As anyone in San Diego knows, last Thursday there was a major power outage that covered the entire county of San Diego. When the power went out, I didn’t think much of it as it was hot and I thought it was just a rolling blackout. I was on my way out the door to pick up flowers for my wife for our 10th wedding anniversary. While not very romantic, I was off to Costco to get the flowers; after all these years, my wife knows where I get flowers and likes them nonetheless. It took me about 45 minutes round trip to make it to Costco; the store, like just about every store was closed. On the way home, I decided to take a shortcut through a parking lot as I didn’t want to deal with another traffic light that was out. On my way through it, I saw people going into Albertsons, so I stopped and went in to see if I could get flowers.
Right inside, I saw people loading up on ice, so I grabbed 2 bags, then decided to grab 2 more. The store ran their registers on a generator, so they were raking in the dough. I paid by credit card and was on my way; I wanted to preserve cash just in case.
When I got home, I started thinking if we were prepared. I dumped the ice in the fridge and managed to save most of the contents. My wife and son arrived home awhile later; it took them almost 2 hours to come home from SeaWorld; normally a 25 minute trip.
It was still quite warm outside and we made the decision that we were going to camp outside since the temperature in our house was too high to be tolerable. With flashlights and candles, we were pretty much set for the night. My wife slapped together a dinner using our supply of canned tuna and some salad fixings.
While the power was only off for about 10 hours (it came back on about 1:45 am), it really got me thinking about a real disaster. The news touted that San Diego was pretty well prepared; however, I think the gridlock shows that we still have a lot to do in order to be prepared. Personally, we weren’t too bad off; we have a gas grill ready for cooking, we have food, a can opener, batteries, flashlights, etc. The only things that I think we need to do better is get on a schedule of restocking supplies such as batteries, water, first aid supplies, and food. We have a pool and chlorine, so water wasn’t going to be an issue. I have bottles of water, but due to them being in plastic, I need to make sure we replenish them.
The one major thing I didn’t have was a portable radio. I used my car’s radio to listen as well as followed @KPBSNews. Cell coverage was spotty as cell sites were pretty much clogged.
So, what have I learned? I’ve ordered a solar powered, hand cranked radio (the reviews on them are so mixed, I just have to take a chance). I’m going to pick up additional bottles of water and have setup a calendar where I’ve started to put a schedule of when things need to be replaced.
Can San Diego survive a major earthquake? I’m not sure. It was kind of scary as I had no idea how long the power would be out; we’re so reliant on power and technology that without it, people kind of go crazy. Maybe this will serve as a wake up call for everyone, including me.