Rampant storm stupidity

[wolfie]

The vast majority of frozen dinners are cookable in a standard oven.

And, if you have a gas range (I won't even go near electric >_> ), that means you have a gas water heater, so you should be good with hot water for showers, too, although I don't know how water heaters work these days - for all I know, they've got electric starters, too, but I'm pretty sure they still operate by pilot light, which is probably a large reason why they're supposed to be attached outside the house.

Couple problems I can see:

1) True, you can cook most microwaveable frozen dinners in a conventional oven, but if the power goes out your freezer won't work.

2) Your gas water heater works - but does your municipality use electric pumps for the water system?

[Seshat]

Thing is, while the NE Seaboard doesn't get Hurricanes usually, they DO get Blizzards, and Ice Storms and Nor'easters, all of which warrant a preparedness kit as well. Those kits would be tilted more heavily towards keeping warm of course and handling ice; but the basics are all the same.

A valid point.

I'm out of cyclone-risk areas now, but we still get 'Severe Storms' - which can be pretty damn bad. Also, while I'm far enough into the suburban area to not be personally at bushfire risk; Canberra a few years back showed that if a bushfire escalates to a firestorm, even the suburbs are no surety of safety.

We don't really have an evacuation kit ready, because we're not low enough to be flooded, nor high enough to take the brunt of a severe storm. But we do keep a kit for staying put safely.

(NB: firestorms are unpredictable, and once one hits, it's too late to evacuate.)

[EricKei]

During Isaac, we stayed, but we were relatively prepared...A roomie had a small boombox to listen to the (admittedly awesome) radio coverage on -- something like 70% of all of the radio stations in the area all cooperated on one joint feed to make it easier for people to get news and call in. Unfortunately, said roomie had me driving her around (he hubby's car didn't run) to look for batteries, and she couldn't seem to figure out why most of the stores were sold out of batteries two days after the hurricane hit...

SM says: "So have you killed anyone yet?"

Me: "Come closer and ask me that again..."

[Kristev]

The few times I've tried to use one, something always went wrong. So I won't go near them. Besides - they're nothing but a way to cheat by not hiring and scheduling cashiers in an age where almost everyone needs a job.

[Jay 2K Winger]

1) True, you can cook most microwaveable frozen dinners in a conventional oven, but if the power goes out your freezer won't work.

True, but I think-- and don't quote me on this-- the stuff that's in there will be fine as long as you don't open the freezer until the power comes back on. The freezer should "seal" and lock in all of the cold.

At the wholesale club, whenever the power went out, Management was sure to lock all the freezers and tie them shut, to salvage what they could.

[protege]

And, if you have a gas range (I won't even go near electric >_> ), that means you have a gas water heater, so you should be good with hot water for showers, too, although I don't know how water heaters work these days - for all I know, they've got electric starters, too, but I'm pretty sure they still operate by pilot light, which is probably a large reason why they're supposed to be attached outside the house.

Not necessarily. My grandmother's place had a gas range and an electric water heater. Her house was built in 1865. When it was built, the basement had a small stream running through it. Just the thing to keep food cold. Later, when the furnace and other 'modern' appliances went in, they were raised off the floor. Just enough that any water wouldn't damage them. Combine that with the low ceilings in the basement...and the only water heaters that would fit, were electrics.

As for water heaters, mine is gas. No electric starter. To light the pilot, you turn on the gas, and press a button a few times. That button, acts like a flint. A few sparks, the gas ignites, and all is good. Like other gas appliances, the exhaust is ducted into the chimney.

[Andara Bledin]

1) True, you can cook most microwaveable frozen dinners in a conventional oven, but if the power goes out your freezer won't work.

If you don't go digging around in it and leave the door sealed, most of what's in there will stay frozen for a good long while. Usually long enough to wipe out a half dozen frozen dinners.

2) Your gas water heater works - but does your municipality use electric pumps for the water system?

This, however, might be an issue. I've never been anywhere where the power has been down for more than a few hours, however, so I have no idea how that would work.

^-.-^

[Grendus]

The few times I've tried to use one, something always went wrong. So I won't go near them. Besides - they're nothing but a way to cheat by not hiring and scheduling cashiers in an age where almost everyone needs a job.

You, my friend, have a surprising amount of faith I'm the competence of the hiring managers.

[Chromatix]

There are two safe systems for gas-fired heaters. One uses an automatic electric starter and no pilot - this one makes the heater useless if the power fails. This type is very common on modern boilers.

The other, older type uses a pilot light and a temperature probe inserted into the pilot flame, which cuts the supply to both the pilot and the main burner if the pilot goes out. There is an override button which provides a separate supply to the pilot only, for the purpose of lighting up. There may or may not also be a second button that operates a piezoelectric spark generator across the pilot nozzle, allowing lighting up without a match - many older ovens don't have this, but newer ones and boilers generally do.

If both buttons are present (as on my parents' old gas Aga), the procedure is to hold the override button, press the spark button repeatedly until it catches, then keep holding the override button for a while until the temperature probe heats up properly. This might be signalled by the main burner lighting up, since that is gated by the probe and not the override.

As for the water supply, there was a scare recently in Helsinki where the electric pumps failed for some reason. There was however still a lot of water in the system including up water towers, which mostly act as reservoirs for pressure. (This works well because there isn't much elevation variation in the area nor are most buildings built very tall.) So there were notices out for a few hours asking people to use as little water as possible, but the supply never actually failed. On the other hand, if the fault had continued for a longer period of time, the towers would have emptied and that would have made things more difficult. I believe there's an interconnection to the next city's water supply that is not normally used, which might have been opened if the situation got critical, but obviously that would have put quite a strain on the other city's supply too.

Since Sandy has caused major problems in a large number of neighbouring cities, that sort of cross-connection might not work very well, unless there are inland cities with intact systems that can spare the capacity and have interconnections.

[Merriweather]

True, but I think-- and don't quote me on this-- the stuff that's in there will be fine as long as you don't open the freezer until the power comes back on. The freezer should "seal" and lock in all of the cold.

At the wholesale club, whenever the power went out, Management was sure to lock all the freezers and tie them shut, to salvage what they could.

Depends on how long the power is out, and how full the freezer is. A full freezer will stay frozen longer. A really good idea is to get some of those semi-disposable containers with lids (the larger ones), put water in them (not quite full) and fill up any empty room in the freezer with them - then just take them out when you need the space for food, nothing lost but a bit of frozen water. And you also always have blocks of ice for coolers on picnics.

[Pagan]

Also, while I'm far enough into the suburban area to not be personally at bushfire risk; Canberra a few years back showed that if a bushfire escalates to a firestorm, even the suburbs are no surety of safety.

That's the thrill of Albuquerque. While it is a city, we have the Rio Grande Bosque (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosque) running through. There have been more than a few times that people have had to evacuate because the bosque's on fire. Including me this past summer (I'm right where ABQ and Corrales, a very rural village meet.). Had one 5 miles north, as the crow flies. Started on my side of the river, jumped the river, and was expected to jump back. Which it didn't because the East Canyon winds never made it over here to push it.

I don't have an evacuation kit prepared as such. But, I can grab my laptop (and backup for laptop and desktop), my portable file, shove some clothes in my backpack, and be out in about 5 minutes. Which I need to keep in mind as we're in our 2nd fire season.