Many of you lost power for a period of time and possibly lost phone service, as well. Some of us also lost cable service when a tree fell across Bayview Drive at 155 Bayview Drive (see photos) on Friday morning, January 4th. For about 2.5 days, residents on the upper part of Bayview Drive were trapped and without power, phone and cable until the tree was cleared and PG&E restored service on Sunday night at about 9:30 pm. They also had limited ability to "get off the hill".

Now that we are past the experience of this weekend's severe winter storm (at least we hope you are!), maybe you should think of this as a practice run for the "big one".  Some questions you might ask yourself with this experience fresh in your mind:

1. Was I prepared to "tough it out" for 3, or possibly 7, days?
2. What if I had lost water in addition to power and other utilities?
3. What if it had been even colder? Did I have blankets sufficient to "make it"?
4. What if I couldn't leave my home and/or all stores were closed?
5. Did I have enough fresh batteries for flashlights and radios to last the duration?
6. Did I have family emergency plans if we were separated?

This is just a sampling of the issues and problems you might face in the case of another severe emergency such as an earthquake or devastating fire.

For more information on how to prepare for the worst, go to our Disaster Preparedness page as well as the pages of more information on the Point San Pedro Road Coalition website.