Question of the day, June 25

feralvr

TCS Member
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Messages
18,474
Purraise
689
Location
Northwest Indiana
Hello everyone. Not a good start to our day. We have no power and no Internet. We had a bad storm last night. It was a microburst similar to a mini tornado. I've never experienced anything like it in my life. A tree crashed through the roof of the house piercing into one of the bedrooms. It was raining in the bedroom! We are all alright. I am out getting coffee right now for Larry and I so I have a Wi-Fi connection and I'm able to do my TCS question of the day. LOL.

So my question is as I sit here wondering when our power will come back on. One of our neighbors told me that it could be off for 5 to 6 days. I will be back online when I can.

What's the longest you've ever been without power in your home?
 

MoochNNoodles

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 30, 2005
Messages
36,646
Purraise
23,465
Location
Where my cats are
  I'm so glad you are ok!!  I hope your insurance will cover the cost of fixing your house!  And that you get your power back soon!  It must be a mess!

I think for us the longest was about 28 hours during a blizzard.  DD was 4 1/2 weeks old and it was miserable once the indoor temps fell into the 50's and the sun set.  We were evacuated shortly after and brought to my mother's house.  The next morning DH and my step-dad were able to get down here to clear our driveway and the power was back on.  So we didn't have to experience a full 28 hours!  We got another blizzard 2 days later and DD and I just went to my mother's ahead of time.  DH stayed home with the girls and the power never went out. 
  (We took the kitties with us when we left the first time.
)
 

andrya

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 6, 2012
Messages
2,561
Purraise
147
OMG, poor you. l'm so sorry to hear your house was damaged. Hopefully things will be back to normal for you soon 


The longest we were down was in January 1998 during the Ice Storm. The whole of eastern Ontario and western Quebec was down, in some cases for weeks. We were relatively lucky that we were only without hydro for 4 days, and it was coooold having no heat for 4 days.
 
Last edited:

swampwitch

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 30, 2006
Messages
7,753
Purraise
158
Location
Tall Trees & Cold Seas Vancouver Island
OMG all that and still you post a QOTD! I'm glad too that you are okay!

We are very lucky to be on the main grid here in town, one electrician told me, "You are on the same grid as the Legislature Building. If your power goes out we are ALL screwed." 
 We get wicked wind storms here, but I think the longest the power has gone out is 20 minutes, and that only happened once in 11 years.

Back in Texas we would have ice storms that downed power lines, but I always tend to live downtown in cities, and those are usually fixed first... so maybe 6 hours was the longest. So far. Knock on wood.
 
Last edited:

dejolane

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 20, 2012
Messages
3,891
Purraise
34
Location
Hebron,Ohio
Just last year we were without power for about 1 day. I can't live without my air conditioner or at least a fan. It is awful trying to sleep without some kind of coolness. And opening the window didn't help either for that night. And having no TV for that day drove me crazy. We went on the lakefront to try to stay cool and get a breeze from the lake.
 
Last edited:

catsallaround

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 21, 2009
Messages
3,104
Purraise
66
10 days due to Sandy.  We all went out but we were one of the last ones to get turned back on so that part was bad.  Had gotten a puppy days before who was not housetrained and had a thing for peeing on beds.  At the end I had SO much wash it took quite a few days.  Anywhere you went first few days was a hassle as so few had electric and all were crammed in Wawa/711 for coffee.  We were driving a few good miles where they did not get hit as hard as it was insane.  Paying was not to bad but ordering any hot food that they were to make meant waiting 20-40 minutes depending.

It took us months to rebuild our fridge as so much money was lost. 
 

catspaw66

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
May 5, 2012
Messages
5,508
Purraise
1,616
Location
Waldron, Arkansas
The ice storm of Christmas, 2000. I was without power for 8 days. That was with 8 inches of snow on top of 2 inches of ice and temps of 15-25 degrees. I have wood heat in both houses, and moved everything into the smaller one. I ate canned goods and made coffee on the woodstove.  I had to dip water out of the sand filters (no juice for pumps) and had to use kerosine lanterns to get light at night.

My mother was without electricity for 14 days in the same storm.
 

catsallaround

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 21, 2009
Messages
3,104
Purraise
66
Also not sure how many neighbors you have but if they get back on before you make sure to tell power company.  They will tell you they know...but do not trust them.  We called a few times before someone said that is not possible that entire road it on.  Had to explain that one side of it was but the even numbers were still out and it was showing up on online ticket I created as restored.  It was another few days before we were back on.
 

natalie_ca

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
21,136
Purraise
223
Location
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
"What's the longest you've ever been without power in your home?"

As an adult? I think less than 24 hours in the early 1980's.  Back then I didn't have a TV so I wasn't really bothered by the lack of electricity. I had a large kerosene oil lamp and that lit up the living room quite well. So I basically spent the time reading.

I think as a kid we experienced power outages that lasted longer. But again, as a kid, it didn't really affect me.

However, now when the power goes out even for a couple hours, I freak out!  LOL  No TV! No computer! No way to recharge my eReader or Cell Phone!  The tragedy of it all!  LOL
 

blueyedgirl5946

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Sep 10, 2005
Messages
14,593
Purraise
1,695
We have been out as much as four days during a hurricane. We have a generator that will run the light switches, outlets, and ceiling fans. We can at least have refrigerator, freezer, fans and cook in the electric skillet.
 

AbbysMom

At Abby's beck and call
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
May 18, 2005
Messages
78,297
Purraise
19,403
Location
Massachusetts
Oh no, Lauren! Glad you are OK!!!!

We lose power often, but not for long stretches. I think the longest in recent memory was a day and a half. After the last big storm we bought a generator.
 

Draco

NOT Malfoy!
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
8,721
Purraise
2,780
Location
LawnGuyLand, NY
5 days post Super Storm Sandy. My parents were out for 8 days.. Yikes!

I think we've might've been out longer with Hurricane Gloria 25 years ago, but I don't remember.
 

-_aj_-

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Aug 24, 2008
Messages
10,487
Purraise
61
Location
North East England
So please you are ok Laureen! The house can be fixed after all as long as you and yours are all good!

Longest has been a couple of hours, but its always tended to be a day time its gone off
 

Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies
Veteran
Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
29,730
Purraise
28,024
Location
In the kitchen
 I'm so glad you're OK!!! Glad the furkids are OK, too!

We tend to lose power around here at the drop of a hat, although it's gotten better in the last couple of years. Probably the longest was about two days and that was during the big blizzard....I forget what year that was though. The state had to bring in a backloader to get the snow out of the road as it had really drifted....the plow couldn't get it. Everybody lost power.

The most interesting power-loss, though, was on Christmas, the first year the kids were married; I'm thinking that was probably 2000. They were supposed to come home on Christmas Day, but the storm was too bad. We knew about the storm coming, so in addition to the crown roast of pork (which is our standard Christmas Day dinner), we bought two nice pork chops that I could fill. That way, if the kids didn't make it, we could save the crown roast for when they came and we could do the chops on Christmas Day, just for Rick and me.

So I start making Christmas dinner: filled pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy, baked corn, the whole bit. And the power goes out. I have an electric stove. And the snow is piling up. I went into the living room, sat down, and started to cry. First Christmas ever without my son at home...that one really hurt. No electricity and it was cold. No Christmas dinner.

Rick went back to the bedroom and started piling on the clothes. He went outside, and shoveled a path to the grill. He took everything outside and grilled it all. Took awhile, but he kept at it. We had to downsize our dinner a bit (instead of baked corn, he just cooked some frozen corn on the grill), but he did a great job. And while we were eating dinner, he had water heating on the grill for us to do the dishes. Got the dishes all done, fed the furkids, cleaned up the kitchen.

It was dark and it was cold. We had a Coleman camping lantern that we could have lit, but decided against it. We piled on the blankets and went to bed with all the cats to keep us warm. Sometime around 2:30 or so the next morning, the lights came back on.

I can't imagine being without power for an extended length of time!
 
Last edited:

mani

Moderator and fervent feline fan
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
46,566
Purraise
23,328
Location
Australia
golly Lauren.. I'm so impressed you have gone through all that and still get a QOD together!  That's dedication
 


I can only remember a couple of days maximum, many years ago caused by a cyclone up north.

I actually really enjoyed it... I had water, candles and my tiny little clip on book light so I could read at night. We built a little fire and boiled the billy, and cooked that way too.   We just went into 'camping mode'.

It was a bit of a novelty that would have worn thin after a while, I imagine.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #18

feralvr

TCS Member
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Messages
18,474
Purraise
689
Location
Northwest Indiana
How are you doing???
Thank you EVERYONE for your vibes! We are doing alright, just sweating. :sweat: No A/C and power still out but the generator was repaired so we can have some power but have to be careful. I am going to start a new thread with pictures!
 
Top