Summer And Power Outages,how Well Prepared Are We?

[Davidglen77]

Last summer during the first week of November, I had no power for almost 6 days. At that time I was living in a building directly accross from the Congreso Nacional. It was a total nightmare, because here when there is no power there is no water either as all buildngs water systems funcion via electric pumps. Most building's have a spigot that the portero uses to wash the sidewalk near the entrance that is fed directly from the water main under the street and is not connected to the buildng's water tank, so you can get buckets of water, carry them up the stairs but after a day you have to throw away a refrigerator full of food or distribute it to friends who have power. We had a situation of a 95 year old neighbor who couldn't walk up or down the stairs of course and if it weren't for my wonderful and helpful neighbors in that building she would have certainly perished. 6 days is unusual especially in the middle of the city however it CAN happen, my recommendation is to keep a supply of several empty buckets in case you need to bring in water, and after a few days go to a hotel or a friends house if you can and make sure your faucets are all turned off in case the power and water come back when you are not home.

 

[jp]

We lost power for the best part of 3 days in las canitas last year. After day 2 we lost water. That was particularly grim.

 

[Gringoboy]

I think the OP has been watching The Walking Dead back to back.

 

[voyagingknoxvillian]

I agree that power outages are no laughing matter. In 2012 my neighborhood lost power in Cordoba for 5 days after a horrible storm. We had a freezer full of meat that got turned into asado quickly and lots of food that had to be tossed. I think its wise not to keep too much frozen food on hand during summer months, as moving or eating it immediately can be problematic.

I love love love love the gas ovens here though. I remember many freezing wintertime power outages of my childhood without access to hot water because everything in the house was electric.

 

[mc kenna]

I think the OP has been watching The Walking Dead back to back.

HAHAHAHA naah it's just that last week we had 2 storms back to back,first one 80km/h winds and heavy rain(85mm in 4 hours)then a little break and rain again(35mm in 3 hours)
One of the power line's posts leading to the ranch snapped off like it was a twig now the only thing keeping it from hitting the ground,is the 13200 volts wires.
If or when that snaps,not only i'll have high voltage on the ground(wet still),the rest of the post is gonna fall on the road cutting me off from getting out
So as i was saddling the horse to check on my neighbors about a quarter of a mile away i got to thinking how would you guys deal with it(big storm)because i imagine being on an 6th or 8th floor with no power can be frustrating to say the least and down right scary for some other unprepared folks
No fantasy world around here Gringoboy hahahaa oh btw no zombies were found or werewolves or chupacabras or yettis or vampires or women,especially women,i always keep my eyes peeled for them,they always smell nice i like them (women not the other creatures)

 

[Gaucho_ec]

hope better than
http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-blackout-2013-12

 

[citygirl]

this thread seems a little extreme. a power outage isnt a zombie apocalypse. the most ive had to deal with is 4-5 hours. i either go out for a walk or take a nap.

Count yourself lucky - after the big storm 2 years ago ( more or less), we were without power for 5 days. Which meant no water either. Kind of a problem when you have 35 horses at home who need to have constant access to water. Not to mention us

We own a big generator which is enough to keep the basic functions going here at home if needed. Our water is in huge cisterns which we can draw up by hand if necessary. We have enough food on hand to eat for probably several weeks.

Generally speaking though, our power outages last several hours, nothing more. But they happen quite frequently during the summer. (Last night for example).

 

[Davidglen77]

Yesterday evening around 7:00 PM during the brief but intense storm, the lights in my apartment started flickering on and off. I was praying that the electricity not go out, as there are almost 300 apartments in this building that would be without water and electric service, many elderly and I live on the 10th floor to boot. It really amazes me that this is still an issue when I constantly see Edenor & Edesur breaking up sidewalks and signs saying "plan de inversiones en infraestructura". What are they investing in exactly?

 

[Page8383]

Our power went off last night for about 7 hours (5pm - midnight) here in Belgrano.
It was before any of the brief wild weather.
It is more to do with the air conditioning that everyone has turned on during the warm days. These packaged units are seriously inefficient and suck a lot of kWs from the grid - I don't think I have seen one centralised heating / cooling system in BA.
Could be back to soviet communist times with fairly regular blackouts this summer. I don't know how much the utility companies / government have invested in new substations or substation upgrades over the winter. But I'm not holding my breath.

 

[EricLovesBA]

The aforementioned storm a couple years ago also left us with no electricity or water for about a week here in Florencio Varela. Some supplies like candles of course vanished very quickly, and generators were also not to be found except maybe at gouged prices.

Last night's storm left us again without electricity or water. Luckily we do have a generator this time around. We had to make a pretty good trek to find a working gas station, though I think the there is power now in Varela centro. It will be interesting to see how quickly they get things running again as there are light poles down all over the place.