Helpful Info. 6 Month Power Outage

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Clyde

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There is no doubt that a prolonged power outage would change the world as we know it. I can’t imagine how bad it would get, quickly, in a place like New York City. With all the high rise buildings, no ventilation, no water, sewage, elevators, way to cook, etc. there would be mass die offs in the large cities very quickly. Scary to even think about, even scarier to imagine not wanting to be prepared for it. No one can prepare for everything, but anyone can at least make some preparations to make their life a little easier during something like this.
 
There is no doubt that a prolonged power outage would change the world as we know it. I can’t imagine how bad it would get, quickly, in a place like New York City. With all the high rise buildings, no ventilation, no water, sewage, elevators, way to cook, etc. there would be mass die offs in the large cities very quickly. Scary to even think about, even scarier to imagine not wanting to be prepared for it. No one can prepare for everything, but anyone can at least make some preparations to make their life a little easier during something like this.

First, there is no doubt there will be a massive die off in the urban area's. Now this is going to sound strange, but to survive in an urban area, you are going to need the massive die off. Water is going to be the key. Many people will have enough food in their pantries to last a month or two (rationed) but they will not have the water supply to last out 1 week. Without the internet and the TV to tell them what to do, they will die of dehydration while their watter heater is full of water, Their garden hose will still be holding some water. Once the die off is fairly over, there will be homes with food, maybe even water, the home owner did not think about. There will be commercial buildings with water storage tanks. This may sound funny to some but you really do not want to be at the bottom of the sewer hill. It really does flow (roll) down hill. Sewer system will back up as soon as the pumping stations stop working. The facilities (homes, buildings, stores, etc.) at the low points are going to overflow. There are no check valves in the sewer system. Extreme high rise buildings are going to be a killer, literally. Most people could climb 10 stories high but 20, 30 maybe even 40 stories and that will be the kiss of death. Now these very tall / commercial buildings will house both food and water, just nobody will bother with most of these buildings, because that is not where food or water is typically stored. Remember, 3 days without water and you brain is going to start shutting down. The survival key in the urban cities is to out last the masses. It won't take very long. You are really going to want a large store of air filtering masks. Between sewage, rotting food, decaying bodies (human and animal) and other unpleasant odors, the mask are going to be high in demand.
 
A national grid down would be devastating if prolonged, what people fail to realize the critical infrastructure and governmental continuity comes first before ma and pa toaster and that ain't going to happen 72 hours or even 2 weeks. 6 months of supplies sounds about right, we don't have enough morgues in this country, how many first responders are going to remain on the job after dealing with the body count for day on ends when they have there own family to contend with. It's going to be a rough road and very unpleasant decisions are going to have to made at some point.

Even if the grid were down only 2 weeks, 3 weeks, there still wouldn't be any shelves being stocked, one doesn't just start up production were they left off, same thing for the gas and oil refineries, it takes a lot of time starting a cold plant up, one is still looking at months and months before food starts rolling again.

The next county over from me

475,000 population of clark county washington and that is just one county in one state, there are 3,142 counties in the US, some bigger some smaller but most are going to go through the same thing clark county washington is going to go through, as I said above, we don't have enough morgues!

18,000 elderly needing critical care
8,000 that are disabled 40 and younger needing critical care
11,000 on psych meds that are a danger off the meds
2,000 Violent offenders
600 inmates

Total 39,600

41,610 below the poverty margin that needs food assistance

3 hospitals
522 hospital beds
200 doctors
4,000 registered nurses
396 sworn deputies and officers
500 firefighters and paramedics
 
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The die off is one reason i want to back in the country.

The die off is going to happen there too, just not as fast. Medicine runs out, accidents happen, propane / fuel runs out. And even in the rural area's there are always the folks that are not inclined or worthy of hire. Without the welfare state to prop up these poor misunderstood folks (heavy sarcasm here) they will either have to do an honest days work or be forced by the slings and arrows of hard times and resort to stealing others folk's hard earned proceeds. Gee, anybody want to guess which way these folks are going to jump? Each area is going to pose unique problems to be solved. At least the rural folks will have more open space and will know where the bodies are buried, so to speak.
 
a 6 month power outage and at least one third to two thirds of the British urban population will be dead, if not by starvation then by disease.
people have enough food for a month? where did you hear that fallacy? the masses over here will have 3 days to 1 weeks worth tops!! the filling stations will be empty in 24 hours, the stores will be empty within 48 hours once the deliveries stop.
clean water will be the thing that kills most once the mains stop.
 
The die off is going to happen there too, just not as fast. Medicine runs out, accidents happen, propane / fuel runs out. And even in the rural area's there are always the folks that are not inclined or worthy of hire. Without the welfare state to prop up these poor misunderstood folks (heavy sarcasm here) they will either have to do an honest days work or be forced by the slings and arrows of hard times and resort to stealing others folk's hard earned proceeds. Gee, anybody want to guess which way these folks are going to jump? Each area is going to pose unique problems to be solved. At least the rural folks will have more open space and will know where the bodies are buried, so to speak.

But at least the die off in the country won't be as bad.simply because there's fewer people.plus there's location's in which they can be buried out of shight.firewood for heat.and cooking.and the folks in the areas of the country that I've lived in.not only work their jobs.but work their property as well.in some cases.that includes fences and life stock.and maybe a garden.
 
a 6 month power outage and at least one third to two thirds of the British urban population will be dead, if not by starvation then by disease.
people have enough food for a month? where did you hear that fallacy? the masses over here will have 3 days to 1 weeks worth tops!! the filling stations will be empty in 24 hours, the stores will be empty within 48 hours once the deliveries stop.
clean water will be the thing that kills most once the mains stop.

The average age in the county I mentioned above is 38, I think most in the county have at least 3 days of food and I think that is pushing it, most don’t even have flour, cornmeal etc.. in the kitchen to make from scratch, most also don’t have an alternative to electric cooking. I’ve been in a few homes were the pantry was used for miscellaneous storage and not food where most of the food is in the frig and freezer. At some point people are in for a rude awakening :-/
 
The average age in the county I mentioned above is 38, I think most in the county have at least 3 days of food and I think that is pushing it, most don’t even have flour, cornmeal etc.. in the kitchen to make from scratch, most also don’t have an alternative to electric cooking. I’ve been in a few homes were the pantry was used for miscellaneous storage and not food where most of the food is in the frig and freezer. At some point people are in for a rude awakening :-/
for once I agree with you, especially about the rude awakening.
a lot of city people I have known shop daily and only for that days "meal" which is probably something they throw into a microwave, people like my BIL don't even do that, he eats out every day, no food in the house, a packet of biscuits and a packet of crisps, that's it.
 
Any location downstream of a city will be at risk of becoming contaminated as there won’t be workers to keep infrastructure running. This will cause contaiminants to overflow into streams and rivers. Will need to find a location away from industrial sites as many chemicals and gases will become unstable and can be carried by the wind over long distances.
 
Kudos to you bigpaul for planning on living electricity free, but I'm too spoiled to live without electricity. I think I could manage everything except living without A/C. Been there, done that, don't want to ever go back. If you've ever tried to sleep in the southern part of the Deep South in the dead humid heat of summer, you'd know what I mean. (ask Gaz)

Besides, there's lots and lots and lots of wood at the BOL. Wood + heat + pressure vessel = gasified wood. Burning wood under the pressure vessel provides the heat, gasified wood inside the pressure vessel makes the gas to run the propane genny. The rest of the world be damned...
 
I think there is some confusion in regards to starving to death. People do not drop dead when the the cupboards run dry. It takes a fairly long time to starve to death, per wikipedia. Some will die faster (the skinny folks -- limited body fat) and some slower (the obese folks) depending the amount of body fat and energy burned. The children and the old will go first, organ shut down and medical situations. A lack of drinking water will get the people long before starvation. The picture is not pretty and I hope it waits until long after I am gone.
 
the old adage says that a human can live without any food for 3 weeks although some have lasted longer Bobby Sands the IRA hunger striker lived for 66 days but that was under medical supervision.
humans can live for 3 or 4 days without water, so they'll probably more likely die of dehydration than starvation.
I have been told that without food the human stomach starts eating itself so not a nice way to go.
 

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