And they still can not figure out how to get some power going in one or two rooms of a house?
I won't call them idiots, but it's clear that there is a serious lack of knowledge/initiative to utilize the resources in front of them.
After Katrina, it took us a few days to clear the downed trees off of the dead end road we live on (only way out). On the last day, we came to a downed power pole and transformer laying in, and blocking passage through, a flooded area that was almost becoming passable as the river fell.
As I walked up and heard the discussion, the consensus they (neighbors) had reached was that we would all have to wait (some unknown number of days/weeks) for the power company to reach us so that we didn't get electrocuted.
I informed them that if the line had any electricity, it would be popping and crackling as the electricity shorted out in the water. And also, that the likely hood of any power returning in the near term was pretty minimal.
Nobody wanted to believe that, so I went to my toolbox and got a hacksaw, waded out to the pole/wire, and hacked through the line. Once they saw that the line was really dead and that I wasn't dancing with Reddy Kilowatt, someone pulled up their tractor and we pulled the pole/transformer and line over to the side.
A few hours later the river dropped low enough for us to pass through the flooded area, and after cutting through two more downed trees, we had full passage open to the main road.
Of course, then we found out how little food, gas, etc. was available to be had at that point.
So, that's why I won't call them stupid, if they don't know something, finding a solution can be challenging.
Of course, out of that many people impacted, seems like there ought to be enough knowledgeable people there.
"since Oct.29"
I had a battery go weak on me in the Blazer about three years ago. It was not dead but the computer in the car would not allow it to try to start, the voltage must have been too low.
It was Sunday afternoon and the sun was at about 45 deg.
Went to the garage and dragged out a 75 watt panel and wired it direct to the battery and aimed the panel full into the sun, propping it on the windshield.
90 minutes later I re-aimed the panel into what was left of the sun. There was enough power to crank the car. The trick was to leave the panel connected while starting to trick the computer into reading the voltage as high enough to "let" the Blazer try to start.
I thought that one up in about two minutes.
These folks can't figure out or find out how to disconnect the service drop at the top of the panel, swing around a few wires, hook up enough batteries in parallel so they will not boil while charging without a charge controller (non mentioned in the article) in a month.
A month!
Sorry, but they should be able to do better than that.
Of course, they might have been like the guy I saw at the Redbox, driving a S Class, pants and snow white shirt dry cleaned, still as stiff as cardboard at five in the afternoon, silk tie, watch/shoes to match.
He could not figure out the Redbox with the instructions flashing on the screen, he needed me to step him through renting a movie.
Probably cranking 250k+ a year and dumb as a hammer.
.