Water, water everywhere...and not a drop to drink!

[~*~Celes~*~]

At this moment in time, since about 1am, our city water has been labeled contaminated due to toxic levels of algae in Lake Erie! We can shower and do our laundry but boiling it just makes the toxicity worse and ingesting it can give you a troutload of issues (no pun intended). The area effected is quite large. It was like snowmageddon, only we're calling it waterocalypse water has been flying off the shelves all over and people are selling it for personal profit at ridiculous prices!

When we went to the store around noon, lines to the registers were so backed up and there were so many people scrambling into the store, you'd have thought it was Black Friday.

Anyone been in a similar crisis? Share your stories!

[noxious.sunshine]

Anytime it snows in the South. 3 flakes and the stores run out of bread and milk in like 30 minutes.

Although one weekend, in Nashville back in Summer 2008, every single gas station ran out of gas. I have no clue -why-. People panicked over something and bought it all up. I don't know if diesel ran out as well or not, but yeah. All of Davidson county and a large chunk of Rutherford (which was where I worked back then) was bone dry. Thankfully, I was able to get to a Kangaroo that had some after I left work that Sunday.

It was the strangest thing I'd ever seen in my life.

And then when the flood hit in like 2010 (2011? I can't remember now), all of the hotel & motel rooms were booked up in our area with stranded travelers. My ex and I were worried that -if- he managed to get to me, we wouldn't be able to make it back and would have to get a room to stay in for the night, in spite of my work and our apartment being roughly 1 mile apart lol.. Nah, the main road was flooded all the way up over the interstate overpass between my work and where we lived.. ANywho.

[Slothy]

I live in a city with proper water treatment so nope, never been in a similar situation. Did live in a city nearby for a year that has disturbingly frequent boil orders, but strangely enough we never had one the whole time we were there.

[Ayen]

I think back in either 2001 or 2002 a winter storm blew in and we were out of power for at least a week. Maybe two. I can't remember exactly. I just know it sucked.

[Quindiana Jones]

You in Toledo?

I live in China, so the tap water here is never safe to drink. One of my fridges is just filled with bottled water. xD

[Shiny]

That's happened here before yes, but no longer than a day. All water is contaminated to some degree every where. If you honestly believe your city has "proper water treatment" you are sadly mistaken.

[Old Manus]

Doesn't sound that big a deal seeing as I thought Americans drink nothing but Coke, Mountain Dew and Freedom Deal_with_it_dog.gif

[fire_of_avalon]

Reason # 173839 I am glad to be a bumpkin - no worries with city water or large aquifers and the like. We have spring water. It is amazing. And not full of bacteria.

Not to rub it in. sorry you're going through this!

[MissH]

In the UK we just LOVE to 'panic buy'. We never have good reason. Usually as soon as there's 2cm of snow forecast everyone will run to the shops and buy EVERYTHING. Even things they have never eaten before and probably never will- JUST INCASE.

[Quindiana Jones]

Remember when somebody very, very loosly implied that there could be a fuel shortage if all the planets aligned or something, and so EVERYBODY queued up for miles to buy fuel and caused a massive smurfing fuel shortage?

People.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Anytime it snows in the South. 3 flakes and the stores run out of bread and milk in like 30 minutes.

People.

Yeah around here I'm used to people claiming it's the end of days because it got cold. I dunno.

[noxious.sunshine]

My dad has a stockpile of canned goods JIC something happens. He's not like crazy psycho paranoid or anything, but he's like "It's always a good idea to have enough non-perishables to last at least a week. Just to be on the safe side."

.... Which means Spam, Vienna sausages, canned corned beef hash, and chili. And spaghetti-o's. And stuff. haha.

[fire_of_avalon]

I would eat all the Vienna sausages in a day. I a terrible rationer. If I am supposed to, say, ration out snacks for a week I either won't touch any of them all week or eat them all at once.