what an odd experience power outage in my community

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trish123 Lancashire, Lancashire, England UK

Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:50 AM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

We have just been without power here for a few hours and it felt like my future was flashing before my eyes, I had lots of candles and a parrafin lamp luckily. I have, like Im sure a lot of us have, been wondering what it would be like if the current economic climate got much worse. I wondered how we would cope with no electricity, how long many of us would last with the food supplies we have - many things, and this afternoon I was head on with the whole thing as a bit more of a reality - I dont know how long I will have electricity tonight - how odd....... I have, this afternoon, realised how quickly our whole infrastructure would collapse if it came upon the pressure imposed by the breakdown of electricity supplies...... how would any of you cope? what would you do first?

I live in the area of Rossendale affected by the following report...........

Power hit after explosion
Amanda Crook
22/12/2008

THOUSANDS of homes in Rossendale are without gas and electricity tonight after a fire at a power sub-station.

Power chiefs say they have turned off the electricity supply to 17,000 homes and they hope to restore it for a few hours at a time to each part of the valley over the next 24 hours.

They do not know how many houses are without gas or how long the disruption will last.

They are appealing to people who do have power in Rossendale to turn off any non-essential appliances including Christmas tree lights until the supply returns to normal.

More than 200 homes in Rawtenstall have been evacuated after an underground gas pipe exploded and caught fire this morning.

More than 60 fire fighters, who battled the blaze for three hours this morning, asked power companies to turn off supplies.

The Rawtenstall to Edenfield bypass has been closed because of smoke but the northbound carriageway of the M66 which was closed this morning because of smoke from the fire but has now reopened.

Investigation

National Grid is now investigating how the fire began at the sub-station in Holme Lane.

A spokeswoman said: "The fire damaged a nearby electricity pylon serving the United Utilities electricity distribution network, so in agreement with the emergency services we decided to turn off the gas supply in order to put the fire out.

"Gas supplies have now been lost to a number of local customers in the Rossendale area and National Grid has begun drafting in engineers to help reconnect customers as soon as possible.

"National Grid is working closely with the emergency services and local authorities to minimise disruption and support vulnerable customers such as the sick, elderly and those with young children."

Transco say customers in the Rawtenstall and Bacup areas are affected.

A spokesman said: 'Residents in the Haslingden, Rawtenstall, Bacup and Helmshore area can assist by reducing their power consumption as much as possible.

'This will help us to distribute electricity more efficiently to customers in Rossendale.'

An emergency relief effort involving the North West Ambulance, Lancashire County Council, Rossendale Council, United Utilities, the National Grid, fire and police services.

Ambrose2007 Badger, South Dakota USA

Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:53 AM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

I'm searching for my candles as we speak, Trish (another reason to have a fireplace in one's house! My cousin was without power for two weeks in an isolated area in the dead of winter, and kept warm with her firestove, and cooked with it as well).

Another example of a sudden loss of technology in bad weather occurs when your car breaks down in the dead of winter out here. You should have extra warm clothing, sleeping bag, food, water, and candles are helpful..

Conrad73 Lonesome Town Zurich, Zrich Switzerland

Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:56 AM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

trish123: We have just been without power here for a few hours and it felt like my future was flashing before my eyes, I had lots of candles and a parrafin lamp luckily. I have, like Im sure a lot of us have, been wondering what it would be like if the current economic climate got much worse. I wondered how we would cope with no electricity, how long many of us would last with the food supplies we have - many things, and this afternoon I was head on with the whole thing as a bit more of a reality - I dont know how long I will have electricity tonight - how odd....... I have, this afternoon, realised how quickly our whole infrastructure would collapse if it came upon the pressure imposed by the breakdown of electricity supplies...... how would any of you cope? what would you do first?

I live in the area of Rossendale affected by the following report...........Power hit after explosion
Amanda Crook
22/12/2008THOUSANDS of homes in Rossendale are without gas and electricity tonight after a fire at a power sub-station.

Power chiefs say they have turned off the electricity supply to 17,000 homes and they hope to restore it for a few hours at a time to each part of the valley over the next 24 hours.

They do not know how many houses are without gas or how long the disruption will last.

They are appealing to people who do have power in Rossendale to turn off any non-essential appliances including Christmas tree lights until the supply returns to normal.

More than 200 homes in Rawtenstall have been evacuated after an underground gas pipe exploded and caught fire this morning.

More than 60 fire fighters, who battled the blaze for three hours this morning, asked power companies to turn off supplies.

The Rawtenstall to Edenfield bypass has been closed because of smoke but the northbound carriageway of the M66 which was closed this morning because of smoke from the fire but has now reopened.

Investigation

National Grid is now investigating how the fire began at the sub-station in Holme Lane.

A spokeswoman said: "The fire damaged a nearby electricity pylon serving the United Utilities electricity distribution network, so in agreement with the emergency services we decided to turn off the gas supply in order to put the fire out.

"Gas supplies have now been lost to a number of local customers in the Rossendale area and National Grid has begun drafting in engineers to help reconnect customers as soon as possible.

"National Grid is working closely with the emergency services and local authorities to minimise disruption and support vulnerable customers such as the sick, elderly and those with young children."

Transco say customers in the Rawtenstall and Bacup areas are affected.

A spokesman said: 'Residents in the Haslingden, Rawtenstall, Bacup and Helmshore area can assist by reducing their power consumption as much as possible.

'This will help us to distribute electricity more efficiently to customers in Rossendale.'

An emergency relief effort involving the North West Ambulance, Lancashire County Council, Rossendale Council, United Utilities, the National Grid, fire and police services.

That was a Common Occurrence in Nassau where I lived,they called it Loadshedding.
After Hurricane Floyd,ou Section of New Providence was out of Power for two Weeks,owing to all the downed Power-Poles.Had to dip water out of the Well and tote Upstairs to bathe.Was quite an experience.

kissmedeeply Petitcodiac, New Brunswick Canada

Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:57 AM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

I dont think many of us would survive...

We werent taught how incase of tornadoes..earthquakes..floods..
etc..

I think we should have evacations drills and see how quickly
we can learn from these..

In New Brunswick they did some of these trials..

but i dont think we could survive such tragedys.

So many people i think would just panic...

Merry Christmas

Big_John Ocean Springs, Mississippi USA

Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:00 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

We went for two and a half months without power after Hurricane Katrina. Of course, I didn't have a house either. It was destroyed.

trish123 Lancashire, Lancashire, England UK

Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:04 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

oh that was a freaky experience! I am only about 25 miles out of a major city (Manchester) - it was a pretty big explosion apparently - we have no heating but I dont think freezing is forecast - maybe about 4 tonight.

It was more a case of how it got me thinking about how any of us would cope with such a thing long term - its only 6 pm and this the first day after the longest day of the year - it will sure as anything get a lot colder before the dawn - its sort of taking me back to how people coped before electricity but in a less romantic sence - how the heck are the old people and emergency services going to cope right now..........

Im not being a drama queen, Im simply observing if anything but this afternoon I was thinking of my older neighbours, how they would be able to eat let alone stay warm......... in an imagined scenario of economic collapse, how would anybody prepare - I went over to my older neighbours house to see if she was OK....

trish123 Lancashire, Lancashire, England UK

Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:06 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

Its a really eye opening and scarry experience KMD

we have no prior knowledge or experience of such things here..... very eye opening experience......

trish123 Lancashire, Lancashire, England UK

Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:08 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

kissmedeeply: I dont think many of us would survive...

We werent taught how incase of tornadoes..earthquakes..floods..
etc..

I think we should have evacations drills and see how quickly
we can learn from these..

In New Brunswick they did some of these trials..

but i dont think we could survive such tragedys.

So many people i think would just panic...

Merry Christmas

Sorrt, Merry Christas to You and please say Hi for me to Eric

jbibiza Ibiza, Islas Baleares Spain

Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:56 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

trish123: oh that was a freaky experience! I am only about 25 miles out of a major city (Manchester) - it was a pretty big explosion apparently - we have no heating but I dont think freezing is forecast - maybe about 4 tonight.

It was more a case of how it got me thinking about how any of us would cope with such a thing long term - its only 6 pm and this the first day after the longest day of the year - it will sure as anything get a lot colder before the dawn - its sort of taking me back to how people coped before electricity but in a less romantic sence - how the heck are the old people and emergency services going to cope right now..........

Im not being a drama queen, Im simply observing if anything but this afternoon I was thinking of my older neighbours, how they would be able to eat let alone stay warm......... in an imagined scenario of economic collapse, how would anybody prepare - I went over to my older neighbours house to see if she was OK....

About 15 years ago we lost power for 3 days in the part of San Francisco that I lived in...it is a weird experience my heating was central which was effected but fortunately my oven was gas and I was able to use that to heat the kitchen and living room. We closed off all the other rooms and camped out in the living room for the duration. I remember coming home every night from work saying pleeeeeease let the electrics be back on!

It´s amazing how much we take for granted and depend on electricity...

trish123 Lancashire, Lancashire, England UK

Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:20 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

Thanks JB, its been quite a shock tonight - still no gas heating but luckily I have an elec fire - have been and checked on my older neighbours n all is well, the church here is lovely and takes care of emergencies so most of em are ok but Margaret (70's) doesnt go to church but I made sure she is ok.... the lights came on as she was telling me how things were when she was a child - I felt very honoured to share those few moments with her

jbibiza Ibiza, Islas Baleares Spain

Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:27 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

trish123: Thanks JB, its been quite a shock tonight - still no gas heating but luckily I have an elec fire - have been and checked on my older neighbours n all is well, the church here is lovely and takes care of emergencies so most of em are ok but Margaret (70's) doesnt go to church but I made sure she is ok.... the lights came on as she was telling me how things were when she was a child - I felt very honoured to share those few moments with her

I remember one of my favorite nights in my old bar... the power went out for several hours and instead of closing I lit loads of candles a couple of the lads ran home for their guitars... and more and more people started coming in, people seemed to have a need to be together... We had a great sing a long and put back a few drinks and when the power came back on we shut off the lights and carried on...

It was a brilliant night!

gozoman2 Xaghra, Gozo Malta

Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:33 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

Funny...when I first came to Gozo the power was one single undersea cable that was to say the least, volatile in temperament....such that in stormy weather the power was on one dy and not the next.....and not only did we survive it....but to some extent I miss those nights of candle light and blankets round the feet....

Now it's a different story of course, twenty odd years later since the infrastructure has been upgraded no end.

Still, I have hot water via solar, and heating via wood burning stove which runs off waste pallets. I hope to install solar voltiac cells once I can afford to.

The idea being to cut dependency on electrical power from power station mains.

Guess that is the future.

trish123 Lancashire, Lancashire, England UK

Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:37 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

jbibiza: I remember one of my favorite nights in my old bar... the power went out for several hours and instead of closing I lit loads of candles a couple of the lads ran home for their guitars... and more and more people started coming in, people seemed to have a need to be together... We had a great sing a long and put back a few drinks and when the power came back on we shut off the lights and carried on...

It was a brilliant night!

That was how I was feeling before I went over to Margarets - i always have loads of candles and had a box of 100 night lights - a few friends were here and a couple of neighbours called in and I made sure they were all ok for candles but when they all went home - I did the oddest thing - I got my parafin lamp out and a tapestry kit that has been in the drawer for years, I went for sewing rather than reading...... oddly - the one thing I would miss most about the internet is the information - I read all sorts of stuff for hours each and every day - thats what I would miss most...... I thought for a very short while that I had lost touch with all of you and was left wondering what the heck I would do about that long term............

trish123 Lancashire, Lancashire, England UK

Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:41 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

I also think that to get off mains power is the future and see tonights emergency as a way to bring that discussion to the fore on my local forums - it has sure got me thinking

Thanks for your input

trish123 Lancashire, Lancashire, England UK

Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:46 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

haha - didnt answer that completely JB - I also have a couple of guitars and as I have a river at the bottom of the garden , if things ever did get so serious I would stay here and hope my family came to join me somehow - fresh water is important in such circumstances - anyhow - i had light and the means to make music so - I saw to the needs of those around me then opened a beer with the determination to enjoy the experience

jbibiza Ibiza, Islas Baleares Spain

Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:08 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

trish123: haha - didnt answer that completely JB - I also have a couple of guitars and as I have a river at the bottom of the garden , if things ever did get so serious I would stay here and hope my family came to join me somehow - fresh water is important in such circumstances - anyhow - i had light and the means to make music so - I saw to the needs of those around me then opened a beer with the determination to enjoy the experience

One of my favorite things in the world is camping... and it doesn´t seem like hardship cooking over an open fire, using torches, digging a hole for the loo, washing up in a cold river gets old after a day or two though...

but you really appreciate that hot bath when you get home.

I think the difference is being prepared... when I go camping, I know what to expect and am prepared for that lifestyle... when the power goes off for an extended time... we´re usually not prepared.

The last time I had a power outage I was using the light from my mobile phone to find candles....

Then I always have that initial fear that maybe it´s not a power outage but someone has cut the lines....

Apostophe Boksburg, Johannesburg South Africa

Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:59 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

Happened to us in S.A. from 2007. Started in Cape Town first - then the entire country was affected and still is.

Our supplier - Escom - a Parastatal - have not done any maintenance or built any new power stations since 1994 - when our New Government came into place.

Sub stations started blowing up. Escom started shedding schedules - very fancy - we were without power for a few hours every day - then more power stations exploded - the switches couldn't handle it!

Now we are all walking the tight rope - no more shedding and they're busy building a few new power stations at break neck speed.

A lot of people rushed out to buy Generators and some are installing Solar panels - very pricy and not exactly 100 percent
efficient.

We shall see what we shall see when we see it.

druidess6308 Reverse, Pennsylvania USA

Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:14 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

trish123: Thanks JB, its been quite a shock tonight - still no gas heating but luckily I have an elec fire - have been and checked on my older neighbours n all is well, the church here is lovely and takes care of emergencies so most of em are ok but Margaret (70's) doesnt go to church but I made sure she is ok.... the lights came on as she was telling me how things were when she was a child - I felt very honoured to share those few moments with her

A few years ago, we had no power in most areas for 4 days...I don't remember the cause, but I live near a nuclear power plant, and that's our major power supply in this area. I remember we all went pretty nuts then. It was a decade ago, and I've still never forgotten the experience. Now, I'd really go nuts. I'd have to manually open my garage, or park outside again, and I wouldn't have a computer, or turn my stove on the normal way (it has electronic ignition). And don't laugh...these would be hard for me to live with now. I went crazy the last time it went out for 4 hours.

Yes, it would be tough if it were permanent...and have a huge impact on everything globally if it were that severe. Many would be out of jobs because businesses can't run w/o electric and gas these days. We're really not prepared now to live w/o modern conveniences. And yet, we humans are flexible enough to adjust to any change...so, we'd manage to survive. It's who we are as a race. The world we know would shrink drastically, though...just when we've gotten used to being so globally connected.

princemuncher northfield, Ohio USA

Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:14 PM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

druidess6308:
Yes, it would be tough if it were permanent...and have a huge impact on everything globally if it were that severe. Many would be out of jobs because businesses can't run w/o electric and gas these days. We're really not prepared now to live w/o modern conveniences. And yet, we humans are flexible enough to adjust to any change...so, we'd manage to survive. It's who we are as a race. The world we know would shrink drastically, though...just when we've gotten used to being so globally connected.

I know of a few on here that are certainly prepared. (myself included) for something permanant. I was raised in a survivalist environment. (no, not in a conspiracy theory way)

We've always been "stockpiled" for lack of a better term for a few reasons.

Grandpa #1 lived through the Depression and always advised me to keep plenty of non perishable food around.

Grandpa #2 was in WWII and advised me to always keep weapons on hand. (you never know who will want your ramen noodles and beef jerky, and there will always be food avaiable in nature)

Dad died when I was young, so he was no help.

Survival would be no problem, but losing touch with friends that are distant would certainly suck.

(that was muncher's mushy comment of the day)

shot3743 Vidin, Vidin Bulgaria

Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:29 AM CST : what an odd experience......... power outage in my community

Hi,
here in BG, power and water outages are very frequent. You quickly get used to them. For instance I have about 6 bottles of drinking water which I always keep handy for those occasions.
A diesel generator is on my list too as well as a lamp that runs off LPG.
What I'm saying is, it's a shock the first time but then it becomes routine.

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