So over this week

M

melissa-dallas

Well-known member
Last Sunday we had a (fairly brief) severe thunderstorm come through with 70 to +80 MPH winds. It just devastated trees, resulting in major damage to the electrical system in a vast swath of Dallas. 300,000 households without power. Luckily it was unseasonably cool for this time of year, low to mid 80s instead of 90 plus, but my power was off for close to 60 hours and I had to throw away virtually everything in both the refrigerator and freezer. Aside from the expense, I really mourn the homemade stock in the freezer. I know y’all get it.

All the times I have absently thought to myself, “how nice” when I hear our power company guys are traveling out of state to assist with other weather emergencies? I never really appreciated HOW nice until a veritable army of guys from Alabama descended on my neighborhood and finally got us back in business.

 
Glad you are safe. Sad for your broth (as I just put up both chicken and beef bone broth). If

you run into one of those out-of-staters in a store or gas station, be sure to voice your appreciation. When we were in the midst of Florida fire storm, we had crews arrive from all over the United States because Florida firemen are not equipped for the level of heat that was generated by whole fields of pine burning. Florida pine trees are fire resistant, which means a lightening strike is needed to activate their cones, but the rest of the tree survive. However, the state has become covered with invasive non-indigenous undergrowth and THEY burn like crazy. So the heat level rose and then fires just devastated the native trees.

60 hours is a LONG time.

 
Ugh. You have my deepest condolences...been there, done that...

When Hurricane Ike ripped through Cincinnati in 2008 it destroyed 90% of the power grid. We have a lot of trees, greenbelts, and parks and they were winding up the electric wires like spools.

We lost power at our house for exactly 1 week. I felt like I had gone back to the dark ages. No refrigeration, no freezers, no lights, no AC, no ICE!!!

Lucikly I had some friends that still had power AND some freezer space so I could rescue the big ticket items (spread across three different houses), but everything else went to the trash. All of the homemade stocks and all. I could physically feel the oppressive dread at dusk when it started to get dark. Put the book away: No light. No computer. No phone. No television. No reading...Sit in the dark or go to bed to toss and turn in the heat.

The heroes that finally restored power on my street were from South Carolina. Rebuilding a large city's entire powergrid is a big damn job.

 
So sorry Melissa. I know your pain too

So sorry for your food loss- especially the "liquid gold" broth. Hurricanes, floods, incredible landslides, thunderstorms like I've never seen before, winds to 90mph in "normal" storms. Trees ripped out of the ground, major devastation. Yuck. All of it seen and lived through. I learned after the "big" one in 1992 that I should always pack my freezer solid with food and ice packs during hurricane season. If the food is packed solid and the door is not opened it will last a few days and still have ice crystals. We are pretty used to no power for stretches here- most have generators big enough to run a refrig and a few lights- and I will say I have never thrown away anything from the freezer. I have on a few occasions been threatened by having to throw food away but instead have fired up the gas grill and cooked it all up then invited neighbors over to feast or have taken food to people.
Once we were without power for 8 weeks; without water for almost 2 weeks. That was a challenge for sure.

With the global warming going on who knows what will come next.

 
Ah Richard,, I know the feeling well. Happened to us this winter when a major

very wet snow storm hit over night and downed thousands of giant oaks on homes, cars, yards, fences, streets.
We were better off than many, as we only lost fences, sidewalks, and one gutter, plus trees shrubs, watering systems. I hated that first night of three days without power, when darkness came, nothing but dark, candles, and thankfully a gas fireplace. We slept on two couches, and I tossed and turned all night. Finally, got up and went to my bed, buried in blankets. The thought of more nights of this torture was awful. So blessed it only lasted three days. When I saw the city crews across the street, I went out and thanked them, offered them water, a place to sit at our home when and if needed. We had power back within 45 minutes.
Thankfully, no food was lost but we were on the last day, of it starting to thaw..

 
My dad bought me Coleman lanterns after my first multi-day outage

They really help. At least the early summer outages are easier to handle than the ice storm ones and it isn’t dark at 5:30. One year mine was out for several days and it was down to 42 in the house. Also, with the ice storms you are trapped. This time we could drive a ways and find open restaurants and groceries. My office had power so I had light & AC during the day, I hate sleeping with the windows open-makes my allergies and and I don’t feel entirely safe.

My refrigerator is 23 years old, so I’m sure the door seals are degraded. The freezer really needed to be cleaned out. I honestly didn’t even know what was in there anymore, aside from a bunch of precious pecans, which were fine.

When I replace my elderly Kindle it will be a Paperwhite one so I can read in the dark.

 
After a couple of multi-day outages, we were gifted with a generator.

It sat in our garage for 3 years, unused.
Then we had a nasty storm in warm weather that took out power and after most of a day, with no hope of restoration for a couple more, it was fired up and the fridge,. freezer and a couple of lights so we could see after dark were kept going.

 
judy, you are very lucky. Most generators have to be run several times a year to keep them viable.

Sitting unused for 3 years and then starting? An angel was looking down on you, my friend.

 
I can totally understand that...

We've had some winter outages, but we have a fireplace in the library which is the center of the house. We fire up the fireplace and depending on the weather start sliding the pocket doors closed, etc to seal off the room. We've cooked, dined, slept, and lived in the library during power outages in the winter. And the food? It's just fine sitting in the garage.

As a joke I once served a 7-course dinner in the library during a power outage, all cooked on/in the fireplace. I was breaking off icicles for drink ice. Oh the good ol' days!

 
Yes, being present for the "100-year storm" two different times in two different States has...

....colored my view of the natural disasters I see in other parts of the country.

Waking up at 3am in a pitch-black motel room in Tulsa, Oklahoma because the ice storm took down huge tree limbs, snapping the power lines... Oy!

Arriving in Joplin/Lamar, Missouri where the entire town is without power and the National Guard troops are patroling the streets -all in order to deal with my Dad's sudden passing.

Not fun.

M

 
Unfortunately thunderstorms or ice storms taking out trees and power

In large areas of North Texas are a fairly regular 5-10 year thing, where we are without power for multiple days. I’m in an old neighborhood with lots of large mature big trees and they don’t play nice with high winds and electric lines. I’ve probably had this happen at least five times since 1992. I work about 10 miles away, so it would be really rare to happen both places, so at least I had a/c and lights during the day. Ice and snow here are the worst because we just don’t have the road equipment to deal with it so you are stuck at home with impassible streets. We also don’t get much practice so none of us can drive in it.

 
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