What did we learn from Irma?

[Torn]

Just like in everyday nonemergency life there are still only three kids of people in the world.

Those that make things happen (Takes care of themselves and their family)

Those that watch things happen (Hopes someone will come and take care of them, their family and friends)

Those that asks "what just happened?" (Expects the fed, state and local government to house, feed, clothe and give them money)

 

[DinkyDau]

I have a remote start generator and it preformed as it should for the short time we lost power..But I am going to start saving to have a whole house generator installed. With it being gas or lp and have a 300 gal lp tank installed. I take meds early in the evening, if all is well and require some medical equipment to run all night..The only problem I ran into was the power went out at 01:00 and the alarms went off. My problem is already having taken meds in me, I could not go down and hook it up..Yep it is time to start saving and looking for a provider for power install.

 

[offbeat404]

no sex in the champagne room?!

 

[Shovelhead]

Proof.. I can live without the internet for four days.... Although the voices in my head kept saying... Go ahead pull the trigger.......

 

[rOmiLaYu]

The negative it put a lot of people out of their homes, loss of family, and love ones, and friends. Tore up a large amount of land, ripped trees completely out of the ground. This will take years to repair, replace and rebuild.


The positive, this storm will put thousands of individuals to work, construction, removing the debris, food service, sanitary needs and services needed, medical needs, remodeling damages, rebuilding thousands of homes, RV sales and rentals, food stores, fast foods, clothing, shoes, cars, truck sales, gasoline, oil, diesel, electrical power restored and much more.


However it all comes with great costs, lives totally changed lives it mere moments, it will either turn us, TOWARD GOD, OR BLAMING GOD, which of the choices will it be that you chose, don't answer just simply think about it.


just something to simply ponder very deeply

So...would you say, on balance, that with the great Hurricane Irma; the adventure was worth the cruise?

 

[Lawn and Tree Barber]

Buy every case of water at every store so no one else can have any

 

[Kman]

I learned that not prepping works just fine for me no matter the natural disasters I've seen at my house. I always have lots of propane, coleman fuel, batteries, gas, two sharp stihl chain saws, concrete saw, cold weather gear, rain gear, generator, food,bottled water, propane heaters, firearms and ammo. I don't need to prep squat, my way of life keeps me fully stocked at all times. I'm not a prepper, it's just the way I live. I do laugh at the people running around buying last minute supplies. I think most older guys who work construction and spend free time hunting and fishing have most all the stuff I listed at their houses.

 

[lostchild]

Generator ran well and made it through our outage on one tank of gas. Good, because I was down after surgery and wife probably couldn't handle 5 gallon tanks for refills. Short term, switch to 2 1/2 gal tanks, long term go natural gas on permanent gennie. Already have transfer panel wired in so GTG there.
Current food, water, medicine stock adequate for 30 days.
Need to check dates on batteries and re-stock more often, had some older ones still in date but too weak to provide full power.

Edit.. Update.. Forgot to mention that internet and cable were out several days (Charter's never in a hurry, Jackson EMC's great!). Found a digital antenna I'd never used, hooked it up to spare TV, got about 30 channels to keep up with news.
I'd like to build a solar system, but neighbor's trees keep me in shade most of the day. May still build a small system to see if it's feasible.
Also have a bad switch on transfer panel, need to replace as soon as I'm back up to speed.
Wife needs more training on systems. Everyone needs to get their wife and older children trained on procedures, because you never know when you may be down or away and they have to take over.
Okay, enough boring, rambling s**t....

 

[Ex313]

This may be a minor thing; I plan to get a backup battery to run my cable modem and router on.
Most of your cell phones these days have a feature called "Wifi Calling".

I tried this out over the weekend. I turned on the Wifi Calling feature on my Samsung S5. I turned off the cellular part of my cellular phone and turned the Wifi on. I could make and receive calls all day long this way.

So, if I had a backup battery and the power went out the Wifi would still work. And I know from personal experience that when the power goes out, you have maybe 12 hours worth of battery backup on the nearest cellular tower.

The cable company has it's own backup generators and as long as you have some sort of power running your modem and router, you will have an internet connection. Thus, you'd be able to make phone calls when the Cell tower batteries die out.

 

[emptyMAGS]

I learned that millennials are completely hopeless in natural disasters. My idiot BIL texted me no less than 6 times in a 4 hour period asking when the power would be back on because his iphone battery was dying...