Thanks for the good advice, sometimes we need to be reminded of common sense stuff. She is right, now is the time to start laying in those supplies for when you need them.  No sense in getting caught with yer britches around yer ankles.

 FYI, those of us who scrape our windows also put up with tornadoes.  You at least get warnings with a hurricane and can evacuate. With a tornado its right now, no chance to get out. Maybe if you are lucky you get 5 minutes to get to the basement, providing you have one.

Better Than Batteries wrote:

---

Forget the batteries for those tap lights there is something available that is even better. They have battery free flash lights. They are electro magnetic powered; you shake them and they shine. We ordered our first one from Sporty's Pilot Shop but I found a pack of a larger one with a little one at CVS and bought them, too. Our entire household no longer need batteries for light when the power is out.

---

Gnome Watcher wrote:

---

HH,

Thanks for all of the tips - some of them were very insightful. Although we live further north than most of you who post here, we did have to live for 8 days without water or electricity - in other words, no showers, no lights, no A/C . . . you get the idea.

However, I'm going to have to take exception with your claim that Sterno can be used indoors. This is an EXTREMELY bad idea! Why?

Sterno is composed of ethenol (which is why some severe alcoholics "squeeze" it so that they can drink it - also not recommended!) and various petroleum distillates. It's somewhat similar to the "jellied gasoline" used in military flamethrowers back in WWII.

The main point is, when Sterno burns, it produces CARBON MONOXIDE!!! Granted, it doesn't produce huge amounts, but it is certainly true that you should NEVER use any product that produces carbon monoxide inside an enclosed space - like a house. Yes, you could reduce your risk by having all of the windows open, as most of us did during the Days of Katrina, but it is still not something that I would recommend. It's not that much of an inconvenience to use it outside.

Gnome Watcher

---

LVN wrote:

---

SACRED CARDINAL HOLY RULES: do not run your generator indoors and do not hook it into your home's main power. You can kill yourself or a lineman. People have died in Hattiesburg within the past couple of years because of running the generator indoors. People have killed linemen by creating feedback into power lines.

---

Good points LVN. I've watched a discussion on this on another forum and someone always brings up the fact that linemen (persons) are supposed to ground the lines which theoretically prevents a backfed line from electrocuting them. Sometimes they forget. But it's not just linemen who are at risk as the following scenario illustrates:

A disaster knocks out  power, the power company breakers trip along the lines as they are intended as a line is severed and falls to the ground a few houses away. A homeowner fires up the generator and uses a cheater cord (also called a deadman cord) to backfeed his home. It also sends power back up to the power transformer on the pole outside the home. The transformer, as its name implies, transforms the 120 or 240 volts from the generator to about 7000 and sends it through the line which is dangling across trees, cars, and perhaps a bicycle.

The power company has not arrived yet but someone walks across the street and touches the downed line (or something touched by the line). What happens next is similar to what happens when a mosquito flies into one of those blue patio devices.

If you use a generator then either:

1) Run extension cords to your appliances from the generator and don't use your house wiring at all.

or

2) Disconnect your house, totally, from the power lines. This can be done by a transfer switch installed by an electrician.