Last night a humongous thunderstorm rolled across New York State and on into New England. High winds and possible tornadoes wreaked havoc; I got a half inch of rain in about a half hour. Thunder was almost constant. Roads around my house were blocked by fallen trees and downed power lines. Over 80,000 people are without power. There’s more damage across the state.
Remember when scientists predicted bigger storms from a warming planet? Welcome to the future.
There’s a chance of more storms this afternoon, but the forecast is slightly cooler — the 80s instead of the 90s.
This may be the coldest summer of the rest of our lives.
The other day The NY Times had an article describing how people are considering leaving Houston, TX because they have had two recent episodes of massive power outages after storms that last for days. They’re tired of the flooding, the spoiling food, the lack of AC… Are they going to be considered climate refugees?
I live in a rural location where restoring power is low on the priority list after an event like this one. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to crank up a portable generator. I have solar panels too, which are a big help with the electric bill in AC season. I’ve looked at battery backup; too expensive to get past the comptroller of my domestic budget, even with tax credits. Maybe that decision will be reconsidered now?
Someone up the street has a whole-house backup system that kicks in automatically. If I were building the house today, I think I’d organize the electrical box differently. I’d group critical items — heating, well pump, stove, etc. — so that I could route power to them when emergency power was needed, and cut power to the rest. The portable generator I’m using does have a useful feature. It will automatically throttle up or down as the power demands on it change. It’s quieter and doesn’t burn through gas as quickly.
I’m currently powering the refrigerator, a freezer, and I’ve set up a power strip for charging devices — like the phone I’m blogging with. At least the cell network is working. (Still have a land line.) I have a gas grill with a side burner, so hot meals are possible — as long as the propane holds out. I’ve got a bottled water dispenser so I still have drinking water even without the well pump. I have several rechargeable flashlights and a crank radio with rechargeable battery.
Events like this are only going increase and worsen. While I’m getting by for the moment, this is not ideal and many Americans are coping with far worse climate disasters.
Meanwhile the MAGA Party is planning to aggressively reverse everything America is trying to do on climate, and promising to let fossil fuel companies burn up the planet even faster.
Voting like your life depends on it isn’t a joke anymore.