If live here and you were unaware (for like the past 4 or 5 days) that there were gonna be extreme thunderstorms Tuesday morning and afternoon in the greater Chicago/NW Indiana area then you just weren’t paying attention….
So yes, it happened, Bad thunderstorms, torrential rain, winds approaching 100 MPH….It was a significant storm.
With the resultant damage to trees and power lines.
By Tuesday 1PM, it was apparent that it was going to take a while for the power to return, with many homes and businesses dark, and no relief expected for hours…maybe tens of hours.
At 5;30 PM, there were quarter mile lines at the (very) few gas stations that had power. people were buying gas 20+ gallons at a time (4 or more 5 gallon containers) for their generators. There must have been 500 or more cars in line…. I expect that the gas stations might run out as they don’t store all that much gasoline…Which will leave some of those folks with no forethought without…..
So, a question: Are these people stupid? It was obvious that we were gonna have a widespread weather event….it was forecast days before. How hard is it to get that gasoline for the generators a day or two in advance? It isn’t like you can’t use it in your car or truck if you don’t burn it in your genset, fer chrissake…..
I mean, seriously, do people have that little forethought? Or do they just hope that it doesn’t happen and are only reactive when it does?
Me? I had enough treated (Pri-G) gasoline to run the little Honda genset for three days, 5 if I rationed power…and I have enough treated diesel that I can run the big genset without rationing for about two weeks….I turn the it over every 6 months, burn it in the cars and then replace it (the gasoline, I mean, diesel stores for a LONG time with a bit of treatment)…but rotating the gas twice a year means that there is fresh(ish) gasoline when(if) I need it and I don’t have to wander around looking for fuel, and hoping that it will be there when something happens….
But luckily, I didn’t need it. Electric never flickered at my house….But I was ready, if and when…
But are people really that foolish that they can’t prepare a day or two in advance?
Yes…..yes they are.
They laugh at people like you who prepare and then are surprised by events…..and then after the event, assuming that they survived with little hardship because others helped them, learn nothing and fail to prep for the next event. Wash rinse repeat. Ant and grasshopper is a very old story, so human nature doesn’t seem to change.
Your last sentence….yes….there ARE people really that clueless/stupid that wait until AFTER an event happens.
Switched last year to a tri-fuel gennie. Have only run it on nat gas but still store some gasoline just in case.
Most people are also used to the news/weather reports being packed with lies and BS to boost views and the worse the prediction is the more skeptical they are about it actually breaking past the baseline for regular rain with a little thunder.