Whoever designed and approved the electric system should be shot for gross stupidity, as it took just one person, one moment,.... and about 6 million people were out of electricity
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/10/us/10power.html .
It took 9 hours to get power back.
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/data-drive/article_dc4aabe6-db5b-11e0-97ba-001cc4c03286.htmlNo gas stations were able to operate. No grocery stores, no businesses. Of course, that is their fault for not having a backup generator to keep the pumps, fridges, and cash registers operating. Stupidity is contagious among busniesses it seems. Costly too, because if any had power backup, they would have been the only source of gas or food around.
No ATMs, no fast food restaurants, no air conditioning, no trolleys (public transportation in San Diego) and all the elevators are designed by nimrods who don't mind that on loss of electricity, the elevators trap all people riding.
Roadside assistance was called by a Marine, and they told him that they weren't going to show up, cause they are not going to waste gas. True story, he called the local radio station to spread the word.
Stop light intersections, they aren't as high a priority to get power to as the carpool lane monitoring equipment.
Traffic cops, never at the right intersections, but any intersection they are directing traffic at, moves faster than all the rest of the powerless intersections that all lanes have to stop at, car by car.
The wastewater treatment plants don't work without electricity, neither does the water dept. About 2 million gallons of sewage spilled into the ocean.
Most dispatched fleets switched to laptops and Nextels... neither worked with no power to the repeaters, cell phone towers, etc etc. This includes tow trucks, ambulances, taxis etc etc
The airport (San Diego International) doesn't have generator backup, and all that post 9-11 security is useless without electricity, so no planes were loading and leaving, no-one got scanned, no luggage was searched, the whole airport shut down. The port authority - the airport manager is also an idiot... across the street from the airport is Solar Turbines.. and guess what they make? Big ass tubine generators from 1 to 22 MegaWatts each
http://mysolar.cat.com/cda/files/100588/7/dssolar.pdf ... and they have some in use, ready to deliver, and others ready to test. Bet you the Mayor or Govenor could make a couple calls and get a bit of cooperation to happen and have those megaWatts doing some good in this blackout
My advice to lessen the problems of being without power...
leave your fridge closed... it can keep things cold for hours without power
It's a good idea to have an extra gasoline... about enough to fill your car twice. ( You'll need a small tank, a 50 gallon barrel ought to do)
Flashlights and batteries are way better than candles.
a small inverter and an extension cord with a surge protector - really good at making 120 ac from car batteries to keep your cell phone charged, or house lights that plug into the walls lit. It gets really, really dark after the sun goes down... but even better would be a small RV generator, and Honda makes a really quite line of generators (again, some gas is good to have stored safely in your garage or storage unit... or siphon some from your car to keep your generator going)
