We were without power from before midnight the night the storm hit until about 1-2 days before Thanksgiving. We were one of the early ones to have power restored and there were others without power for 4-7 days longer than we were.
On the Friday before the storm hit I was going out of town. At that point, to my knowledge it was not a sure thing that we would be hit by the storm, so I was not overly concerned about it, but nevertheless I did take a few pre storm precautions. I went and got two five gallon cans filled for the generator and went and bought an inflatable air mattress and an air pump for it, so that if my family had to evacuate they would have a mattress to sleep on at her friend’s house. While on the check out line, I ran into a Police Officer friend of mine. We talked a bit and he mentioned that a Security company he worked for had contacted him to see if the storm hit here, if he could work. He Knew that I was licensed so he passed along that information to me. I did not think much about it at the time.
I went upstate for the weekend and started to get a bunch of text messages from home and friends about the storm since I was in an area with no cell reception nor T.V.. I should have stopped what I was doing at that point and headed home, but I did not, I later regretted that. I was not able to watch the Weather and still did not understand the magnitude of the storm at that point.
The text messages informed me that there was no gas to be found from Long Beach all the way North past Rockville Centre, about a 10 mile radius. Another text informed me that Voluntary evacuation had started; followed shortly thereafter that Mandatory evacuation had started. When the voluntary evacuation started, I knew at that point there would be a mandatory evacuation later. I drove to an area to get cell service and told My Wife what to start loading her truck with and not to wait for me to beat the traffic and leave now.
For those not familiar with Nassau County, Long Island and the South Shore. I live on what some on this forum have called a sand bar. It is about 9 miles long by one half mile wide at its widest point and access is by three draw bridges. The island has no name; some call it “ The barrier Island”. The next text informed me that the toll bridge that I needed to cross to get onto the island would close to all traffic at 5:00 P.M.. At that point, the alarm bell went off in my head and I immediately started to make the 165-mile drive to get home.
I would not be evacuating and wanted to be home so that I would not be looted and do what I could to protect my house. I made really good time most of the way until I got down near the N.Y.C., one of the bridges was backed up (Whitestone). I had not even stopped to get gas along the way. I just wanted to get over the bridge before it closed, if I did not, I would never hear the end of it from the Wife. I got to the bridge right before 5:00 and was told that the bridge had been closed hours earlier. I tried to get within ¾ mile of the bridge to leave my truck and walk over the bridge, but was shocked to find out that Nassau County East of Route 878 and N.Y.P.D. on the West side of 878 on the Queens side had the area so locked down that was not possible.
I then drove to the East and stopped in the Five Towns to collect my thoughts and make a plan and what to do now. I saw a Nassau Police car that told me they did close the bridge hours earlier than was announced to the public and that the Long Beach Bridge would stay open until 6:00 and that was my best option. I did not have to be told twice and started in that direction at high speed. The drive is about 25 minutes and it was already after 5:00. When I got to Long Beach Road, which feeds the last open bridge onto the island, the road was backed up into the next town Island Park, about a four-mile back up. Southbound traffic was very heavy. As I got close to the bridge just before 6:00, I could see Police started closing the 3 lanes down by using salt spreader trucks and closed one lane down. I went over the bridge just before 6:00, after lane two was closed and could see in my rear view mirror the last vehicle come over as the last lane was closed. I was very thankful I just made it.
To my surprise, as soon as I went over the bridge I saw the Long Beach Hess station on my left was open, had gas and only one car pumping gas. I went right home, pushed my luggage out of the trunk and got all my remaining gas cans, 20 gallons worth and went to top them off. I filled up my truck, which had less than one third tank and filled the gas cans. Now I was pretty happy at this point with 30 gallons for the Honda EU2000i Companion Genny and a full tank for my truck. It should be pointed out that Hess did not inflate their prices, as did some gas stations notably Valero and Hess gave priority to First Responders. Sadly, recently Hess sold all of its stations to Speedway.
The next day, I went over to the 2.2 mile Boardwalk and took some photos of the waves and later in the day video of the Ocean coming all the way up the beach past the boardwalk and right into the Allegria Hotel. It looked like Niagara Falls. This is the same boardwalk location that Al Roker and Stephanie Abrams from The Weather Channel would do their storm coverage from, as well as other networks.
Later at dead Low Tide, I went to one of the local Fire Houses to visit some friends and look for storm intell. On the way into the Fire House I noticed that on the Bay side of the island, the water was already coming over the top of the bulkhead behind the Fire House and was flooding their parking lot and the street. I saw my friends and was told to come meet the National Guard that Governor Cuomo had sent to help us in our time of need. There was two eighteen or nineteen-year-old Guardsman who had one Humvee. I was told that was the extent of the National Guard presence on our island. The Fire House was about to be flooded and they are evacuating and not to tell anyone about the evacuation, so not to start a panic. We wished each other luck and safety and went our separate ways.
I then went home and brought inside the garage the garbage cans and recycling bins and filled them with the garden hose and checked my preps and put a Go Bag, Protech Helmet with goggles and helmet mounted MS2000 strobe light and a Lifesaving Systems TRISAR inflatable life vest and fins at the top of the stairs in the unlikely event the house was badly flooded and I had to get out quickly. I removed whatever was in my second frig that did not absolutely require refrigeration and what did was removed and put in the primary fridge. I turned the temps down on the primary fridge and freezer and started to make ice and had some dinner. This was the first good opportunity that I had to actually watch the T.V. coverage of what was coming. I lost power around 10:30 that night.
One of the reasons that I selected Verizon FIOS service was that I was told that the fiber optic cable would still work completely submerged in water and the FIOS unit in the garage had a back up battery to power the system. They never explained to me that the 6 volt backup battery would only power the phone for 24 hours and not the T.V. signal, or Internet. The front of my house is about 140’ from the canal on the Bay Side of the island and about 500 hundred yards from the Ocean on the South side of my house.
When I first started to see the water come around the houses across the street in the dark, I thought I was seeing things. But, that is what was starting to happen. The Ocean would definitely be meeting the Bay tonight. It shocked me the speed at which the water came into the street, across it and then up my driveway which is on a bit of an incline and right up to my garage doors as I sat on the stoop and watched the whole show unfold with a Goal Zero spotlight.
I then went inside to check the garage and down stairs and saw that each time the wind blew, the garage doors flexed inward. I then started my truck and backed it up against the garage door, turn the wheel all the way over and locked it and engaged the emergency brake. I then engaged the garage doors angle iron into the track and there was no more flex. I tried doing that with the other garage door and finding out that the angle iron was not installed properly and did not line up with the hole in the garage door track.
If you are concerned about the garage doors, the weakest point in your home failing, I recommend this http://ift.tt/2qJQDpF.
The water was coming up rapidly and there was no time to waste. I got the tools out, removed the angle iron and supporting brackets, marked the location for new holes, drilled the holes and reinstalled. I had no vehicle on that side to brace that door with. Shortly thereafter, the water on the other side of those garage doors was over 5’ deep. Water was entering under the doors, but the reinforced doors were holding back the wind and the tons of salt water.
I was getting so many calls and texts from my Wife that I went into my truck to recharge my phone. She called again around 3:15 A.M. to say she got a call from her friend who lives behind us and they needed help. I told her it was too dangerous to go out and her Husband would handle it. I was told that he was behind me at the bridge, but was shut out on the North side and could not get home. His truck was later flooded. After my Wife’s insistence, against my better judgment, I put on Hip waders (I don’t know why since the water was neck deep) and the Life vest and helmet and started wading around the corner. It was as black as could be at first, I saw boats of various sizes that had broken free go floating by and when I went around the corner the night was light up due to the fully involved house fire down the street and the Fire Dept. was there. I don’t know how they were able to drive through water that deep, but they were there. I was later told it took 3-4 hours after the initial call was placed by the time they showed up it was too late. There were hundreds of car fires across town and many other houses that were burning. Long Beach Fire Dept. should be commended for an heroic job and efforts that they made.
When I entered my neighbor’s house, I was surprised how much deeper the water was in their house. The water on the lower floor was coming up through the floor with such force that it was bubbling like a Jacuzzi tub. They also had water coming through the garage doors, sliding glass doors and ground floor windows and I had to go up the stoop to enter. I was told they wanted to engage their pumps, even though I could see it was already way too late for that and they needed the genny to run to do that. They were concerned about the water reaching the second floor, where they were holed up. I was told the genny was in the garage; I was concerned about being electrocuted in there. I did find what I believe was a medium sized Champion genny with the tags still on it and with water about two feet over the top of it. Back in the house I go and was told there was a second genny in there too. No matter, it was well under water.
I told the Daughter and Wife to come with me and they would be safer and that looting could start and they could not defend themselves. I was then told they had one more genny on the terrace an old abused Honda EU2000i, which they did have gas for it. I could not get it started. I went back to my house and got some tools and was able to eventually get it started. While trying to top off the fuel tank for them, a gust of wind blew gasoline into my eyes and it was quite painful. I went into their Kitchen and submerged my head in the kitchen sink for a while and then went back and topped off their tank. I plugged in their phones, the fridge and one light. I went back home again and got a Motorola GP 300 radio and two extra batteries, a flashlight and went back to them and explained that the cell service would soon fail and they should come with me, or just come when they needed to, as I would be up all night. I showed them how to change the radio battery and that I would monitor channel one all night, if they needed more help.
The Next morning, the water had receded and the neighbors who had not evacuated began to gather in the street around 6:30 A.M..
The neighbor across the street said he had a large genny, so I said that was good, as he was likely to have a need for it. He said he had no gas for it though. His Wife was eight months pregnant and also had an infant. I told him to come over to the garage and I gave him five gallons of gas, since at that point I thought that the power would be back on in three or four days and I had way too much gas. All three of his cars were totaled. My Grand Cherokee failed the Sandy swim test as well. I had forgotten about the two bags of tools in the trunk, which were also ruined. Apparently, my other truck inside the garage was the only vehicle to survive on our block. Home Owners who had no garage door bracing in place had their vehicles inside the garage totaled.
My next-door neighbors car that was in his driveway floated up in between his house and mine resting up against my house, where my hot and cold-water hose bibs are, on top of the hose. When his car was shorting out from the salt water and the horn was blaring and the lights flashing, I thought it would burn and light my house on fire. I could not get to the hose to fight the fire, but I was lucky it did not burn. About a week later when the tow truck finally showed up, the driver told me that he was the one who recovered the woman’s car in Staten Island who had the two boys drown. Her car was imbedded in a second floor bedroom and he pulled it out with a hook around the rear axle and let it drop about sixteen feet to the driveway. He said it was very sad. At the time, I did not even know what he was talking about since I could not watch T.V. and listened to the scanner instead of A.M. radio every chance that I got.
I sure got some good SIGINT about the Rescue Operations and the Looting while the storm was raging and during the aftermath by monitoring Nassau County P.D., Long Beach P.D. & F.D.. I used a Puxing PX-888K Dual Band radio. I had more than 50 frequencies preprogrammed and labeled in the radio’s memory for every Local, County, State or Federal Agency who may respond to a Natural Disaster. I also had all N.Y.P.D. and F.D.N.Y. frequencies as well.
Other folks in the area were relying on what their neighbor was told by their Uncle Bob’s friend who told them blah, blah, blah, went on last night, while I was getting my 411 in real time. Invest in a radio and or scanner so you know what is going on around you from a credible source. There was no landline or cell service in the area. When I did have service while traveling around I was getting text messages from friends who know that I prep and wanted intell from the people and me in my network. I would pass along what I could to help. This went on for weeks.
The day after the storm was spent helping neighbors, I assembled a pump and hose system to pump my neighbors basement out whose house is on the canal, but he is not mechanically inclined. The water came in with such force that his rear facing windows were smashed and his heavy-duty pressure treated lumber fence was ripped away by the force of the water. My next door neighbor an older gentleman needed a large hole in his roof patched and his gutters and downspouts that were now clogged with debris cleared. I used two packs of roof shingles that I had on hand, some ferring strips and a blue tarp. My roof has Hurricane shingles and sustained no damage, but most of the roofs on the block had varying degrees of damage. However, flying debris had damaged My chimney cap, as I was later to find out. Most on the block would get new roofs installed, several installed Hurricane shingles when they noticed my roof was the only one without damage. The amount of shingles that had hit my house on all sides was surprising. My siding had tar stains on it from all the neighbors’ shingles hitting it during the storm. I am lucky flying roof shingles or other storm debris did not break any of my windows. I do have ¾” plywood pre cut and marked for location for each window of my house stored in the shed, but I did not put it up. If you have a brick, or wood frame house that has wood, not vinyl around your windows, I recommend plylox to quickly and easily secure your pre-cut and labeled plywood to the windows. https://www.plylox.com
5/8” plywood is the thinnest you should use, many Building codes require ¾” plywood to board up windows.
Towards the end of the day, I took the opportunity to take a ride and survey the damage in the area. I took numerous photos of burned out cars still smoldering, burned out houses, sand in the street from 3-8’ feet deep, cars buried vertically in the sand, garage doors pushed in from the force of the rushing water, large pieces of the boardwalk In the middle of the street and in peoples yards, the store front windows that were smashed by looters during the storm, flashing mobile highway signs all over town asking “ Please Don’t flush the Toilet “, the ongoing rescue operation of hundreds of people from the Lido Towers condo development, a seven story building that had Ocean water reach the third floor and damaging the buildings foundation, etc. Many residents were older and had to be carried down the stairs by First Responders. The collection of photos and video that I had compiled was epic.
It quickly became obvious at that point the power was not coming back on in 3 or 4 days, as it always had in the past. All utilities were off line, no landline or cell phone service, no water and you could not flush the toilet. Luggable Loo was worth its weight in gold, as was a large supply of trash bags and some compound buckets.
That night I stayed up all night on looter watch and listened to the scanner. The next morning, the neighbor who I had given five gallons of gas for his genny the day before and had no gas can for it wanted more gas, as he had used all of it the night before. The five gallons was not even enough to fill the tank on his 9,000-Watt genny. Even though I had 25 gallons at that point, I declined to give him more, since I did not know when, or even if I would be able to get more gas.
I told one of the other neighbors down the block that the looting was widespread and it was a bad idea to leave her new medium sized unchained genny in the middle of her driveway both day and night. She told me that it was fine there and she was not worried about it. About a day or two later when she heard from numerous other people about the looting and generator theft that was going on they dragged the genny from the driveway to the front porch unchained and she made her unarmed husband sleep on the living room couch on the other side of the wall from the genny to protect it. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. She ran the genny night and day for the convenience of having power and to power their basement sump pumps. They quickly ran out of fuel for their fuel inefficient construction style genny, it was also loud enough to wake the dead. That night I went to check on them since I was up all night anyway and noticed while looking through the window that he was in fact on the couch, but was sound asleep. The next morning I told her that I went to check on them late, I don’t think she believed me, so I told her the color of his t shirt, what it said on it and that he appeared to snoring quite loudly. She said he was still wearing the same shirt, so she knew I was for real and admitted that he normally sleeps with a CPAP machine for his snoring. She spoke disparagingly about him and his lack of tools and mechanical skill. When they ran out of gas she had sent him to wait on the line at the gas station, if he could find one that had gas and was able to pump it. The lines could be 7-8 hours long, with no guarantee that when you get to the pump there will be any gas left. She would send him out for gas every day. He did get scolded for falling asleep on genny watch. He did get pretty good at finding gas and coming back with it at the end of each day, as was his routine. After the storm they increased their gas can storage capacity to have cans for about 50 gallons of gas. They just recently installed a Generac standby generator but only elevated it two feet above grade.
My next door neighbor was concerned about his limited food supply going bad as he had no genny and asked if I could run a line to him from mine. I really did not want to, but it is hard to deny people that you have to live with later, when you are under such circumstances. So, I explained that I have a very small genny and could only supply power to him twice per day for his fridge and to recharge phones or IPAD and nothing else, two hours in the morning once my fridge was cooled down and again in the early evening. He was happy. He then asked if I was going out to look for gas or food and could he come since both of his vehicles were totaled. I said yes we could go at 7:00 A.M. the next morning when the Martial Law ended. The neighbor across the street found out that I was going for supplies and he too asked to come since he had no gas for his humongous genny. I told both not to be late and meet me in the driveway at 7:00. I had already started the habit of wearing soft body armor all day and night unless I was sleeping. We left and I went off the island for the first time since the storm and got to see how far to the North the damage extended. The Costco, Lowes, Verizon, A.T.&T., McDonalds, etc. were all wiped out. The Verizon store clearly had been looted. There was nothing left for shopping, or the half dozen gas stations in that area. We then headed North and then East down Sunrise Hwy. Since that is a major Route with numerous gas stations along it and we found nothing. We then headed west towards N.Y.C. and still no gas stations had gas. I then had the idea to use the find gas feature on my Garmin G.P.S. and look for smaller gas stations away from major travel arteries that may still have some gas left. Thinking out of the box in a Disaster situation is called for. After hitting 29 gas stations we found one small out of the way local neighborhood gas station that not only had gas and power, but also had a short line. We were excited. When we pulled up to the pump, the guys wanted to fill their cans, but I told them the vehicle gets topped off first, so that we have gas to get around. I coined a new term, the tank is full when you can actually see gas at the cap, not when the pump auto shuts off, this is now called “ Sandy Full “ and allowed me to put in 2.55 extra gallons beyond what full normally is in the tank by defeating the pumps auto shutoff feature. There was a reality check when I opened the trunk to get my gas can out and they saw the Ax, Chainsaw, Tow Strap, Shovel, Crow Bar, Bolt Cutters, Long Gun, Hard Armor, Helmet / PVS 14, Trauma bag, A.E.D, Tool bag, etcetera that was in the trunk. Not one word was said in the gas station, just an awkward silence with mouths open, although later on the return trip they did ask. I explained that I did not know what condition the roads would be in to the North, we can’t rely on getting help if the road was blocked or we got stuck and regardless I would be making it back, no matter what.
While waiting on the short gas station line, another thought occurred to me. Did I have the phone number in my phone for the website that I ordered my Generator from the year before, right before we were hit with Hurricane Irene? I did and asked if they still had in the computer which items I had purchased and they did. So, I enquired about if those same items were in stock and how many of each item they had on hand. Those items were Honda EU2000i Standard and Companion models, Honda Accessories: DC charging kits, patch cord kits, NGK spark plugs, upper and lower air filters, two genny hour meters for my units, 30 Five gallon gas cans. I bought all the inventory for the above items and told them to ship immediately, as they were on the West Coast and it would take quite awhile to get the Ten Gensets spare parts and accessories to me that I had inbound. The Gas cans eventually showed up in a refrigerator box. At that point I did not know that U.P.S. was not delivering on our Island, due to the roads being impassable.
When things returned to normal, I purchased two very sturdy five gallon VP Racing cans with a wide mouth to fill the can and excellent nozzle hose from Cabela’s that requires no pushing in or twisting of the spout, just tilt and pour, http://ift.tt/2qJWoDP. There are several good cans out there, I prefer the older ones without the CARB Federal standards that make them difficult and sloppy to use. The genuine NATO Jerry cans don’t leak and are available if you look around for them at the $50 price point, don’t forget to get the nozzle and an extra rubber gaskets for the nozzle.
An example here, http://ift.tt/2qJPfDi. The old Metal Gas cans from Eagle with the flexible aluminum spout are also very good, http://ift.tt/2qJBzYU. An excellent item that I did fill up and I did use extensively during Sandy to refill both Gennys was a 14 Gallon Flo N’ Go gas dock from Scepter. I was able to plumb some outboard motor fuel line, quick disconnect fuel fittings and brass elbows together to create a gravity feed fuel system from the gas dock into one of the Gennys so that I would not need to refill it. I had all the fittings on hand, but never took the time to put it together and test it before the storm. This gravity feed fuel system did make life much easier. Bear in mind that when you top off this Gas Dock it is about 120 lbs, while it has wheels, if you need to go up stairs with it, it won’t be easy. One of the plastic hose clamps along the fuel hose has since broken and I doubt I could use it now, until I get a replacement part, but I already got my moneys worth out of this. There may be better quality gas docks out there. I have also noticed since the storm the 10’ of gas hose has gotten very stiff and may no longer be usable. You will need to purchase a machined aluminum Genny gas cap in order to attach your quick disconnect gas line fitting. http://ift.tt/2qJFsNK
I also found the extended oil fill spout kept the oil from going all over the Genset when performing oil changes and the magnetic dipstick is money well spent to protect your engine, in my opinion. All these parts, which I had on hand before the storm paid big dividends in convenience during and after the storm.
Another item that I found to be very helpful and critical to not overloading your generator is the Kill A Watt, Model P 4400, http://ift.tt/2qJYy6t. Before the storm I took a reading with this device on every item in my home that I thought I may potentially to plug into the Genny and recorded the appliance name and the wattage it drew and created a note document in my phone for all of these items, so that it would be easy to find, should the need every arise. I also, went to several neighbors homes at their request and took the readings for them as well, since they had no idea how much load they were putting on their Gen Set and not one of them had any spare parts for their Genny either, not even 10W-30 oil on hand to change the oil with. I changed the oil on several neighbors Gen Sets as time dragged on with no power. I had a case of 10W-30 in the shed and changed the oil on my Gen Sets in accordance with the digital gauge that I bought from Honda as an accessory. This gauge gave both running hours and RPM’s and installed these on both of my EU2000’s.
Without exception I found that folks who had a Genny, had no spare parts and no knowledge or skill to do even the most basic small engine maintenance to keep it running for an extended period of time. I advised some who were running their Genny 24/7 and had no spare parts and had not even changed the oil they had better give it a rest or they would have no running Genny at all to plug anything into. The importance of having one or more quality Fire Extinguishers when using GenSets, should not be overlooked.
After leaving the gas station, I was ready to head home, but the others wanted to now search for food. I utilized the same feature on the G.P.S. since none of us knew the area of Queens well that we were in. Eventually, we found an independent local supermarket that had not lost power and we went in and they bought a whole shopping cart each and I bought a few perishable items. Now everyone was quite happy they were thankful that I took them and were able to find what they needed. The one exception was we looked in several stores for Gas Siphons and could not find any, an item that would have been worth its weight in gold. I learned a lesson from this situation and now have this model of Siphon, the U.S. made version, http://ift.tt/2qJX247.
We then agreed to set the routine of meeting in my driveway at 7:00 each morning when the Curfew ended and look for gas and food on alternating days.
While, out on this foraging trip and my phone was working. I got a call from the Security Company my Police Officer friend had put me onto, asking if I was available to work in Far Rockaway providing Security to the Utility companies from 7:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M., the same hours the Martial Law was in effect. I said, yes and started that night and worked seven nights per week until the event was over. After the third night, I was made night shift Supervisor for all their sites in Far Rockaway in support of L.I.P.A., National Grid and all the out of State Utilities who came to help. The Mission was to prevent the looting of Material, Generators, and Equipment and to protect the workers inside the secure compounds. Unfortunately, some of the out of state workers had been attacked while attempting to repair the equipment and had their teeth knocked out and one guy had his jaw broken. As a whole, I thought N.Y.P.D. who brought in Police from the other boroughs had done a great job and also brought in large work lights that were placed on almost every corner. What I noticed when arriving in Far Rockaway was, that as bad as Long Beach was hit, Far Rockaway was like Armageddon. The water over there had been 8-9’ deep and they too have the Ocean on one side and Jamaica Bay on the other, which of course did meet about eight feet deep. Gunfire could be heard at night.
By this time, my Wife had been driving me crazy wanting to come home. Her friend’s house is a pigstie. I explained to her that we are in a Federal Disaster area with ongoing looting and it is no place for women and kids, but I would allow her to come home if she kept her complaining to a minimum, as I had my hands full in an already bad situation. I told her to leave now as it was getting late and she had to make it home before the curfew went into effect.
The situation and the demands on my time only allowed for eating one meal per day for the first ten days after the storm. I quickly lost 15 lbs, as shown on my analog scale. I averaged two hours sleep per day, usually from 4:30-6:30 P.M. right before I had to leave to go the short distance to work in Far Rockaway for nearly one month. After about one week working at night, I was told by one of the out of state utility company workers, who slept in their trucks in our secure compound, that one location had a trailer with hot catered food in it that I did not know about. The information checked out and I got into the habit of going in that trailer about 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning each night and sat down for a pig fest. It was the high light of my day to be in there all by myself and take my time to eat. The problem was that after eating that much and having sleep deprivation, it made staying awake even harder, but I needed the food. Later on as the days went by I fell asleep at a traffic light with my foot on the brake, no idea how long I was out.
It was noticeable among the guys who I was working with, who was from the effected area and who was not. The guys from outside the area coming in to work showed little empathy or respect for those who had no power, no water and had their homes damaged or wiped out. To them, it was just another event on the news; to the rest of us it was the fight for survival.
The weather that November, was the coldest that I can ever remember. I grew up in the area. The wind would come off Jamaica Bay and go right through you. Some nights the winds gusted 25-35 M.P.H.. It was a strange Fall that year, we never got Hurricanes that late in the fall and it was never that cold, so early in the fall. The next thing that never happened before was about 7-10 days after Sandy we got hit with a Nor’easter that brought calf deep snow and more flooding.
Unfortunately, during the Nor’easter in the middle of the night my I Phone 4S was dropped in two feet of salt water and ruined. It had dozens of epic quality photos during the Hurricane and the aftermath. The photos and video were gone, since they never made it to the cloud. I did not understand at the time, that there had to be power to my desktop for the photos and video to transfer to the cloud. I still have some good photos of the aftermath, but nothing like the ones that were lost.
I also learned with losing this phone and when a disaster hits and you need a replacement phone, you will be unlikely to get one. The nearest Verizon store to me was both flooded by 5-6’ of water and then looted. The lesson I learned from this was, I now always keep the prior generation of phone and keep it in storage, updates done and fully charged and the other was to run power to my desktop/UPS, if for no other reason so the photos and video will transfer to the cloud to later share with others.
Another item I recommend now, that I did not have at the time is a UPS Back Up Battery and Surge Protector for your computer. The one I have now is built like a tank, is 980 Watts and has eight AC outlets in the back to plug in other items like, another desk top computer, your laptop, IPad, printer, cell phone, rechargeable batteries, etc. It runs on two twelve-volt batteries and also protects your computer if there is a storm related power surge, your computer will not get fried. It is constantly being charged while plugged into the wall, so when the power fails, it is fully charged. It also has a replace battery LED indicator light. It does beep once in a while when performing the self test. I wish I had this at the time of Hurricane Sandy, I would have better photos. http://ift.tt/2qJYzY5. I have seen them for sale at Costco also.
I also found that an electric blanket was a very efficient way to keep family warm while drawing only a few watts from the Genny. Well worth the investment. This of course, could be plugged into an APC or a Goal Zero Yeti Solar Generator and not run your Genny overnight, to conserve hard to replace fuel.
I also found having several LED lanterns around the house was very helpful like the ones from Coleman or Goal Zero, http://ift.tt/2qJSdYw. I particularly liked the Coleman model that runs on D batteries, lasts a very long time on one set of batteries and has side panels that detach to take with you while leaving the main unit on and in place for others to use. http://ift.tt/2qJYymZ.
In an extended outage, you will go through a large amount of alkaline batteries and everyone else will need them at the same time you will. Having some rechargeable batteries in different sizes and a quality charger to top them off is a good prep.
Also, having more extension cords than you expect to need in different lengths and gauges is another key prep. I am not a fan of 16 gauge cords; I like 14 and 12 gauge cords, 12 gauge especially in the longer lengths. Bare in mind when your neighbor inevitably asks to borrow an extension cord “for a little while” it is not coming back to you until after the event is over, if ever.
Take a look at extension Cords from Edison-Stinger, they are professional grade. Cords with an illuminated end will tell you from a distance if there is power running thru that extension cord. I like to make a printer label for each cord telling me the gauge and the length. In the dark in a Disaster, I like to make it easier and quicker to see what I am working with, not harder. I also like to equip my extension cords with cable ties. Not only so that I may label them, but I can run a cord thru them http://ift.tt/2qJQPoR and tie off the male end of the extension cord above the outlet box, to take the weight off the cord, so it does not fall out of the outlet.
I had a large amount of garbage bags on hand, which came in handy. Even if a store has power and is open for business, you may not be able to get there if your car was flooded. Since there was no garbage pick-ups for a few weeks, when I would leave the Disaster area, I would take our household garbage and find a dumpster to throw it in. By doing this, the attraction for Rodents and bugs was reduced.
As time went by after the storm, I even ran power to the garage door opener so when the Wife came home the door would have power to it. The battery back up the door openers have won’t last, without power to them to charge.
Another item that I did not have at the time of Sandy but I do have now, is a portable battery charger for cell phones and Ipads available from companies like Anker or Jackery. They come in many different sizes and capacities. This would have been immensely helpful during an extended outage.
Hurricane Sandy A.A.R.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire