Hurricane Harvey Heading for Texas...

[Paratus]

We'd like to get a Generac but haven't justified the price to ourselves.

I do have a 5Kw portable generator which I bought about 50 gallons of gas for before the storm.

During Ike some places were without power for 2-3 weeks. For Harvey though we only lost powe for a few hours.

 

[Ns1]

some of these TX stories are amazing.

There, police had set up a launching point for boats. Houston Police Sergeant Rodney Adams estimated that 2,500 people had been rescued at that spot alone — most of them by ordinary people. “We depend on them,” he said of the citizen rescuers, crediting them with 90 percent of the rescues and home visits.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates...5-ton-truck-craigslist-helping-fellow-texans/

 

[allisolm]

My daughter is in San Antonio, which luckily avoided any harm during the hurricane but today she went to 8 gas stations and no gas at any. Probably one of few situations where Amazon prime can't help.

 

[BUTCH1]

I have said it many times before and I will say it again. When preparing for a storm most people already have enough food, maybe pick up some water but if you live in a hurricane prone area you should already have at least 3 days of water on hand even if it's just filling up old milk jugs with tap water or even just cleaning and filling your bathtub. Gas is absolute king, stock up on as much as you possibly can. I can't tell you how many people I saw run out and buy a new generator for their house and get a single 5 gallon can of gas for it. I keep at least a hundredish gallons of gas stored during hurricane season and I just rotate it into my truck to keep it fresh. If a storm is heading our way I'll double that. During Katrina I literally had a guy offer to let me bang his wife for a few gallons of gas, was offered gold and all kinds of other stuff. At a time when most people were still eating MRE's I was eating like a king because I was able to fill 2 propane tanks for a guy that was a manager of an apartment complex. All the residents called him to get him to clean out their fridges before the food went bad and he had a genny hooked to his deep freezer so TONS of meat. Not many side dishes but I was a happy sonofa bitch eating steaks, ribs, roast, shrimp, etc instead of more damn MRE's.

Yup, gas IS king during this type of situation. Back in '04 many people (who were lucky to find one) bought a genny and you guessed it, a single 5 gal. jug. People FAIL to understand or bother to READ the friggin owners manual!, I keep 40-50 gallons around if a storm is approaching and frankly, that's not really enough. The 2nd part is even the one's who were able to buy gas FAILED to change the engine oil for weeks on end, this caused many to croak and they were not covered under warranty. Last year I had to run mine for 5-6 days and I did 3 oil changes, these little 7-10HP engines are working their BALLS off maintaining 3,600RPM, (to keep frequency correct) + the load imposed on them. They will need an oil change every 40 hours no matter what your running, they showed a small-engine repair shop in Orlando with dozens of genny's with ruined engines and NONE was covered under warranty!. After reading these stories and with a whopper brewing up in the Atlantic, I might just go ahead and gas-up this weekend. Like you said, it's not going to go bad and if you had to keep it longer than expected just add a stabilizer.

 

[ViRGE]

During Katrina I literally had a guy offer to let me bang his wife for a few gallons of gas, was offered gold and all kinds of other stuff.

God I love ATOT.

 

[Svnla]

Gas price at the Shell station nears my house is up to $2.29/gal. A couple days ago, the same gas was $1.99/gal at the same station. Analysts said gas prices could be up to $2.75/gal or higher after the Labor Day weekend.

 

[sdifox]

Gas is C1.20 per litre up here, about US3.48 per gallon. Supposed to go up another ten cents tonight.

 

[shortylickens]

I have said it many times before and I will say it again. When preparing for a storm most people already have enough food, maybe pick up some water but if you live in a hurricane prone area you should already have at least 3 days of water on hand even if it's just filling up old milk jugs with tap water or even just cleaning and filling your bathtub. Gas is absolute king, stock up on as much as you possibly can. I can't tell you how many people I saw run out and buy a new generator for their house and get a single 5 gallon can of gas for it. I keep at least a hundredish gallons of gas stored during hurricane season and I just rotate it into my truck to keep it fresh. If a storm is heading our way I'll double that. During Katrina I literally had a guy offer to let me bang his wife for a few gallons of gas, was offered gold and all kinds of other stuff. At a time when most people were still eating MRE's I was eating like a king because I was able to fill 2 propane tanks for a guy that was a manager of an apartment complex. All the residents called him to get him to clean out their fridges before the food went bad and he had a genny hooked to his deep freezer so TONS of meat. Not many side dishes but I was a happy sonofa bitch eating steaks, ribs, roast, shrimp, etc instead of more damn MRE's.

Its not possible to store too much loot for a serious catastrophe. Humans consume goods at a fantastic rate, and producing goods takes a lot of time and effort. When things fall apart the first thing to end is manufacturing, then farming.

Clean water is good, but water production is also darn important. Filtering is time-consuming and sterilization can easily be screwed up, leading to useless water. Its probably best to practice these things BEFORE an emergency.

Also, gasoline does not last very long. It breaks down into garbage relatively fast. All that stuff you are hoarding, do you check it from time to time? Make sure its still good?

 

[MetalMat]

The gas shortage here in Dallas has been annoying since I am in outside sales. I had to cancel a couple appointments because I simply could not make it in time due to gas lines.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

These people are filling up extra containers because they think there is a fuel shortage not because they are using it now and only making the problem worse. Irony would be me filling up an extra 200 gallon tank because I thought we would run out of diesel as well.

How do you know that? Maybe they're bringing it down to Houston to help out? You've got a seemingly valid reason to burn 350gal/week, can they not?

 

[Darwin333]

Its not possible to store too much loot for a serious catastrophe. Humans consume goods at a fantastic rate, and producing goods takes a lot of time and effort. When things fall apart the first thing to end is manufacturing, then farming.

Clean water is good, but water production is also darn important. Filtering is time-consuming and sterilization can easily be screwed up, leading to useless water. Its probably best to practice these things BEFORE an emergency.

Also, gasoline does not last very long. It breaks down into garbage relatively fast. All that stuff you are hoarding, do you check it from time to time? Make sure its still good?

I said in the post that you are quoting that I rotate it into my vehicle to make sure it's always fresh. It literally can't go bad because I am constantly using and replacing it.

As far as food and water, I've been through a lot of the worst disasters in the US during the last 15 years and within 3 days on average but 6 days max the national guard is handing out food and water. Just gotta have enough to make it until then, it's not good food mind you but it is food. That is why I commented on the MRE's.

If I have to start filtering my own water it is an entirely different type of disaster, in the context of this discussion, it's like nuclear war or some bullshit.

 

[local]

How do you know that? Maybe they're bringing it down to Houston to help out? You've got a seemingly valid reason to burn 350gal/week, can they not?

You are right, I will ignore personal experience and news reports about people hoarding fuel helping to cause shortages and assume everyone has perfectly valid reasons.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Fear-Hoarding-Contribute-to-North-Texas-Gas-Shortage-442448853.html

And I am burning around 80 gallons a week don't know where you came up with 350 as that would be more than two fill ups a day 7 days a week.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

You are right, I will ignore personal experience and news reports about people hoarding fuel helping to cause shortages and assume everyone has perfectly valid reasons.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Fear-Hoarding-Contribute-to-North-Texas-Gas-Shortage-442448853.html

And I am burning around 80 gallons a week don't know where you came up with 350 as that would be more than two fill ups a day 7 days a week.

I was going off a 2017 F250's fuel tank size, which is 48gal for 6.5ft and 8ft beds. You stated you refuel just about daily, so I went with 7x50, or 350. I rechecked, looks like every year since 2010, the diesel has actually been 35ish gal, so refining that math, 245gal/week.

If you're burning 80gal a week, you aren't filling up daily. You're filling up twice a week, with an extra half-tank every month or so.

It's still irony that you feel that you have a perfectly valid reason for your own fuel usage, but assume everyone else must have invalid reasons.

 

[local]

I was going off a 2017 F250's fuel tank size, which is 48gal for 6.5ft and 8ft beds. You stated you refuel just about daily, so I went with 7x50, or 350. I rechecked, looks like every year since 2010, the diesel has actually been 35ish gal, so refining that math, 245gal/week.

If you're burning 80gal a week, you aren't filling up daily. You're filling up twice a week, with an extra half-tank every month or so.

It's still irony that you feel that you have a perfectly valid reason for your own fuel usage, but assume everyone else must have invalid reasons.

2000 model, officially 29 gallons but when showing empty I can only get about 24 in there so I typically do 22ish gallon fill ups. I honestly didn't know it was a 29 gallon tank until two minutes ago. And I only work 5 days a week the other two it just sits in my driveway. I have been doing four fill ups a week for the last several weeks.

I base my assumption on several coworkers that loaded up on gas cans yesterday and filled them up just because, the guy who was filling up a several hundred gallon water tank because he was going to sell it to people once the stations ran out and several people I have seen as far north as Wichita Falls with multiple brand new gas cans getting filled because there would be no gas left for the weekend.

Either way like I said earlier you win as I cannot prove anyone other than every person I have talked to that is doing it has no valid reason.

 

[Bartman39]

Here are a few shots from right here in SE Texas where I live... Sorry havent been keeping up with this thread been on generator and no internet... Oh and these first ones are from the days before the last flooding which was ALOT worse which is shown a bit later... Also to note we were cut off both South, East & West and could only go so far to the North until today...


Well crap my pic hosting is screwed for now...? Update here soon...

 

[Paratus]

Here are a few shots from right here in SE Texas where I live... Sorry havent been keeping up with this thread been on generator and no internet... Oh and these first ones are from the days before the last flooding which was ALOT worse which is shown a bit later... Also to note we were cut off both South, East & West and could only go so far to the North until today...


Well crap my pic hosting is screwed for now...? Update here soon...

How did you do? Were you just cut off or did your house flood?

Several of the neighborhoods along the creeks and bayous really got hammered.

 

[zinfamous]

Should've clarified - that's an availability map for the DFW region. Having lived in the area for 14 years yeah, there's lots of driving involved, but probably not terribly different from a normal day in Houston

Last night the local ABC affiliate (and the Fox/NBC affiliates as well) ran stories that started off with some variation of "You may want to fill up your gas tank while you can, some DFW stations may run out of gas this Labor Day weekend." Granted, they did say "some" but of course you have dumbasses who'll just ignore that word and go apeshit... leading to morons like this guy:

Seriously? That much gas is gonna last you way longer than this "shortage" will last you stupid fuck

maybe he's filling up tanks to load chainsaws for his peeps in the neighborhood? I've seen that/done that before. Talk to the dude before you draw your 44.

 

[shortylickens]

I said in the post that you are quoting that I rotate it into my vehicle to make sure it's always fresh. It literally can't go bad because I am constantly using and replacing it.

As far as food and water, I've been through a lot of the worst disasters in the US during the last 15 years and within 3 days on average but 6 days max the national guard is handing out food and water. Just gotta have enough to make it until then, it's not good food mind you but it is food. That is why I commented on the MRE's.

If I have to start filtering my own water it is an entirely different type of disaster, in the context of this discussion, it's like nuclear war or some bullshit.

Sorry.
Wall of text. I forgot half of what I read.
I'm kinda stupid like that.
College has been a real pain in the butt for me.

 

[zinfamous]

Going to the Keys tomorrow until Wednesday, hope this hurricane doesn't screw it up!

can I have your stuff? (I think I'm really close to it, at least?)

 

[BarkingGhostar]

never heard of this being done.

It is common knowledge that airlines deliberately overbook flights based on assumptions that fewer than sold seats will be actually occupied. I'm just saying they will expand this business model to include reselling seats to higher paying customers. Renders the entire consumer effort of being proactive in buying meaningless. I like to think of it like current software licenses in which you never own a copy of the software and they publisher can take it away from you at anytime. Only the airlines beat them to the punch.

 

[Ajay]

Sorry.
Wall of text. I forgot half of what I read.
I'm kinda stupid like that.
College has been a real pain in the butt for me.

Maybe you should have tried collage instead?

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Yup, gas IS king during this type of situation. Back in '04 many people (who were lucky to find one) bought a genny and you guessed it, a single 5 gal. jug. People FAIL to understand or bother to READ the friggin owners manual!, I keep 40-50 gallons around if a storm is approaching and frankly, that's not really enough. The 2nd part is even the one's who were able to buy gas FAILED to change the engine oil for weeks on end, this caused many to croak and they were not covered under warranty. Last year I had to run mine for 5-6 days and I did 3 oil changes, these little 7-10HP engines are working their BALLS off maintaining 3,600RPM, (to keep frequency correct) + the load imposed on them. They will need an oil change every 40 hours no matter what your running, they showed a small-engine repair shop in Orlando with dozens of genny's with ruined engines and NONE was covered under warranty!. After reading these stories and with a whopper brewing up in the Atlantic, I might just go ahead and gas-up this weekend. Like you said, it's not going to go bad and if you had to keep it longer than expected just add a stabilizer.

I guess I don't see how great generators are.... Because no matter what a generator will never be enough. If it's summer here in Texas I would need my A/C minimum, and what else can you honestly use it for? Cooking is about all I can think of?

Unless the power is out for 2 months (doubtful), I just don't see the overall point knowing that you're likely to have shit to do anyways (such as cleaning up from a flood). Otherwise I would just consider taking a vacation for a while to a place that does have power. If power is out there is no way my employer is getting me to go to work anyways.... if anything I would take a vacation and work from a hotel. But maybe I'm just being stupid since I haven't had to deal with long-term power loss.

 

[bruceb]

Depends on where you live. If you are in North where you get a lot of snow, then you want the generator to run Lights, Outlets, Well Pump (if you have a well), Furnace, Refrigerator. When winter rolls around, it is quite possible for Snow or Ice to take down power lines. You can run AC off a generator, but for that you need a big generator, preferably run by Natural Gas ... That way, you do not need to worry about fuel supplies.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Depends on where you live. If you are in North where you get a lot of snow, then you want the generator to run Lights, Outlets, Well Pump (if you have a well), Furnace, Refrigerator. When winter rolls around, it is quite possible for Snow or Ice to take down power lines. You can run AC off a generator, but for that you need a big generator, preferably run by Natural Gas ... That way, you do not need to worry about fuel supplies.

And even then, you probably can't power anything else but the A/C I'm guessing? Yeah, I just don't really see the point of a generator - at least not in my area of hot-as-balls texas. Yay, I can have A/C in my house... but I can't do anything else weeeeee. Seems pointless and like I said, if it's for a long period of time I would say screw it and live with a family member in the next city over or something.

 

[Brainonska511]

And even then, you probably can't power anything else but the A/C I'm guessing? Yeah, I just don't really see the point of a generator - at least not in my area of hot-as-balls texas. Yay, I can have A/C in my house... but I can't do anything else weeeeee. Seems pointless and like I said, if it's for a long period of time I would say screw it and live with a family member in the next city over or something.

My parents have a whole house natural gas generator. If the power goes out, they have no issues with running the central air and other things simultaneously.