I Survived my First Real SHTF Moment on LA- No Power for 12 Hours Good Learning Experience!

Survived what for me other than the daily life confrontations with idiot nutcases in Los Angeles was my first real SHTF moment here. The Santa Anna Winds knocked down the power for about 12 hours. For many of you that's nothing. For me that was misery but I came through OK learning a few things.
The good was that my 12 hours of backup electricity from my 2 electric generators which some of you call a Battery, Aeiusny Power Generator Upgraded, 296Wh Solar Generator Power Station, worked great and silently and I powered up my lamps, laptops to watch about 8 hours of predownloaded movies, Kindle Fire10 to read downloaded books and comics. I also used my powerful battery operated medium sized fans for which I had a weeks worth of batteries on hand and my Barocook Flameless Cookware and Campfire Meals BBQ Beef & Rice - Freeze Dried Food.

The Bad for which I gained knowledge from was: 1. Even though the water ran there was no hot water, 2. I still had problems connecting to the internet via my Galaxy Note 9 Phone, 3. I couldn't get specific information online as to what was going on and how long it would last. I later found out that Googling DWP Los Angeles and then clicking Twitter on the site gets updated info, 4. I couldn't find a go to radio station- in fairness the outage was only in portions of LA. 5. My battery powered lanterns while giving me enough light to walk around didn't have enough light to make reading comfortable like a lamp, 6. Out of laziness, I only had about 80% back-up power in my electrical generators because I was too lazy to recharge them at that level last time I used them. Now I will recharge to 100% immediately.

One thing I am still not sure of is, if I connected my modem to my generator would I have gotten the internet? I was a bit too dazed to think of trying that. I did wise up from various comments here not to tell anyone in my 80 Unit Apartment building I have extra power, food and things that could have helped them.

 

Yeah that's what I figured but I should have tried it anyway but was too shell shocked to think about that at the time.

 

As TEOTWAWKI arrives, it will arrive for many people in different ways and at different times. Like a rolling breaker crashing on the shore, with each of us a single drop of water. History will say it happened when it finally happens for everyone.

Out of the many, a few preppers may be able to evade (or rewrite) History and prosper until the next wave comes.

For those that do not prepare, a lethal disaster can be a trivial event, or something cinematically dramatic, like:

"Dang! The sole of my shoe has come loose!"
or
"Dang! They never told me this mountain is actually a volcano!"

Ever notice, Will Robertson, that "Dang!" is the start of "Danger!"?

 

Well THANK GOD you didn't lack for entertainment.....what a horror that would have been.......

 

Exactly. Only thing I can't figure out from researching online is when your ISP is down too with a power outage, other than your phone, is there any way to access the internet and if so how expensive is it.

I'm not ashamed it would have been! Reality is boring. I need music, TV, reading, movies, to keep me from being bored. Again I'm not ashamed to admit it.

 

an apartment building with 80 units >>> wish you luck when that grid down hits 48-72 hours with no definite word on it's fix - that's if some numbnutz doesn't start a building fire the first day ....

 

Good job...I think you should consider picking up something like bushcraft 101, and having some stuff in a small box in your apartment you can pull out, and keep your hands busy practicing. Prepper arts and crafts, helps kill time and learn skills. Even it it is just some sections of dowels so you can practice lashings and shelter configs.

 

Sarcasm aside, that you even that prepared put you above the crowd of unprepared. Now that you have a taste of preparedness, where will you take it from there? 12 hrs is a small event. Located where you are it will be hard to be fully prepared but look at what a week without power would do... Food, water, sanitation and entertainments all would be in very short supply. Even having light at night would set you apart, and possibly make you a target. You are in earthquake country! A week without power and water (and more) can easily happen after a large quake. It's a race between a big quake there or the Hayward fault in the Bay Area. Even up here in Oregon coast we have quake and tsunami threats to worry about. Not fully prepared but a lot better off than my neighbors. Ah well, something to keep a person awake at night. YMMV

 

Good start ED, you stuck a toe in now get to work and improve !

 

I hate hot bubbly! Should always be at 34 deg F. ....

 

In all seriousness.In an apartment building your primary concern should be WATER. You had running water so the muni supply station was still on-line. This time. You need a lot of storage at 2 gallons/day for consumption per body. If you're close to the ground floor there will be a significant quantity held in the building plumbing, but the non-aware residents flush & showers will drain that resource in a hour or two.
Once that is depleted your toilet will stop functioning and get very nasty, very quickly. Research bucket toilets (w lids), have lots of contractor grade garbage bags on hand, and 10 pounds of pool grade dry chlorine - Calcium Hypochlorite stashed away. Preferably in a vacuum sealed container of some sort. Add and dissolve one heaping teaspoon of calcium hypochlorite (approximately ¼ ounce) for each two gallons of water. This is your stock: of approximately 500 milligrams per liter. To disinfect water, add the stock solution in the ratio of one part of chlorine solution to each 100 parts of water to be treated, ie; 1.5 liquid oz per gallon. You should also have on hand a filter type sanitizer as a last resort. I personally keep a couple Platypus Gravity Works systems around at the house and in remote secure storage. There are lots of others available.
Cheapo solar landscape lights can provide a significant amount of useful illumination at a very nominal cost. Lowes/HomeCheapo/Amazon.

 

Every year we have hurricane season here. Sometimes it's a drill and others it's the real deal. I consider it an exercise in prepping so I can plug the holes in lacking areas. You made it through and that's what really matters.

 

@ED GEiN, now that you have survived Calpocalypse 1 you need to test your preps a bit better. I suggest that you should see how your preps work for a longer period of time, because California is going to have longer more frequent power outages as it transforms itself into a third world country. Your state government is already busy at work passing the laws that will ensure successful completion of Calpocalypse II, III, IIII, and IIIII*

Even your Governor, Gavin Newsom, has been alluding to an economic crash in California and appears to be worried that they may need to raise taxes (just kidding, politicians never worry about raising taxes) and make severe non entitlement associated budget cuts (How a slowing economy could hit California state budget – Press Enterprise) in order to prepare for the eventual passage of the Free Reparative Existence Entitlement Living Off All Decent Income Earning Residents (FREELOADER) Act

IF you are up to it go without power and running water for the entire (shudder) weekend. Consider everything in the fridge and freezer as either gone or spoiled or redistributed to other needy people who dropped by to showing you their collections of guns, knives, iron pipes and chains. This is legal under article 3 of the FREELOADER Act and you will face dire consequences for failure to comply. You will need to live off your preps and your wits during this trial exercise.

Since environmentalists have declared war on toilet paper (Environmentalists have a new target: Charmin toilet paper). It's being covered in main stream media, so you know this will soon be law in California except for undocumented southerners, minorities, women, LGBTQRSTUVWXYZ and, of course, politicians. Time to start learning about personal hygiene rags and bleach. Remember, the water doesn't work so you will need to have water buckets to fill the tank when you flush.

*Roman numerals are too "Western Civilization" and therefore racist along with all the other math stuff that Whitey invented to oppress everyone except for straight white males(Math is Racist: University of Illinois Professor | National Review). Under the Free Universal Government Education Enumeration Korrection System (FU-GEEKS) Act you just keep adding "I"s that people can count to a maximum equal to the number of fingers and toes as it has recently been determined that all math is racist.

Some Government Educated "Counting and Adding Stuff" Professors propose you can theoretically an extra "IIIII" to cover ears, eyes, and nose. According to AOC, who tried it IIIIIIIIII times ()or maybe III times, she wasn't completely sure and finally just said "lots and lots of times") and got different results each time, "it's just way to hard and Trump. Stop cat calling me, OK?".

Nobody will truly know until a multi IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII dollar grant has been established that could take as many as IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII years.

 

Just to mention: Apartment buildings make poor redoubts. Too many neighbors, too little access to resources. Completely indefensible. And, of course, easy to burn.

If your budget permits, I recommend you rent a small storage unit nearby. Stock it with LOTS of bottled water in recycled bottles (free!) sleeping bags, and whatever camping/survival gear you can dig up. Load it up with ez-fix long term food.

Move into it within 12 hours of the fan getting hit. (Don't ask/don't tell!)

Hide out by day, venture out only by night.

Hole up as long as you can or have to. Leave when you want to or must.

Perhaps rent two, side by side. The second for your car--loaded with more preps.

 

Nice idea! @ED GEiN Don't forget the extra 5 gallon bucket and toilet paper (assuming it's still California legal). They also make these to fit those buckets. It might be just enough to keep your wife from killing you. Don't forget to dump the bucket evey night and now close to your storage unit.

 

LOL I wouldn't put building a fire past some of these idiots. LA has some of the most brain dead people I have ever met. I guess the thing that ticks me off here is the expensive way of life. Until my mother dies and my sister decides to move, I'm stuck here!

 

I have enough supplies such as dry food, water, a portable solar panel that I've never used to survive and my sister's House is a 20 minute walk away. Worst thing is no go to source for information and no firearms though my brother in law has at least one rifle at his place. As I mention ed in the past, my biggest fear is lack of security to prevent marauders taking my food and water. There's an ex Gang Member in my building who's done time but is a family man with a decent job today and I might try to form an alliance with him as we're on friendly terms.