We are expecting high winds (and a bit of rain) in the next 24 hours (Tuesday night into Wednesday morning).
The weather report is full of dire warnings about gusts up to 60 to 70 mph.
We're not the only ones impacted. It's being called a "coast to coast storm."
Ever since the "Windstorm 2015" ten years ago (considered by the regional power company to be the worst disaster in its 100+ year history), we've taken threats of wind very seriously.
I realize our weather is mild compared to the bitter cold they're experiencing in the northeast, or the catastrophic flooding hitting the Pacific northwest. Nonetheless, as with any winter weather, it's best to hope for the best but brace for the worst.
We're in a reasonably protected area, so I don't expect too much impact from the wind. What we do expect, however, is for the power to go out, perhaps for days.
The wind is supposed to hit overnight, so we spent today battening down the hatches. We cleaned up the porches, put things away in the yard, and moved hay under cover. We tied down tarps and coiled hoses.
The weather isn't particularly cold, but I brought in an extra load of firewood to store on the porch anyway.
I vacuumed the house and did laundry. We all took showers.
We tipped the porch rockers over, since we know from experience they'll get tipped anyway.
We charged all the battery backups...
...as well as our rechargeable lanterns.
We topped off the oil lamps as well.
Earlier we had drained our 1500-gallon roof-runoff water tank, predicting cold weather (the tank isn't insulated, so we drain it in the winter). However we decided to let it refill a bit, just in case we need livestock water or additional household water.
I made an extra loaf of bread.
I also tied the cattle panels to the diagonal poles around the peaches and blueberries. High winds tend to knock over the panels, which is annoying but not damaging.
In general, however, we're pretty well prepared for multi-day power outages. We've been through them before. Besides, for all we know, this whole thing will be a big nothingburger.
But then again, it may not.
Better to be prepared than not.
ReplyDelete"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"!
ReplyDeleteOur generator had stopped exercising and the nearest repairman was about 50 miles away. It turn out if the motor is not serviced for a long period of time the generator will not run! I missed that in the instructions! all is good now and being way out in the country, and we generally get ice rather than snow, I am happy to get it fixed. There was an additional charge for the trip but that was understood.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what you have for radios if the power goes out. I know there are a lot of older ones that still run on batteries, but if you are looking for a new brand that actually is pretty good and can solar charge, look into the Prunus brand, we have a J-02S and a couple others by that brand. Some can charge via hand crank and solar, others just by solar, but they actually are really great radios that get good reception. We like the J-02S because it also does shortwave, so you can always pick up stations even when reception is awful for everything else. The battery charge on it lasts for hours too.
ReplyDeleteIn the Portland/Vancouver area this morning there are approximately a quarter million homes without power. Winds woke me up around 1:20am. It wasn’t just the gusty winds that hit but rather sustained high winds that continued for about 25 minutes.
ReplyDeletePretty hard winds all day long here a few hundred miles south of you - especially being on a hilltop. Lots of stuff blown around, some shingles lifted, but no loss of power, no serious damage except to garden cover, and the winds seemed to have faded away as the sun sets.
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