Two weeks and counting - we got lucky

Two weeks ago tornadoes touched down in the Ottawa area. A total of six touched down in the region. We were lucky in that the only thing was we lost hydro for over fifty-five hours, but, others were not as lucky and lost everything. We did lose the contents of the fridge and freezer as we couldn’t eat all we had fast enough, but, that is the only thing we lost.

Governments are asking us to be prepared for seventy-two hours and for the most part we were prepared for that other than fresh water. I have to find the other refillable jugs and have them in a spot that is easier for me to find. I always keep containers in the basement ready for using to flush the toilet, but, drinking water (which we didn’t need this time) was not ready.

What we had and worked:

Batteries – two dozen AA rechargeable and eight triple A rechargeable. We also had twelve disposable AA and the same number of AAA. The number was OK, but, I am in the process of adding more AAA batteries that are rechargeable. I am also looking at a solar charging system so that during the day I can recharge a few of the batteries. I am also looking at rechargeable D batteries as one of the LED lamps uses those and I had no rechargeables for that.

Radios – I have several battery (and solar) radios so we were good there. The solar ones are overdue to be replaced as the batteries are built-in and cannot be replaced.

Lights – We have a lot of battery powered lamps and the house has five lamps that are on a remote control or sensors that turn on with movement so we could light the way to the bathroom or bedroom and not run down the batteries. We also have a lot of solar lamps in the back yard that I turned off so that we could use them when needed, again, saving our batteries.

BBQ – We have a propane BBQ and were able to cook meals and prepare hot coffee. I had always kept a spare tank so when one ran out I could replace it and continue on. With the hydro outage it showed me that it worked, but, if we had an extended outage that measured in the days it may not be enough. I bought a third tank so that we should be able to handle a seven day outage and still have hot food three meals a day if needed.

Perishables - We always have enough canned and dried goods to last a minimum of one week.  We also have two manual can openers and several can punches.

Electronics – The first thing we did was to turn off EVERY tablet, laptop and phone to preserve power. I did that so I would have a large reserve of power to charge the cell phone for at least a week. I also turned off the power bars so that if there was a surge when hydro came back there would be a good chance the bars would also survive. When the hydro came back on we waited thirty minutes and slowly started turning on the power bars. TV was the first thing to go back on so we could get updates. Next up were the power bars for the phone, laptop and battery charges to get them topped up in case the power went out again.

Phone – This is the weak spot for all too many people. While I had an old school copper line phone too many people do not have that. The first thing we did when we lost power and knew it was a tornado I called a family member outside the area and let her know we were OK and to put up a note on social media that all was well for us, but, we didn’t have network. Others were not so lucky as the towers here were running for a while, but, on reduced power. They also were slowly dying as I suspect the batteries for those were not enough to run for days.

Medicines – We did good there. I always keeps our medicines in a box and that is always ready to pack up if we need to leave. All of our prescriptions are in electronic and hardcopy format so we know what we have.

Heat – We caught a break here that it was warm.

Auto - We normally keep the gas tank in the vehicle filled and try not to let it go below three quarter of a tank.

Things that needs to be improved.

Phones – This showed everyone that the cellular system is dependant on power and for extended power outages it will slowly die out and no one can be contacted. The CRTC needs to look at this and mandate an absolute minimum that ALL providers must have. The general public is asked to be prepared for seventy-two hours and that should be a minimum that telcos should live up to also. It may not be feasible for every tower to have that (to start with), but, review their tower coverage and then ensure that critical towers that can serve most of the area has enough backup power to operate. People also need to look hard at the fact that if they don’t have a copper wire telephone then they are dependant on their cell phones for long term outages and those phones may not be able to connect to the towers.

Perishables – We had enough canned and dried goods to last over a week, but, drinking water was not enough if we lost water. Time to find all of the small collapsible jugs and have them in an emergency.

Communications – With three radios we were able to have different channels for news updates. The problem is that most of the radio stations in the area were running normal operations and there was almost no information on what happened and what to do. Family outside the region had better information on what happened. It may be an inconvenience, but, the stations licenses need to be modified so that in the event of an emergency they should have broadcast regular updates so that the public affected is aware of what happened and what we need to do.

Heat – It was the summer so we didn’t need wood for the fireplace. We will need to buy wood so that we can have the fireplace with a small fire to keep the place warm.