Sadly, this is now the first thing I say to my kids whenever we are at home and I hear thunder. (The voice of bitter experience speaking.)
We live in a very rural area with old trees and an antiquated power line system. Thunderstorms equal wind equals downed trees equals power loss. Which, out here in the boonies, therefore also means no heat, no air conditioning, no cooking, and most critically, no water! There are no mains gas or sewage lines out this far (heat comes from fuel oil or propane, and most homes have septic tanks) and everyone has their own well. Which is, of course, powered by an electric well pump.
Consequently, it is not possible to flush toilets here during a power outage. These darned developing countries...
Yep. I'm used to keeping a big bucket of water just in case.
ReplyDeleteFill the bathtubs as soon as you hear the storm coming?
ReplyDeleteOne of my sisters just bought a beautiful house on a hill... Which becomes an island during blizzard or thaw. People have apparently been stranded for as long as ten days without power (20 minutes from Boston city center!). She has a septic tank and a well, too. They are buying a huuuuge generator.
I have a number of big plastic bins (left over from when we redid our kitchen a few years ago...these are what I packed everything up in during construction) and when a big storm comes I fill them all with water ahead of time. And often a bathtub as well. We have not yet broken down and bought a generator but it is only a matter of time! The last time a big storm came through, we had workers from out of state come in to help restore the power and the guys had no idea how to fix some of our equipment because it was already old when even their oldest guys were training. ;)
ReplyDelete