Power outage
Cindy Taylor - Chase County
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
LAST NIGHT’S power outage, with no real explanation, brings to mind a point that we should all, as rural or even city residents, think about: Where do we get important information on weather, the current event going on, etc. if we do not have electricity?
Without power, we have no TV, radio, or other conventional methods to get the info we need. Do we go out and start the car to listen to the radio? The NOAA weather radio doesn’t typically give non-weather-related info except AMBER alerts.
Some people have portable CD/radio players. Not us; we are too old to need a CD player.
I guess emergency managers need to really emphasize having and keeping battery powered radios (wherever you can find those?!) and keep extra batteries. Then hope the info is being broadcast!
There was nothing on the Topeka news (Channel 27) last night about the power outage. We had to fire up our generator for refrigerator, supposedly furnace — which it did not power.
It would have been nice to know how long to expect power to be off, although that was probably not known. We knew it wasn’t an ice storm causing it, because the ice was melting.
We too are thankful it wasn’t 0 or 10 degrees — we would have been in trouble!
Cindy Taylor
Chase County
madpoet (anonymous) says...
You can buy battery powered radios anywhere. I have a nice one with am/fm, tv band and weather band built in. Of course with the digital conversion I bet I'll no longer be able to listen to channel 13 out of Topeka. That sucks but the rest will still work. You should keep drinking water in jugs on hand too. Those battery powered candles work wonderfully to light the house too.
January 14, 2009 at 3:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wirewatt (Ken Bazil) says...
I don't know where this lady is from, but the Emergency Management Booklets says exactly what she is talking about. I am sure if the power company would look at their magic book they then could call and tell her before anyone responds and give an exact time the work would be completed. When called they respond and get it back on as quick as they can day on night.
January 15, 2009 at 1:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
madpoet is right. Battery powered radios of every size imaginable are available everywhere, some are very inexpensive. You don't have to have a fancy CD playing one; just a little portable thing will serve. I happen to have the boom box I used to use in my classroom. I just keep it in the basement and check the batteries regularly. My alarm clock radio switches over to battery backup whenever there is a power outage. That's handy to have, especially if you need to get up in the morning for work. Bottled water is also a must; I keep several gallons in the basement along with flashlights. Never did try an electric candle, but I believe I will check them out now. Thanks, madpoet.
January 15, 2009 at 5:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )