Buying a Downtown San Diego Condo: "Before Anything Else, Preparation Is The Key to Success"

The above quote from Alexander Graham Bell can be applied to those of us who experienced the Great San Diego blackout earlier this week.  When the electricity goes out for a few minutes, it's no big deal.  When the entire City of San Diego's electricity went out for hours and hours, it was a really big deal.  A drive from Downtown San Diego to Mission Hills that normally takes 10-15 minutes ended up taking an hour and twenty minutes.  Those folks who waited to get gas on their way home, had a real problem.  Although there was gas at gas stations, there were no working pumps for the general public.

I was wondering how many people like Victoria and I were thinking about better preparation the day after this fiasco.  For those of you who want to think about being prepared for a disruption, here is a good list of what to do before the next lifestyle interruption.

These tips were found at www.sheknows.com  Here are some ideas and a summary of things to do ?whether living in San Diego, or anywhere else.

1.  Put together an emergency kit.  This may sound like a no brainer, but most of us don't have as good a kit as we should.  "Every household should have an emergency kit for a power outage that includes at least a flashlight, a radio and a number of extra batteries. This emergency kit should be in an open space that is easy to get to in an emergency." Don't hide it in the basement (if you live somewhere else),  on the top shelf in the pantry, or in my case out in the garage somewhere!  It's not so easy to search a dark garage for the "emergency kit."  Have the kit in an easy to reach location.

2.  Where is your food and water?  If your home were lose power right now, do you have the necessary non-perishable foods and the bottled water? If not, you aren't sufficiently prepared. Get an ample amount of canned goods and at least a few bottles of water to help you survive if worst comes to worst.  At least we had this item under control and we knew where our food and water was located.

3.  Keep your cell phone charged.  During our San Diego blackout, even cell phones did not work for making calls.  However, emails and text messages were sent and received.  I am not sure why this happened but it seems cell phone carriers must have different transmission methods for calls, emails, and texts.  Being able to text my family lessened some of the stress.  Not much, but at least some.

4.  Think about a generator.  I asked my husband about this idea because if I had a generator, I am not sure what I would have done with it.  My husband told me a portable generator could have been used for small appliances such as lights or in my case, a tea kettle.  I am going to explore this option.

5.  Plan ahead with your family.  We hadn't done this and were lucky we could text and email each other. This is something we will work on together.  Victoria headed to her fiance's house.  My husband was at home.  I figured if the electricity was out, I could go to Sycuan Casino where I knew there would be electricity.  Worked for me!

These tips may sound pretty simple, but when something like this happens, you realize how unprepared you really might be in this circumstance.  At least I had my Tweety Bird candles that I used before the electricity came back on late at night.  Next time I want a portable generator for my lights.  

This is a series of articles by Sharyn and Victoria Crown, San Diego real estate agents.