Had a small dose of SHTF in my city today. How quickly things go to hell.

N

NO F-Bdy Bs

Joined
May 3, 2007
Messages
247
About 11pm today, Shreveport La shut off all of its water to the entire town, with a few MINOR exceptions. They said they didnt know they reason (that means someone fucked something up) and that they didnt know when the water would be back on.
They let all the schools out.

Anyhow. We keep 10 cases of bottled water on hand at any given time, and we are just outside of town and have well water, so I wasnt sweating it.

I had to go by the local Wal-Mart today to get some butter and bread. This was about 2pm

ALL of the bottled water was gone. All the bottled fruit drinks were gone, all the Gatorade and the like was gone.
There were a few odd things like Yoo-Hoo and some soft drinks left, but for the most part, gone.
Also, nearly all of the bread was already gone.
All of this in only about 3 hours. Its about 9pm right now, and the water is back on, but a boil advisory is in effect for 24hrs.

Yet more proof that you better stay on top of your stock. Even when a minor situation pops up, shit goes to hell REAL fast.



Side note.
Upon hearing the news. I grabbed my 3-day pack, and my 10/22 and headed into the backyard. Built a small lean-to and started gathering firewood. After a few hours nothing much had happened. I figured that by now most of the city had devoured itself, and it was safe to go out.
I went to my neighbors and offered to trade him some coffee and salt for his 19yr old daughter, but he wasnt having it. I give him a week, he will come around.
 
We also keep several cases of bottles water and half dozen cases of canned food plus the freeze is full of meat which up here we could just set outside this time of year if we lost power.Its only been above freezing two days in the last two months. We can also go out to the shop and start the wood stove in a pinch.
 
When there is a threat of hurricane around here the same thing happens. Water is the biggest worry. I have 6 30 gallon plastic containers in the garage I keep full. The Boy Scouts used to get them from the local water company and sell them for fund raisers. They originally contained chemical for water treatment. Fill them up, one tabespoon of bleach and good to go for about five years. I empty and refill about every 3 years.
Terry
ps
If you had thrown in a couple of chocolate bars, I bet he would have gone for it.
 
I tend to keep 3 or 4 brand new rubbermaid trashcans full of water in basement during the winter for power outages, 5 5gal water bottles for the water cooler and 5 cases of bottled water for drinking- we rotate the bottled water with use.

I am also on a well and would be interested in hearing your plan to draw water when eletricity is out. I have not invested in a quality hand pump but have a bail system worked out and am looking into a belt driven pump to improvise driving off of the wheels of my lawn tractor... Always interested in new ideas though.

2Door
 
I went to my neighbors and offered to trade him some coffee and salt for his 19yr old daughter, but he wasnt having it. I give him a week, he will come around
Click to expand...


Pretty darn funny. :D
 
lmalterna said:
I tend to keep 3 or 4 brand new rubbermaid trashcans full of water in basement during the winter for power outages, 5 5gal water bottles for the water cooler and 5 cases of bottled water for drinking- we rotate the bottled water with use.

I am also on a well and would be interested in hearing your plan to draw water when eletricity is out. I have not invested in a quality hand pump but have a bail system worked out and am looking into a belt driven pump to improvise driving off of the wheels of my lawn tractor... Always interested in new ideas though.

2Door
Click to expand...

How deep is your well? That will make a difference if you can use a hand pump. Mine is 370 ft, I have a gas powered welder that is also a 8000w gen. I have not needed to yet but the well pump wires can be disconnected from the cicuitbreaker and run to the gen and powered that way. I also have a pond and spring so water is not much of an issue for me.
 
I actually have two wells- the old well could not meet demand after a new house was built nearby and no one was willing to setup over it to deepen it. That well is 150'(approx) and water is within 75' of surface with a 2 gal refill rate. That is the one I test my ideas on. The newer well is a skosh over 300 and 6GPM refill rate.

I practiced my bail method by placing an upturned wheelbarrow next to well, remove rubber from tire, attached premade 6' long 4" PVC bail with weight in bottom to help sink it--- my 12 yr old can raise full bail using rope in the wheel channel like a pulley. When it gets to top just grab it and have clean water.

A gen would be nice but have not prioritized it highly enough yet.

2Door
 
Two days ago the city of Minneapolis had a tanker truck overturn and spill 5000 to 6000 gallons of 87 octane. It shut down traffic, but more importantly, it spilled where it will reach the Mississippi. Right now, they say only a few hundred fish will die, but it was only a couple of miles south of the intake for the entire cities water supply. If it were simply on a different highway, the risk of shutting down the cities water would have made for an interesting rush at the supermarket.
 
Very telling. Remember your hot water heater is good for a lot of water, too.
Stock up on grub while you are at it.
 
We always keep a fridge full of bottled water, plus around 4-6 gallon jugs also. I NEVER drink tap.



If we'd suffer from long term no-water we'd probably suffer though, our old house had a well (we used for dogs + garden), I suppose I'd be digging down and purifying water from the earth. (South Louisiana so I wouldn't have to dig more then a few feet before I struck water).
 
This was just a short water outage. Guess what would happen if some computer geeks hacks the elctrical company and blacks out the major cities in the US. Opps, that was Die Hard 4, but still. What is the use of harassing every not white blue eyed person in the customs. Some days ago the swedish soccer team was flying from Sweden to Costa Rica. The one guy not swedish looking (born in Iran, but moved to sweden at age two or so) was intimidated by the Gestapo squads at the Houston. What is the use to look for pathetic bombs when all you need is some keystrokes on a keyboard to push the whole US into a harmageddon of chaos, riots, plundering and such.
The new "terrorists" do not fly over here and blow shit up, they can sit in a teenagers room in Everydayville, Kansas and pull the plug on anything, anywhere. What if they decided to open the gates at Hoover dam. First a big flood wave, then water everywhere and then a brown out when the plant goes offline etc. Panic, chaos whatever. I guess then I would go bushman and start living off the land until order is restored.
 
Another place to get water is the plastic base of your kid's basketball hoop - the moveable kind. Around 20 gal or so, IIRC... Easy source, nobody thinks of it...
 
When I first moved out to NEPA (North East Pennsylvania, [PA]) I wasn't ready for how often the power would go out due to storms, snow, ice and bad drivers but after bein' here for the last 20 years we've learned how to cope, I use wood for supplemental heat, I have a mountain fed stream in the backyard, and 7 1/2 acres to play on, not a big place but enough for a summer garden and fresh water when needed I still fiter and boil water but I've drank water fresh from the creek many times to no ill effect.

Did I mention the fish and ducks and all forms of wild life hangin' around, gettin' drinks from the creek.

Because of where I live and how I grew up, we were always ready to be cut off from the world for a few weeks, ya learn to smoke meats, can, store stuff in a root cellar.

Livin' in the city, ya ge used to 24/7 service, interupt the utilities in the city and everything goes to heck.


It's a shame that so many young people lose interest in bushcraft and survival skills, I used to spend time durin' the different seasons teachin' my daughter woods skills and plant id, for years we did this, and she was good, she could tell ya what it was, what it could be used for and within 24 hrs of gettin' a boyfriend she forgot it all.

What is it about young love that make you forget all common sense?

Never mind that question would take an entire forum to address.

Anyway I'm set for a dose of SHTF and the more people who are also means less people hangin' out in my house durin' a disaster, last time the Delaware river went over I had 4 families livin' with me and the family, we were the only ones with heat, water and bathroom.:)
 
lmalterna said:
I
I am also on a well and would be interested in hearing your plan to draw water when eletricity is out.

2Door
Click to expand...


Between my father and I (he lives next door) we have 3 generators between us. A large natural gas unit, and 2 regular gas ones.
So as long as we have fuel avalible, we have elec power to run pretty much anything.
 
Water is definately important. I like to think of myself as a reasonably prepared person. I have extra food, water, generator, BOB, etc: I recently woke to find that I had no water. Well, no problem right? Wrong.......... I had no water pressure which meant that although I had a British Berkefeld water filter, I had no water running out of the pipes to filter. Mistake........................I had enough bottled water to get by for a while but I needed several gallons (not counting the water heater) to be able to filter to not only get by but to do quite well. Lesson learned. I now have extra tap water in large quantity bottles available to filter. We all tweak our supplies as we go................
 
NO F-Bdy Bs said:
Side note.
Upon hearing the news. I grabbed my 3-day pack, and my 10/22 and headed into the backyard. Built a small lean-to and started gathering firewood. After a few hours nothing much had happened. I figured that by now most of the city had devoured itself, and it was safe to go out.
Click to expand...


If all hell did break loose, why would you rather be in a lean-to in your backyard, rather than inside your house?
 
Here's a weird thought, how many of us keep toilet paper stocked? Really in a situation of social breakdown I bet people would trade some good stuff for T.P.


The neighbor passed on coffee and the salt for only one of his kids?? I bet a case of toilet paper would have changed his mind.
 
nodh,

If you believe that you can push the "whole U.S." into an "armageddon", you need to get out more. Maybe you should come and visit, and stay for a while and get to know some folks outside of the major ant farms we call cities. What you discover may surprise you.

Ron
 
nodh said:
This was just a short water outage. Guess what would happen if some computer geeks hacks the elctrical company and blacks out the major cities in the US. Opps, that was Die Hard 4, but still. What is the use of harassing every not white blue eyed person in the customs. Some days ago the swedish soccer team was flying from Sweden to Costa Rica. The one guy not swedish looking (born in Iran, but moved to sweden at age two or so) was intimidated by the Gestapo squads at the Houston. What is the use to look for pathetic bombs when all you need is some keystrokes on a keyboard to push the whole US into a harmageddon of chaos, riots, plundering and such.
The new "terrorists" do not fly over here and blow shit up, they can sit in a teenagers room in Everydayville, Kansas and pull the plug on anything, anywhere. What if they decided to open the gates at Hoover dam. First a big flood wave, then water everywhere and then a brown out when the plant goes offline etc. Panic, chaos whatever. I guess then I would go bushman and start living off the land until order is restored.
Click to expand...


Its not that simple, no doubt a few highly intelligent people could do something along those lines, however, seems to me someone intelligent enough to pull that off would know it wouldn't be worth the repercussions.


There is a vast difference from hijacking a plane with a knife and bomb, and hacking government computers. Any average joe can slash a throat with a knife, or build a bomb. It takes no particular skill, one is something that comes naturally and the other is something you can do as you read about it in a book/over the internet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top