It was windy Friday. I couldn鈥檛 do a thing with my hair. Either of them.
How windy? Your garbage can lid went on an unscheduled vacation, which, during this 颅pandemic, filled us with envy. Your cat looked like someone had patted it backwards. And, of course, my power went out.
The timing of the latter was serendipitous, sort of, given that it happened on the same day B.C. Hydro released a report saying the coronoavirus has, in an odd way, given British 颅Columbians a false sense of security. It seems people are confusing their pandemic precautions with the steps they need to take to be ready for a lengthy power outage.
The report, Stocked Up But Unprepared, found many of us feel more ready for storm-related outages even though most of us don鈥檛 have an emergency kit or plan.
鈥淭his sense of preparedness comes from stocking up on household supplies like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, groceries and alcohol 鈥� which 44 per cent indicate they have done.鈥�
The lack of proper preparation persists even as the severity and frequency of storms that damage Hydro鈥檚 electric system increases.
鈥淣ew data from B.C. Hydro shows a 117 per cent increase in these storms from 52 in 2014 to an average of 113 over the past three years,鈥� the report says. 鈥淭his has resulted in an 颅average of one million customers being impacted by storm-related power outages annually, including two of the largest individual storms in B.C. Hydro鈥檚 history in 2018 and 2020.鈥�
That December 2018 storm was the most damaging in the utility鈥檚 history, with 750,000 customers losing power. That included 87 per cent of us on 91原创 Island and the Gulf Islands, where some residents were still without electricity more than a week after the storm had passed. A Galiano Island father who had to 颅chainsaw his way through fallen trees to get to his son鈥檚 elementary school described the scene as 鈥渁pocalyptic.鈥�
Except even that experience still wasn鈥檛 enough to nudge us into putting together an emergency kit, was it? That鈥檚 true even with COVID keeping us hunkered in our bunkers. 鈥淯nlike years past, half of British Columbians would not leave home to wait out an extended outage in a public place like a mall, restaurant or movie theatre because of the pandemic,鈥� the report said. 鈥淗owever, even with a desire to stay closer to home and the increase in storm-related power outages, over half of British Columbians do not have an emergency preparedness kit 鈥� and most do not plan to purchase one this winter. About 30 per cent also admitted they have not taken any steps to prepare for an outage.鈥�
The head-scratching thing is that while we blithely ignore the threat of an outage, we become hyper-vigilant in preparing for calamities that are far less likely. Some people have a hard time separating possibility from probability. We act as though the next tsunami is due to come thundering down the strait on Thursday, or terrorists are 颅lurking under every rock. (Once again, let鈥檚 pause to remember our panicked reaction in 2001, when the discovery of anthrax in a few letters in the U.S. triggered evacuations on 91原创 Island 鈥� the Salt Spring ferry, the premier鈥檚 office, a building at CFB Esquimalt 鈥� whenever an unexplained white powder showed up.)
Often it鈥檚 a case of lawyers crossbreeding with bureaucrats. Two years ago, Ottawa decided to block public access to the Institute of Ocean Sciences despite the Saanich Peninsula facility having failed to show up on any Al Qaeda to-do list. Five years ago, B.C. Hydro persuaded CRD Parks to shut its Jordan River campsite out of fear of what would happen should a massive earthquake destroy the dam upstream. It did so even though, as one reader calculated, you were far more likely to be killed riding a motorcycle to Jordan River than sleeping in a tent there.
A power outage? Different story. Different odds.
For the record, Hydro recommends keeping an emergency kit that will last at least 72 hours. Among other things, it should include a first aid kit, bottled water (two litres per person per day), non-perishable food, a manual can opener, a flashlight and batteries, a whistle, a battery- or crank-powered radio and clock, personal hygiene items, extra keys for the house and car, and a battery pack for your cell phone. Make a plan for your family or household. Don鈥檛 go near downed power lines.
Now go find your garbage can lid.