Could You Escape from LA?
August 29, 2010, Submitted by: Ken Tweet
Just recently, my wife and I, her parents, sister, and her two children, we all traveled down to San Diego from Northern California in a rented RV and visited some of the area attractions for the kids to enjoy (San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park). We had one particular experience that really emphasized something that could become a very serious disaster under certain circumstances.
Over the years, I have traveled numerous times to the Los Angeles area and have experienced the nightmare traffic that exists there. Although I fully expected it again during this recent road trip, the slow and stop-and-go traffic that I experienced this time took on new meaning. Being more focused during this past year on survival preparedness and related issues, my first thought as I crawled through 80 miles of very slow freeway traffic (from Burbank to Oceanside) was that these people that live in the LA basin will in NO WAY be able to bug out or get out if the need arose. Although I pretty much knew this to be true, having seen and experienced it once again really hit home.
There are approximately 15 million people that live in the LA basin area, the 14th largest urban center in the world. If you are a prepper, and live in this area, I’m sure that you know how you will need extraordinary preparedness plans and an extremely well thought out bug-out plan if you hope to survive an extreme disaster such as a complete regional power outage that extends beyond a week or two, or a terrorist nuclear or ‘dirty bomb’ explosion, or even the ‘big one’ (earthquake).
The fact that there are so so many people that live there will probably completely clog all traffic routes around and out of the city basin in a very short period of time. Most everyone will be trapped where they are and will be limited to the supplies they have at the moment.
I have not lived there, I have only traveled there and spent limited amounts of time there on business. I only know the freeway system and the surface streets around Burbank where I would frequent. However my instinct tells me that even knowing all of the surface street routes in the entire basin, there would be practically no chance whatsoever to get out in the event of an extreme disaster except to leave immediately.
What I took away from the experience is that anyone that lives in a major metropolitan area should be acutely aware of the extreme risk to their survival should the area lose electrical power for an extended period of time, and that any such person should have a ready-made evacuation plan and strategy to get out or bug out before it is too late. At the very least, a food and water storage supply will keep you alive for a short time, but you will eventually be overrun and looted due to the very large number of thirsty, starving, desperate people. This type of threat is very real and could occur under a number of very real scenarios. Think about it, consider a plan of action, and be prepared.
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Yikes! One place I wouldn’t want to be when the SHTF!
Just think of all the gangs, criminals, homeless in the LA area!
@George; This is why I preach “GET OUT NOW”. Plain and simple, your odds of surviving a Cat3-5 TSHTF situation in a large metro area will be based solely on luck. I play poker, and play quite well. I don’t believe in luck, I believe in preparation and stacking the odds in MY favor. To survive leaving LA, or any large metro area, means leaving BEFORE it happens. All coastal areas are one sided, in other words because of the water side you only have 180 degrees of choice e.g. Houston, LA, SF, etc. Other cities, while no better a place to be, at least have 360 degrees of travel, e.g. DFW, KC, Memphis, etc. So basically, change your lifestyle and move to a small town at least 100 miles from major metro areas or better yet move to a rural 3-5 acres outside of a small town. There is strength in some numbers, but not too many. Those gangs, criminals and homeless people are in ALL metro areas and larger cities.
I guess nobody else thought of this one. What about all the zoo animals? I am sure some of them would escape. Like an elephant or rhino. And what about all these lion/tiger rescue groups that have lots of these animals on their preserves? I’ll bet some of them would escape. Imagine looking for food around LA and you walk by a building and there is a lion or tiger eating somebodies cat or dog!
Now is a good time to buy a good bolt-action in 375 H&H Mag. or 375 Ruger. Don’t leave home without it!
well I live in Manchester in the UK and my plan relies solely people acting as such, thats why in the event of a dirty bomb I have a full NBC kit including 2 days worth of filters so under the asumption every one has evacuated or died within 12 hours of a dirty bomb it leaves access much easier by foot, by car along back roads or such.
I’d always try and stay put for some time till people had tried to evacuate then failed then try my escape, however if that isn’t possible think of other alternatives, from lack of personal experience what about boating it out? or flying?
Our latest intel has Mossad smuggling a dirty bomb into Los Angeles and detonating it by a Nuclear Power Plant in August. The Palestinians will be blamed. Also, we have heard that a very large Synagogue in New York will be bombed at the same time!
Daniel Gilfry, C.A.M.P. – Intl Freedom Party
@holocaustdenier.com; Daniel, Daniel, Daniel! Don’t you ever get tired of all the mis-information, made up crap, and just basic vile fiction you spread. “Our latest intel”, what intel? Prove it! I would have thought that being such an Israel hater would have become tiring by now. Where, pray tell from where, does your intel come? I’m sure you have a vast network of operatives that spares no expense in seeing that the “ultimate truth” is disseminated to the unlearned masses. Send me one of your decoder rings and “I’ll be your Huckleberry”, for real. We should do lunch sometime. Call me. But seriously, we need valid information on these blogs, not hatefulness. Pumping out untruthful scare tactics serves no purpose. Tens of thousands of G.I.s saw the camps and came home and told their stories to their children and grandchildren, so no one would forget. It is a fact, that even the Russians corroborate. Also the count is quite accurate as the Germans were quite anal record keepers, posterity for the Reich, I suppose. I suggest everyone Google the term “holocaustdenier” and look for Daniel’s name there. If you hate Israel, just be honest and say so, be a man, but don’t make up fiction to try to prove your point. If a man has a different opinion than I do, so be it, we’ll have to agree to disagree and that’s it. I don’t hate Israel, but that has nothing to do with the facts that are true about the Nazi concentration camps as to whether I care for them or not. Shame on you, not for your opinion, but being intellectually dishonest and being a liar about something so heinous. How is Ahmadinejad, these days? Best Regards!