It was my first experience of a large-scale, prolonged blackout, and it got me thinking: \u201cIf our family car had been an electric vehicle, things might have been even more difficult.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The day before the typhoon, September 3, JR West announced early that it would suspend train services the following day, repeating the notice over station announcements. My daughter\u2019s kindergarten also decided by the morning of September 3 to close on the 4th.<\/strong> Even the underground shopping district in Osaka\u2019s Umeda area(central Osaka)<\/span> announced on the 3rd that \u201cwe will be closed on the 4th.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Typhoons had hit the Keihanshin area before, and I\u2019d felt we were seeing more of them than usual this summer. But I\u2019d never seen JR West and major facilities take precautions so far in advance. \u201cThis must be a seriously powerful typhoon. We need to be prepared,\u201d<\/strong> I thought.<\/p>\n At the same time, though, I found myself thinking, \u201cStill, typhoons usually veer away from Kansai, and we often escape the worst of them. We\u2019ll probably be fine this time, too.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n On the 4th, my husband\u2019s company switched to working from home, and my daughter\u2019s kindergarten was closed, so our family of four stayed in to prepare for the typhoon expected that afternoon. But before long, our older daughter started complaining, \u201cI want to play! There\u2019s nothing to do!\u201d<\/strong> So we decided to head to the supermarket that morning. We arrived just after it opened, but\u2026<\/p>\n The parking lot was already backed up with cars, and the checkout lines were longer than I\u2019d ever seen.<\/p>\n I guess we all have the same idea when a storm is coming.<\/p>\n After lunch, the rain and wind gradually picked up. It was blowing fiercely, but my husband said, \u201cCome on, the last typhoon was worse. The house was shaking.\u201d<\/strong>(I felt it wasn\u2019t as bad as I\u2019d expected, too.)<\/span> The girls were watching something on the iPad, and I was watching a Discovery Channel feature on the Cayenne(I mean, who puts on a Cayenne special at a time like this\u2026 lol)<\/span>\u2014we were all doing our own thing when, suddenly\u2026<\/p>\n There was a loud \u201cBOOM!\u201d<\/strong> nearby, like something had exploded and short-circuited. The lights went out, and all our electrical appliances stopped at once.<\/p>\n Oh no! A blackout! ((\uff1b\uff9f\u0414\uff9f))<\/span><\/p>\n It was just after 2 p.m. \u201cIt\u2019ll be back on in a minute or two,\u201d<\/strong> I thought, still taking it easy. But 15 minutes passed, then 30, then an hour\u2026and nothing. We couldn\u2019t turn on the TV to find out what was happening, so I checked Twitter and Facebook. That\u2019s when I learned that power was out across the Keihanshin region.<\/p>\n Then came a flood of shocking reports: Kansai International Airport was flooded; a tanker had crashed into the airport access bridge; a major fire had engulfed around 100 cars in Nishinomiya; scaffolding had collapsed from a building in Osaka; and the roof of Kyoto Station had been torn away.<\/strong> This time, I thought, things might be really bad. It was the first moment I grasped the full scale of what was happening.<\/p>\n About three hours after the air conditioning stopped, the heat and humidity inside were getting to me. My husband said, \u201cWe\u2019d be better off in the car.\u201d<\/strong> So the whole family climbed into our Golf and drove around the neighborhood.<\/p>\n We set off thinking, \u201cAt least the air conditioning will keep us cool,\u201d but it didn\u2019t take long to see that something was very wrong. The traffic lights were out, the streetlights were dark, and the convenience stores and supermarkets were all blacked out.<\/strong> Even the traffic light in front of the Porsche dealership we visit was badly bent, with police officers directing traffic by hand.<\/p>\n Dark smoke was billowing up from the coast to the south, and we passed several fire engines. We turned back when we were told the road ahead was dangerous, then drove to a convenience store farther away to buy food(though there were no rice balls or boxed meals left)<\/span>. By the time we got home, it was completely dark\u2014and there was still no sign of the power coming back on.<\/p>\n We dug out a flashlight, opened the windows, and ate sandwiches in the dark, sweating all the while. Then my husband said:<\/p>\n \u201cIf the power\u2019s still out tomorrow morning, this is going to be a real problem. No electricity means no charging, no shower, no internet, no air conditioning\u2014and the convenience stores are dark, so we can\u2019t even get food. Everything\u2019s out. Maybe we should get the family to a hotel while we still can.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA hotel? We\u2019re evacuating to a hotel!?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n I hadn\u2019t seen that coming. My husband quickly searched online, found a room available at a hotel in Kobe, and booked it right away. We packed only the essentials\u2014his work things for the next day, clothes for the kids, and our older daughter\u2019s kindergarten bag\u2014and all piled into the Panamera.<\/p>\n With the Hanshin Expressway closed and JR and private railway services suspended across the board<\/strong>, the roads were much busier than usual. The McDonald\u2019s nearby was packed with people looking to charge their phones, the wait at Sukiya was 40 minutes, and we couldn\u2019t find a taxi.<\/strong> After about 40 minutes, we finally made it to the hotel in Kobe.<\/p>\n Inside, it was as if nothing had happened. The lights were bright, and the hotel staff greeted us warmly. We were able to spend the night there safely.<\/p>\n The experience really drove home just how much of daily life stops when the power goes out. We take electricity for granted, but I gained a whole new appreciation for it\u2014and couldn\u2019t help thinking, \u201cIf our family car had been an EV, this could have been even more worrying.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Even if we never park with the battery completely empty, all the charging stations in our apartment building would almost certainly be out of service. If a blackout hit while the battery was low, we might not be able to go anywhere.<\/p>\n And if we lived in an apartment building with a mechanical parking system, the power outage could leave us unable to get the car in or out at all.(I even saw a post during this typhoon about a Cayman being flooded because its owner couldn\u2019t get it out of a mechanical parking garage during the blackout\u2026)<\/span><\/p>\n With all public transportation stopped and no taxis available, the car was the only way to get around.<\/strong> But if the battery were low\u2014or if we couldn\u2019t retrieve the car from the parking garage\u2014we wouldn\u2019t have been able to drive to a convenience store farther away for food or take the family to a hotel, as we did.<\/p>\n Electric vehicles are better for the environment, and I expect to see more of them in the future. But the thought of being unable to move when the power goes out is frightening. It\u2019s probably unlikely to happen, but in a situation like this, I have to admit that a gasoline-powered car(or at least a hybrid)<\/span> feels more reassuring.<\/p>\n Above all, I hope power is restored throughout Kansai soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Typhoon Jebi Hits Japan Typhoon Jebi slammed into Japan on September 4, and \u201cpowerful\u201d hardly begins to describe it. Our home lost power at 2 p.m. that day, and the blackout was still ongoing as I wrote this. There was no word yet on when electricity would be restored.(I\u2019m writing this on the Shinkansen at 10 a.m. on September 5 \u2192 Later, at 11 a.m., I got word that power had been restored at home.)...","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/www.panamera-life.com\/?p=4710","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nocar-nolife","en-US"],"yoast_head":"Preparing for the Typhoon<\/h3>\n
The Day the Typhoon Hit<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.panamera-life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_7827-600x800.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Damage Was Far Worse Than a Blackout<\/h3>\n
A Traffic Jam on the Way to the Hotel<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.panamera-life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_7828-800x600.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhat the Blackout Made Me Realize<\/h3>\n