We just had a power outage at our house that lasted from about 5:02 PM
Tuesday to 1:01 AM this morning. We had to have takeout Chinese food
for our supper and Mom, Dad and my sister Claire decided to go to bed
at 11:30 PM since there was nothing else to do except read by candlelight.

I am of course a night owl, so I decided I would wait to see when the power
came back on and it did at 1:01 AM. The reason why I started a thread on
this is because I wanted to know if anybody else on here has had memorable
or dramatic power outages. Feel free to share your stories on here.

Yeah, power outages can be irritating.

There was one here which affected about 30 houses (an underground transformer blew). The city put in a temporary transformer about 5 hours after the outage and it was there for about 2 weeks until the permanent one was installed.

Outages aren't too bad unless it happens on a very hot (no A/C) or cold (no heat) day.

There of course was no power after the 1994 Northridge earthquake (6.7 magnitude). It went out during the main event, 4:31 AM, but came back on by 10:00 PM that same night. We considered ourselves lucky because other areas did not have power for 1-2 days.

We had a big ice storm in 1993 and our power was off for about a week. Not fun at all!

our electricity was turned off once for a day and a half, because of a mix up with our bill.

And then, a couple weeks ago, we lost power, but only for a couple hours, and it was early in the morning (from about 5-7 a.m.) on a Sunday so it was no biggie.

the power went out here last week because someone shot himself while driving and hit a utility pole.

On base housing, we get power outages all the time. It's got something to do with some machine down the street, I think.


Word of advice, if anyone here decides to join the millitary, do yourself a favor and never live on base. EVER.

I hate to lose my electricity, you don't realize what it means to you until you don't have it. I lost mine a few years ago because of a bad storm and i thought i was gonna go crazy. You have to have flashlights and or candles handy, you can't cook, watch TV or enjoy the Internet. Theres no way to keep cool in the summer, or stay warm in the winter. I remember a bad ice storm we had back in the mid 90's, some poor people lost there power for weeks. The owner, where i worked, was one of them, he had to bring his two young kids and wife with him to work just so they could stay warm. It's bad enough to lose it for a few hours, but for weeks, i can't imagine that.

We had several outages this summer. Something was wrong somewhere, and who knows how many households lost their electricity. The power usually got back after a couple of hours though. :confused:

But here in Sweden, outages are worse in the winter than in the summer, because our winters are so darn cold and dark. And unfortuneately, most of our outages seem happen then too. :( Once back in the 90s, we had problems with our electricity for days, and eventually, we had to go to Grandma, so we could cook some food. :eek:

We had a big ice storm in 1993 and our power was off for about a week. Not fun at all!
We had one in 1992 and my grandmother was also without power for a week. Horrible.

We lost power a few weeks ago from like 10pm-ish for about 4 hours. I would have been fine if I hadn't suddenly felt the need to use the microwave...get a cold drink...use the computer...lol

the power went out here last week because someone shot himself while driving and hit a utility pole.
:eek:

Tomorrow is the 5-year anniversary of the big blackout that hit the northeast US and part of Canada. I'll always remember the date because it was my brother's birthday. Thank goodness I had that day off work!!

the power went out here last week because someone shot himself while driving and hit a utility pole.
Wow, that's crazy. :confused:

Longest I ever was without power was during that east coast blackout in 2003. Since then I can't remember the power even going out more than 15-20 minutes. It usually does for a little while whenever we get a big storm, which is probably like two-three times a year. It's no biggie.

As for what I do during the blackouts...Usually NOTHING. :lol: In 2003, I remember having some kind of bonfire.

Tomorrow is the 5-year anniversary of the big blackout that hit the northeast US and part of Canada. I'll always remember the date because it was my brother's birthday. Thank goodness I had that day off work!!
That was sure something. I'm sure it's going to be a long time before I see the city THAT dark again unless there's some sort of huge disaster. It was bizzare to walk around town and see no stop lights or street lights or anything.

In July 1993, we had a big electrical storm that knocked out our power for about 3 days. That week was also our church's 100th anniversary and I was singing in the choir with my mom. Since the church is two towns away, they had power. Driving back home with my mom, it was like crossing into the Twilight Zone. :eek: :lol: Completely pitch black - no light at all. The storm peeled off the roof of the high school cafeteria like a lid on a sardine can. We also went to Grandma's for awhile since she had power in the next town.

That was sure something. I'm sure it's going to be a long time before I see the city THAT dark again unless there's some sort of huge disaster. It was bizzare to walk around town and see no stop lights or street lights or anything.
I know! It was crazy. Thank goodness, our power came back on after only 4 hours. We were going to go out to eat for my brother's birthday but then decided to do it another night. :lol:

I know! It was crazy. Thank goodness, our power came back on after only 4 hours. We were going to go out to eat for my brother's birthday but then decided to do it another night. :lol:
4 hours? We didn't have power until sometime the next afternoon. :lol:

4 hours? We didn't have power until sometime the next afternoon. :lol:
We were in the minority, I know! :lol:

oh my--do you want to get me started on this one?? :lol:

Having survived hurricanes--let me say this is something you don't wish on anyone.

Having been without power from 5-7 days--oh my......the heat at night was so unbearable you couldn't sleep but in unrestful fits. The meat in our freezer, for the most part, had to be thrown away--there was just so much you could barbecue (yea, we know now to donate to shelters and we also don't stockpile anymore). We still had running water--thank God, so we would do cool showers often and also we washed our clothes in the bathtub, using the broomstick to stir the clothes. Ice was a daily struggle to find and since everyone else had no power, you couldn't get gas for your vehicles or generators (we didn't have one, so that was a mess). Curfews were imposed by 6pm and if you were caught, you could get arrested. We had battery powered radios on so we could find out the latest info on where to get ice, and other assistance. After Rita, we were all told to get emergency food stamps--so we stood outside in the long long long line for over 7 hours. National Guardsmen came by and handed us bottles of water (not cold, mind ya! yuck) and lunch packages of chips, apple, cookies, and Caprisun. I'm sure there are other details, I'm forgetting, but you get the idea.

I so do not want to have go through this again, but I'm sure eventually it will happen again.

That sounds terrible, Jude. And I thought our power outages were bad.

One day, about 3 years ago, we lost power at the school I work at. Something blew around 8:30 in the morning and the whole neighborhood was without power for most of the day. We were told to stay put, but we wound up having to order pizzas from a different part of town for lunch because the cafeteria couldn't cook food. We also got to hold classes outside because the weather was decent. The kids thought it was the best day ever.

We lost power in my town for several days after a big snowstorm. My family stayed at my grandmother's.

One day, about 3 years ago, we lost power at the school I work at. Something blew around 8:30 in the morning and the whole neighborhood was without power for most of the day. We were told to stay put, but we wound up having to order pizzas from a different part of town for lunch because the cafeteria couldn't cook food. We also got to hold classes outside because the weather was decent. The kids thought it was the best day ever.

We lost power in my town for several days after a big snowstorm. My family stayed at my grandmother's.
The school story sounds like it was fun, Kristen. Everyone made the most of it. :cool: