Being without electricity really stinks...

[trancejeremy]

Kinda obvious, I know. But it's amazing how you take something for granted.

We had sort of a freak storm here in St. Louis Weds. night. Weird storm, came from the North (usually they come from the west).

Knocked out power to about half the area (including me). Something like 500,000 households. The power company seems to be losing ground, as today more storms knocked out a lot of people who either had theirs fixed, or hadn't lost theirs.

For a few hours, it's not so bad. Then problems start to build up. Heat, mainly. Water for me, as I get mine from a well (which has an electric pump). Then your electric gizmos like flashlights and cell phones run out of juice and you can't recharge them

Thankfully, it was only hot for one day. The storm cooled it down, but last night was pretty bad. Losing AC is one thing, but not even having a fan is bad. And St. Louis in Mid-Late July/early August has just about the most humid summers everyone (even Raymond Chandler noted that in the Big Sleep)

Had to sleep outside, but that didn't work out very well. Finally got to sleep, then the bugs attacked. And it's hard to know what to do with your pets. I've got 3 cats, and it got really hot inside, but can't really let them out, they could get eaten by something or lost or run over. And while my dogs went outside, they kept whining to go in, because they are used to sleeping w/ AC

Anyway, managed to borrow a generator. Even though it seems to get less gas mileage than my car (an old Mustang) I can at least power a few things (like this computer I'm posting from) and the AC, I'm probably better off than most of the rest of the people here.

Once the power is restored for real (which could possibly be another week), I don't think I'm going outside for a month.

 

[Numion]

Once the power is restored for real (which could possibly be another week), I don't think I'm going outside for a month.

Another week? Damn.

At least where I live the power companies are required to compensate for your hardship if an power outage lasts too long (like over a day). Maybe you should check into that.

 

[Jesus_marley]

I know exactly what you mean about no power..... when Hurricane Juan hit Halifax in 2003 it caused a massive amount of damage. my house was without power for almost 2 weeks. It was wierd tho.. some places lost power for an hour or two... others were completely spared... some places were out for 3 to 4 weeks. The thing that was the weirdest was that because my house was on an intersection of two streets, every house on the street BUT mine got power back 5 days after it was lost. Mine was out for longer because it was fed from the cross street which was classed as low priority....

a quick google images search under hurricane juan Halifax will give you an idea of the damage.

 

[jaerdaph]

In New York City, there have been people without power since last Sunday here in Astoria (Queens). My power only went out for about a day, but it wasn't very pleasant, especially since it was the hottest day and night of the year so far. Still, it was nowhere near as bad as what my neighbors have had to endure.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

The last time I'd lost power for an extended time was during the big ice storm that hit NC in 2002. Lost power for a week. Fortunately, I could spend part of the days at work and then go next door to my aunt's for food and a bath. Several days into the outage, we finally had persuaded my grandmother to move over there so she'd be warm instead of buried under about 6 blankets, only getting up for necessities.

Not really been affected too badly by hurricanes. By the time they reach central NC, they've lost alot of their "punch" and we get mostly rain and some wind, but not usually more than we'd get during a strong/severe thunderstorm (which usually do more damage in this area than tropica systems do).

 

[Mycanid]

Yeah ... it can be a bummer Jeremy! It's true. In many ways I can totally commiserate with you heat wise.

I chose to live wwaaaayyyyyy off the beaten track ... a sort of "back to nature" thing. Where I live I am not hooked up to "the grid" in any way. No running water. No electricity. Nothing. And I love it. But I should add that there are a few tiny solar panels there for lighting when something absolutely MUST be done at night time requiring light. Also got a generator for power tools n' stuff when needed.

Computer wise I have computers at my workplace, some distance away from my home, which is how I am able to stay in touch with you all! Of course the workplace, being a small office (I take care of the computers - IT stuff, etc.), is air conditioned and heated in winter and what not.

SOOO - I totally know what you mean about the heat. The next seven days it says it will be between 100-115 degrees each day ... and that means 90's at night. Absolute misery. But I wouldn't trade it all for the world. I love my home.... These few weeks out of the year are really the only difficult time for me. The rest is paradise.

But I deliberately chose to live like this. It's not so fun for someone it is unexpectedly foisted upon by circumstances. All I can say is that it will go by quicker than you think. Be of good cheer. Things will be back to yournormal surrounding pretty soon.

 

[ken-ichi]

I can't imagine a week of no power. Wow.
The last time we were without power for a decent length of time was during a nasty summer thunderstorm.
The power was out for about 10 hours. It had been raining hard for days. I live in the basement of a house on the flood plain. You do the math.
When I woke up in the morning the power was out and climbing out of bed I found ankle deep water. I spent the next 8 hours bailing water by hand out of the basement. We have well water too, so no drinking water, or even flushable water was available.

 

[BOZ]

i think it was last summer that we were out for about a week. of course, not paying your bills on time will do that to you sometimes...

 

[Dwarven Godfather]

Well, I'm finally back after 8 days without power and it would have only been 6 days if the electricity dudes would have learned how to read blueprints of a transformer. I was really glad the In-laws had our children for the past two weeks even though they wanted to come home. My wife and I toughed it out without nothing for 7 of the 8 days and on the 8th day my next door neighbor finally broke down and bought a generator which he allowed me to plug into for a fan which made sleeping very pleasant for once.

I liked it because we came together as a small community and helped each other out in bad situations. My house also sustained some damage which is a good thing for there being insurance for the house since My wife and I did want to make some improvements on the house anyway.

 

[Arnwyn]

Wow. These stories are nuts.

The most I've ever gone without power is maybe a couple of hours, many many years ago.