Cold weather at home. WATER
Last week it got down to minus 22 degrees F actual temperature, I do not know what the wind chill was. to large extent that information did not matter because IF you outside without shelter which includes proper clothing, you can die in less than an hour.
There were several structures with fire suppression systems [automatic sprinkler systems] that had those pipes in the ceilings freeze and break. I am sure that was a big mess.
The other thing about very low temperatures is that the frost line goes deeper. Our town had several water mains that burst. This is not good even during calm summer times. The cold weather made it much worse. Depending on how and where the main breaks it takes at least 8 hours to dig down to it and then repair the problem. I am not sure exactly how many people were without water nor how long it actually took to restore service to them. Even after the break is fixed, the water pipes must be flushed out to clear any contamination issues. Some of the citizens were VERY mad over the water outage. They had no showers before going to work and they had no way to clean, flush or do dishes nor water for cooking.
The sadly amusing thing about this is that the city water department has over the years reminded us all that we should store at least one gallon of water per person per day for at least 3 days to get them through things like this.
What would those people do if this had happened later during a total grid down situation? What if it had taken a week or more to restore water service?
Being prepared is not only about when the ‘big one’ hits.
Several years ago when some of us worked at the local hospital we were awakened at about 0200 one morning to the sounds of heavy machinery digging up our street. The water main had broken and the water that escaped had flooded the people’s basement next to us. It had not bothered us as we didn’t have a basement. Anyway we both had to be to work at the hospital that morning on the heart floor [tele] and the mother baby floor [OB]. We set the alarms for about 15 minutes earlier than normal as we needed showers before work. [the water was out for about 9 hours that morning]. We did get our showers and we did get to work on time.
How did we manage that with the water main turned off?
We used our water storage and alternative shower system which was a brand new 2 gallon pump sprayer tank. You know the kind they sell in lawn and garden section that you use to spray weed killer and insecticides. We poured a couple of 2 L coke bottles into a pot on the stove and heated it. When it was the right temperature we filled the sprayer and got in the shower. One of use sprayed the other to get them wet –and yes that WAS fun! ;] The first one soaped up and was sprayed down to remove the soap. We then switched places. This was just as good as a ‘real’ shower, used less water than normal AND was way more fun. One of our co-workers lived down the street from us and did not know about the water issue until she went to take her shower and NO water. We discussed it at work that day. I told her how we had handled the situation. She seemed to listen and asked where & how to get ready ‘IF’ it happened again.
Cross ref http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/water-storage-…coke-bottles-2/