Okay, I have had time to relax after today's blackout in Los Angeles, which it turns out to be a DWP worker's error. Well, I guess that's good news. Sort of. LA was definitely on edge today, because of Katrina and that Al Qaeda video from Sunday.
The building I work in had some security and fire issues the week before -- but it was odd that about noon an announcement came on and said the electricity was done -- but we should all remain where we were. Okay, this is the part where I get worried...
I mean, I like the security guy in my building, but I have no idea where he is getting his information. You couldn't use the elevators, so a bunch of people walked down. I was just eating lunch -- and then the emergency lights went out. Well, I have been "prepared" so I took my ipod, some magazines and walked downstairs, telling others we should probably get out. We're on the ninth floor and the building powers is out. Okay, walking down was no problem. But when you got downstairs, you had all these people standing outside -- building after building with no power -- and you could see the traffic lights not working and traffic (more than usual) backing up.
People seemed to be eating lunch as usual. But no one knew what the hell was going on -- at all. And when you tried using cell phones, you couldn't get reception. Of course, in times like this, you start talking to strangers -- just getting any information. Now again, obviously, everything turned out just fine and dandy -- all I'm doing is illustrating how things could get really crazy, really, really quickly. So I decided, the fact that multiple blocks in downtown LA don't have power seemed quite odd.
I was well aware of the previous rolling blackouts back in 2001, but it wasn't a hot day and it just seemed very strange. Now, I have had some conversations with others, just what the hell do you do in an emergency, how do you get out of LA. We had discussed that you probably don't want to take your car -- because as you can see -- it can get crazy -- but I figured, I wasn't waiting around to see "what happened" in LA, so I did get into my car. And knowing the side streets, I can easily get out of downtown. Now, first I had to call my wife and she was freaking out because where she was working was just fine, but the fact that I was nervous, got her worried. I figured, whatever is happening in downtown, hopefully won't be as bad where I live which is more in LA, but not near downtown.
But when I got in my car and turned on the radio, that's when things seemed really, really odd. Because on the radio, they said there was blackouts in Burbank and Westwood -- which are really far from downtown. So now I'm thinking, I don't know what the hell is going on at all. And the weird thing too is no one the radio when this is going on knows what the cause is -- anyone they have from the DWP doesn't have any information. And people are just waiting around -- again, nothing happened and it's good to remain calm but we are very dependent on just waiting around for orders and we really have no plan of exactly what we are doing.
The crazy thing was that because the lights weren't working -- you see how fast everything becomes a real big mess. Yes, people were careful, but you soon realize how much we depend on the traffic lights for order. You were looking for semblance of order anywhere, and I felt more reassured when I got more west and found traffic lights that worked. Okay, I breathed a sigh of relief -- there was normalcy. But there were a few moments when I was thinking, what happens when the lights don't go back on. I mean what the hell are we are all going to do. We are so dependent on a lifestyle that we can't physically maintain. We are so dependent on power and cars taking us places. And most importantly, no one knew what was going on, when certain signs were ominous -- i.e., large blackouts in the middle of LA.
I'm going back to work and hopefully, tomorrow will be smooth and maybe there won't be an evacuation. But it still makes me think that if something did happen, we are all just going to wait around for it to happen.
So in a little over two to three hours we had some chaos -- but we see how easy it is to shut a city down. We are so dependent on electricity. Maybe the Amish are much smarter than we think.
I voted for this entry about the Blackout - so I hope you win!
Posted by: Pauly D | Tuesday, September 13, 2005 at 09:54 PM