well even if power goes out during the peak of the summer in Baltimore, I am pretty sure all hell breaks loose again when power doesn't get restored in one hour. even I cannot phathom not being able to use my gadgets or "EBT" cards for 24 hours.
worst case scenerio, then plumbing goes out, what will the locals do next?
Uh -- collectively find water. Is this a trick question?
Have you never been in a natural disaster situation? If your plumbing/electricity/infrastructure goes down, your priorities become both very basic and universal. And maybe more to the point, so do the priorities of the police. They're gonna be way too busy to be hassling people. Everybody pulls together. There's no issue here.