The following was sent to me from a friend and colleague who runs a gun store located in center of the area hit by the storm. I offer no further comments as it stands on its own. A huge thanks to him for sharing his experiences!

Part III to follow.

– Frank

The storm hit fast, and once I realized what was happening and how large of an area was affected, I snapped into “serious-mode” and began to act.

My store lost power immediately and did not come back on for 10 days.  Friends were texting our group chat about their power loss in towns across the county.  I immediately tried going home (about 8-miles).  I know at least 10 different routes to get there from my store and the first NINE were blocked by downed trees, power lines, deep water, or a combination of all three!  I had to go past & around my neighborhood for three miles and work my way back.  There was literally only one road that allowed me access to my subdivision, and it was partially blocked by several downed trees, but there was (thankfully!) a path wide enough for one car to pass.

Finally at home, I pulled out the generator and checked the single 5-gallon gas can we had.  It was half full, so I topped off the generator and put the empty jug in my pickup truck bed.

Once it became apparent that the power would be out for an extended amount of time, I called the shop and had them lock everything down. Without power, both our security cameras and alarm system were on back-up batteries, but those would not last long. For the next week and a half we would be rotating shifts, physically guarding our store.

I made a few calls to check on family and the cell service was already getting bad, this included for texting.

I decided to drive around through some of the communities to the south of my house to find gas, thinking there may have been a station with power, but I experienced nothing but disappointment.  All surrounding towns were dark; everything was closed.

I ended up driving south about 20 miles and stopping at the truck stop off an Interstate.  They thankfully had power, gas, and exactly ONE extra 5-gallon gas can in stock, which I immediately purchased.  The wait for fuel was 15-20 minutes, after which I was able to fill up both cans AND my truck. I later heard that the same truck stop ran out of fuel later that night.  Glad I was proactive!

Over the course of the next few days, each time I filled up the 5-gallon cans, I topped off the tank on the truck just to be safe.  Leaving the house without at least ¾ of a tank was a gamble not worth taking. I’ll also be storing a couple of more full cans at my property, as there will be no guaranty fuel will be obtainable during the next crisis, or that the roads will be in any way passable (think snow storm.)

Running extension cords through the house was a giant pain.  I would rotate them between appliances (fridge, chest freezer, sump pump, fans, etc). There are only 4 outlets on my generator and I was letting the elderly next door neighbor use one so he did not lose his food from his fridge or freezer, leaving me with 3.

Continual rotation of the cords was a task in itself requiring alarms to be set and sleep to be lost; but even that wasn’t enough to avert a minor disaster. During the second night, I woke up at two am to make my rounds and discovered my lower level was flooding from a sump pump failure. While I did plug it in before bed, the float got stuck and rendered it useless.  It was not fun using EVERY towel in the house to contain and clean it up, especially with limited use of the washer and dryer.

Without lights in the house, I was using my rechargeable Streamlight flashlights for illumination. However, I found myself having to hold them in my mouth so that I could use both hands to work. This was the same while refilling the generator in the dark as well. Such a pain! I do own a headlamp but couldn’t remember where I had it stored. I located it a few days later and it really made life easier. I’ve already purchased a half dozen more.

During a particular moment of frustration while refilling the generator in the middle of the night, it occurred to me that it was a dual fuel model and I could use propane. So, I got out the manual thinking I’d need to engineer a valve, or wrench on some part of the generator, to get it to switch over. Nope! I simply needed to turn the dial on the unit to “propane”, connect the provided hose to the propane tank, hook the other end to the QD mount on the generator and push the electronic ignition. It fired instantly and ran flawlessly.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that propane actually lasted longer than the gasoline (more efficient and required less.) It is also much, much safer.  I’d recommend everyone utilize this option if possible. I used a standard grill tank and it lasted 10 hours. I also own a 100# tank and that should power the house for multiple days should we need it again. I am actively looking to buy a second 100# tank for a backup.  During a future emergency I could stretch those two tanks over a week without refill.

I also was able to find an electrician friend who came over and connected a 50-amp breaker to my main panel, which allowed us to connect an RV electrical cord from the generator to the panel and power the whole house!!

This of course needs to be done by a licensed professional and precaution needs to be taken to not back-feed the grid, but let me tell you this was a game changer! I now had lights, was able to run my well pump and use my toilets and shower. Being four days in, it was a welcome relief! Until that point I’d been carrying buckets of water up from the lake we live in order to flush toilets.  For showers, I was able to drive to the same truck stop and shower there.  We don’t realize how much time it takes just to “stay alive” without electricity and running water.

Which brings up another issue: sanitation. Someone close to me works for a local municipality with city services. She told me that the water/sewer department was running on a locomotive size generator. While most people were able to turn on their sinks and flush their toilets, in the event of a longer term/larger scale electrical disaster, such as a hack to our power grid, we are screwed!

With the amount of rain alone that was heaped upon us, the water treatment plant had to dump millions of gallons of not fully treated wastewater into a nearby creek. If our national infrastructure was hacked and power shut down long enough that these treatment plants couldn’t get any more diesel, everything stops. Sewage gets dumped into our rivers and everyone’s house starts backing up with the same. An absolute nightmare scenario that I don’t think most people have ever considered, especially if they plan on bugging in during a disaster.  I’m on a well now but also tied to the sewer system, so I’m in the same boat as everyone else on this front.

I am actively looking for a 2nd property with well & septic.

Back to comfort in the home – I had recently purchased a 18V Milwaukee Jobsite fan just to have. I have a few batteries for my other Milwaukee tools and these came in handy. I first lent the fan to my elderly mother and this was a Godsend for her. Once we got a generator over to her house, I took the fan back and used it primarily in my bedroom to help cool me down at night.  It pushes a ton of air for a small unit and the largest battery never ran out of juice.  I’d shut it down in the morning and put it back on the charger. The med size batteries lasted all night (around 7 hours). The breeze created was great and the hum from the fan helped drown out the neighborhood generator noise. I highly recommend getting one, no matter the brand name!

Note on one of the house fires you mentioned in Part I:

One of my good customers was the victim of it.  Apparently, his generator was just outside of the garage.  He shut it off and was refilling it when the nozzle on the gas can broke and gas poured everywhere.  It caught fire instantly.  Luckily a neighbor was able to rescue him from the quickly engulfed garage.  He escaped with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on 65% of his body.

He used his garage for his reloading station and had a gun safe in there as well.  The garage and house are a total loss.  His safes are all ruined and at least one of them, the contents are a total loss as well.  3 of the family cars burned up as well and are a total loss.

He lost everything but escaped with his life (barely).

His story was what made me try the propane on my generator. I was probably lucky that I did not suffer a similar fate as I often spilled some gas with those “California-legal, spill-proof” nozzles.

Some of my final takeaways:

Things I’m thankful for:
– That my house was spared damage.
– I know my way around the area like the back of my hand.
– I already had a generator and didn’t need to stand in hours long lines to try to get one.
– I have a pickup truck and was able to help others.
– I had enough heavy duty/contractor-grade extension cords.
– I am resourceful (although not as prepared as I should have been!)
– I had at least one gas can as others were impossible to find after the storm because no retailer (gas station or home improvement store) was open.
– running, clean water.
– I got to see how people respond to crises like this.  Much like Covid era and the associated riots, everything turned out ok here, but barely.  There’s an extremely thin line between a small crises and complete civil unrest.  You could just feel it.
– The weather was cool and overcast.  Mid 90’s that week would have been hell for thousands and thousands of people. Many of the elderly simply would not have survived.
– That I continue to learn valuable lessons while going through these things without too much pain.

Stay prepped and stay armed!!