<p>I ask because one of my offspring lives in a high-rise apartment building in an area that may be affected by this weekend’s hurricane. Power outages are likely.</p>
<p>The power goes out frequently in my two-story home, yet the water supply has never been disrupted. But I have read that the situation is different in high-rise buildings, where the water may be pumped to higher floors by a system that involves electricity.</p>
<p>My grown kid, who has no car, would not be thrilled by having to buy lots of bottled water and carry it home. Is this precaution necessary, or would the apartment building still have water even if the power goes out?</p>
<p>Possibly this is a stupid question, but no one in our family has ever lived in a city high-rise before.</p>
<p>[Edited to add: My offspring is no longer a student, so there is no university to turn to for help. In fact, I have no business posting here because there are no longer any students in our family. But I keep coming to CC because people here are so smart and have good answers to possibly stupid questions.]</p>
<p>When we lived on the 14th floor of a Manhattan building, we lost water when the power went out–above a certain level, the water had to be pumped up via electric pumps. Lower floors were okay. Have your kid fill the tub.</p>
<p>(Aside to make you smile–because we needed water, we ventured out of that apartment during the 1977 blackout, then climbed back up 14 flights and couldn’t figure out why our key wouldn’t fit in the lock–then realized that, like many NYC buildings, ours had no 13th floor, and we had climbed an extra flight!)</p>
<p>There should be an apartment manager that he can contact who will have info on emergencies. I would imagine they are required by law to have some sort of emergency plan in place.</p>
<p>When the east coast and midwest lost power a few years ago, we also lost water. No electricity or water for over three days and nowhere to go to get it since the entire area was without it. Luckily it rained and we collected water for flushing toilets and the kids showered in the rain. We cooked on the grill.</p>
<p>Actually, it can hurt, quite literally, for a person like the one I’m inquiring about, who has no car and would have to walk a considerable distance from the store where bottled water is sold to the apartment building.</p>
<p>This is why I asked.</p>
<p>Filling the tub seems like a good idea for flushing toilets and other tasks that do not require potable water. That would decrease the need for bottled water and therefore the number of trips from the store with those heavy gallon water bottles.</p>
<p>Last time when there was a hurricane in NYC, we filled our tubs with water for toilet. Remind your son not to drink the tap water if the power should go out, even after the power comes back on because the water maybe contaminated.</p>
<p>D1 is coming back from London to NYC on Sat, moving into her new apartment. I just sent her a whole list of things to do to be prepared for the hurricane.</p>
<p>This is the list. If I missed anything, please add, this may help other young people who are on their own for the first time.</p>
<ol>
<li> Fill your tub with water for toilet.</li>
<li> If the power should go out, don´t drink the tap water for a while.</li>
<li> Buy some water, candles, flashlight, bread, cereals (may not have power to cook).</li>
<li> If it is very windy, use packaging tape to tape your window like X to prevent shattering. When sleeping, keep away from the window.</li>
<li> Pull out your rain boots, and rain gears, keep your purse with money (take some money out on Sat, just in case if ATMs stop working) and your IDs, just in case if you should need to evacuate.</li>
</ol>
<p>Marian, it maybe too late, but is there a grocery delivery service that can deliver water to his apartment? Costco, Amazon, a local store chain?</p>
<p>Fill ziplock bags with water and put them upright in the freezer. They can be melted for drinking water but also used to keep things cold. Fill whatever pitchers you’ve got with water for drinking. Fill the bathtub. Water your plants now, not later. </p>
<p>Charge your cell phone! And don’t forget you can use it as an emergency flashlight to find the candles and the regular flashlight ;-)</p>
<p>With the hurricane hitting on Saturday in the more southerly parts of the East Coast, the flights might get considerably backed up. I hope she doesn’t spend too much of her weekend sitting in airports.</p>
<p>I am really hoping it wouldn´t hit NY until Sun. Keeping my fingers crossed. We live very far from NY now, so it will be the first time she is on her own with a major storm.</p>
<p>I’m in Maryland, close to DC, and we’re expecting it to hit from Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning. It won’t get to NY until it’s done with us.</p>
<p>Six drops of water per gallon makes water stored in the bathtub potable. While most do this for “flushing” water, you can add bleech, wait 30 minutes and drink.</p>
<p>When talking about having water stored for emergencies, most of us have 50 gallons or so of water stored in our hot water tank! Just open the drain at the bottom of the tank. Guaranteed fresh and as pure as your regular drinking water.</p>
<p>The power probably (operative word…) won’t go out in NYC. Our power lines are underground. Outside of the city, yes, good chance. If it does go out in NYC, then the water won’t run in buildings over 4 stories tall. The water is pumped electrically to higher floors. The main problems for NYC’ers are going to be flying debris and tree limbs, flooding, and the fact that the MTA could shut down. This is news to many of us. The Mayor said yesterday that the subways can’t operate in winds over 39 mph. What a week! Earthquakes, hurricanes, we are just waiting for the plague of locusts…</p>