How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse?
A summary of how other systems of infrastructure (like roadways, water, sewer, and telecommunications) depend on electricity and how long each system could last under total blackout conditions.
This video was guest produced by my editor, Wesley, who is also the actor in the blackout scenes ;)
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Signed copies of my new book, Engineering In Plain Sight, are starting to run low. Pick one up before they run out (they make great gifts)! store.practical.engineering/
Don't have a signed copy but got my pre-order the other week, plenty to keep me entertained 👍 Edit: Just realised the chapters are colour coded as well. A lot of thought went into the book
Preparing for a Black Start does not make sense in a democracy, since the funds can be better deployed elsewhere. The chances of a total system collapse within any particular administration is very low, and can always be blamed on prior administrations anyway. Therefore, it makes no logical sense to invest in this emergency preparation
@@John_Smith_86 I hope this was sarcasm.
@@TechIOwn The illustrations are so great! And it was especially fun to read Grady's introduction, explaining how his KZhead channel and the book came to be! 😎✌🏼
@@glennpearson9348 Er... you don't understand politics?
I lived with out electricity for almost three weeks in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. I washed my clothes in a swimming pool and bathed in a creek. Three weeks with no lights, A/C or running water. By that third week we had exhausted all of our food and water resources and had begun standing in lines for basic supplies. Then one day while sitting in the living room around sunset the power just turned back on. It was like a modern miracle!!
That's exactly what it feels like !! Northern Maryland, after a "minor" but slow moving hurricane. My small old town of 10,000 , lost power for 2-3 days. But the electric pole for me and a cfew neighbors fell so we went without for almost a week until the pole was replaced. It was August which normally would be intolerable without AC, but the storm had cleared out the humidity thank god and we had power at my job, so I was able to recharge my cell there. |Fortunately, the town had its own water plant with emergency power , so I had water which is so much more important! Came home one night and the lights were on and AC had kicked on!! So happy !! It really makes you appreciate modern life. Lost about $150 of food though.
Three weeks of food and water is really great though! Really helps you through the most.
I remember that, too. I was only 10. My family evacuated to the Northshore, and our relatives' house was supplied by well water, so when they lost power, they also lost water. They thankfully had a generator, so we at least had AC and could watch TV. A few years later, we moved not far away from them. Then Ida happened last year. It felt like the sequel to Katrina, except without NOLA being flooded.
That 1st hot shower must have been wunderbar
I think grid failure would be way worse though, it'd be what you went through, except no help from outside.
Society is far more fragile than any of us want to believe
Yes noone and definately not a lot of adults r smarter than you hahaha
The incredible rarity of events like this prove you to be absolutely wrong.
@Scooter reminds me of the opposite of Sarah Connors speech MEN LIKE YOU BUILT THE ATOM BOMB
This is one way the world could end. That’s why I’m terrified of solar flares.
Isn’t it great … false security and dependency…….😊
It’s scary how vulnerable we are to the system.
most people R DEPENDENT on the "system"..
The system in its entirety is larger than we can even fathom. I own my home, without a mortgage but I fear I could still lose it in a total collapse to the county that would still demand the property taxes, regardless of what is happening in the world around us. Could you pay your bills without a banking system? How about feed yourself, your family, and your pets when grocery stores are empty? Could you defend yourself from your neighbors who may just become desperate enough to decide to take what little you have by force? A power outage is one thing, a prolonged collapse of the power grid is a whole other nightmare.
@Shadow_Banned_Conservative I think if it gets that bad, the last thing the government would worry about would be property taxes...and we probably wouldn't give that a second thought. We own our property, and live in the mountains well away from major cities...we could last longer than most but I still would have to resort to desperate measures to ensure my families survival. Remember one thing...WSHF we are absolutely on our own. If you consider someone a threat in a situation, you are probably right and should take appropriate action.
@@smokerise I agree with you on taking care of your family, but government will not stop in the revenue collection department, if anything they'll be even more aggressive going after those of us who still have some means to pay or confiscate from. Sure, you may get a temporary reprieve from your taxes due today, but they will be tallying the total and coming for them tomorrow. The question is, will we be able to pay on that day if we've been financially wiped out?
@@Shadow_Banned_Conservativethis is why guns are so important. If they collapse the system and demand property tax you have to use other means to keep your property
I went without electricity for 10 days when Sandy hit in 2012. I almost feel guilty writing how it was an amazingly positive experience. A few neighbors had generators so we had hot coffee every morning (it was cold outside!) everyone worked together and we all considered it a forced “vacation”. But that was because we had trust that our town would take care of us. And they did. We went to Target with flashlights and paid cash for supplies. We gave snacks and drinks to the electric company employees who worked 24/7 out in the cold. When I look back, it was a positive memory but I can totally see things going “bad” if we didn’t get power back…
Have you taken steps to be prepared if another disaster strikes your area again!
@@JoelGrant-ie4ly ABSOLUTELY!! 💯
Sounds like a really nice town! I lived in Florida and heard stories from locals where neighborhoods form heir own little watch groups to prevent looting when hurricanes take power out for a week or two.
Sounds like you were in a great town with fantastic neighbors. The little things like hot coffee in the mornings would be a big morale boost.
Thanks for sharing your story
As a Grid Operator, you are spot on and no one thinks about the little things that electricity provides. No phone services, water, natural gas, gas/diesel. All powered by electricity. That same ice storm in 2021, I was sitting pretty with a generator, working heat and enough food for a week. But knowing what I know, had it been longer, it could have been a lot worse. Be prepared.
A non-engineer friend worked for a large electrical utility became frightened when they learned how vulnerable the system really is with some critcal pieces not being replacable for months or even years.
Up in the Glen Ellen area in NorCal in October of 2017, the massive wildfires burned up big power lines in the area. The woke people running the State of California ordered the removal of diesel powered emergency water pumps at the Water District facility ''because they pollute our atmosphere''. They went to 100% electric pumping. As a result, one of my firefighter friends working that area sent me video of dead fire hydrants....no water at all. Their truck carried 400 gallons of water and it normally gets hooked up by a hose to the fire hydrant for almost unlimited water flow. He and his crew had to watch houses burn down and could do nothing about it. Water Districts very commonly had diesel emergency water pumps. Stupidity caused them to be removed.
I’m about to start as a Grid Operator myself!
What is scary is that people are that ignorant.
TV news anchor Ted Koppels non-fiction book "Lights Out" detailed this problem years ago...its real and it's a matter of time before it occurs again...the longer it last the worse things will get.
My father was an electrical engineer who designed power distribution systems in rural areas. He was always very concerned with the fact his industry and the government never seemed to take the threat of attacks on the system, or a system wide blackout, very seriously. He actually worked on a set of proposed guidelines to harden certain infrastructure. No one cared until 9/11 happened, and he actually had DHS call him (when it was brand new) because there was no guidance for that kind of thing, they had to start somewhere. I often think of what he would have thought of the way things are now, because he was obsessed with providing reliable electricity. He'd be livid I'm sure. But he would have enjoyed this video a great deal.
Hey at least he tried. Unfortunately, it looks like an entire powerplant would have to be destroyed and millions lose electricity before something will actually be done.
Almost surprised they didnt call him and accuse him of something. Thats usually what happens to people in the software world that report these kind of vulnerabilities.
@@stumpyplank6092 The profiteers? That could mean alot of things
@@JustinL614 it does mean a lot of things
@@SnifferSock Definitely. Most people are not the least bit concerned with these kinds of things until they happen.
We lost power during that winter storm in Texas and we were NOT prepared. Ever since I’ve been storing water, wood, non perishables, everyday essentials ect. Out of all our immediate relatives we were the only ones who lost power and really felt the impact. We ended up going to my in-laws on day 3 without power. I’ll never forget how angry my father in law made me when I voiced how the whole ordeal made me realize how unprepared we were. He made the comment “oh this will never happen again” I was enraged. It made me prep even more and I’ve never stopped. Long story short that event shook me up enough to get my house in order.🤷🏽♀️
First they say it will never happen. Then they say "It will never happen again". Well done for being humble enough to learn from the experience! I'll never understand the deliberate arrogance and foolishness of many people these days.
You learned a valuable lesson in a bad but less tan lethal situation. Good for you on changing directions and being better prepared next time.there will be a next time and your inlaws might be coming to you for help.
I’m sure that was just a test run. It will happen again, so keep prepping
Solar and a generator bro
It's called "live and learn". I live in a hurricane zone and I can tell you from experience: - At the first sign of a power outage lasting more than maybe 8 hours, take a shower / shave and clean up (you won't know when the next opportunity will be), and fill your bathtub with clean water to drink. - Put a few buckets outside to collect rain water for flushing toilets and washing stuff. - Take your cars out and gas them up. Also, fill two 5-gal jerry cans with gasoline. You can always use it later if nothing bad happens. - Always keep some canned foods in stock on your pantry. Just Beefaroni, Spaghetti-O's, Deviled ham or beef, you get the picture. Protein drinks like Ensure or Boost are also good, and they don't have to be refrigerated. These are foods that can be eaten cold if necessary, even if you don't like that sort of thing. Like my Mom would say, "If you were hungry, you'd eat it!" - Charge all cellphones and keep them charged. They are your first line of information and communication. Also, make sure you have a portable battery-powered AM/FM radio available. - Your gas or oil heating system will run off of a 12-volt battery. Look up how to connect one on KZhead. A/c; not so much. - Have a good first-aid kit in your house, always stocked. If you use something, replace it immediately as soon as you can. If you are on prescriptions, always make sure that you never have less than a 90-day supply on hand at ANY time. Make sure you explain to your doctor why you need this. If he's reasonable he'll comply with your needed Rx refill dates. - Always keep $1000 in fives and tens hidden somewhere in your house. If credit-card machines go down, how will you buy anything? - Have a few cheap battery-operated lanterns in your house that you can take room to room at night. And make sure you have the batteries! - If you can't afford the cost of a portable gasoline generator, and a switch into your house (less than $4000 installed by an electrician), buy a power invertor for your car for less than $100. At least it will give you a source of low emergency AC power if you should need it, and on the road. - Some might debate this, but I think it's always wise to have a small firearm available for self-defense. Criminals run wild in the dark. And the police will have their hands full as it is. - And most of all, HAVE AN ESCAPE PLAN. Friends or relatives that you can go to in a REAL social emergency until things pass. You can go 300 miles on a tank of gas; 600 miles if you can refuel along the way. That's a pretty big radius and will only take you one day to traverse. Your best bet is always to get out of the danger / disaster zone. These aren't "prepper" plans. They are just common sense in a disaster situation. If you do all this I think that you'd last longer than 90% of the population (outside of maybe, public shelters, which I never plan on going to again).
It was rough and I have a backup generator. Some friends of ours, an elderly couple, were out of power for 3 weeks. I took over a bunch of firewood and meals and we took hot coffee daily. This wonderful woman made 3 square meals a day in a Dutch oven set in the fireplace and shared food with us every time we came over. We all helped each other but learning to be more self sufficient is invaluable.
Hey! I’m a Transmission operator at a utility in texas. I worked through the storm and it wasn’t pretty. A lot is going on in the background to keep things going. We were in charge of shedding firm load at the request from ERCOT. It wasn’t an easy job. We knew what we had to do but it was also in the back of our minds that we were effectively putting people back into the Stone Age in freezing temps. It still messes with me to this day. TSOs are also responsible for black starting the grid once it goes down. We have extensive process and procedures to do that and we train twice a year on a simulator to hone our skills. God forbid the grid ever does go down, but you can be assured a great group of people are behind the scenes doing everything possible to get the lights back on. Even on a normal day, with planned switching something bad can happen and bring down a part of the grid. It’s up to us to make sure that doesn’t happen. We don’t settle for being perfect only 98% of the time. We HAVE to be perfect 100% of the time.
Obviously I can only speak for myself, I didn't mind the blizzard or the blackouts. So don't let that bother you too much. Some of the best sleep I've ever had under a good pile of blankets!
I can only imagine the stress of trying to run a situation like that.
The unsung heroes, no doubt.
What are your comm channels for a restart? Surely it can't be cell phones.
@@trentvlak we have dedicated phone lines and back up phone lines along with cell phones. We also have a satellite phone system to stay in touch with ERCOT and neighboring utilities in case all phone lines and cell towers go down. If all of that fails we still have 2 way radio. Communication is a big part of what we do.
I weathered Snowpocalypse in Texas. I had food, gas heat, and a generator and did just fine. I did travel outside my neighborhood to get more gas for my generator and it was immediately apparent that we were close to having a total breakdown in order because no stores had power. I could see the panic on people’s faces and in how they were acting.
I was here for that! I have a homesteading mentality and had stored oak wood in my back yard for the fireplace (every time anyone in the neighborhood cut any trees, I got what was available with my chainsaw). I was able to share the wood with my neighbor. We shared food and cooked in our fireplaces or grills. I duct taped flattened boxes together to make a barrier around my fireplace, with room for my chair and cooking needs. It was cozy there. I kept my phone charged so I would have something to do if I got bored. I used the car for that. Ha! I have since bought a BIG generator! Big enough to share with my neighbors and keep our freezers and refrigerators going. May never need it, but I have it and I have stored enough food to last 2 years.
I apologize on the behalf of Canada, our weather got drunk and ended up in your yard, took us a little bit to find your house and bring it home.
We did fine during snowpocalyps. If you didn’t have a fireplace i bet that was terrible. Country folks fare much better than city folks and suburbanites. If there was no power for extended period thats a different ballgame. Propane runs out, marauders come in, now you’ve got Mad Max
@@RedRightHand652 didn’t hurt me any. It’s the people with their heads in the sand that had issues. While we don’t experience freezing that often on the Gulf Coast, it happens at least a couple times a decade and people should be ready.
It’s awful that they build houses without fireplaces now. Developers tell buyers “there’s no need for a fireplace in Texas.” I wanted a house with a fireplace but we couldn’t find one we could afford.
It’s hard to believe how fragile everything is until it’s broken down in such a detailed way like this! Makes me thankful for everything when I watch this channel. Thank you!
As a professional engineer who works for a water and sewer utility in northern Virginia, I can tell you that we conduct tabletop exercises all the time designed to simulate our response to events just like this. We also "game out" other events, such as water contamination in the Potomac River, contamination of water already in the distribution system, floods, fires, hurricanes, snow storms, transmission main breaks, and all manner of "Force Majeure" events that could potentially disrupt service to our customers. A lengthy outage in the power grid is certainly crippling, but it's not the only scenario that could potentially deprive water and sewer service to people who normally take it for granted, thanks to the hard work of highly trained, skilled employees whose work seldom is even noticed by their customers (unless something goes wrong).
That is actually encouraging. As a fighter pilot, we do EP (Emergency Procedures) "tabletops" and "stand ups" and basically just walk through the problems too. An instructor will put you in a scenario and say "and you feel a vibration and get a Master Caution XYZ or whatever...you have the aircraft" and you ask questions to analyze the situation and take it to a logical conclusion. It is an incredibly effective way to prepare and it is encouraging to hear that our critical infrastructure providers are doing something similar! Thank you!
nova gang
Professional?
Used to do cipp, people really don't understand what they have delivered and removed and the entire process and people behind it.
It would be enough just to say what you work on, no need to point out all certificates etc, just sound cocky.
I live in Hong Kong, last year there was a total blackout occurred in a town of 300,000 population due to a power facility was on fire. In densely populated area like Hong Kong, especially when most people here had never live without electricity, the society show signs of breaking in a matter of hours. People were very worried and some even started crying on the street after about an hour without electricity and communication service. Because we house thousands of people in a single building and buildings are packed closely together. People who cannot go home due to the lack of working elevators, some of us cannot buy food and water immediately because we rely on electronic payment so heavily that we don’t have cash. Even for those who have cash, most stores do not trade because their cashier is connected via network and didn’t work properly. Those people started to break down and disrupt society order within a very short period of time. Luckily there were signs of power grid recovery and phone service were totally recovered within a few hours, otherwise the affect on human can cause more damage than the power outage itself. I think you may want to explore that issue in this series too.
I happened to be there when it happened. It was a surreal experience, seeing lights gradually converted to darkness before your eyes within minutes. People were walking in the park with their smartphone torches, like fireflies in a forest. One could even see the light pollution in the sky, from the other districts with intact power. btw it was June 2022, not yet last year😂
exactly this kzhead.info/sun/Zr6QccObrmuqpqs/bejne.html
I'm an electrician and frequently upgrade distribution systems on large apartment buildings and my god even with advanced notice all hell breaks loose when we cut the power to transfer onto a portable generator to preform work. "It's too noisy, can you turn it off. How long before we get power back (15minutes into an 8hour scheduled outage)" We were having mechanical issues with the 500Kva generator where it would only run for 2hrs before shutting down and people were throwing food off their balconies because it was spoiling and screaming while doing so.
@@Alexanderthegreat616 I have some friends that work for CLP, and we happened to be talking about this a few days ago - to me, the most worrying thing is that they have no idea what the initiating event was - they have determined it wasn't mechanical damage, overload or overvoltage, but nothing past that. Since there are 4 more of those cable bridges in other locations in HK, it makes we worry they might just decide to catch fire at some point..
That kind of lifestyle combined with a lack of disaster preparedness does not sound like a good blueprint for society. I live on the east coast of the US where big snow storms and hurricanes are a regular part of life. I've lived through multiple multi-day electrical outages to include a several day grid collapse. People were annoyed yes but panicked? Absolutely not.
For SHTF comms, is why I was SO against getting rid of AM radio for widespread use. FM and even digital FM can easily be knocked out, or blocked, but AM is only as strong as the signal driving it. It may not be crystal clear, but easily audible enough with its simplicity to be useful.
TOTALLY AGREE
We went through the outage in Texas. We lived out in a rural area an hour south of Houston. As the storm started to move in but it hadn't gotten to the peak yet, and they shut us all off out where we lived. They had us off for almost 3 days. Even running our fireplace and shutting off the living room as our "hold up" location, we couldn't get above 50 degrees. The second full day without power, the water in the toilet bowl was frozen solid. The failure of the system was an eye opener, "they" don't actually care about "us" as long as they have theirs. While I don't feel that the answer to much is to trust, believe in or ask the government for help. Be prepared to self rescue, no one is coming.
I've been wondering whether I should build a home with a wood burning fireplace or gas fireplace
Did you not have any firewood? Or was it just funky fir or something?
@@lauracooskey9481 "Even running our fireplace and shutting off the living room as our "hold up" location, we couldn't get above 50 degrees." Ran it all night with oak and pecan. Fireplaces are just innefficent, and the house was built in the late 60's, also innefficient and never built for those temps. We built our own home and installed a wood stove and that is, by far, the way to go. It's not as aestheticly pleasing but it is much more efficient.
Water freezing then broke pipes. Broken pipes water damaged items in homes. (Yes, pipes sometimes travel through the ceiling.) There weren't enough plumbers. And many had moved in with friends or family after the second day and weren't home when the first signs of the water started.
@@edburke8738 You mean since that disaster with the frozen toilet? Yes, it totally makes sense to have a good woodstove! Good for you!
I lived without electricity for the first seven years of my life and I remember it well. We farmed with a horse and plow, had an outhouse, a smokehouse, a woodpile for the woodstove, a well that we hand pumped and carried water inside and had kerosene lamps at night. I realize we bought gasoline for the car we had but the old wagon that they had used until I was born still sat outback. Life was good in a different way then. I don't think many people now would know how to do that anymore.
I heard a guy say "pretend it's the 1800's. That's what might happen someday when you least expect it. Being prepped helps because it doesn't matter what's up...we will deal with it 👍👍
@@lisalee2885 It wouldn't be like the 1800's. it would be much worse because our infrastructure isn't built that way anymore. In the 1800's you'd still have a store to go to, and likely a farm yourself. You'd have horses for transportation. Etc.
@@lisalee2885 yeah but think of the number of people who wouldn’t even survive without toilet paper. A large percentage, likely a majority, would be totally and utterly lost
Im 48 and grew up poor in southern ohio. We used to hunt and farm alot of our food. We had power and tv but tv really didnt come until i was older except for the 3 channels we could pick up with rabbit ears. We had wood burner and kerosene heaters. I also had what would likely be worth a good sized house worth of arrow heads from that land. I wouldnt trade it for anything either. I can still cure hides not to mention farm and hunt. Even better, i can teach others to.
There’s no way in this world that today’s youth would be able to survive that way!
I live in Oklahoma and experienced a power outage that lasted for 20 and some odd days due to a major ice storm a long while back. I’ll never forget the sounds…shortly after the rain started and the temperatures dropped, the electricity failed. A few hours after that I stepped outside on my front porch. It was eerily quiet. Nothing much more than the incredibly soft sound of the freezing rain…at first, that is. All around me I started to hear loud cracks and popping sounds. It dawned on me fairly quickly that those sounds were coming from the woods in which my home was located. Branches, and shortly after entire trees, were snapping due to the weight of the ice that was accumulating everywhere. Trees were falling all around the area. Roads were blocked with branches and trees…not that getting around on the ice covered streets was even possible…let alone safe. Eventually my roof gave way in a number of places as trees were falling on my home. Holes in the roof, windows broken, cars trapped, and not much that could be done about it. It was so bizarre hearing not the background noise that everyone no longer really hears…but only the sound of the outside world breaking and crashing down. People were gathering in groups in houses that had fireplaces and other means of keeping warm. Houses were filled with three or four families. People were having to trek through the fallen trees to check on family, friends, and neighbors. Ambulances were parked and the EMTs were carrying stretchers with patients strapped to them for long distances over the accumulated debris. It was rather difficult for a lot of people, and really made people understand just how fragile things really are.
I had a tree fall on my home in the 09 ice storm. I know that popping and cracking sound and it is very scary!
Thank you for your experience, you could be a writer.
i live in florida so we get hurricanes every so often for many years. as a result the power companies have learned how to deal with them better. one of the things they do is make sure there are no tree branches overhanging lines and for homes in general, people keep trees that will fall over away from homes. most of the trees that fall over were no meant to be here and have shallow root systems rather then ones that go deep into the earth. in other cases someone will buy a grown palm tree that just has a small root ball and prop it up, well they have no real amount of roots and naturally fall over no matter what you do. the ones that grew from a seedling however? they dont budge. though im not sure of the details, we used to have lines that would just go down in high winds, even during regular storms the lights would flicker, now the lines are strong enough to withstand a category 1 without issue and the power usually doesnt go out at all. So i do see similarities, im sure people there now get rid of trees that arnt in good condition and remove ones that are near their home. hopefully the power company takes better care of the lines by keeping trees trimmed or removed from near lines. during one really bad storm we went without power for somewhere around 6-8 weeks. followed again by another hurricane a week or so later for no power again for another week or two. definitely not fun but thankfully we had a generator and were able to run it long enough for a fridge and a small window box AC unit to keep it cold enough at night to sleep. People at that time still went around as normal for jobs and the like. lots of people eating out in the few places that had generators or had grills. for a number of weeks there were only 2 such places for a city of over 100,000 people. im not sure of the exact population since its been growing for years and this was probably 12-17 years ago.
I think I know which storm you are talking about. I drive OTR. I was hauling a load thru OKC during the late 2000's when a major ice storm hit. Was difficult to even see the road there was so much ice coming down. I was on I-40 around 1600. Was starting to ice up pretty good by then. When I reached OKC about 90 minutes later it was really bad. The last lights I saw were at a Wal-Mart. As I passed it up it's lights also blinked out. I couldn't even tell I was driving thru a city it was so dark and silent. I cracked my window and it was creepy how little sound there was. Was so dark I couldn't see more than a few feet beyond the truck. But I did manage to make it thru OKC. It was slow going and very dangerous. Definitely some white-knuckle driving! Up thru I-35 and out of the ice.....right into a snowstorm on I-70. That was a pretty rough weather event for a lot of people!
@@lukesmith4440 You are absolutely correct! It was honestly one of the fastest “turns of events” I’ve ever dealt with before. It was fairly warm outside…then the rain started to fall. Worse yet…the temperature also started dropping. Together it made for one of the fastest and one of the worst winter storms I’ve ever experienced. Things happened ever so quickly, and no one was truly prepared for it. How could you be ready for something such as that? The only other “event” that I feel comes anywhere close to it was the tornado that touched down in Joplin, Mo…which was basically in my backyard. I have photographs of the devastation left in the wake of that EF-5. It’s heartbreaking. Again, these situations show how fragile our society can be once the electricity we depend on has been stripped away from us. Thank you for sharing your experience of this incident with us. I am glad that you made it through it safely…as being an OTR driver tends to be incredibly stressful and difficult at the best of times.
I was the IT and facilities manager at a mid sized suburban fire department for 17 years. I had six stations which obviously are critical infrastructure. We had fixed mount commercial generators at each location with enough fuel for several days (not going to say exactly). We'd test run the generators every two weeks and take the load of the buildings for an hour. We also had our own above ground diesel and gas tanks with several days supply at high load on site which had hand crank emergency pumps (double redundant). I felt our weakest link was domestic water supply and I even proposed drilling a well at our HQ station. There is a saying in emergency services and preparedness: you can live 3 minutes without oxygen, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. Use that to guide your priorities. Excellent video!
Interesting! Did you need the backup water just for drinking, for everyday hygiene, or for keeping the fire trucks full so you can fight fires?
@@brainwater I considered it for all of the above but the implementation would have depended on the well and how much we wanted to spend for storage. There was a lot of uncertainty in drilling a well since it was a built out suburban area with piped supply so there were virtually no other wells in the area. If there were a driller could better predict necessary depth (cost) and potential flow. We were at a high spot 400 feet above sea level so that was thought to be the worst case.
Actually running off the generators is important! So many places just fire it up and see if it will idle while disconnected every month and call it good. Power goes out a year later and - surprise! - your generator has a fault that prevents it from running your systems, and you get to find out now, when the generator repair techs are all booked out for a week instead of at a time of your choosing.
@@Phoen1x883 Correct. They won't do the job and last if they don't have a load. We even did an annual "load bank" run where they were put under max load and run for two or three hours. If my memory is correct eventually we switched that to every other year.
@@Phoen1x883 Just running idle on a diesel generator is a really bad idea. They will "wet stack" where they run so cold that the exhaust is below the boiling point of water. The rings will quickly plug with soot and then it goes downhill fast.
Annnnd this is one of the reason why I have an amateur radio license. I can completely bypass local infrastructure to get information and communicate with people.
Everyone should have a CB in thier car that plugs into the phone charger.in case phones go out and you need to communicate with friends or family.get a shortwave radio now don't wait.get Ammo or at least a Steel ballbat and Ax.your going to need it.
I lived through a blackout. It was hot and the water filtration for the city shut off so people panicked. Couldn’t leave town because the pumps were off. They formed mobs that beat down the doors at convenience stores to get the bagged ice, the last source of clean water. People were stealing gas from each others cars. Guns came out. Didn’t even take a day.
Some third world country? Nope. Amerika.
@@two-sensethat would happen in any 1st world country
@@denverbasshead You must be american.
@@two-sense you don't think that would happen in London or Paris or Frankfurt? You're lying to yourself
@@denverbasshead Yeah......I was right.
Puerto Rican here. I spent three months without power in 2017, knew some who spent many, many more. There was a total breakdown of the healthcare system. Many people died of things like asthma attacks and diabetic shock simply bc the hospital couldn't treat them or they couldn't get to the hospital. I remember being very afraid of getting sick or having an accident in those first few weeks because I knew going to the hospital might end up killing me. Five years later, three-day blackouts are normal. Brownouts are a daily thing. The grid still isn't fixed.
This is unacceptable. You're an American territory and should never have to experience this. I don't know the specifics of the politics but it's better to help you now instead of helping you after a crises.
@@teddybar66 Thank you. The fact that we are an American territory does not mean we should not go through this; no one should go through this and yet it happens every day all around the world. Our grid relies on coal and oil, which most people here agree need to be phased out, but the political situation in which we are beholden to the whims of the US Congress means we can’t make decisions about our own energy future. That is why I personally support the independence of Puerto Rico and breaking all ties with the United States. We are going in different directions as nations, and Puerto Rico is entitled to make its own way.
Oh my God!
186 days on the street in st croix. We still get outages weekly, new solar now short of 3 days of total cloud cover we can stay up. May not have ac all day but we can keep things going
@@teddybar66 PR is run by democrats
I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada. When hurricane Fiona hit us this fall our entire province lost power, and it took 13 days to restore power to 50% of the province. My area of around 3000 customers was without power for 17 days, but even entire neighbourhoods in the capital city of Charlottetown were without power for more than two weeks. It was a difficult time for my family, but infinitely worse for people in apartments and nursing homes that had no lighting and limited heat and water access.
Lost power for 10 days and was cutoff by flood in 96 in rural CA. Our pantry came through and our wood burner kept us warm. The city freaks out us rural folks make a cup of coffee and relax.
When we had the big ice storm here in Toronto some areas were without power for 6 days. People in apartments with no running water, no toilets, no elevators or lights. Older people living high up were trapped without those things. I'm glad I live in a house.
Apartments and buildings have far better thermal insulation to resist the cold , whereas single houses leak heat from all sides
I guess when you live in a backward country this is to be expected when you vote for communists ?
Cobourg was fine. Buckhorn took a long time to get fully restored.
At some point electricity became just as essential as food and water. I highly encourage getting a generator installed, pretty much any electrical contractor has this service nowadays. Not only are you preparing yourself for the worst, but you are also helping the grid decentralize and become more robust.
So you get a gen and a diesel storage of 100-200L because of not then it's pointless.. because you have no power left to pump ⛽ at the station.. and if your talking a 6month -10year black out well your only buying time... Until everyone starts killing each other for resources.. no different from governments today
I’m happy I have a BLUETTI AC200 MAX, with solar panels. I’m used it on my refrigerator, washer, not the dryer yet but I remember washing my clothes and the power went out for hours. The TV and internet. I’m thinking of adding more power to it. I live in Virginia Beach so I need to be prepared and everyone should be.
I was a technician at a power plant before I retired. Everything you said about the grid is correct. I usually volunteered to stay at the plant for hurricanes. No one was allowed to leave until everything was back to normal. The food was terrible but double time after 12 hours made for a great paycheck.
Only after twelve hours? How long was a regular shift?
@@OptimusWombat We had the same thing essentially. time + 1/2 8-12 hours, double time after that in a single day. After 20 hours of OT in a pay period it was all 2x. Big paychecks with big taxes....sigh.
@@hosmerhomeboy Nice, You deserve it.
@@OptimusWombat Regular shifts were 12 hours. Hurricane duty lasted 2 or 3 days.
@@davidhomer78 bad food why that?
That description of waking up not because of noise but from silence is so accurate. The eerie feeling you get and the slight panic realizing that you didn’t have a backup plan, and just the way the house feels when nothing is working as it should
yea, we had a small power outage here and that silence is deafening. I had to turn my laptop on and turn on a movie so I could go to sleep. I need the hum of the refrigerator or my tv to sleep.
Yup. Electricity makes sound, even when not going through a speaker. The sound a ceiling light fixture makes is so negligible until it's gone.
Only tangently related, but I wonder if that phenomenon is some kind of evolutionary/instinctual reaction. Imagine how a loud jungle/savannah environment quiets when a predator is about. Sudden silence of the din of usual bird/insect sounds triggering some kind of survival alertness instinct
the noise aboard navy ships is a constant roar. no noise means something very bad just happened to the power plant, as an emergency generator electrician that was more effective than an alarm clock for me. it literally took years for me to sleep at night after i retired.
@@AI_Overlord Nature is often extremely silent. It can be loud, sure, but frequently it's far quieter than our modern environment full of fans and compressors.
What an amazing video! The sewage treatment aspect was a real eye opener in particular. I’ve saved this video to show my 8yr old son because he finds interconnected systems like this fascinating, and I think it’s super important that people should be aware of how our urban system is set up! This should be taught, at least briefly, in schools!
This was all presented to Congress, showing them the weakness in our electrical grid from an EMP, (ElectroMagneticPulse) years ago and they did nothing to protect the grid.
6 weeks was my personal record in Sept 1979 after a hurricane that hit Mobile. My wife said her family went about the same. We pumped gasoline at the stations by hand pumps through the plate cover fill holes. We had a gas range and waterheater and never lost gas or water. However other cities had power and sections of the city and county got water, power, gas every week during the cleanup. We were about the last...ironically we both lived downtown. Just depended on the street and the lost lines or flooded underground. All grids go down....I'd estimate two weeks, then the violence in cities and the rural areas guarding or blowing ridges to keep thousands or millions of urban migrants from descending on the short supplies.
During hurricane Hugo I lived in a very rural area. 13 weeks with no electricity. We were one of 4 houses on a 9 mile dirt road. We took our tractors and chainsaws and opened the road ourselves. It took 15 days, Luckily my Dad had a 500 gallon diesel tank and a 300 gallon gasoline tank ready. The logs are mostly rotted but still visible to this day. They serve as a reminder how helpless the government is in a situation like that. Don't rely on anybody but yourself.
That's amazing.
What a waste to let those logs rot.
Not disaster related but relying on the govt related...I have pictures from the late 1800's of my Family and neighbors just BUILDING their own roads!! No Govt just area families and their draft horse teams with graders and everything needed to build a dirt road!! Same with dredging farm ponds or small lakes on their properties....they DID IT THEMSELVES!! Something we as a society have fallen TOO FAR away from!! Luckily I have learned some of those do it yourself skills from both sides of my Family but in a SHTF scenario where the power doesn't come back on for a very long time......I can tell you I'm glad I don't live in a major metropolitan area!! LOTS OF DEATH'S will occur!!
Amen
Hugo was devastating. I remember that. Our house only lost an attic fan. The one next to us had its roof ripped off. Flooding like nobody’s business.
I worked with SCADA in an industrial facility and due to the high pressure and high temperature processes our engineering department made sure all our PC's within the control station and the sensors throughout the facility had UPS backup in case of power loss. I was on shift when the local power grid went down. The lights went off inside, but all the computers kept on going. Unfortunately they hadn't thought to add a UPS unit to the router/comms unit that sent all the commands from our PCs to/from the sensors, etc. So I sat there for a minute hoping it was maybe taking a while to kick in, before madly running around manually operating various valves before pressure relief valves started blowing all over the site. That was fun.
personally i'd build out UPS's from the networking part first cuz computers nowadays are nearly useless without a network connection
Hahaha, I can totally picture it 😆 Very well-written! 👍🏼
That's more normal than people think. And nobody plans for long-term. Many don't even maintain the UPS equipment they have not realizing that this is necessary. We can't do a real-life test of a major grid-down event so really we're only guessing what will need to be dealt with when it comes; like you've seen there's going to be many surprises, and not happy ones
@@P_RO_ Yeah. The real failure in planning is often that people do individual checklist items, such as "have backups of your software and data," but don't focus on _disaster recovery._ In IT I've seen plenty of situations where people had backups, but were unable to restore them after an event because they'd never even worked out how they would do it, much less tested a system for doing it.
@@Curt_Sampson That knowledge that the system has to work end-to-end is what made my personal HD backup be as simple as possible. It's just rsync, so if my HD fails (its the main failure mode I want to protect against) then once I have a re-installed OS, I just drag the files back over, because the backups aren't in some special compressed format, they're just regular files (and links when the files haven't changed between backups).
A perfect storm is brewing in the United States. Inflation, bank collapse, severe drought in the agricultural belt, recession, food shortages, diesel fuel and heating oil shortages, baby formula shortages, available automobile shortages and prices, the price of living place. It's all coming together and it could lead to a real disaster towards the end of this year (or sooner). With inflation currently at about 6%, my primary concern is how to maximize my savings/retirement fund of about $300k which has been sitting duck since forever with zero to no gains.
These are the conditions in which life-changing money is made by those who remain calm, patient, and take controlled risks. Volatility goes both ways. The bigger the red candles, the bigger the green ones.
Investing in stocks can be a wise decision, especially if you have a dependable trading system that can lead to successful outcomes. Personally, I've been working with a financial advisor for about a year now. Starting with less than $200K and I'm now just $19,000 away from making half a million in profit.
I think this is something I should do, but I've been stalling for a long time now. I don't really know which firm to work with; I feel they are all the same. Is there any chance you could recommend who you work with?
Credits to 'Natalie Lynn Fisk' she has a web presence, so you can simply
She appears to be well-educated and well-read. I ran an online search on her name and came across her website; thank you for sharing.
I think the worst part for us during the Texas Snowpocalypse was when the main water supply line between our small town and Luling burst because of the freezing temps, and our water towers were dangerously low because everyone had been dripping their faucets at night to keep their pipes from freezing. The lack of clean water was horrific, and the stores were running out. We saved the bottled stuff for drinking and melted snow to flush toilets. Then we were asked to conserve natural gas, so we huddled up in one room to save heat and cooked on the fire pit outside. The good news? We managed to clear a lot of dead wood in the back yard!!
So glad you didn't melt the snow and drink it if you do that please use a good water filter the snow is toxic don't believe me have it tested
@Pepe Silvia starts twerkin
@Pepe Silvia no need to wait for the weather to get threatening, start living the lifestyle on your own volition
I'm 53 and remember a snow/ice storm that hit us here in Northeast Georgia in the early 80's. We didn't have electricity for over 2 weeks and it was one of the most exciting things ever. At least for me at 12yrs. We took water ski's and made them into snow ski's, eating all foods cooked from a fire place and wood stove. The only entertainment was a radio and especially the weather radio in the hopes of more inclement weather and no school (very rarely). It was great times because I'm smiling ear to ear typing this...
You sound like the Four Yorkshireman. :J kzhead.info/sun/qMlwp7FoiHVrf30/bejne.html
I'm 62 and I grew up in the S.F.Bay Area in the '60's, '70's and '80's. I never knew a time when we didn't have dependable electricity. Oh there were times when the power went out for a few minutes, but the scenario that Grady mentioned, people in the S.F.Bay Area know absolutely nothing about!
@@goysb4jays566. Wow, that’s dark, really almost anything is survivable with the right attitude, and remember the old saying; what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”.
@@tc25d Ahaha!! you sound like a typical spoiled fragile American
Just commented on Kentucky no 911 or anything friends mom her town no juice for over a month
I purposely spend two weeks a year with no electricity on vacation. Plus we’ve lost electricity during several storms including blizzards. You either adapt or snap.
Not sure about "society" in the cities and suburbs but, out here in the sticks, we'd be just fine for years. We have deep wells that can run off electricity or a wind pump, we have wind and solar generators and we have a white water creek that will run paddle wheel generators forever. We have 30 tons of coal stored up and have tons of trees as a last resort. I doubt we'd even notice.
Assuming youre growing all your food and dont require irrigation to do it...can produce all your own medications...and your $$ is cash and not digital.
@@melissareece8656 In a total society break down the biggest thing they'd need to worry about is looters. Cash wont mean a thing because everything would gravitate back to a barter system at best and total anarchy at worst. As for food, some prepers keep several years of non perishable food stored.
During my apprenticeship training at a power station, I was stationed in a remote rural area which was generating 700 MW. I remember there was a cyclone warning. I've experienced blackout and total grid failure inside the control room of the power plant, It was the most tiresome and adventurous and dangerous work i had to do with the team it took about 2 hours to bring back power, it was night time and it was raining heavily and there was thunderstorms outside. I respect the engineers who work at the power stations.
I worked at a 1,200 MW power station during the east coast blackout. That was weird. A massive 13 story building that was normally so loud that ear plugs are required that was now so incredibly quiet with nothing but the sound of pipes ticking and other items making slight groaning as they slowly cooled. A layer of smoke was from the roof all the way down to about 6 feet from the turbine deck. As we walked along with flashlights or lights on our hardhats the still layer of smoke would part and move along that night like an inverted wake from a boat. It was quite surreal.
For sure! -Ohio
The most practical alternative for the individual is to Just STOP Being A SLAVE The Grid altogether !!! Many people around the World have already chosen to Live Off The Grid as a part of the Minimalist Movement, which encourages people to grow their own food and to generate their own electricity. Kirsten Dirksen's KZhead channel has 100's of cases of people who have found ways of becoming Self Sufficient and Independent by learning How To Live Off The Grid !!! Of course, there are people like the Dummy Engineer who made this video who actually like being a Slave of Big Brother.
20 years ago when I decided to become an apprentice electrician, a lot of my friends thought it was a poor decision. I had to explain to them how truly dependent we are on electricity. Even if new construction stops due to a recession or other cause, existing electrical systems in buildings still require maintenance.
I had it explained like this if all the doctors in the world disappeared we would survive. If all the electricians and electrical engineers disappeared everything collapses.
Your friends were fools. I have been an electrical contractor for almost 20 years and even through the worst financial strain, we made money. I always advise young men to go to trades, if even only to learn a real skill and then drop it if it ain't for you. If that trade is electrical...you will NEVER be unemployed.
@@ananda_miaoyin i also give that advice, to young men And women
This is extremely false, and I think it’s funny how you think that society depends on electricity. Electricity has some uses, but it’s mostly just a fad and it will wear away and people will realize that we can live without electricity, we did it for thousands of years and we can do it for thousands more. Once people realize that they don’t need electricity as bad as society tells them to you and all your electrical engineers will go out of business once and for all.
My thoughts exactly when I became an electrician many years ago!
Excellent channel! We appreciate you!
I was in that Texas snowpocalypse, we got grandma and dad into a hotel in town with a generator before it really hit so it was just Mom and I running the farm. We lost power with that first snow and were prepared to heat the house with candles under upside-down soup pots, which works really well! We kept the water running to prevent the pipes freezing and cooked on a fire outside, we had an elderly neighbor who stayed with us who brought her old Dutch oven so we made stew and overall, I had a ton of fun that week! Good memories, kind of like a surprise camping trip at home 😂 but I know it was very very bad for most people! I've taken to teaching my friends and anyone else who'll listen how to survive without grid power, if even one person in every household knows what to do then we'll all be better off!
We've spent a lot of decades unintentionally setting ourselves up for a pretty incredible disaster without really preparing for the actual worst
I don't like to think negative...but your comment makes sense💯
Yes cuz u r lazy everyone is
@@rettebzky888 not really. Stop being scared weenies.
Its all a set up for the worlds best apocalypse story
The way you described the atmosphere when you first wake up during a power outage is spot on! I was in Austin when the power first went out and I'm a pretty heavy sleeper. There's very little that will wake me up. Hearing absolutely nothing coming from the things in my apartment that normally hummed away (fans, my PC, my fridge, the heater, the water heater) instantly woke me up in a sweat. I got on my phone and opened Twitter and the 1st thing I see is the message from ERCOT saying they were in a state of emergency. I had literally never heard of ERCOT before that morning. What followed were days with very limited power and by the 3rd day, the water stopped flowing. I feel like I can go quite a while without power, but when the water stopped, the situation got dire. Thankfully my parents were on a critical circuit in a different town and brought me water but a lot of people weren't as lucky. Nothing will make me forget how close it felt like the state was to a complete collapse.
You will own nothing and be happy tho lol
Remember the green idiots want the power to from renewables only, so get used to not having much of it. lol.
@@jamescollins3647 nothing like a long outage to make the green idiots suddenly the local geniuses for having solar cells on the roof. now... if only someone had a water well
@@element5377 Or a well with a hand pump as well maybe?
We in the country west of Austin didn't experience what Austin city folks did.
The comment on communications being down reminded me of the time the Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant went down and it was virtually impossible to make calls in and to South Africa. That cost the economy billion of dollars and scores of billions of Rand.
I live in rural Nova Scotia, Canada. We usually get hit with a hurricane, tropical storm or depression a few times every fall. Winter storms, although usually not as windy cause a lot of snow and ice damage to the grid. We lose power pretty well every storm, sometimes for days. Because of this, I have a gasoline powered generator connected to my house, with a minimum of three days worth of gas in jerry cans, preserved with fuel stabilizer. I make a concerted effort to rotate the gas out into a vehicle after six months, fill it with fresh gas and stabilizer, and store it once again. We have a wood stove with seasoned firewood available year round. Our camping gear is stored in the house, with naphtha for the camp stove and lantern. In addition, we always have a minimum of 72 hours worth of food, and cash on hand in small denominations ($5, $10 and $20s). I’m not one of those preppers that the History Channel would do a documentary on, but just a guy who has gone through this power outage thing more times than I care to think about. This is all fine in the short run, but should there be a system wide massive outage due to an EMP or solar flare causing the whole grid to go dark permanently, I really would not like to think of what that would be like for folks that aren’t even minimally prepared like we are.
In case of an extended power outage shut off the water and heating to your hot water tank. You will then have about 20 to 30 gallons of drinkable water which will last a week or more depending on rationing and the number of occupants in your household. Also in a cold weather scenario, open up all you faucets and showers to drain the water into containers. This gives you a bit more water to drink, but it also prevents the water from cracking your pipes as the internal temperature of your house drops. So that when power is restored you will have safe and undamaged supplies again.
Most people have combi boilers these days, at least where I live. So no hot water tank at all.
That's just asking for legionella bacteria to take hold. Keep water very hot, or cold. Never let it settle in between for long.
@@alexsimmons1803 is there some additive you could put in the hot water tank in this scenario that would kill legionella and allow you to drink the water?
@@cnafyi No. You need to heat the water, preferable to at least 60°C for about an hour once every couple of days to be safe. Allowing water temps to sit at 20-45°C for a few days (which is what an unpowered hot water tank will do as it gradually loses heat) is asking for trouble. Legionella is deadly. In any case, if town water supply is cut off, a mains pressure hot water tank isn't going to deliver much water anyway, unless you undo the drain plug (and probably deal with scale and sludge at the bottom of the tank). We have 5000 litres of tank water we can use in a pinch. Normally for garden only, it can be boiled for potable application. I also have an off grid solar PV and battery storage system which has the capacity to keep us going, even in our Winter. Also a backup generator which can run on fuel we normally have for general property maintenance equipment, and even use fuel from a car tank if necessary.
@@alexsimmons1803 Technically you could also still use that water if you sterilize it with bleach (make sure you know the correct percent per volume, and only use bleach with zero additives!!!!) once you need that water. It's normally prevented using chlorine in water systems, and the water in the tank is probably chlorinated anyways, through that will evaporate quickly when exposed to air. And really the risk comes for aerosolized particles that you inhale, more than drinking. But in cold weather, I would drain any water into other containers for sure just to save the tank from damage. That's an expensive repair!
I've already lived this. In 2011, a massive storm system caused a tornado outbreak in Alabama. One of the EF-5 tornadoes took down ALL the power transmission lines going into Huntsville, Al, bringing down the entire grid for the city and most outlying areas. It took nearly a week and a half to restore power to my apartment, and was an interesting way to end my last semester at college before graduating.
Rodney, I remember this quite well. Going almost two weeks without power was eye opening. The first few days we didn’t have water because someone shut off our water supply too…so not fun at all. I have lived through both the Bama and Texas power outages and neither were fun. At least it wasn’t as cold during the 2011 outage. In 2021, our house was 46 degrees when the power came back on.
No. You haven't lived through a Real event like Grady is talking about. In a disaster, it's usually a local event. He is talking about a National event. No one is coming to bring you water and food because it's the same where they are at. Within two weeks armed gangs will be hunting you to take whatever you have left. You will be joining one of them just to survive.
Not even close to being the same scenario. There was food being brought in, bottled water etc etc. if “the grid” goes down, it will be complete and utter chaos, especially in the big cities. 😂 and then it will spread, fast. 😂
@@Gfysimpletons And the emojis are for what?
@@Gfysimpletons Based on a comment like that, it's safe to assume you've never experienced anything even remotely similar.
I've lived without electricity on and off several times in my life. One time I was living in a camper and the temp got down to -13. The walls inside were literally covered with ice. All I had was myself and a blanket.
Great video. Thanks. You've reminded us all how interdependent we all are, and how fragile our lived reality is. More of us need to recognise this, and all work together to get ready for a loss of power.
Back in the 1970's I was a Stationary Engineeer at University of California San Francisco. This included 2 hospitals, 4 medical schools, a number of medical buildings and research facilities. One rainy day some water got into the conduit to a 12,000 volt transformer in the basement of a medical building and knocked out the whole campus, trapping people during operations, in elevators and on dialysis machines. Thankfully the Assistant Chief Engineer and I were in the turbine generator room when this happened. The main electrical distribution board was at one end of the room. We were able to get the power back on to most the campus within a minute. The building with the blown transformer was left black. Inside that building were people on dialysis machines that were stopped. The San Francisco Fire Department came to the rescue with portable generators with connectors specifically for these buildings. It was amazing how fast they were able to get power to those patients. Just one lesson about how dependent we are on the power grid. I'm no hero but wanted to give a big shout out to the San Francisco Fire Department.
Oh trust me guys like you that know your job are Hereos 👍👍
You story is fake. It doesn't make any sense and the data doesn't add up.
that is so true! anyone that can restore a single unit is worth praise.
Unfortunately, humans are not hardwired to be interested in preventive actions. The hero isn't the person who prevents the disaster; instead it's the person who fixes the problem after it has occurred that gets the accolades. This was a pretty sobering video, nice job.
You're probably right, however after some people experience the misery of going through an event unprepared, they usually prep enough to make sure it never happens again.
Preppers are so conscience about future fails, they are prepared to live off grid long term with solar generators, water sources, ways to purify water, medicine, much food, etc.
I like these and the way you talk man you are great. These are great
That was spot on correct!! Thank you for this clear assessment.
James Burke, British science historian, did a series in 1978 called Connections. The first episode posited that a disaster in New York City forced everyone to abandon the city and try to survive in the surrounding countryside. It was a big, wet slap in the face with the reality that basically nobody in NYC could grow food, run farming equipment or have any clue how to slaughter and dress meat animals. Especially with no electricity or communication. Very good series; back in 1978 he warned of the coming disaster that plastic was sure to cause.
thanks for the reference
Thanks for referencing that, I should look that up. Did the author consider the fact that pretty much any urbanite could pick up the basics of growing food and operating farming equipment in like 2 days max though? Not enough to do professionally of course, but just as a means to help out if farm equipment is inoperable during such times. Anyone can learn to dig up and collect potatoes, it's why it's been the goto job since humans began.
They couldn't ever grow enough food, not enough room
@@supernenechi This assumes they could find a book - actual printed-on-paper book - on gardening. Without power, there's no internet, and thus, no youtube. Plus, they won't have the seeds to even begin the process. (eg. the potatoes in my house are dehydrated.)
@@supernenechi That's kind of a funny remark. The potato part; they are a Nee World plant, so definitely not known, much less dug in early civilization. And then there's that Irish potato failure. They became dependent on a single crop, with terrible results.
Thank you, great information. Scary stuff, but time for every household to be prepared.
In 2005, I worked for a large fire rescue department in S.Florida when hurricane Wilma made landfall on the west coast, moving east towards Ft Lauderdale. We lost power for 9 1/2 days. While I had a 6.5kw gasoline generator, reserves of fuel, food,and water as well as support resources from my employer, a regional loss of electrical power is no joke. In my humble opinion, FEMA should recommend that everyone should have the resources to be self sufficient for a minimum of 1 week. 3 days is woefully inadequate.
As a SCADA Specialist here in Texas, this video is the breakdown of one of my greatest fears - systemic breakdown of infrastructure. This is also why I got into the hobby of overlanding to see what I did and did not need to survive off grid for short to long durations of time while also getting to explore our country (and someday beyond that). I cannot recommend your channel enough. Thank you for making these videos!
I used to design SCADA interfaces for substations and once even for a static VAR substation. We embrace the gravity portrayed shown here. Have been to the Miles City DC to DC interchange.
Ah! Nothing says the holiday spirit of friends and family gather like watching a video on total collapse of our infrastructure, plunging us into the dark ages! haha, Love the videos Grady you are doing us all a big favor
It reinforces what we have to be grateful for, doesn't it!
Lol this a gently delivered a matter of fact informative that basically explains that if power goes out… it’s lights out for us 🎉😢😢
I am very grateful to be into backpacking and so being very well prepared for a decent length of time off-grid, even in the winter.
I lived in Venezuela for 19 years. (1998 to 2018). I experienced countless, days long blackouts. It's a very humbling experience, especially when you have 80+ hours a week without electricity for years and years. It's one of the most demoralizing things I can imagine. Yet, the effects it had on my awareness and preparedness in life I wouldn't trade for anything else. There's value in misery. I don't want anyone to experience what I lived, but hell I wish they could learn what I learnt without living it.
What are some things you’d recommend ppl look out for and can do to be proactive
@@panmoncada7257 Be grateful about what you have. Don't vote democrat. Build a good and worthy relationship with your neighbours, and don't let politics ruin those relations.
@@manuelmendez980 so, all of that "humbling experience" has taught you about politics, huh! Oh, how I knew where this was going!
@@blabla-rg7ky well, try living 20 years in a socialist country in your own flesh, and It will teach you a thing or two about politics.
@@manuelmendez980 I've lived 30 in a communist country (I'm Romanian), so I know what it feels like, but I still don't associate catastrophes with politics)
I used to work in power production (my education is in power and marine engineering) and what is presented in this video is my worst fear. I bring this topic up a lot with people because it is always on my mind and very few people I've spoken with understand the severity of an event like this. I remember in my classes for my capstone one of my professors stating that "the North American electrical grid is the largest machine on planet Earth", that's really stuck with me. We don't usually think of the telephone poles and wires as being a part of a larger machine, but they absolutely are. Turning the grid back on isn't as easy as flicking a lightswitch.
That's not true anymore. First off, there are 4 interconnections covering the US and Canada. The "Eastern" interconnection _was_ the largest machine in the world. India passed us by a few years back when they interconnected their entire system into one grid. China is set to pass them, once they interconnect their entire grid. It remains to be determined if the US will sync up. Intermittency in renewables can be fought with better interconnection, so it might happen. Then again, it might not because of the ever improving DC systems making large AC systems less desirable.
"Turning the grid back on isn't as easy as flicking a lightswitch." Made me think of Jurassic Park.
if powerplants, which generating the most, are destroyed, it not matters how interconnected you are. The solution is an decentralized small/mid scale power plants, including ones below surface and hidden in the mountains......with interconnection made underground as well. (double reservation for one power line at least).
@@s.i.m.c.a Also, distributed solar with local storage could make it so a power cut would hardly be noticed.
Your videos are so wonderful. Thorough, digestible, and well scripted and narrated. Thanks for the free education!
Well done video. A balanced not hysterical approach to this very important topic of modern day life. I look forward to your other videos and become a subscriber.
Between September 6 and 20, 2017, I was living on St. Croix, USVI, when 2 Category 5 hurricanes hit us. We were without power at our home until Christmas Day. We had water from our cistern and a generator that we had to ration the fuel to a couple of hours per day because being on an island you never know when fuel will be delivered. You really learn how to do with less.
I grew up out in the woods. There was a terrible ice storm once, about the year 2000, I remember we were out of power for two weeks. And the roads were so iced over that we couldn’t drive out to leave. Luckily, since we are so far from town and civilization we had a good stock pile of necessities. We burned wood in the fireplace to stay warm, and cooked over it too. Holiday season so family was over. It was a very nice break from normal life.
We had one in Hot Springs Arkansas in 2000
Is that in the north east? I remember a terrible ice storm around Ottawa, Canada either in 1997 or 1998. School bus wasn't going to come to pick me up and drive 1.5 hours for me to get to school.
LOL - he mentions in the video how a short time outage can be a fun sort of time. Two weeks??!! Lucky you were so well prepared! AND you had family over?? 😎 Definitely memories that will never be forgotten.......you lucky man..... 😘
@@cyclingzealot I lived in upstate New York between 97-98 and remember a huge ice storm without power for two weeks. I actually enjoyed it asa kid.
@@pookiesis1465 yeah! I’m from Arkansas too! Same one! Haha
I live in Ukraine and right now our grid operates under literal missile strikes. And operates well given the circumstances, we have 4 hours rolling blackouts every day to reduce load. And full day blackouts on worst days. One thing i can say is having jackery-style charging station with full size outlet goes a long way. It allows to continue to power my gas house heating and other critical equipment. P.S. That's experience far away from frontline. People who live in southeastern regions have much more severe problems.
Our thoughts are with you. I never thought in the 21st century there would be anything like this in Europe. We are in awe of your determination to resist Putin and the bravery of your troops and people. Slava Ukraini!
Ihor, Ukraine is exactly what I was thinking about when I watched this video. In fact, Ukraine is a lot of what I think of every day regardless of what I'm doing or watching. Wishing all of you as close as possible to a safe and comfortable winter.
Well I'm also Ukrainian. And I get less than 10 hours a day. It's a VERY common problem here now.
@@user-lp3cf5yn5b It is not very fun.
🖕🇺🇦
I have lived in Florida completely solar and batteries and some generator to charge batteries on bad weather days, for over 9 years.
Grady, you've got some great content.
The CPAP clip really hit home for me. Luckily, I had a neighbor with a generator and we ran an extension cable across our front yards for three nights during the winter storm. But to be honest, the power being out was a walk in the park compared to having no water.
Check to see what the voltage on the CPAP because you can run them off of a 12 volt battery in many cases.
I grew up often preparing for the power and water to cut out for up to a week. We were near the Florida coast and we were on well water, so during hurricanes the power often went out for up to a week, and we'd lose water when the power went out. I still don't take the city water for granted quite as much as other people.
Get a solar generator like a Jackery and a few solar panels. You should be able to power a CPAP indefinitely off grid with about $1000 worth of gear.
@@Kenriko Not saying its the original poster, but it is nutty to me to see people around me saying they cant afford certain preparedness items and then skirt away to a far off land. Same people that want to mooch when disaster strikes.
I never understood why so many in TX were complaining about lack of water when they were covered in deep snow.
I've lived a total blackout more than once, but the major one was the blackout after hurricane María hit Puerto Rico. We didn't have water service for an entire month and no electric service for more than 2 months. The reason for this is because the engineers focused on getting electricity to water services and critical services, like hospitals. Communication was completely out for little less than a month. The only people carrying information to the Police, Hospitals, Firefighters, and other government agencies and departments were the Radio Amateurs. I remember that my dad was listening to a frequency and suddenly someone mentioned to quickly go to the police station and tell them about a raid on a hospital, if I'm not mistaken. Social order was so chaotic during the first few weeks and communication between the government agencies was so cutoff that the National Guard had to be activated to achieve social order, but because of the lack of communication methods, the National Guard took a while to deploy. Ever since that blackout, there have been backup generators in the cell phone towers, allowing communication after blackout. Still, months without electricity (keep in mind other people spent more months without water and sometimes even a full year without electricity, maybe even more) because of the government's unpreparedness and the weak electric infrastructure costed lives, trauma, and most likely health problems. To finish this. I think that one of the many impactful yet uncanny views was a deep blue sky that had slowly turned completely grey due to the amount of generators active in the metro area.
How do generators turn the sky grey?
@@msmith323 air pollution
Wow. We really take things for granted. Thx for the video.
This cold front affected way more then Texas. It went as far as 6 hours driving distance into mexico from El Paso. Many people were affected and that far south water infrastructure got very damaged.
My family was stationed in Puerto Rico during Hugo. 3 weeks with out water, 4 weeks without power. I became very passionate about being prepared after that.
NO picnic My bad.
How did u survive 3 weeks without water?
@@alm777 he said his family. Not him. Learn to read.
@@PolishBehemoth Learn how to write.Btw...him or them,not the point.Question still applies!!!How did they ,or anyone,survive without water?
They went out and found some dumbass
I remember when the bad ice storm took our power out for two weeks in rural Ohio. We did fine due to having a wood stove, and the ability to melt ice in pans on said stove. Many were not so lucky to have wood heat, and even then many didn't have to wait 2 weeks like us. Cant imagine wide spread loss witbout alternative heat sources.
I was close to panic from even 2 days where we had no wood heat, no food that didn't need to be heated, and almost no gas in the car. Laying in bed shivering and hungry with literally nothing to do for 20+ hours a day is...not feasible long term.
I'd be really worried that hordes of looters would come with weapons to my home if i was in your situation though.
@@ArrowRaider I live in rural Ohio, no worries about hordes of looters w/ weapons ;)
imagine ukraine. 50% of power generation has been destroyed by russia. no heat no power for months
and no water except hand pumps and bottled water.
I was living in Demi John Island, Freeport Texas during this winter black out. And I’m from Alaska. It was wild that they weren’t ready for minor freezing. People died and everything shut down. Everyone helped where they could… a lot of people had no idea about colder weather. It’s strange, kinda like I had no idea how to deal with the hot summer heat while there. I’m back in Kodiak Ak and enjoying the mild temps!
Moving to a city, the most wild thing to me was that the water still worked after a power outage. We used to have a well that was shared with our neighbors, powered by electricity, so if the power went out you could flush the toilet maybe twice before the whole house just didn't have any. Even crazier is how now that we have a gas-powered fireplace, we can keep the whole house warm without power if necessary. And though we didn't have that luxury when power was out for a week, we fortunately did have neighbors with power, since our street was on a different circuit than the rest of the neighborhood, so we ran an extension cord to power the fridge, dressed warmly, and mostly just went on with our daily lives as normal. I charged my devices at school and aside from that used handheld lights rather than regular lighting. If that had happened while we still lived in the country, though? No water aside from our several gallon stockpile, way to preserve food other than dry storage, the only silver lining would be that the town proper was probably far enough away not to be effected by the same issue so stores would probably be open, at least some of them. Fortunately, while we lived there, the longest I remember the power being out was maybe a few days.
During the partial grid collapse of the 1998 Ice Storm in Boucherville, QC near Montreal, they used a locomotive as power (550kW). In fact the CN rail company voluntarily derailed it and drove it on the asphalt for 300 meters (984ft) to the nearby City Hall, and another was trucked to the school (emergency shelter). That’s Canadian-French ingenuity for you.
Makes perfect sense. A diesel locomotive is basically just a giant power plant after all.
Would've been crazy if they realized it was politicians that created the mess and kept em shut down for a while and powered 'the people' instead but then people would've seen things continue to work and better without mind control and that's no good for the hidden hand to maintain a firm grip
Diesel doesn’t grow on trees. Quebecois don’t want pipelines but are happy to take delivery from authoritarian Middle East states. Makes perfect sense.
Grady, remember that when water pumping stops, so does fire fighting. Customers in the dark, start using fire for cooking and heat. Too often they end up with a structure fire. With no water, they can quickly lead to conflagration. Another hazard is overheated power lines, leading to lines sagging, and snapping. This can lead to widespread wildland fires, and fewer grid ties to perform restarts.
Not to mention water is required for powerplants to operate, such as cooling and steam generation.
@@dbclass4075 Rivers and lakes aren't dependent on the grid. And generating power creates enough in-situ power to drive all the ancillary loads, like cooling.
@@bcubed72 Power is required to operate the water gates, though.
@@dbclass4075 powerplants and other critical infra have their own back ups independent from civilian infra.
@@benjaminjernfors A comment above literally said that technicians had to use PERSONAL generators' to power a company owned headend. So WHILE they SHOULD be backed up, you can't always be sure...
I remember two major power blackouts in Ontario. 2003 and 2013. For both, we were pretty lucky as our power was restored within 18-20 hours. Had to go to work during the first one at night and it was surreal. The building I was working at had emergency power but only for 1/3 lighting, basic emergency systems and one elevator. The second one, I actually got some overtime pay where I had to pick up a generator and deliver it Christmas eve. Was a nice 7 hour drive through some beautiful scenery due to the ice formations. What impressed me though was how much we rely on our power grid for even the basics. We'd be screwed big time if our power was out for more than a week.
This was very well done.
I'm an Electrical Engineer who's worked for a SCADA company providing software and hardware for utility and critical infrastructure. Having seen how these operators work and the level of importance they have, I never really considered in the past how important they were, now I feel they don't really get the recognition they deserve. If you are an operator working these industries and you happen to read this; You're doing a good job and don't let anyone tell you otherwise 👍
Have been in a black start situation at sea, it took several tries for various reasons, each try heated up the equipment rooms more and more, to the point the SCADA systems were overheating. The successful start up was a well choreographed dance of power and cooling. Energy and cooling for both equipment and people.
I'd love to hear more about that. Losing power at sea must be terrifying, especially steering.
Thank you for this.
The last 130 years of human civilization have been built on the widespread availability of electricity. From communication to banking, to city life to health systems, from transportation to logistics - the background of all our life depends exclusively on the power grid. Thanks for spreading this knowledge to a wider audience...
You will own nothing and be happy.
@Ray of Light 62 - You're not a ray of light- you're a beacon of intelligence 👍 There's a saying among old poor southern farmers you might understand: "A man with a mule can afford a tractor, but a man with a tractor can't afford a mule". With a field to eat from the mule needs nothing else but a tractor always does.
I was an employee at a convenience store during major snowstorms where people lost power for several days. After a few days; most of them were going nuts. I can’t imagine what a real deal grid collapse would do to them!
Don't worry, FEMA will come to our rescue. 😆😆😆
If you are smart, you have prepared, go home, pull all the drapes, set sentries (YES, you NEED TO DO THIS! cameras with notification software can work well) and wait. Most of the violence will not start until people run out of food in their homes, after that? Keep your weapons handy if you live in urban or suburban communities. good luck. Ps this IS coming, prepare NOW!)
@@Brian-pz3wh How you gonna have cameras with no electricity?
@@gatocles99 Use a camera that has a solar panel or a battery. And you can charge your phone and battery's with a portable solar panel charger.
@@Brian-pz3wh We are only 9 meals way from anarchy.... just sayin...
If it was a total grid failure after a month or two, we wouldn’t be able to keep or there’s a book called one second after and they go over that very thing.
Always interesting, thank you.
After the big freeze here in Texas the mill I work at was one of the first large energy consumers to come back online. For 9 days we were paid to stay running to keep load on the grid. It didn’t really make sense at the time, but since so many large consumers went down. It made it easier to keep power plants under load and bring things back.
What kind of milling? If you don't mind my asking, that is. Certain kinds of mills (i.e. grain mills) would still be worth running so long as you have the resources that need milling. Flours can be cooked into a variety of simple breads fairly easily, even with rudimentary fires.
If it was East Texas, probably wood or paper.
Some commercial customers (and residential ones for that matter) are also just fortunate enough to share a feeder with critical utilities, and it’s not worth switching to partially shed the feeder for various reasons. So there were a lot of times people and companies experienced dramatically less time without power compared to others, and it would seem inexplicable unless you had an intimate knowledge of the interconnections you shared with critical infrastructure.
The dread of a wide spread grid shutdown has been on my fear list for many many years. Nobody understands how dependent we all are on electricity.
Some of us do - that's why lead investments are prudent.
"Nobody understands"... false. Many do, as this video proves. It doesn't help though, because bringing back the infrastruture from the dead is a colossal task.
not nobody understands.. just 90% which makes the 10% need to hide they have from fear of the others getting desparate 🏡👀
Nobody understands - YOUR STATEMENT
@@astralux1732 most people don't understand the dependency on infrastructure, they don't see it, and they probably think water just comes at the tap water magically. I'll be laughing at the top of my basement with 20000L of water, a diesel generator with fuel for 2 months and guns (if someone try to steal my things) !
Yes I subscribed. I need to learn a lot from you so I don’t feel fearful and how to prepare 🙏
Great explanation and talk!
Few years ago, the DoD did a study to help determine best course of action in the event of a major grid loss - looking at everything from hypothetical cyber attacks to real life examples such as when PR was scoured clean by a hurricane. They determined that there was a very brief window for robust intervention otherwise in the face of no power, sanitation, water/food, medical help, power, communications and most importantly, a sense that things can/will improve, then the overall situation collapses into complete anarchy in less than two weeks.
In South Africa we experience 4 - 10 hour outages most days. Surprisingly we have got used to it, some install solar, some have generators and many just adapt. What we have yet to encounter is a multi day blackout : that could lead to civil unrest, unfortunately.
If y'all didn't kill whitey you wouldn't be having these issues
Yeah but I'd imagine crime significantly goes up for those 4-10 hour outages...
@@evanpaluch6190In South Africa a rise in crime would need to be dramatic for anyone to notice.
keyword "yet"
We have been practicing for years for a total black out. Everything this guy talks about is already happening here. Stage 6 load shedding means no water. We already have had three Cholera outbreaks this year.
Thank you that was very interesting and helpful😮
Very informative video. Thank you
It's interesting to note that although going without power temporarily is tough, knowing that it may be gone for a very long time and there's nowhere to go to get gas, food, warmth, or communicate with family is a whole different situation.
wow, I never considered that going without electricity for a week is totally different than never having electricity for the rest of your life. Thanks for clarifying that. 🙄
@@Temulon I'm talking about the change in mindset. If there's a power outage you can expect normal life soon. If you know it will be months to years, you might have a different perspective. Your comment does not help anyone, and speaks volumes about you.
Your comment speaks volumes about you and also helps no one. Alcohol can be distilled and used as fuel, wood gasification also creates fuel. If you can figure out how to use alternators arranged on a wind or water mill or even a pedal-driven contraption that provides free electricity you can store in batteries then theres that. Solar power. Can make a solar power vehicle I'm sure with solar panels someone isnt using any more. For food you have far more options: gardening, fishing, hunting, foraging and preservation of these foods. Your main job will be gathering food in the good, bountiful warm months to store for winter months. Then saving seed from all the things you've harvested for future harvests. Transportation can be made also with the use of electricity and car batteries or solar power. Wouldn't be difficult at all to make an ebike or something along those lines with any working electric motors and batteries. This type of stuff would be laying about everywhere. Old radios would work for communication if you know people who have them and you have one yourself. My grandparents are only 2 miles or so away and they're the only family I'm truly concerned about. Warmth is probably the easiest. Not hard to make a wood stove or find one, I already have 4 myself. If you don't know this stuff you should start learning it. Just a suggestion.
@@youtubecertified4643 I'm talking about the mindset. I'm pretty well versed in this realm.
@@Temulonway to be deliberately dense
This is very important advice, thanks. People take power for granted, but they shouldn't. I wish that every child would go on a camping trip at some time in their lives. At least a car camping trip at a state park. Let them experience having to pack their food, clothing and flashlights. Let them experience having to use the water pump to fill the cooler and carry it back to the campsite. Let them experience the nearly total darkness that comes after the sun goes down and the walk to the bathroom before bedtime, holding onto their flashlight for dear life.
After a multi day backpacking trip, coming back to civilization can be overwhelming!
@@THX5000 I'm 76 now and spent my adult life hiking/backpacking - the #1 thing to me was that wonderful bed when I got home. The simplicity of BPing I think we'll help me if things go south.
My word, that last part makes it sound terrifying lol a few months ago we took our toddlers camping with friends. Our friends had 8 total kids (2 different families). Kids had a great time, even if it was freezing.
A kerosene heater is a very efficient way to keep warm. We used one during a week long blackout when I was a kid. I have a satellite texting device for backcountry use that I also have for emergency situations.
I work in technology, mainly comms. We left South Africa because of this. I grew up with the kids of folks who ran the National grid. You learn things if you're curious like me. PS, I love your work
We live in a rural area and, long before it became popular, we had the habit of always keeping a minimum of 30 days of food and drinking water on hand. It has served us well on the few occasions we've been cut off from the grid. Now we have a camping trailer on the property with a large propane tank and a dual-fuel generator and some solar panels just in case we have a lengthy outage.
Nice work i'd aim to try to have a 90 food supply with how wild things are getting.