I will not be caught unprepared again (heat)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Relocate if you can, walk to a plowed road and then get a ride somehow. Pull the kids on a slep or carry them. You do what you have to do.

Honestly, that is sometimes just not possible.

Where in the world were we going to get a ride? The roads were not (and still, are not) passable in some places. The closest shelter in our area was 4 miles away. When we called, they said that the shelter was open, but there was no way to transport people. We do not have 4 wheel drive, and even if we did, it's not usable in 2 feet of snow.

This has really been a tough situation. It's great to say "you do what you have to do", but unless you mean that we should walk 4 miles, I'm not exactly sure what we could have done.

[Anonymous]

Then you stay in a cold house, sadly. And learn better to prepare for the next emergency.

If you truly can't walk to a shelter, and no neighbors are nearby with power who will take you in, and you have no one who will give you a ride, and no taxi can pick you up, and do not have backup heat to last you the outage,, then you unfortunately stay in a cold house.

PEPCO was just advising you to relocate if you could, because it's going to be a while until the power is back on. Unfortunately it isn't their fault if you don't have a place to relocate to, or a way to get there.

People need to prepare for emergencies and take responsibility for their own family's comfort and safety. Not every power outage in the middle of winter is one that can be solved by getting to a hotel. And not every power outage is over in 12 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Then you stay in a cold house, sadly. And learn better to prepare for the next emergency.

If you truly can't walk to a shelter, and no neighbors are nearby with power who will take you in, and you have no one who will give you a ride, and no taxi can pick you up, and do not have backup heat to last you the outage,, then you unfortunately stay in a cold house.

PEPCO was just advising you to relocate if you could, because it's going to be a while until the power is back on. Unfortunately it isn't their fault if you don't have a place to relocate to, or a way to get there.

People need to prepare for emergencies and take responsibility for their own family's comfort and safety. Not every power outage in the middle of winter is one that can be solved by getting to a hotel. And not every power outage is over in 12 hours.

I understand that. That's what we did. And, so we're trying to prepare for this next storm. That's what the OP asked.

Since you have all the answers, how do you recommend we heat the house? That's what we're asking. What's the safest way to do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand that. That's what we did. And, so we're trying to prepare for this next storm. That's what the OP asked.

Since you have all the answers, how do you recommend we heat the house? That's what we're asking. What's the safest way to do that?

I gave my best advice to the heating question earlier in the thread.

My other comments were in response to this question:

The PEPCO president was just on WTOP saying that people should relocate if they have no power. Well, the problem with that is our street wasn't plowed until tonight.

We had no power for 2 days, and there was no way to drive out. What's the alternative? Calling 911?

The options are -- walk, get picked up by a friend or taxi, call someone with 4 wheel drive, or suck it up and stay in your cold home.

[Anonymous]

Also -- if you mean how do I best stay warm in a possible power outage today or tomorrow -- i.e not enough time to go out and buy something -- I suggest some of the comments on this thread:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/91103.page