OMG I have just watched American Blackout - how much food and water would you have in if the power went out?

[atticusclaw]

Its a National Geographic drama documentary. The power goes out as the result of a cyber attack and the country descends into chaos within days.

If the power went out how would you cope?

I think I might have to buy some supplies this evening just in case the zombies come.

Is it like a film then? misses point of thread as usual

I'd eat the baby first, she has more fat.

I love those National Geographic drama 'documentaries'. They take a bad thing happening, and then assume that everything that can possibly go wrong does go wrong. It's a true guilty pleasure watching it.

TBH it's unlikely that the country would descend into chaos. When the power went out in New York that time (maybe 5 or 6 years ago) my friend who lives there said everyone just mucked in and co-operated. There was no rampant crime wave, some people couldn't get home and they slept out in the open as it was summer and they all watched out for each other. People organised themselves into groups who lived in the same neighbourhood and shared taxis to get home. The doormen in her building checked on elderly residents. Even in New Orleans where people were basically herded into a stadium and then ignored for days on end there was some crime, but no descent into survival of the fittest.

I have a feeling that crucial places like hospitals have access to back-up generators for essential functions. People would get out their camping equipment and share with friends and neighbours. Chilled food could be sold straight from refrigerated vans. The biggest problem would be if it was severe winter or summer weather

In the event of cyber attack I'm pretty sure that most of the software that controls the electrical system could be reloaded from scratch and the computers could be rebooted within a couple of days at most.

Yes its a film, like one of those shot on mobiles films. Its scary how quickly everyone starts to loot and attack one another as a result of not having enough food and water to sit and wait out the problem. By day three there are big issues.

Made me realise we're not very well equipped if ever anything happened. We lost power in the storms at Christmas and so we have candles but that's about it.

Good point, I'd eat DS2, he has lovely chubby arms.

Hospitals and vital services, as well as police stations and airports and the like do indeed have backup generators, and a legal minimum of days worth of fuel and a UPS system ( uninterruptible power supply, stacks and stacks of giant batteries)

They would be OK until power could be restored, and would get priority for reconnection if and when that happened.

We'd be ok. I have solar power and zombie proof tins

I try not to stockpile food as we move every few years and I'd have to get rid of it. Although we now live in a Hurricane zone so actually do need to stock up on water and canned goods. I have vaguely put together an OFRS with spare clothes, sturdy shoes and copies of important papers, but that was for the last country we lived in, so winter stuff, and expired insurance .

Our neighbourhood is on the same grid as the nearest hospital and they always get those grids running first. We could also get an emergency generator if we wanted to, but we have the bbq and camping stove, and food lasts awhile in the fridge if you don't keep going in it. What would get us is the heat right now, if we didn't have a/c, it's 40+ in summer. In Canada, it would have been the -40c during winter that stuffed us. They did have a massive icestorm a few years back, and friends didn't have power for a couple of weeks. Some moved to other friends in the city that still had power, and others stayed put and 'camped' out in their houses, it was okay if they had a wood fire for eg. for heating.

You should also have a few hundred in cash in small bills in your OFRS too, the ATMs etc.. will not work, and if you need something urgently, you'll need cash.

I think things got pretty hairy in New Orleans didn't they? I remember the police officers who shot civilians who couldn't be controlled.

I'm going to check how much food we have in this evening. DH will think I've lost the plot.

We could live off our stock of tinned beans and pesto for months. We might have to drink the pond water though.

DocDaneeka - yours might be different, but I was told our solar panels wouldn't work if the mains elec went down?

We could survive a few days with camping gas & lighting. We have two freezers full of food which I could transfer to a five day cool box & gas fridge.

Heat might be a problem.

Did you also see that programme on the BBC a while ago? I can't remember what it was called but basically the power went out in the UK for a week and everything descended into chaos. It was all filmed on camera phones etc.

I've got a fair amount of food stockpiled but realised recently that I have no water. The water went off locally (pump failure I think) which left lots of households with no water for a day. I thought I better get a couple of those massive bottles of mineral water in, just in case similar happens again. Or the zombie apocalypse!

Borntofolk that programme scared me and is responsible for the stacks of tins of random stuff in our cupboards that never gets eaten

The american blackout thing might have been slightly unrealistic in that hardly anyone seemed to have any food in but I should imagine it only takes a relatively small percentage of the population to be without food and water for things to get very difficult. I wonder how many people only keep enough food in for a week. I'd bet its quite a lot, particularly those living in cities.

I don't think solar panels will work without any power feed unless they're set up deliberately to do so. Similarly we have a massive oil tank but its going to do us no good without electricity since the boiler won't run.

Hmm.. perhaps we need a generator…...

I did do a mini stock take and reckon we'd be alright for about a month. Its the water that would cause us a problem although obviously in this country we get lots of rain.

Plus we have a manual tin opener! They don't seem to be common in the US and one guy injures himself trying to get into a tin of peaches!

That UK blackout one was well freaky.. I just wanted to stockpile more than usual

There's a similar programme on 4od. It's great.

There's no point in getting a generator, they're too noisy and people get desperate.

Ah well we're lucky we live in the middle of a wood with no neighbours and so generator noise would be concealed a bit.

In fact, given where we live maybe I could get the DS's to dig out a bunker. That would keep them occupied for a few months

Ooo might have to watch the 4OD one and freak myself out a bit more!!

I would love to live in the middle of a wood

It has its drawbacks. Leaves everywhere in the autumn and can be difficult to get to when it snows. My stocks of food in winter are much better!

I can see how people turn into preppers! Once you stet thinking about it its pretty scary!!

I agree, much better to be here where we don't have guns. Although I guess the drawback is we're a small country with nowhere to hide!

I've now watched blackout on 4OD too (work from home and have the tv on in the background). Seems being prepped makes you a target. The only solution seems to be for many more people to have a "what if" back up plan. Bit difficult though since it makes you look like a crazy if you talk about it

I was speaking to a friend in the US who says its far more common for people to be prepared for emergency situations and have stocks of food in the house.