Nice report SwedishChef with some astute observations. Thanks!

I too neglected to do intelligence gathering before I headed out, and blissfully (as in ignorance is..) didn't turn on the news until I started guessing that the 520 bridge was closed... Doh!

Good point about TV (in general) having more resources to cover more localized news. The gotcha of course is that the TV news tends to focus more on the hype and less on information that might actually be useful to you. Scanning the FM stations, I happened upon a small station that was taking call ins from around the area and that proved to fairly helpful.

Regarding Internet: Our CableTV and Internet was out even when power was back on -- no guarantees.

Land lines can go out too. Folks with cell phones should consider a way to charge or power their phone by batteries. I have one of these Civilian Labs "Tankers" that power a USB port from 4AA batteries. This works for my PDA, cell phone, and iPod.

We found the Rayovac 8D fluorecent lantern to work well in "low" mode (only one tube lit), but as you point out, "D" cells are unobtainable during and directly after an emergency. While they are not as bright, the Osram Golden Dragon 2W LED lantern is nice because it has dual brightness and runs on AA batteries.

-john