They were literally just talking about this a moment ago on our CBC radio--apparently a lot of repair crews have gone down from up here in Canada as well, which is awesome because yesterday was a stat holiday for Canada Day (if it falls on a weekend we always get a weekday off for the stat) so those crews volunteered on their day off/long weekend. Go Canucks!
More than 3 million without power.
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Denim Deb
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That's great to hear of so many places sending crews.
I felt bad for my son. He got his cable and internet back yesterday. Got up this morning, and they were out again. And, he had to file something by internet this morning! So, he came over here. (And bothered me.)
I felt bad for my son. He got his cable and internet back yesterday. Got up this morning, and they were out again. And, he had to file something by internet this morning! So, he came over here. (And bothered me.)
Denim Deb
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Went w/my motorcycle group tonight. We went past some very big trees that are down and that other than some smaller stuff, no one has been able to cut them up yet. And, they're calling for the possibility of MORE storms tonight! If we get them, I HOPE they're not as bad. 
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terri9630
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I hope not y'all have enough to clean up.
Denim Deb
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Local state park is closed w/no date to reopen. There's trees down all over the place, on top of buildings, etc. They're not even letting people access the lake to go fishing or canoeing.
Right now the radar is showing a line of storms moving in, but they don't look to be as bad, and should be out of here by 8:00. I had been going to jump on the bike and head out to the farm to feed. I'm waiting.
Right now the radar is showing a line of storms moving in, but they don't look to be as bad, and should be out of here by 8:00. I had been going to jump on the bike and head out to the farm to feed. I'm waiting.
TheMartianChick
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While I'm glad that so many here are safe, there is a piece of information that I would like to pass along that might affect some other forum members:
I spoke to a relative that is an employee of National Grid. They are the British-owned power company that purchased Niagara Mohawk and a few other power companies along the East Coast. They operate in NY, CT, RI, MA, VT (I think) and maybe a couple more states. He stated that National Grid is reducing its fleet of vehicles. While it makes sense financially to do this and have crews share vehicles to facilitate shift work, it will cause issues when there is a widespread outage.
There may be plenty of workers to do the work, but there won't be enough trucks to work from. While power companies can request assistance from out of state companies to get service restored, this could cause lengthy delays in an outage like this Atlantic storm has wrought. If you live in one of the states that I cited, you should be prepared for no power for a long time if a major outage ever occurs.
I know that my area is long overdue for a really bad storm. We had a derecho back in 1998 and power was out for a little over a week in a mid-sized city. Rural areas took far longer and they actually had the National Guard patrolling the streets. Luckily, it happened on Labor Day and we didn't have to contend with unbearable heat. Back then, the power company had a full fleet of vehicles and the storm wasn't nearly as widespread as the current weather emergency in the Mid-Atlantic states.
This is a Wikipedia reference to what we experienced in NY:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Labor_Day_Derechos
I spoke to a relative that is an employee of National Grid. They are the British-owned power company that purchased Niagara Mohawk and a few other power companies along the East Coast. They operate in NY, CT, RI, MA, VT (I think) and maybe a couple more states. He stated that National Grid is reducing its fleet of vehicles. While it makes sense financially to do this and have crews share vehicles to facilitate shift work, it will cause issues when there is a widespread outage.
There may be plenty of workers to do the work, but there won't be enough trucks to work from. While power companies can request assistance from out of state companies to get service restored, this could cause lengthy delays in an outage like this Atlantic storm has wrought. If you live in one of the states that I cited, you should be prepared for no power for a long time if a major outage ever occurs.
I know that my area is long overdue for a really bad storm. We had a derecho back in 1998 and power was out for a little over a week in a mid-sized city. Rural areas took far longer and they actually had the National Guard patrolling the streets. Luckily, it happened on Labor Day and we didn't have to contend with unbearable heat. Back then, the power company had a full fleet of vehicles and the storm wasn't nearly as widespread as the current weather emergency in the Mid-Atlantic states.
This is a Wikipedia reference to what we experienced in NY:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Labor_Day_Derechos
Denim Deb
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As of yesterday, there were still people in the area w/out power. I don't know if it's all been restored now or not. And, we have more storms rolling thru for the weekend, but I don't think we're going to get another derecho.
One thing that many people realized-it's expensive to run a generator. For some people, they had them, but couldn't afford to keep them running. And, the gas prices have gone up almost 10 cents since last weekend. I don't know if this is as a result of the storm or not. And, some places are even higher. I think for some people, they wanted to run them 24/7. Personally, I wouldn't attempt that. I'd run it when I got up in the morning, then for awhile in the evening. I might run it for a bit in the afternoon if the weather was really hot, but that would be it. Plus, I'd have frozen gallon jugs in the fridge and freezer to help keep them cold when it was off.
One thing that many people realized-it's expensive to run a generator. For some people, they had them, but couldn't afford to keep them running. And, the gas prices have gone up almost 10 cents since last weekend. I don't know if this is as a result of the storm or not. And, some places are even higher. I think for some people, they wanted to run them 24/7. Personally, I wouldn't attempt that. I'd run it when I got up in the morning, then for awhile in the evening. I might run it for a bit in the afternoon if the weather was really hot, but that would be it. Plus, I'd have frozen gallon jugs in the fridge and freezer to help keep them cold when it was off.
TheMartianChick
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Good point, Denim Deb! I think that a lot of people feel that a generator should allow them to go on with life as though there is no emergency situation going on. In reality, the purpose is to make things easier in an emergency. Unless someone has a medical condition or special medical equipment (like a ventilator) then the generator should be used in the manner that you prescribed.
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terri9630
Almost Self-Reliant
Our gas prices have dropped $.07 in the past week so its probally the storm.
