[CTSARA] Storm

Sat Sep 3 11:41:18 EDT 2016

All great suggestions.  I have one more.  We have prolonged power outages 
due to downed trees knocking out power lines. Go out and buy an expensive 
bulb type syphon that's capable of handling gas. This lets you start the 
syphoning action easily. Fill all of your cars' gas tanks. Then, if a 
prolonged emergency happens, you can siphon gas out of your cars' tanks for 
emergency generators.  I like this approach rather than storing several gas 
tanks in the garage.  You don't have to worry about increased risk of fire 
in your garage, the gas is fresh compared to small gas tanks sitting in your 
garage for months (even with gas stabilizer), and you have a much larger 
supply of gasoline available to you.  Just filled my tank. Wow, gas prices 
really went up on Labor Day weekend.

Steve, K1RF

-----Original Message----- 
From: kb1ylq at gmail.com
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2016 9:10 AM
To: ctsara Mailman ; Gnarc Mailman
Subject: [CTSARA] Storm

Since TS Hermine is expected to be a major wind event, we can expect 
significant numbers of trees to come down, especially because of the drought 
(makes the trees less resilient).  Trees coming down means power lines 
coming down so we may see some significant power outages here in lower 
Fairfield County.

Some things to remember about power outages and wind storms:

1.  It is not too late to go out and stock up on ater and basic food 
supplies (especially food supplies that don't need refrigeration or cooking 
like bread and peanut butter).  Figure a gallon of water per day per person, 
minimum of three days.  Don't forget food and water for pets and for your 
kids (depending on whether or not you like your kids).  If you have 
teenagers - well, then double or triple the amount of water and food needed.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO GO TO THE SUPERMARKET, DO IT EARLY THIS MORNING - THERE 
WILL BE A SIGNIFICANT RUSH AND SIGNIFICANT INVENTORY OUTAGES BY THIS 
AFTERNOON!!!

2.  It is not too late to go to the hardware store and stock up on 
batteries, plastic sheeting, tarps, and duct tape.  Batteries in case of 
power failures, the rest for covering broken windows and leaks in case of 
damage to the house (e.g., from falling trees).  And while you're at it, get 
a couple of extra LED flashlights or room lights.

3.  It is not too late to stock up on any prescription medicines you need, 
just in case!!  Don't forget basic first aid supplies such as antiseptic 
creams, bandages, and tape.

4.  It is not too late to get to the phone store and buy an external battery 
for your phone.  These things can be used to recharge your phone without 
wall power.  NOTE:  many of the external batteries are waaay undersized for 
smart phones.  For example, those cute little cylindrical ones (2200 mAH) 
that Bed, Bath and Beyond and CVS sell can only charge a smart phone battery 
to about 30%.  Go to the phone store and get one that will fully recharge 
your phone.

5.  Remember to take in outside objects that can become missiles in strong 
winds, such as lawn/patio furniture, kiddy pools, other junk that's laying 
around outside (bicycles, kiddy toys).  Take in your garbage pails, or at 
least move them out of the wind and lay them on their sides.

6.  Remember that GPS, Data (3G and 4GL), and Wi-Fi eat cellphone batteries 
like crazy.  Unless you absolutely positively need them (and we usually 
don't), turn them off if power is out (how to turn them off depends on the 
phone).  It does mean that you may have to wait to post those 873 photos to 
Facebook/Instagram, but we all have to make sacrifices.

7.  Your cell phone's basic phone function eats battery like crazy if it 
can't find a cell tower signal, so turn it off if you don't have a good cell 
phone signal.  You can go into Airplane mode instead of turning it off. 
Some phones (like the Samsungs) have "ultra" power saving modes but the 
"ultra" modes will still use battery if you don't have a good cell phone 
signal.

8.  It's not too late to make a communications plan with people outside the 
storm area.  Something that will reduce the amount of time you spend using 
your cell phone.  For example:  "we will call Susan (our eldest) every four 
hours and give her an update.  Please call her for an update, do not call 
us.  If you call us, we will not answer (and may even have the phone turned 
off).  Susan's phone number is .... ".

9.  If you can't get calls through on your cell phone because of cell tower 
overload (you have signal, but calls just never connect or they keep 
dropping after a few seconds), remember that text messages will probably get 
through (because they use a small fraction of the cell tower resources that 
a phone call uses).  A quick "we're okay" text message is more than enough, 
you don't have to give a wind gust-by-wind gust, raindrop-by-raindrop 
description to people while power is out.  Plus of course, it frees up the 
cell towers for important use.

NOTE:  Contrary to popular belief, most cell towers in this area have stayed 
up during major storms like Irene and Sandy.  At worst, their batteries ran 
out after 48-72 hours, which is equal to or even better (in some cases) than 
what AT&T landlines (now Frontier) can do in the areas that use fiber optic 
cables (most areas of Stamford below the Merritt and most areas of Norwalk 
below the Merritt).

Steve KB1YLQSent from my Verizon 4G LTE Tablet
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