and it took 72 hours to be replaced. We're rural, so no power means no water. We can live without gas as it's only the stove top that uses it and we have a wood heater. So if it came to it, we could be pretty self reliant for a while.