Emergency Power/Storms/Prepping etc

[looney2ns]

So the remains of beryl came past here yesterday. We had 9 tornado warnings on the board at one time for this area.
An Ef3 hit a town 30 miles west of us where my daughter lives. Max winds of 140. On the ground off and on for over 45miles.
Train cars blown over, couple of factories all but destroyed. My son in law captured this as he was driving home from work.

 

[Flintstone61]

Wow...quite a capture...for a non-tornado chaser.....scary stuff....
I wonder if Illinois had some twisters.

 

[bigredfish]

So the remains of beryl came past here yesterday. We had 9 tornado warnings on the board at one time for this area.
An Ef3 hit a town 30 miles west of us where my daughter lives. Max winds of 140. On the ground off and on for over 45miles.
Train cars blown over, couple of factories all but destroyed. My son in law captured this as he was driving home from work.

I’ve always been wayyyyy more worried about ‘naders than hurricanes. Damn things give you next to Zero warning

 

[Teken]

Hoping each and every one of you stay safe and recover quickly!

 

[biggen]

Here is mine that was just installed. Have mulch being delivered tomorrow to replace everything the electricians stomped on and moved around so I can tidy up the area again.

Ran it yesterday loaded for 30 minutes. ~2.8kW draw with the AC on and the refrigerator running. I probably got too large of a unit for what we need but the price difference between a 24kW and a 18kW is only ~$600 or so. Just not enough incentive to install the smaller gen vs this one.

 

[Timokreon]

Wow...quite a capture...for a non-tornado chaser.....scary stuff....
I wonder if Illinois had some twisters.

None that I saw, or heard about. Rain wasn't too bad in my area, less than an inch. South side of Chicago, a few places had 2+ inches.

 

[Timokreon]

I’ve always been wayyyyy more worried about ‘naders than hurricanes. Damn things give you next to Zero warning

Tornadoes scare the crap out of me. Been through 1 as a kid, as in the place next to us got wiped away, and have been too close a couple other times.
When that sky starts turning green, head to the basement if ya have one.

 

[bigredfish]

Yup been there got the t shirt a couple of times

 

[looney2ns]

I’ve always been wayyyyy more worried about ‘naders than hurricanes. Damn things give you next to Zero warning

The NWS was on the ball around here tuesday. They were issuing warnings up to 45 minutes ahead of the storms.
Now if they could only get folks to take heed.

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

Some updates from today

* Still no power, 92 hours on generator

* My fruit trees that got knocked over seem to be doing okay, no signs of stress. Fingers crossed!

* The townhomes across the street and the homes that join on with their section of power line got power back on the 9th, but a new storm rolled through the area today and now they are again without power!

* I loaned my portable generator out to a different neighbor, so the could run their computer, internet and portable AC

* Leaned my Ecoflow River 2 Pro to someone else so they could run some fans over night

Drove around to help one of my neighbors pickup a generator that they had repaired, lots of flooding from the new thunderstorms!



Getting quite the dead patch of lawn behind the generator! I guess all that heat and exhaust fumes isn't great

 

[samplenhold]

Yup, still out here in Spring. Been living in the coach parked next to my home for a few days now. But going to have to 'break camp' tomorrow and drain tanks and refuel.

Surprised how the house is not that bad inside. Would not be able to sleep, but it is only in the low 80's.

Did have some rain this afternoon that cooled it down a little. Washed the soot from the gen off the street. Onan 10kw diesel.

Going to have to ask you guys with the whole house gens (like the Generac) for info on who to get one installed by in the N Houston area.

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

I used Generator Supercenter and they did a less than stellar job, lots of things they half-assed that I had to call them back to fix, or that I just fixed myself. Would not use again

 

[MTL4]

Got 80 gallons of gas in the garage

I have to do the same thing in the garage but it’s to be sure we can run the generator. Back in 2014 during a relatively mild hurricane we lost power for almost 2 weeks and the lines at the gas stations (assuming they even had fuel) looked like the 1970’s oil crisis. No natural gas lines nearby (too rural) and propane is stupid expensive up here (around $1.06 CAD per liter, close to $2500 USD for a 1000 gallon tank) so you need to be living pretty large to fill an underground tank for a whole home generator. It’s not uncommon to lose power a few times randomly during the year either, luckily it’s usually not more than half a day.

 

[biggen]

Yup, still out here in Spring. Been living in the coach parked next to my home for a few days now. But going to have to 'break camp' tomorrow and drain tanks and refuel.

Surprised how the house is not that bad inside. Would not be able to sleep, but it is only in the low 80's.

Did have some rain this afternoon that cooled it down a little. Washed the soot from the gen off the street. Onan 10kw diesel.

Going to have to ask you guys with the whole house gens (like the Generac) for info on who to get one installed by in the N Houston area.

Go to Kohler or Generacs website and look up dealers in your area. Call them up and have them come out. I called half a dozen. Three answered and only two came out. Generac was about $3k cheaper so I went with them, The electrical company that did the work has been in the area for a couple decades so I was comfortable using them.

 

[abita_brewing]

Tornadoes scare the crap out of me. Been through 1 as a kid, as in the place next to us got wiped away, and have been too close a couple other times.
When that sky starts turning green, head to the basement if ya have one.

Assemble onsite. Anchor to concrete. Done. Tornado alley shelter.

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

Assemble onsite. Anchor to concrete. Done. Tornado alley shelter.

Whats a rough cost on something like this?

 

[abita_brewing]

Whats a rough cost on something like this?

Tornado Alley Armor

tornadoalley.com

That was one I did for a family member. Counting mine, that makes 2 I've done from that company. Can fit in corner of garage or on patio.... close enough you can get there faster than if it's in the yard somewhere.

In 2021, the one pictured, delivered to the nearest freight terminal, was $5995. I picked up on a 16' trailer.

 

[abita_brewing]

Once inside, if the house/etc collapses on it, you can remove panels using a 9/16 wrench and make your exit. It's a VERY good idea to let local fire dept know you have a shelter... so they know to come look for you if a tornado comes through.

I keep bottled water, 5 gal bucket w/ trash bags to use as toilet, several lights, crank-type weather radio, and a couple of 4d battery fans w/ extra batts. Would SUCK to be trapped in there w/o some air flow.

It's certified to withstand a f5 assault.

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

I've been tempted to turn my server closet into a room like that of sorts

 

[abita_brewing]

I've been tempted to turn my server closet into a room like that of sorts

I'm gonna say, in general, you don't want electricity anywhere near any storm room.

Put it on the patio, or pour a small slab and place in backyard. Paint to match house.