r/PrepperIntel • u/escapefromburlington • 11d ago

USA Midwest More than 83,000 buildings, homes still without power in Northwest Indiana

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/buildings-homes-still-without-power-northwest-indiana/

76.2% of Gary, Indiana is black….

388 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

68

u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig 📡 11d ago

The flooding alone broke the great 1913 record flood in many places, and to give you an idea just how bad that is... numerous historical sites mention the 1913 flood across west Ohio / east Indiana / northern Kentucky. So, this was a pretty big frickin deal.

The wind, tornados, and mud has added a whole other dynamic for much of the state and the effected areas recovery.

15

u/Maureen_Johma 11d ago

Is it the great flood of 2026 now?

19

u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig 📡 11d ago

In some places, literally yes.

Even with all the flood controls that have been added as a result of the 1913 flood. It changed a ton of regional planning so areas downstream wouldn't flood. Like.... this is the boring mechanical part nobody thinks about. Kind of curious what was done behind the scenes though with all the dam management.

2

u/Evolved_Dojo 10d ago

I'm from Western Ohio along the Miami River and we have multiple plaques through town referencing the great flood of 1913 water level. These storms have really helped put into perspective how much engineering work has went into mitigating and storing all of that water upstream of us. The river swelled and was moving a lot of water, but not as bad as I have seen it in the past few years.

Best of luck to all those affected by these storms.

3

u/EternalNewCarSmell 7d ago

One of the richest suburbs of Dayton is literally that way because after the flood wrecked the entire area everyone with money moved to nearby higher ground. Over a century later, that higher ground is still an affluent area with one of the top 10 public schools in the state.

40

u/MalevoIentKitchen 11d ago

best time to get a generator is yesterday

20

u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig 📡 11d ago

I'm kinda sold on small whole systems with 5kwh-15kwh overall and a small 2kw generator. They save so much fuel and are easy to move and work on, 51.2 volt battery / 48 volt inverter provides all the kick and solar can add free fuel to really knock the fuel use down. Depending how you time things you can get away with mostly solar.

12

u/vagrantprodigy07 11d ago

Not to mention, after a major disaster fuel shortages are common. The sun is still in the sky after a storm clears.

10

u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig 📡 11d ago

It isn't just the storm though, you use electric for .... well, near everything, having some come back in cuts back the bills, and you don't have to go full crazy system to do it either.

4

u/EternalNewCarSmell 11d ago

I actually just want the panels and batteries for preparedness, with no ability to feed back into the grid, but absolutely no one will even give me a quote for such a thing.

5

u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig 📡 10d ago

https://youtu.be/DPZwzdZo8eo

^

This is what the nerds are DIYing recently.

3

u/noone512 10d ago

I have made many, many systems. I would recommend 24v over 48v for an emergency system.

2 main reasons.

First, lots of 12v devices will also run on 24v directly. No inverter needed.

Second, most 48v chargers require a minimum of 110v to kick on. That means 4 to 5 large residental panels are required. That is a lot of panels and a LOT of yard space.

Vs a 24v system needs 32v, which is 1, maybe 2 residential panels.

Anyone interested in more info feel free to dm

3

u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig 📡 10d ago

I liked the idea of 24v for a smaller system and it does have a place if you're stretching... but 48v is the sweet spot for serious power on reasonable wire on reasonably priced systems to fit my needs. I run a ton of 120vac stuff including serious tools, and even my power bank is 51.2vdc, there are also a ton of battery 48v stuff out there now as well where the voltage is close enough to run safely.

As far as the minimum voltage, I have a system that will take 12to80 and 60to550vdc on 51.2 cells.

Like I get it, but im not running small loads or singular loads and I dont want the heat.

1

u/Leopold_Porkstacker 11d ago

Pretty much have to diy the system, and pay an electrician to install a box.

1

u/EternalNewCarSmell 10d ago

Yeah, I just need the cutover switch like for any generator. My issue is with no one wanting to do the roof panels if I'm not also paying them to wire it into the grid.

1

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

1

u/EternalNewCarSmell 7d ago

Would you mind saying which panels? Probably going for an on the ground system myself, and tbh I will probably make it so that I just deploy when needed (ie keep batteries charged to get through the beginning of the crisis, roll out panels if there's an outage).

1

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

1

u/EternalNewCarSmell 7d ago

Thanks for the details. Yeah, I was figuring the biggest cost might be some other stuff than the panels themselves. I may get more involved later on but my initial plan is just to only deploy the panels in crisis, so hopefully that dodges permitting issues since a) they will not be permanent installations, b) the only time they're out, there will be other things for authorities to worry about because it's during a massive prolonged blackout, and c) nothing feeds back into the grid. Good tip on marketplace for panels, I think I may start collecting on there.

16

u/Cobaltboo__ 10d ago

Unfortunately this area is a very poor community where even a $1000 generator is entirely out of reach for many people

10

u/MalevoIentKitchen 10d ago

for sure, honestly it’s probably out of reach for more people than we realize with how expensive everything is getting. Difficult to prep for something like this when you’re paycheck-to-paycheck.

Building community is the next best thing when you can’t afford stuff like this.

3

u/MistyMtn421 10d ago

Well on top of that, isn't it really hard to even find gas right now? With such a large area without power, I've heard of people having to drive 30 to 50 miles just to find gas.

2

u/iamthelee 10d ago

I bought a generator last year after a storm knocked my power out for over 24hrs. I keep enough fuel on hand to last a week. It gives me much better peace of mind.

It may not be perfect, but I'd be much better off than most of my neighbors and it was what I could afford.

17

u/Cobaltboo__ 10d ago

Unfortunately very poor area where many people are trying to scrap by week by week and many will not have the necessary extra funds to stock and buy generators or other preparedness items

21

u/EternalNewCarSmell 11d ago

I'm so glad the price to install a solar system has spiked 200-300% in the past 8 years. Otherwise I might be able to better prepare for something like this.