Storms, med equipment and power outages

[catwoman]

We just went through several days of intense storms in the Fort Worth and Dallas areas. Many people still w/out power.
While watching TV report Tuesday night on the damage, I heard a fire official say that they were busy checking on patients who use various types of medical equipment. Mostly mentioned those on O2. Firefighters/paramedics were moving those people to shelter areas where they still had power, were safer places to continue using O2.
A lot of transformers were lost to lightning strikes, knocking about 280,000 households and businesses out of power.
Anyone who depends on medical equipment 24/7 may want to consult their local fire department for what to do in case of a weather emergency.

Just a thought.

 

[gijanet]

Ayup! We were zapped!

Ayup! We were zapped!

Hi, Marsha! We were part of those 270,000, which at one point actually rose to half a mill. We were without power for 27 hours and the cable just comes in and out, which, of course, cuts off my internet access.........wah! Got on for about ten minutes last night before it went out again........sigh! We are fortunate enough, though, that Katie does not require any special medical equipment - just had to worry about keeping her captopril iced down. Went out and spent $40 for dry ice to try and salvage the fridge and freezer contents.........sigh!

The woman across the street does require medical equipment, so her husband went out and rented a generator at 100 bucks a day. Ouch!

ANyway, it's been an adventure - a hot one at that! Hope you fared better. Haven't been able to e-mail Katie's surgeon to see what our new gameplan is, but will be doing that shortly - if the cable stays up. Take care and God bless...........

 

[gijanet]

Marsha, are y'all okay?

Marsha, are y'all okay?

Saw the pictures of all the flooding in Aledo (our cable and electricity has managed to stay on today)............I so hope and pray that this has not affected you and that you and your belongings are safe. Take care and God bless................

 

[catwoman]

Janet:

<Got your PM and sent you one.>
Part of our backyard was under water yesterday. Next door neighbor has an above-ground pool -- surrounded by another swimming pool of rainwater.
Area to the west of us had areas cut off by low-water crossings.

We considered having a connection put in for a generator when our house was built 8 years ago. Friend in Conway Arkansas did his that way. However, seems that the convenience wasn't worth the cost. If we needed power 24/7 for life equipment, it would be worth the expense.

 

[tommy]

Marsha,
There you are. Do you need any help?

 

[Harpoon]

...just had to worry about keeping her captopril iced down. Went out and spent $40 for dry ice to try and salvage the fridge and freezer contents.........sigh!

Dunno what's around you in particular though it might be helpful for others...

Some food processing plants, especially those that make ice cream and such, will give away dry ice.

We've got a big plant here that you can just drive up to a service entrance and ask for the stuff. They'll even supply a styrofoam cooler for you. Don't plan on it lasting too long though, maybe a day depending on how much you get and what kind of conditions you keep it in. A softball size block left on the kitchen table "converts" to a much smaller block of frozen water within an hour or so, melting away as it does....


SOme of my relatives were hit by a bad ice storm a few years ago and were without power for about 3 days. They got a gas powered generator for the duration. Now the area where they live gets hit with outages that can last for a few hours at a time and they still use the generator once in a while. If you're in an area that's prone to outages and you have special needs for electricity, ie. medical devices.

Pricey though, but maybe worth the investment.

 

[gijanet]

Glad to hear it and thanks "Harpoon"!

Glad to hear it and thanks "Harpoon"!

Marsha, I sent you one back, but I can only echo that I am very grateful that you guys are okay..............know what you mean about the swimming pool being surrounded by another "pool." Don was deployed with his battalion last year. When he got home, we took a two week vacation to Galveston...........with lovely hurricane Claudette. We stood by and watched as our rented beachfront home became a houseboat - don't care to repeat that again anytime soon..............again, very glad that all is well.

"Harpoon" - God, I feel like I am talking on a CB here! Thanks for the info - I would have never thought to check into places like that for dry ice. Dunno what's around myself, but I will certainly do some checking - just in case....................thanks again. BTW, Katie has TGV, but with the L-transposition.........her ventricles are reversed, so that ruled out a repair. Glad to see that you are doing so well.

Take care all..............