Around 7pm last night all of the lights went out on the island of Oahu. I live on the island, and was completely scared out of my mind. I was watching one of my favorite shows, Keeping up with the Kardashians when the television, and kitchen lights all started flickering off and on, and eventually went out. Immediately, I looked out my bedroom window and saw that all the street lights were out. At this point, I was absolutely confused because I live on one of the busiest streets in Waikiki.
I called my mom, who lives in California, but I couldn't get through; however, my sister who has the same phone carrier, Sprint, was able to connect with me. I talked to my family for about 10 minutes and the lights still failed to come on, so I called friends on the island to see if they were experiencing the same thing. My friend who was working in a lab at the time was able to use a generator to restore power.
I videotaped and took pictures as I watched people struggling to cross the street and drive. I'm still in shock over this whole incident. Hours later, I waited to here someone over a loud speaker or something to reassure my mind, but I heard nothing. I just saw firemen and policemen walking around outside with flashlights. The scariest part about all of this is that, my phone went dead two hours into this massive outage, I couldn't get a wireless connection on my laptop, and I am sooooo afraid of the dark. Yes, I can admit my fear! One of my biggest fears happened last night.
On top of everything else, I finally fell asleep around 2 am give or take, because I had no power to see actual time, but was awaken by the sound of gun shots. There was NO mistaking that sound for fireworks. The fireworks are displayed every Friday on Oahu, but they had stopped hours before. When I heard the guns shots I immediately ran to the bathroom and got on the ground, because I didn't know what was going on. After realizing that the noise had stopped, I looked out my window, and I saw approximately 5 policemen walking around with flashlights. I don't know what that was all about--why were people shooting in the dark?
This experience has taught me a VERY valuable lesson, to ALWAYS have a Safety Survival Kit. Unfortunately, I didn't have one. As a kid, my family always had one, and I was told to get one by my mom, but I failed to follow through. So, once the stores open, I am running to get essential things like: a flashlight, candles, matches, bottles of water, can food, etc. It's sad that it sometimes takes serious things to happen before we get a real understanding on importance.
Literally, 12 hours later the power is now restored. I am hearing reports that lightning struck and hit a pole which caused the power outage. I wanted to share with everyone my experience. I managed to take a couple of pictures of the lights out in Waikiki which is where I live. Also, I am putting the video on you tube, so I'll let you know later how you can check it out.
Have you ever had a similar experience??? How did you handle it???
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