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When Do You React

Leveraction44

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The Hen that laid the Golden Legos
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There are many types of disasters. Some are man made. Some come from mother nature. Some are not much worse than a broken arm, and some could be the end of mankind. Some you have plenty of time to see it coming and prepare. Others occur at the blink of an eye. Some you can prepare for. Others there are no material preparing for the event.

Take a hurricane. Most people, these days, have many days to see it coming, decide what to do, and take actions.

On the other hand, a grid down event would most likely not provide any prewarning.

Question: What circumstances would cause you to take immediate initial steps for a wide-area long-term grid down event?

How would you make the determination that the power outage was really a grid down event and not a local failure soon to be repaired?

The faster you made that determination, the sooner you could move on to taking the first few vital initial steps - filling tubs with water, getting prescriptions filled, topping-off water, food, gathering loved ones, etc..
 
Depends on how much warning you get. When I lived in Florida you’d know about a week before a storm “may” get you. You would have a good idea of landfall 3 days out, and 24 hours before you’d still have a chance to go to Publix for subs.

same with snow storms on PA. Yes both CAN ramp up quickly but that’s rare you aren’t back to normal on a week.

you’d have to figure out a power outage severity to try and figure what’s going on. All the neighborhood is dark and Facebook is bitching? Local. Can’t get Facebook, can’t call family out of state, random electronics don’t work? **** maybe EMP.

be ready for 2 weeks and have a plan on what to do after that
 
If you wait for it to happen before you act, it's already too late. That's why it's called prepping.
Are you saying that there are NO steps you would take after realizing the event had occurred? If there are some additional steps you would take on that realization, is time of the essence?
 
People like to call my old but crazy.
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I've got an avid ham radio neighbor down the road that can relay info. UV-5R radios pick up some ham frequencies too. since I live close to the interstate. I also have our police/fire stations analog channels but that will only work if their digital goes down. CB traffic might be a good indicator. Cell towers have battery backup so hopefully between all those I will be able to determine if it local or the balloon went up.
 
In case of an extreme emergency every county has a plan for inventorying all the resources within the county and appropriating anything the county manager feels is needed for the common good. A few years ago the plan for Pickens County was published and it included the ability for the county manager to have all the firearms confiscated. That caused quite an uproar in this county and that provision was taken back out of the plan. If you are a prepper and have stockpiled supplies you thought you needed in a severe emergency you damn well better be ready to defend your property.
 
If you knew or surmised earlier than others, you could top off supplies to hold over longer. I wouldn't think everything would go to hell in a few hours or even days.

I was thinking about running around or not. Kind of a hard call.

Filling tubs is a good start to get a jump on water needs.
 
In case of an extreme emergency every county has a plan for inventorying all the resources within the county and appropriating anything the county manager feels is needed for the common good. A few years ago the plan for Pickens County was published and it included the ability for the county manager to have all the firearms confiscated. That caused quite an uproar in this county and that provision was taken back out of the plan. If you are a prepper and have stockpiled supplies you thought you needed in a severe emergency you damn well better be ready to defend your property.
they did this in NO post Katrina, too. seems like a really bad idea. I sure wouldn't want to be the guy going around demanding them, either. I know a number of states (PA, FL) have rules around firearms, ammo, liquor, etc not being allowed during a disaster declaration. in PA when I was there it meant your CCW was no longer legal, either. I'm not saying it was ignored, but **** that.

if you think something is coming or starting, it makes sense to top off supplies and stock as deep as you can. Heck I did when my work started shutting down for covid, figured it was a real deal and spent probably $300 in food on the way home that day. Didn't end up mattering as it was stuff we would eat anyway, but having full freezers and pantries at the "start" is reassuring.

If you think or know something is happening:
Stock up at grocery store like mad
fill car(s) and any empty containers with gas
Fill tubs with water
fill other stuff/pots/pans/etc with water
check anything for big issues
harden the house (if warranted)
make hard rules for evac
prep for evac (fill totes/etc and station near or in vehicle)
charge electronic devices
pop p-mags
pop a beer
rub one out. May as well be relaxed
 
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