<p>We no longer buy bottled water. We boil our water and put it through a filter. H doesn’t like the plastic, and it is cheaper. NYC water tastes better than most bottled water.</p>
<p>We did stock up on wine and food.</p>
<p>You can always use bleach to make the water safe to drink but I’d rather lug home bottled water. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/pdf/emergency/09_202278-B_Make_Water_Safe_Flyer_508.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/pdf/emergency/09_202278-B_Make_Water_Safe_Flyer_508.pdf</a></p>
<p>Oldfort, a lot of people in buildings without power have no water either. It’s pretty hard to boil something you don’t have or boil it if you depend on an electric stove and have no electricity.</p>
<p>The brunt of the storm as far as I’ve seen and heard on the news and from friends in NYC itself is Staten Island and low lying parts of the rest of the 5 boroughs. This is a reason why lower Manhattan and low lying parts of Queens/Brooklyn were hard hit as it’s not only close to sea level…but also in the south nearest to the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean/New York Bay and the heaviest parts of the hurricane. </p>
<p>Folks on the upper east/west sides and up were largely fine from what I heard from friends in those areas. Friends in Washington Heights…same thing cept one friend felt his building swaying a bit from the high winds as his building’s directly facing the Hudson. </p>
<p>As I am on a hilly area in a northern part of Queens, the worst my area got was some blown tree branches and a fallen tree trunk or two. In comparison, the last few days are much closer to Oldfort’s than Zoosermom’s. Only remaining negative is subway access is still a bit sketchy/slow and buses are packed worse than sardines. </p>
<p>My neighbors and I were quite fortunate as even in the midst of the storm, a neighbor and I were able to go out to grab some pizza pies three blocks away for several folks in the building. In the midst of this, several other neighbors were yelling at a group of middle-school kids in a nearby playground to go home because the winds were picking up.</p>
<p>As for stocking up, my I filled up cleaned out plastic milk jugs/soybean milk jugs with filtered tap water and stocked up on saltines, bread, fruit, OJ, canned foods, etc. Already had plenty of peanut butter and jam so I was good on that front.</p>
<p>emily, thanks for the thing about bleach. But, I admit, carting home bottled water sounds better to me than drinking water with bleach in it! But next time, I’ll use the bleach mixture to clean out the containers I store the water I boil in.</p>
<p>jonri, in a quick look at various websites, the consensus is:
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<p>Also, there’s no need to boil it unless you’ve been officially advised to do so, but cleaning out the containers with some bleach makes a lot of sense.</p>
<p>You’re welcome jonri.</p>
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<p>Bottled water is understandable. What I could never get is why so many people buy out a supermarket’s stock of milk right before a storm hits. </p>
<p>One would think that if the electricity for the fridge went, that milk will be one of the first food items to perish in short order.</p>
<p>I think the milk purchases are more of a ‘before-the-snowstorm’ event, when you would probably have power but might be cooped up for days with children and be unable to get out until the roads are cleared.</p>
<p>And because it may be a while after a storm before the roads are clear enough for trucks to come in with supplies to restock grocery stores.</p>
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<p>The odd part was despite the fact there were warnings of possible flooding and blackouts in the NYC area, my NYC area friends and I saw everyone in our local supermarkets buying up milk by the ton. </p>
<p>In areas where they lost electricity, lack of refrigeration will mean milk may go bad in as little as 2-3 days with really cool fall weather…sometimes not even a day if this was in the midst of hot summer.</p>
<p>It one is trying to stock up on non-perishable foods in storm/hurricane situations…milk’s one of the last choices I’d think one would consider.</p>
<p>My parents keep a large stock of this powdered mocha, with powdered milk in it, in their basement. Tastes good warm or cold, though I’m sure it would be better warm. Would probably be tasty with condensed milk added. Lasts for a long time.</p>
<p>Things are much better this evening in midtown than this morning.The mayor’s carpool restriction is helping and more places have power.</p>
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I think the key here is to boil water before you lose power, no? Kind of like you don’t go out to buy bottled water when there is a storm. But we boil our water for drinking in general and we don’t buy bottled water.</p>
<p>oldfort, imo, sure seems a heck of a lot easier and more convenient to buy bottled water for an emergency situation than to boil up what they recommend to have for an emergency such as this. But since boiling water appears to work for you carry on.</p>
<p>Oldfort, why would anyone boil NYC water – in normal times, I mean?</p>
<p>We are quite green in my house, we don’t use much plastic. D1 got very sick for few days (throwing up non-stop) when we lived in NY before we moved out to the suburb. We then found out the water was contaminated. We were living down at Battery Park at that time. Since then we have always boiled water, never straight from the tap. </p>
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Sandy wasn’t exactly an unexpected emergency. We had plenty of time to buy water or boil water, 3 days to be exact.</p>
<p>emilybee - I don’t think your issue is not with me boiling water. Silly discussion if you ask me.</p>
<p>Interesting perspective from a representative who was wondering what the H*ll the priorities were that the marathon was going on and utilizing police resources when his area was desperately in need of help including police to stop looting.</p>
<p>Have to say I agree.</p>
<p>The advice I read was for NYC dwellers to fill up their bathtubs ahead of time. If for no other reason so that you can flush your toilets.</p>
<p>^^we do that - it is good advice. We were out of power for 3 weeks once after an ice storm. We discovered that lack of running water was much more inconvenient than lack of electricity. We managed to deal with the lack of electricity very easily (camping gear and cooking equipment came in very handy). No water was a PITA.</p>
<p>I remember reading a thing somewhere where a family were talking among themselves about which modern convenience they would most hate to be without. Everyone was saying washing machine, dishwasher, microwave etc Then they got to Grandma and she said “running water”. I concur.</p>
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<p>No reason at all. NYC has the greatest water in the world … from the Ashokan Reservoir.</p>
<p>And I hope people realize that “bottled” water is just some other town’s tap water. </p>
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<p>It was in the 40s during Hurricane Sandy here. I put milk in a cooler with ice but I placed eggs and some other food outside … just like my grandparents used to do. Everything was fine.</p>