KNINE wrote:I hate hurricane season. Sitting in your house for hours, usually without power, wondering if that next wind gust is going to the one that takes the roof off the house, or uproots a big tree in the yard. It's very stressful. It's the worst thing about summer. S.E. Virginia / Outer Banks NC. gets hit with something every year. At least we've never been hit by a Katrina.
Boy, do I know the feeling. Thankfully the last time my area was hit was in Oct. 2005. It was bad, but not as bad as katrina. Lost power for 10 days, but many in my area were out for longer than that. Big tree in my yard was uprooted and my wife thought the roof was coming off from the sound when it toppled over.
One thing I can say - afterwards everything was very peaceful and we could actually see the stars at night without all the light pollution (there were no lights). But, after a couple of days with no power or hot water it really sucked. We were able to boil water on the BBQ grill and make coffee though. Such a simple pleasure was freaking great.
I remember my brother up north saying to me "it's not that bad." I replied "OK, turn the main breaker off in your house and don't turn it on until I tell you. I'll call in a few days, let you have power for 30 seconds, then turn it back off. I'll call randomly over the next 7-10 days and tease the crap out of you by giving electricity for a few minutes at a time. No TV or Internet either. You can use portable TV, radio and flashlights as long as the batteries you have on hand last. When the power does come back on, still no Internet for 2 more weeks and TV is via antenna only. And don't think of going to a gas station to fill up your car because none of them have generators and the pumps don't work. I'll let you get some canned food, powered milk, ice, water & propane for your grill before we start." That's when I heard a word from him I'll never forget. He just said "Oh"