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The following article was published in our article directory on April 28, 2014.
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When the Lights Went Out in San Diego

Article Category: Lifestyle

Author Name: Art Saborio

I often ask myself the question why we so often engage in life styles or use of items without first understanding how they impact our lives.

Here is a good example how something very small can have a large impact in a life. For most of use, we rely heavily on electricity. It runs all our appliances and also supports those things that entertain us. But when something major happens and the electricity goes out completely in all parts of a city, things can truly go haywire.

This actually happened within a very large city in the U.S.A. It is a true story and I was there when it all went down. I saw how fragile people can be when something as simple as the power failing turns a large city upside down.

How it All Started

It started around 2 pm in the evening. San Diego is a large city with a lot of densely populated areas. This is also true for the city's work areas. Some areas in San Diego are divided into deeply dense work areas called "business parks". Hundreds of thousands of people work in these tightly confined areas.

Rush hour in these areas start at 2 pm and can go on until 8 pm at night. It is not fun getting into these areas and less fun trying to get out. There are a number of places to eat, retail shops and not to mention traffic lights. When the power outage hit, it was a gradual roll. It started on the border of USA/Mexico and quickly took out south San Diego. Then the north fell and finally the entire city of millions were completely without electricity.

Don't forget this all happened right at the start of traffic hour. All businesses closed and told their employees to go home. So a river of employees started the journey home. Traffic lights were out. Police were nonexistent and focused on containing any looting, or other more serious issues in the city. It was virtually chaos.

What made matters worse is all those retail establishments, restaurants and public services also closed sending all their employees home.

Being Prepared

This kind of outage never happened in San Diego. Many thought it was a terrorist attack and other thought it might be a military attack from another country. Along with San Diego's sunny reputation come its many military bases that make it a high valued target for other military super powers in the world.

But none of that was the case and after listen to the radio on my five hour drive home, I soon found out it was a failed main transmission line which failed not once, but twice. This led to a massive discharge of the main transmission line taking down the entire city from the South to as far north as Orange County over 100 miles away.

The true enemy many found was running their gas tanks on fumes. A lot of people came to work that day, running on gas fumes. They planned as they always did, to gas up before heading home. They soon realized there were no gas stations for 100 miles that could service them. The few gas stations that did have limited backup generators were cutting off services early to protect the little fuel they had left.

As I drove home I started to see automobile after automobile coasting off to the side of the freeway; out of gas.

I don't consider myself to be an extreme prepper, but I do pride myself on being prepared in general and never run my gas tank below half a tank. I had plenty of gas to get home. My problem was trying to find a way home that did not l lead me through a mass of cars, upset people and stalled out vehicles that could block a escape route if things got ugly.

A situation like that could lead to someone trying to take over your vehicle for gas, or pulling out a weapon in fear or self-defense which could hurt a lot of people. So following the sheep was not an option for me. I needed a better way to get home.

Luckily, I was prepared in this situation as well. I know my area well and make mental notes of places I find that could make for alternative routes home in the case of an emergency just like this. This preparation came in handy, as there were some old dirt roads that no one used. I got off the freeway and took one of those home to get around the mess.

What Happened After I Got Home

Once I arrived home, I remembered that my garage door would not work without electricity. I never used the manual mode and found it rather interesting that there was no cord attached to pull the lever free to manually life the garage door. Who installs a garage door without finishing the job? I could see the lever and no way to put enough weight on it to pull it free and disengage the chain.

I told you I am pretty much prepared for anything, so I went back to my car, pulled out my survival knife and cut off a long piece of paracord 550 rope I had in the trunk. I looped the 550 cord around the latch and pulled it free, allowing me lift the door.

A lot of neighbors were standing around trying to figure out how to open their doors as well. So I cut them a piece of my survival cord to get their cars in their garages. When it comes to survival, simplicity is a person best friend. You can do a lot with a knife and simple piece of survival cord.

You Never Know

You never know when you will need to be ready to face certain circumstances in your life that may impact your lifestyle, health or other aspects of your life. If a simple thing like electricity going out, can have this much of an impact, think about how a simple change in your job, relationship or your views on life could affect you?

You will find very few instances in your life where chaos can come in without you letting it in. This story I wrote will most likely never happen to you in your lifetime. But when you are prepared, plan and make the right assumptions, changes in your life can be a positive outcome for you. Controlled changes that are small, simple and focused have the best opportunity for a large positive

Keywords: paracord 550, 550 cord, outdoor, hiking, hunting, survival

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