# Lessons learned about garbage from a rare snow storm...



## newtopreppin (Jul 25, 2021)

We don't get much snow where I live and so most people get caught off guard with it. We got a rare snow storm earlier this year and I stayed and slept at work so I wouldnt be out in it trying to do my long drive home. I knew it was coming so i brought my air mattress, blankets/pillow and some food. What messed us up was how it didnt take long to find out that the garbage truck did not run and garbage stacked up big time, not only that, our dumpster was inside a fence and the snow got so deep that we couldnt open the gate fence door even if the garbage truck did come, and so we just stacked it on the ground. We should have got a large utility trailer ready to put the garbage on before hand, then we could have just hauled it off like that when it got better. So its good to figure out ahead of time what to do with garbage when the system is down. I work at a nursing home and so this was some rough garbage full of diapers for the most part and so it sucks to have to handle it twice. It also took a while for my suv to get going as it was frozen in place, 4x4 wouldnt work either because I think my wheel has to make a complete turn before 4x4 locks in. Be sure to knock off the snow off the top of car BEFORE you take off down the road also as it will come off and hit the car behind you. heading up the ramp onto the highway was screwed up, it didnt have a merge lane anymore due to ice, it just dumped you right into traffic, then a pipe froze up in the ceiling and the fire dept had to come out automatically if that happens. Nothing I could have done to prevent that as it was some sort of dry system in the ceiling. also, gas stations were out of gas at some places as fuel trucks didnt run i guess, either that or the pumps were frozen. so gas up. anyway, thanks for reading..I've just thought about all this alot for some reason over this year. bad weather is something i try prep for at home. One year, we had a ice store and power went off for two weeks, but what was bad was when the water went out a week into that. Did ice/snow storms mess up your day? share it with us...


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## AJustice (Aug 4, 2021)

Good info about snow! It never occured to me to lock the differential in my 4x4 BEFORE it snows, I will most definitely be doing that from now on. Don't forget to lock into 4x4 once a week or so to make sure the solenoid doesn't get stuck when you need it.


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## 7515 (Aug 31, 2014)

I think I learned the most from the 2014 ice storm that hit metro Atlanta.
Once the weather got bad everyone in the ATL area hit the roads at the same time trying to get home. A lot of businesses closed early sending employees home. This mass flow of cars combined with the already heavy semi truck traffic that goes through ATL daily created a huge parking lot on all three major interstates that go through the area.
Once the big trucks starting getting stuck on the ice all traffic stopped. They literally would spin sideways and block 3-4 lanes of road. The on and off ramps to the interstates got plugged up with stuck cars. People began to abandon their cars on the highway or had to sleep in their cars.
For some of my coworkers their hour commute turned into 24-36 hours stuck on the highway.
That day I stayed off the interstate and took a back way home that is smaller state highway and surface streets. Normally my ride then was 45 minutes and it took me about a hour that day. So not a big deal.
The point is that I used that as a mini SHTF drill. I avoided going with the herd and I didn’t get stuck on the main highway.
BoF


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## BamaDOC (Feb 5, 2020)

newtopreppin said:


> We don't get much snow where I live and so most people get caught off guard with it. ....Did ice/snow storms mess up your day? share it with us...



Buffalo, NY october 2006
the forecasters said it would snow like 4 inches...it snowed about 6 feet,
because it was so early in the fall, all the trees still had leaves, and the branches that came down took every power line for 200 miles.
no power for more than a week
without power, the water pumps stopped working, and they said it wasn't safe to drink the tap water after 1 day.
the grocery stores were out in 2 days of everything
the gas stations were out in 24 hours.

after 2 days ... lawlessness set in...
I learned then, that people become wild animals when the shtf.... they will cannibalize each other... even 'friends' and 'neighbors'
fights broke out at gas stations... and grocery stores...

one couple died, because their next door neighbor stole the generator which was running their heat and medical equipment. the police caught him easily because the foot prints which led thru the snow between their houses, and the stolen generator hooked up to his house.... 
and sadly this was not an isolated incident.. generators were being stolen all over town in the middle of the night.



what I learned then... wasn't to prepare myself for emergencies... it was to prepare myself for those who didn't prepare themselves...

they will justify stealing and violence against their neighbors... for a pack of TP, a couple gallons of gas.. or even a box of pop tarts...


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## 7515 (Aug 31, 2014)

BamaDOC said:


> what I learned then... wasn't to prepare myself for emergencies... it was to prepare myself for those who didn't prepare themselves...


Wise words if ever I read them. 
BoF


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## Megamom134 (Jan 30, 2021)

We are used to snow in Iowa and as a nurse no matter how bad it was or how high the snow was I had to get to work. Once on a snow mobile. But our town is on top of it and the roads are usually cleared at least enough for one lane by the end of the day. The ice storms though are the pits. Give me snow over ice any day.


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