It's just good to know they're safe. I know they want to know the status of their homes, but they're better off where they are until they have water and electricity. I can't understand why there is a 6 hour wait for gas for their generators. Can't they bring in tanks of it and go through the areas or set up in a parking lot/empty space and sell it off of trucks? It would sure help.
Leslie

leslie, they can't run gas pumps w/o electricity so if they are out of power in an area most gas stations won't have gas. and if you don't live in FL it's very unlikely they have generators. they can't run gas out of the tankers, the hoses are huge that fill the underground tanks. here in fl a law was enacted after our record 2004 hurricane season requirring most gas stations to be equipped w/ back-up generators, grocery stores, lowes & home depots also fall under this law. in 2004 i went 24 days w/o power and had to drive more than 30 miles away every few days to get gas (generator), water, milk and eggs and i live in orlando. most businesses around me were in the same powerless boat so everyone had to travel further out to find essentials. unfortunately in the city it was worse for power as we have streets lined w/ majestic oaks that fell while in the outskirts they were fine. we were lucky our city had the $$ to bring in semi's of bottled water and ice for residents in 2004 it was a huge help. ~ liz

I know they can't pump gas without electricity. I didn't mean the big gas tankers. I was meaning trucks that take gas out to farmers and fill their barrels? Maybe they don't do it anymore. I do know dad used to have their barrels filled. But maybe the hoses are to big for that too.

Hey everyone we made it home and actually have electricity. No major damage like I was so afraid would happen. Thanks Lana for updating this for me.

Glad you home and not much damage.
Leslie

If one has a five-gal. gas can (or two) they'll run a generator for a long time.

Some years ago when an ice storm knocked out power over an area over a hundred miles long, I borrowed a generator and took it down into that area (calling the owner on my arrival leaving a contact number in case he needed the generator), going house to house to hook up to freezers for a half hour or an hour each, then going to another house.

Could run the freezers and a fridge ... but in most cases the furnace is hooked directly into a service box, so was afraid to hook it up, even with the breaker thrown.

I've said for some time that building codes should allow for a push and twist connector to be built into the furnace connection, so that it could be unhooked to hook into a line from a generator.

It makes sense for half a dozen families to buy a generator together, for they can haul it from house to house, operating for a couple of hours (or less) at a time, through 24 hours per day, if necessary. In such emergency situations, at least some of the members of those families will not be at work, so could move the generator from house to house at indicated.

As for the gas stations, if they arrange their electrical service entrance in a certain way, like farmers do, they could arrange a main breaker to swing one way to hook into the grid, and another way to unhook from the grid and hook into a generator.

In many areas, a number of farmers have generators on a trailer that they can tow behind their tractor, powered by the tractor engine, that they could take to a gas station with the right breaker system, to provide power to run the pumps. In many cases, the generator is strong enough to operate a substantial portion of the gas station's needs - that would need to be arranged beforehand, so that the connections were compatible and the station be ready to shut down the portions of the station's needs to stay within the capacity that the generator could handle.

If there are local farmers with such generators, as is frequently the case, all that would be needed is for the electrical service entrance at the service station to be revised in order to accomodate hooking up the generator.

ole joyful