Power Outage/ The Whole Country(uk) Grinds To A Halt.

Good morning Lone Wolf,

From the prepper perspective, it does not matter if the power loss was due to a cyber attack or seagulls damaging the wind farm and bacteria closing down Little Bedford.

The power loss still affects the population. Can't Brussels HQ, EU immediately dispatch some power-generating ships to UK ?

In lieu of a post card, answer enroute by carrier seagull infected by bacteria.

 

Good morning Lone Wolf,

There are frequent power outages here. I do believe in social Darwinism. The headache with my belief is that I must fund via indirect taxes and user fees the extra costs to support our equivalent trash without flashlights and driving on dangerous roads during adverse weather while talking on their phones.

At the low level I am involved in politics to change above. So far, slow but strong progress being made.

 

The whole country certainly did not grind to a halt.

Torches of smart phones came in handy, they use next to no power.

It was just an inconvenience that lasted a couple of hours, no big deal, the streets were not awash with blood, it was not like Purge night, mainly just a bunch of pissed off commuters.

 

Good morning Duke in Wales,

Getting driven home after surgery with no lights on in house was an inconvenience.

No street lights on road where police officer was driving on to station to report for daily shift; an inconvenience.

One delayed commuter missed the meeting and his / her / its London-based company lost the export sale. True; no hostile military attack; just an inconvenience.

I personally like my dentist's office to have power at all times when I'm there. I calibrate inconveniences somewhat differently.

 

Here in the U.S.:
We were on the same power grid as the hospital and rarely went without power, for 13 years. Once we were without power for maybe 3 hrs. Don't live there anymore.
Having a battery operated radio would be a way to find out if the zombies were on the move. I suppose most folks don't use those anymore (radios).
Winter ice storms and blizzards frequently knock out power for millions of homes and businesses. I can't imagine not having a fireplace and firewood in a situation like that.

 

It was off for 15 minutes. (Sorry, just now read your linked story). FIFTEEN MINUTES. I imagine there's a bit of wariness that it would stay on. Honey, did you pay the electric bill? Remember landlines? They'd still work here, but not many use them.

 

One million is very much a minority. Don't read into the situation stuff thats not there. Just an awkward couple of hours. The grid system did its job well, shut down some sectors to maintain power to the majority. My nephew phoned me this morning, he lives in West Central London, he did the sensible thing and went for a pint then a curry

The rail network did NOT grind to a nation wide scale.

 

I agree LW, millennials were upset by it all

 

I can't speak about the UK but in the US, we are running on borrowed time. One of the flaws of Democracy and American Style Capitalism is that both the government and the big corporations are to some extent ruled by people that are only interested in THEIR individual benefits. Voters and stockholders are totally focused on getting as much as they can for themselves. That means that the Government and the Board of directors, if they want to stay in office, will have to balance what is needed by the company to operate successfully and what the stockholders and voters will pay for and allow.

This means that all decisions are based on a short-term basis. If you plan too far into the future at the cost of today’s gratification, then you won't BE THERE in that future because if the voters don't like the price that they personally have to pay, they will vote you out.

The infrastructure in the US is getting old. We have hundreds of bridges that need to be replaced. The power grid was never intended to carry the load that it is carrying now as it was originally designed, and it is more fragile that you can imagine. The cost to bring it up to date would be enormous and in order to do it the price for power would possibly double. and the profits for the stockholders while this was being done would plummet. Now also understand that what the utility companies can charge is regulated by the state governments. If they were to let the price of power double how do you think that they would do in the next election?

We have a problem. It isn't new. In the past what usually happened is before things reached a cataclysmic end the federal government would step in and finance the absolutely necessary work. They did it by printing money and not by doing it with real money. Basically they "borrowed" the money. We now have a trillion-dollar national debt and the interest on that loan is unbelievable. If we had to deal with a nationwide repair and update it would bankrupt us.

I expect to see the government starting to find ways to make us use less power. As long as they do it in small initial things over time, they can get away with it just as they have done with the cars we drive. the problem is that we are RACING towards a problem and I'm not sure that we have the time for gentle slowing down. If you are diving a car real fast and see that a wall is across the road, what happens if you break gently because if you make the passengers spill their drinks you will be fired. On the other hand, if you don't stomp on the breaks you are going to crash.

We in the US are nearing this sort of problem is SEVERAL areas. The power grid needs massive updating, our communication systems are over their designed capacity. The bridges, levies and our rail system all are old and will become an increasing problem. The taxpayers and stockholders are NOT going to want to pay for fixing the problem and anyone that tries to make them will be tossed out in the street ASAP.

????? What are or CAN we do? What WILL we do? Probably nothing is my guess. We are going to hit the wall eventually...

 

Good morning all,

I thought that about a third of the UK national grad was owned by CK Holdings of Hong Kong.

 

I really doubt that, unless you mean some sort of HAM radio, and even then you'd be dependent on someone else in your area having one and using the same frequency to relay reports.

Commercial radio stations aren't much help during widespread power outages.

 

Good afternoon Snyper,

You've got a good point.

There are plans with tests for some commercial radio stations to broadcast. It's the contemporary version of the old Civil Defense 640 and 1240 "Conalrad" (forgot what this means/stands for) stations marked on the radio's selection band by the 2 triangles.

I'm told that the only broadcasts that are reliable will be shortwave.

 

Remembering the power black outs and brown outs in the U.S. back in...2005?

My power company rep told me the more I use the cheaper my rate.

 

Check list for what you will need for a permanent power grid down _ Natural and reliable water source , natural and reliable food source , year around shelter , cooking and heating ability , way to procure fuel for heating and cooking , motorized equipment and transportation not needed . Fail to cover these basics and a person is set up for survival failure .

 

What a great way to bring a country to its knees. I always anticipated something being put in the population's water supply but this will do as an appetiser.

"Asked if National Grid would investigate the possibility of the power cut being triggered by a cyber attack, Mr Burt said: 'We are already very confident that there was no malicious intent or cyber attack involved.' "

I don't know whether to laugh or cry after reading Harriet's upsetting Friday afternoon.

"Harriet Jackson described an 'apocalyptic' scene when she witnessed the power outage causing traffic lights to cut out on Northcote Road in Battersea, south London, after leaving Clapham Junction train station at around 5pm.

'(I) realised that nothing was open and there was hardly any phone signal,' the 26-year-old told PA.

'All the traffic lights were down, but there were no police present, which meant it was dangerous to cross - cars weren't stopping either.

'It was like witnessing something out of an apocalyptic film.

'No one knew what was going on and, given it's a Friday afternoon, it's the last thing you want to encounter.' "

 

Today most if not all countries are looking at removing critical needed items out of the hands of China or any foreign nation and bringing the manufacture of those critical items on to their own soil . This will be devastating to China's economy . Will their reaction be the same as Japan's response that lead them to attack Pearl Harbor ? One thing almost certain , any war will make the electrical grid one of the first targets an advisory will seek to destroy . I know some will say that will never happen . Just presuming it will never happen and not prepare for such an event is somewhat contradictory to the thinking of a prepper . I suppose looking at such an event that would put a nation without electrical power and petroleum fuels for years is simply more than they can survive so they simply prefer to try to convince themselves it will never happen .

 

Good afternoon Blitz,

There are 2 closely-related problems.

One is the grid down. The other can be found in "..traffic lights down,,no police..dangerous to cross..cars wouldn't stop either".

The citizenry is divorced from society. I've lived in countries where a power failure would have many starting to direct traffic. Those cars not following the person's signals will experience consequences and it won't be a traffic ticket.

British 1930's Fabians now appear as moderates.

 

Blackout NorthEast 1965

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_1965

"In contrast to the wave of looting and other incidents that took place during the 1977 New York City blackout, only five reports of looting were made in New York City after the 1965 blackout. It was said to be the lowest amount of crime on any night in the city's history since records were first kept"

Things got worse in 1977. In NY/NY, there was a lot of rioting & looting, plus other forms of robbery and violence. Communist propaganda outlets such as Time and Wikipedia (one can no longer get even raw data out of Wikipedia; it has gone pure collectivist / anti-American; all articles wipe data that could be used for "incorrect thinking"). Here is the communist take on the NYC rioting that occurred during the 1977 blackout (the collectivists blame hot weather and poverty):
https://time.com/3949986/1977-blackout-new-york-history/

Truth = crime causes poverty; when humans cannot control their glandular activities with reason, their behavior returns to savagery.

In 2019, there was a minor blackout that lasted only hours and was confined to a few blocks of Manhattan. Therefore there was no time for things to go sideways.

New York City has been devolving at a rapid rate since the 1960s. Were there to be a several state blackout to include NYC and should this blackout go on for more than a week or two, the already compromised glue of society would crumble. Chaos would rule the streets.
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Dark yes..Silent no way in a matter of hours the vermin will be running amok..

 

Reminds me of a pretty good three season show called The Strain. If no one's seen it yet do check it out. It's based on the books and I'm told it follows the books quite well. It's about a virus that turns people into zombie/vampire like creatures and it's a massive SHTF situation that starts in New York. Pretty damn good show. And I'm not one for horror crap either, but I liked the survival aspect of the show and taking on zombie/vampires.

 

Here's an article from the BBC (Bolshevik Broadcasting Collective) concerning the dependence on power grids being operational. The BBC puts the best spin on it all. They use the word "apocalypse", however they do not venture into the land of, "What if the power goes off and stays off?" The BBC also avoids the topic of social collapse, psycho-panic, and the resulting violence.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191023-what-would-happen-in-an-apocalyptic-blackout

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The Black Sky Event 2020 Documentary Trailer



Website:

https://theblackskyevent.com/

"Mother Nature herself has the ability to destroy the power grid via a solar EMP. Solar EMP’s typically reach earth every 100 years and Earth is 61 years overdue.

"In 2004 and 2008 the EMP Commission released their findings regarding the effects of an EMP on the U.S.’s critical infrastructure. They found the U.S.’s power grid severely vulnerable to an EMP. Worse, critical parts of the system were found impossible to replace if damaged. They concluded that a damaged grid would take years to recreate, while a year-long blackout nationwide could kill 90% of the U.S. population. [emphasis by Old Geezer]"

https://theblackskyevent.com/black-sky-news/



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Danm, I can't imagine a hospital not having at least basic backup power for things like that!!! Maybe it is because I live close enough to the coast that hurricanes can knock out (KO) our power for several days but ALL of the hospitals here have generators for that sort of thing. It at the least will provide basic lighting and power for the necessary machinery and treatment for a couple of weeks. I assume that the hospitals up North also have a backup in case of the winter storms.

Are the hospitals in Europe and Great Brittan without power BACKUPS???

 

Seems crazy doesn't it!

At one manufacturing plant I worked, we had a monster electric generator that came out of a train locomotive. We had a HUGE diesel fuel storage tank. Did work for another place whose generators were coal-fired. That place had three enormous smokestacks, each >100 feet tall. When a place MUST run, usually the engineering of their power backup is OCD to the max.

Having said the above, the engineering of infrastructure necessities has been allowed to fall to ruin in many places. The "this will do" attitude is just downright frightening. The "it's old, but it keeps working" attitude is also widespread.

Rational people know that there is a given lifespan to all created things. At least in this universe that's how it goes. Apparently, rational people are becoming a rare species. One of my sons works on huge infrastructure projects (replacing ancient bridges with new bridges, preps for building large buildings such as hospitals, ...). What this company must replace is often frightening in how long the upgrades were put-off. From this son I get stories and photos. This info causes me to say things like, "Holy sh##!!! I don't believe this -- couldn't happen!"

People who say that America's infrastructure is inadequate don't know the half of it.

This issue a major prepper issue. There are those who plan on bugging out of cities. If addressing this, I have to ask them, "How many bridges will you have to cross?"

Recently, I posted some articles on water-supply infrastructure breakdowns on urban water supplies. Scary stuff.

I too find the stories of hospitals not being prepared as, "No, you're kidding me -- not possible!"

When it hits the fan and the "systems that cannot fail" do fail, people are going to be furious. But that anger will be too late. FEMA and the military will only be able to do emergency patch-ups and protect what bit they can protect. And buddy, that's it.

In emergency situations, I've watched people freeze where they stood. Nobody figures that people will freeze or panic. Yes they do. Some folk do a complete melt-down. This is what's gonna happen when it hits the fan -- people are going to decompensate.

 

Those little fainting goats are cute as hell and make sweet pets. I've known several people that had them. Yeppers almost any sudden loud noise and they just fall over. LOL, it is hysterical. Around kids, they spend a lot of time "naping."

Used to be an engineering student HAD to have some hands-on experience to receive the degree. Evidently, that is long passed. Nowadays there is so much STUPID stuff done and allowed in the engineering and construction. A few years ago we had a tropical storm roll into Houston. This is not an uncommon thing really.

One of the really BIG hospitals had undergone some remodeling and additions. The HIGH point in Houston at ground level is probably about 4 or 5 feet above sea level. This storm DUMPED a ton of rain on them and there was a lot of flooding. When they remodeled the hospital they added a new massive generator. The thing was they dug a basement that was 6 feet BELOW sea level and THAT is where they put the generator. The power went off and then the generator went underwater. They were like the hospital in Venesuallia in the story at the beginning except this was in the middle of a storm and the flooding lasted for several days. HOW insanely stupid can you be!! Well in the end after they paid off a bunch of lawsuits they moved the generator onto the roof. Even when you win a suit that doesn't give you back your loved ones.

Sadly, this sort of stupidity has become an EPIDEMIC in America. I got a set of blueprints one time when I worked in a shipyard machine shop that calls for SQUARE holes for oil to pass through. I have no idea how you would make a square hole 18 inches long in a piece of forged 4140 heat-treated steel! There was no logical reason for it. oil flows just as well through a round hole. I ran the numbers to give the same flow rate in a round hole as the square holes and sent it back to the engineering department with ???????? on it. It was part of a big hydraulic system for Pete's sake. It had round lines running to it.

 

Good morning TexDanm,

Recommend not to rely on northern hospitals' power supply. Some "problems" have appeared.

Even in "the South", there are some "problems". I represented my rural county at the big city (metro complex) emergency sheltering test and exercise. The shelter at area with world's largest naval base had been outfitted with "U.P.S." - Uninterrupted Power Supply. It didn't work.

The "square holes for oil flow" symbolizes what's currently going on in the swamp. Teams working 24/7 are using MiracleGro.

 

"Used to be an engineering student HAD to have some hands-on experience to receive the degree. Evidently, that is long passed. Nowadays there is so much STUPID stuff done and allowed in the engineering and construction. ..." -- TexDanM

In linear circuits, we had to build our own AM transmitter. Great thing was that we used a crystal for the tank circuit and big-@$$ tubes for our xmitters. Full wave means that you don't have to worry about tuning the sides of a push pull. OK, so you got some hum. We had to build our own rectifier circuits and power supplies. We had to build our own multi-meters using precision resistors and a D'Arsenval meter movement.

This is back when the big electronic manufacturers were still in the United States. There were over five huge industrial concerns within thirty miles of our electronics school. Guess what, you could also go graduate with an Industrial Control degree, ha ha ha. Me, I took far more classes on the digital circuits side of electronics (we had to build our own J-K flip-flop circuits, adders, dividers, ... the whole 9-yards). Memory boards back then were BIG and they stored precious little data. I remember erasing EPROMS with our ultraviolet light devices. I'm no radio circuit / antenna fellow, you gotta talk to somebody else for that. One of my sons used to be heavy into HAM. If I have a question in the radio realm, I gotta talk to him.

Specialization has caused the loss of Engineering basics. People can't think anymore. And, I'm talking about the "smart" people. What you said TexDanM, nobody has the mental wherewithal to complete projects from the-ground-up. Brains have been totally turned to pudding by pre-fab everything. People don't gotta build the components in the pre-stages to the end-stages. They use prefab from beginning to end. Engineering now is like building crap out of Lego blocks. America could not today recreate WWII technology. It's digital or death.

I had the grand privilege to know a fellow who as a very young man engineered the linear circuits to use RaDAR to coordinate ship headings such that they would not collide -- pea-soup fog can be very unforgiving. He told me about his neighbor who would take a pitcher full of mixed drink out onto his back porch and type all day, tap tap tap-tap (manual typewriters was all there were). I think he said the neighbor's porch was screened-in (?). The owner's wife had bought the place, got the land cleared a bit more, and then her husband moved there. That fellow was William Faulkner. He said that in what bit he got to know Faulkner, the fellow impressed him as being a "truck driver" sort of man. I laughed. He laughed.

But you gotta say, Bill had a way with words.
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