Wow! Here we are on a Wednesday morning and our electricity has been back on for 12 hours. Three days ago a “derecho storm” knocked out a large swath of our local grid. A derecho is different from a hurricane or tornado, but the destruction was pretty heavy and wide spread.
Honestly it could have been worse for us, and some poor folks are still without power 4 days later. The storm and aftermath did cause us to miss this week’s VegHead email and for that I apologize. With no electricity there was no internet and that leads us to the theme of this post which is things we learned from a derecho storm.
We are dependent on the internet:
Not having the internet and cell service was a little un nerving. It’s difficult to find out what’s happening and to check in with family without the internet. We, like many others don’t have a traditional land line which would potentially work during a power outage.
Solar Chargers:
You can’t talk about cell phones without thinking about how to charge your phone when the power is down. Battery packs are great, but of course they weren’t charged. Note to self, keep the battery packs charged and in an accessible place. In a prolonged outage those battery packs are limited. We have a little solar powered blue tooth speaker that has USB charging. Ultimately it would be wise to get a small portable solar station of some kind for the future.
Camp stove:
One thing for sure is that we were glad to have our good old two burner camp stove. This meant coffee and tea in the mornings and we were able to cook as usual. This little stove runs on small propane cannisters which we luckily had left over from the last power outage.
Food:
On the subject of cooking, it’s times like these when it’s good to be a VegHead. Our friends who were without power were concerned about their meat, eggs, cheese and milk but frankly VegHeads need not worry about that. Veggies last a long time at room temperature and plant based things like “cheese” and “mayo” are just oil so I would say it’s easier living for a few days without electricity when you’re veg… Sorry but I couldn’t help putting that in. It’s also a good idea to keep some canned beans, pasta sauce and other long lasting, easy to cook foods on hand.
Check in with others:
Sure we were inconvenienced but we were able to function at an almost normal level. We do know people in the neighbourhood who are wheelchair bound and an older woman across the street who lives alone. It’s important to think of the people around that might need your help in an emergency.
Government communication:
When shit happens you are mostly on your own. You need to be able to rely on and show up for your community. Other than getting the grid back up, there was no support from the government in our area. If you have a radio you can get news but we found there was really no useful information being passed on, so lesson is to be prepared. Put together a little kit of things you’ll need for a few days of glamping.
Gas:
Like toilet paper during the early days of the pandemic, there was a run on gasoline. There were huge lines at gas stations and some ran out on the first day. Ultimately it’s wise to not let your tank get too low and maybe keep a jerry can in the garage.
Generator:
A few people in the neighbourhood had generators running. That would definitely be a help with keeping your fridge running and what not.
Lights and lanterns:
Because we do go camping we have some battery powered lights and lanterns around. Head lamps are great for nights without electricity. Of course I couldn’t find a couple of them and batteries are always and issue. So along with lanterns keep batteries close at hand.
Radio:
One of the kids got a camping radio which was nice to have. It has a dynamo hand crank along with a small solar cell so you don’t need batteries to run it. We were glad to have it for the news such as it was.
Cooler:
Within an hour of the outage every bag of ice in the city was gone. While a cooler may seem like a good idea, without a supply of ice it’s of little use.
This isn’t the first major power outage we’ve lived through in recent years. A tornado went through the area in 2018. We had major flooding a couple of years ago too. All this is a bit of a wake up call for climate change. We can’t control the weather but we can be prepared for it. I will definitely be putting together a kit and keeping it in an easy to reach spot for future events.