Posted on 08/29/2011 5:48:49 PM PDT by matt04
Edited on 08/29/2011 5:53:11 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
I know that's true here in PA. I called my power co. a few years back to trim off a large branch overtop of the main power line running down the street, and they had to get a permit to do it - took five months! Five years ago I had the whole tree pulled, and let the contractor deal with the paperwork. There does need to be some control on who's taking them down in built-up areas, but that's why contractors carry insurances.
That's what I've been seeing in our corner of Pennsylvania. We heard through our local Scout network about a family which has been flooded out of its home. Within 24 hours, the outpouring of supplies to help the parents and children has been heartwarming. It's just one example, but I have no doubt it's being repeated all over. Our emergency crews have gone about their work without complaint or grandstanding; just taking care of their neighbors.
Sadly, we had a drowning in our county. A woman was swept into a flooded creek while attempting to get to work at 2am on Sunday, during the height of the storm. A dedicated worker. No doubt her employer could have done without her if only she'd asked.
Irene was a serious storm here. It wasn't Katrina, nor was it Andrew. I don't think our flooding was as bad as with Floyd. Nonetheless, I'm glad we were warned, and I expect the warnings saved lives.
Hubby and son were out with the chain saw the day before the storm. Several trees had fallen over the creek out back, and we were concerned about damming during the heavy rains. They cleared two large trees and plenty of smaller vines and undergrowth. As expected, the creek spilled over its banks, but not threateningly. Bonus - logs for firewood.
A savvy shopper could probably buy them in SE Pennsylvania in a box store. Lowes and HD were sold out of generators the day before the storm, but I'd bet a lot of them have since been returned in unopened cartons. The outages are not as bad here as many of us expected, since the winds were milder than the forecast and trees generally remained standing.
Basement’s stocked with 25 gallon heavy plastic containers filled with well water. Don’t need a generator for water if you have a well. I got them at the surplus store as well as water purification tablets and carbon filters. None of that adds up to a fraction of the cost of a generator.
Now, if you’re going to try to run a farm on a well with an electrical pump and you don’t have a backup plan, well, that’s your problem. No complaining.
We boiled our water in Louisiana when we were kids. Suck it up, man.
Eating cardboard MREs? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Don’t think so, Cherry. Someone called you on your Katrina whining, and you didn’t like it very much.
There are no roads washed out or folks isolated in deadly situations here eating cardboard MREs. New Hampshire is doing just fine and not whining like Katrina Obama voters.
It was a beautiful 70 degree sunny day here, everyone was at work, and the rivers were a little higher than normal. Some extra pine needles fell from the trees from the wind, but we survived.
Who is whining? People are reporting on a natural disaster. I don’t understand the lack of compassion I have seen in various places. I don’t know what unhappiness people have in their lives they can’t show a little sympathy for their fellow man.
Wisdom has finally spoken. Thank you.
You’re the only one whining.
We are so screwed.
And that’s why 4.5 million are without power?
Glad to hear you folks didn’t get affected.
Some people near the Connecticut have to use boats to access their homes. A minor hassle considering what could have happened. There were reports of some road washouts in western NH, worse on the VT side of the river. I haven’t seen any in my area.
According to PSNH, as of last night, there were still almost 60,000 NH households without power. PSNH says there are more than 100 line crews, probably from Canada, on the way to help out.
Nobody is whining. We are reporting status. What we have encountered is some people dismissing as unimportant or nonexistent the challenges some folks are facing this morning.
I'm not minimizing the misery and disruptions elsewhere, however in our immediate area, there are comparatively few major effects. Having all the box stores completely stocked out of generators days before Irene shows prudence on the part of our citizens, but most of them surely have not needed them. The winds did not show up to finish off the job on our trees. People in the path of flood waters are pumping out, but they are not in the vast majority in our immediate area. Vermont, New Jersey, NC - different story. SE PA does not have 4.5 million without power - thankfully.
The good news (and I am grateful):
We sustained no damage, neither to ourselves, loved ones and friends. Our house and property is fine, barely a few twigs fell from the trees during what ended up to be Tropical Storm Irene (not the "hurricane" as predicted, at least not in our area). Once we lost all air conditioning, etc. and the storm ended, the weather has been beautiful, and pretty cool (50s at night) so we don't have to suffer through awful heat and high humidity.
I am typing this post via a hotel computer - as we have no generator, and it got to be rather difficult w/o running water, (and other reasons) we decided to take up residence in a nearby Holiday Inn Express (we have a bunch of Holiday Inn points). Most of the other guests here are members of the U.S. Public Health Service - some are serving in this area, others have been deployed up to Vermont, which, as I'm sure you've heard was hit badly by Irene. Interesting and nice group of people.
Our 'RAT governor Dannel Malloy bragged about lining up line crews from other states before the storm so that outages would be minimal. That doesn't appear to be the case, as he was begging for more out-of-state help on "Morning Joe", so I heard on my car radio.
People are getting ticked off, as there is no real damage in many towns that have not had power since Sunday. No timetable has been given as far as I know as to when specifically the power will return to specific towns. The news conferences I've heard on the radio (and finally saw today on TV) with Gov. Malloy and the CL&P (Connecticut Light & Power) honchos have been contentious, to say the least. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to who gets power first, and when it will be. Last I heard, there are still about 400,000 CL&P customers without power.
I think the worst damage in CT I've heard about was in East Haven, CT where 25 or so homes directly on Long Island Sound were destroyed or severely damaged. Some supposedly "floated out to sea".
I'm annoyed by the lack of electric power (and especially no water!) but I thank God this storm for us was really a "Nothingburger" (quoting Karl Rove, LOL). Hope the upcoming "Hurricane Katia" is the same.
My prayers for all who were severely impacted by Hurricane Irene and for those who lost lives or lost their homes...
I'll post again via this hotel computer (or maybe from my local library) when I can... :-)
Please see my post 77 above, FRiend. Sorry, I meant to ping you there! Glad to hear you got your power back... I hope we get ours back soon.
Wow! What a challenge you’ve have, nutmeg. So glad you and yours escaped any injury or structural loss. I know you’re relieved, and .. as you’re experiencing .. the inescapable fact that you’ve gone so long without power is kinda strange.
You just can’t live and function without the water. Have any aid workers come out to you and your neighbors with water at least?
There must be huge damage in CT and the surrounding states, and they’re putting the repair crews in other areas with severe damage first. This article seems to say that.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44334859
Hang in there .. hope it’s all back to normal soon for you.
When I stayed with friends for weeks after Andrew, we had a generator that ran the pump for the well, so we could at least ration its use for a quick shower each and a pot of coffee in the morning.
God bless ..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.