Hurricane Sandy

I work as a computer system administrator in Paterson NJ. We closed at noon on Monday and didn't open on Tuesday.

We opened Wednesday without major problems. As near as I can tell, our power flickered, and may have gone out, but never for over an hour. If the power is out for an hour, our battery backup commands our server to do a smooth shut-down. The server was still running yesterday morning, so we know the power was OK.

However, our internet was down until just a couple minutes ago. It's back! Signs of civilization are returning. Woo hoo!

On the other hand, deliveries are getting to be a problem. Every so often, there's a P.A. message that we're out of something. On Monday, it was batteries. Today it's various types of wire.


The gasoline situation is a problem too. Not too many gas stations have electricity, and those that do, have been running out of gas.

The gas stations that are still in business tend to have long lines. It's reminiscent of the gas shortage of the late 70's. Some of them are limiting customers to $20.

I heard that Gov. Christie signed some order allowing gas to be imported from other states. That should ease things a bit. Getting the electric turned on at more gas stations is also a priority.

Fortunately, I topped off my tank Sunday evening. I still have about 3/4 tank.


On the plus side, my brother's house got electricity back yesterday afternoon. I camped out on his couch last night. Of course, I went home first to get some stuff. It was 56°F at home. 70°F at my brother's house.

I got a feeling that I'll be spending a lot of time at his house in the next week or so. As you may recall, I have a tree on my front yard that took out the electric to my house. So even when my neighbors get power, I'll still be waiting.

I've not been having much luck getting a tree guy on the phone. Getting an electrician has been easy. They're our customers. Finally got one who lives in my town. He said he'd take a look, but based on my description, he thinks that it may be the utilitiy company's responsibility to re-hookup my house.

Sigh....

Tree guy? Buy a good chainsaw for a few hundred bucks. Even if you use it just this once it should more than pay for itself.

Quote: 1BB

Tree guy? Buy a good chainsaw for a few hundred bucks. Even if you use it just this once it should more than pay for itself.

I guess the size of the tree isn't obvious in the photos I posted.

The pine tree is about 60' tall and about 20' around. The trunk is a good 24". Plus it took out most of a maple tree, which may need to be taken down.


This is just way more effort than I want to put into it.

Here we go. 3 days after the storm and lots of
promises and nothing getting done fast enough.
No gas, no electric, no food, subways still down,
tunnels closed. Katrina anyone? LOL!

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I guess the size of the tree isn't obvious in the photos I posted.

The pine tree is about 60' tall and about 20' around. The trunk is a good 24". Plus it took out most of a maple tree, which may need to be taken down.


This is just way more effort than I want to put into it.

I wish I was closer, I'd do it up for you before you got home from work =(

Glad to hear that's the worst of your problems

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I guess the size of the tree isn't obvious in the photos I posted.

The pine tree is about 60' tall and about 20' around. The trunk is a good 24". Plus it took out most of a maple tree, which may need to be taken down.


This is just way more effort than I want to put into it.

The do-it-yourselfers should stay away from the big trees and the power lines. You're smart to leave it to the experts. Or at least someone bonded and insured.

Quote: Face

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I guess the size of the tree isn't obvious in the photos I posted.

The pine tree is about 60' tall and about 20' around. The trunk is a good 24". Plus it took out most of a maple tree, which may need to be taken down.


This is just way more effort than I want to put into it.

I wish I was closer, I'd do it up for you before you got home from work =(

Glad to hear that's the worst of your problems

So would I. Wait until you see what the experts charge. There will be no discounts for the uninsured.

Quote: 1BB

So would I. Wait until you see what the experts charge. There will be no discounts for the uninsured.

I would have had it gone already. I know at
least 4 guys who cut their own fire wood,
and I have 2 chain saws. The wires aren't
a problem, there are safe ways to get them
out of the way, especially with the power
out.

You are a badass Bob.

Oscar

Now they're saying Saturday till the AC caisno's open.
No electric, no city water, streets covered in debris. I
bet its next week before they open.

deleted

I got an email from Golden Nugget last night. They are re-openning today. But it doesn't say what time. It also says this is subject to change:

Quote:

November 2 re-opening is based on what the State of New Jersey allows and is subject to change. We will reopen for business as soon as conditions permit and it is safe for our guests and employees to travel.

Web version.

An email from Tropicana AC states they're opening today at 4 pm.

This can't be a very big emergency. Electric crews from non
union states are being turned away from working in NY
and NJ. How bad can the outages be?

Quote: EvenBob

This can't be a very big emergency. Electric crews from non
union states are being turned away from working in NY
and NJ. How bad can the outages be?

Only it's not true.

Virginia sent up crews once they finished down here. We're a right-to-work state as well.

There is a new drink, called a "Sandy."

It's a watered down Manhattan.

Quote: MrV

There is a new drink, called a "Sandy."

It's a watered down Manhattan.

Clever!

Are you following the recovery? Day 5 and its
Katrina all over again. FEMA has run out of
water, the generators they promised have
not arrived, the Red Cross is a joke. Is the press
blaming Obama like they did Bush? Yeah, right.

Quote: EvenBob

Are you following the recovery? Day 5 and its
Katrina all over again. FEMA has run out of
water, the generators they promised have
not arrived, the Red Cross is a joke. Is the press
blaming Obama like they did Bush? Yeah, right.

For a man who's always ragging on fat guys you sure spend a lot of time on Breitbart...

Quote: EvenBob

Are you following the recovery? Day 5 and its
Katrina all over again. FEMA has run out of
water, the generators they promised have
not arrived, the Red Cross is a joke. Is the press
blaming Obama like they did Bush? Yeah, right.

Katrina killed 1833 people. Sandy is no Katrina sir.

Oscar

Quote: oscar33

Katrina killed 1833 people.

Its another Katrina as far as the clean up goes.
I want to know who's fault it is? Can we blame
Bush? I bet we can.

Quote: EvenBob

Its another Katrina as far as the clean up goes.
I want to know who's fault it is? Can we blame
Bush? I bet we can.

When people with guns are stopping the residents of Staten Island from crossing the bridge to safety we'll talk Katrina.

Its another Katrina as far as clean up. 20's
tonight and 6th night of no power and heat
for 2.5 MILLION people. Does that number
mean anything to you? And they get to vote,
if not on Tue, sometime. And like they say,
pissed off voters scare the crap out of incumbents.

Quote: EvenBob

Its another Katrina as far as clean up. 20's
tonight and 6th night of no power and heat
for 2.5 MILLION people. Does that number
mean anything to you? And they get to vote,
if not on Tue, sometime. And like they say,
pissed off voters scare the crap out of incumbents.

Don't forget I have in-laws on Long Island. Even Bloomberg is blaming the power company and not the government.

The in-laws weren't voting for Obama anyway even if the lights came back on last Wednesday.

deleted

Yay, I finally got power back here on Long Island. I have reservations at Bally's AC for next weekend and they are open for business.

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

I blame the people who live in these areas. They know the potential consequences but don't care. Same with earthquake ridden California. Hell, why not build your home on top of a dormant volcano and take your chances there too.

Hmmmm.... I have a friend who just got power back a few hours ago. She lives in central New Jersey about 10 miles inland. I never really thought of her as reckless......

Quote: FarFromVegas

Even Bloomberg is blaming the power company and not the government.

I've been ranting and raving about the power companies for a while now. We've been conned into allowing these companies to field insufficient ability to repair their systems. Should we have a thread about it?

Let's ask all the old-timers: do you remember being without power for days after a bad storm in the 50s, 60s? I don't, and I am including ice-storms and other really bad storms. I'd remember too, we had an electric stove when I was a kid.

Quote: odiousgambit

I've been ranting and raving about the power companies for a while now. We've been conned into allowing these companies to field insufficient ability to repair their systems. Should we have a thread about it?

Let's ask all the old-timers: do you remember being without power for days after a bad storm in the 50s, 60s? I don't, and I am including ice-storms and other really bad storms. I'd remember too, we had an electric stove when I was a kid.

I don't either. When they tell us days before a storm how long the power will be out something is very wrong.

While this isn't "Katrina" in terms of deaths by any stretch (and I sure hope it stays that way!), it is another case of poor response or coordination of response between government agencies at various levels.

Where it DOES compare to Katrina--response by the federal government--I think President Obama is getting more favorable coverage than President Bush did during the two disasters. FEMA and the federal government response has been weak both times but Bush was blasted. How in the heck can it by a President's fault that people told to evacuate ignore the order? That is WHY a great many people died--they made poor decisions. Not everyone died from failing to evacuate, but many did. In this disaster, I hear very little blame being placed on Obama for the poor response.

The bottom line is that FEMA failed one more time to be prepared. They ran out of water--why did they not have contingencies for having water supplies delivered to the stricken areas? The East Coast is heavily populated and ANY disaster there can impact millions. The storm was coming for days; they had time to bolster supplies and pre-position them within a 24 hour drive of the impacted area. I'm not convinced that FEMA is all that much better than when "Brownie" was on the job.

The media? They were too busy making fun of Romney not making the right kind of donations and "staging" an event than actually reporting news. I don't think a single person here is dumb enough to believe that there isn't some staging involved in every campaign event and every Presidential appearance (yep, like visiting the impacted area) yet the media wastes time on that instead of the real news--how things are going towards helping our people recover. The Red Cross does want cash but we sent a truck load of water and some workers to Alabama to help out--the people who got the help were grateful, even if it wasn't the Red Cross' approved method of assistance.

"Further east in the Rockaways, hunger stalked the community as angry residents lined up for food deliveries and complained they were being abandoned.

Good Samaritans had set up makeshift food throughout the peninsula Friday, grilling food and passing out water, while the Red Cross and FEMA was nowhere in sight.

“We having nothing,” said Ann Manning, at an Edgemere playground where State Sen. Malcolm Smith had arranged to distribute thousands of lunch boxes from a company that supplies airports.

“We have nothing. They’re hungry,” said Manning.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/queens-residents-arm-looters-article-1.1196031#ixzz2BFqeAcMd

Again, it is not another "Katrina" based on casualties but many of the same things are happening. Looting, lack of response, absence of police, etc. I think even the calls to the National Guard in New York may have been slow--

"On Saturday, Guard members started supporting other state and federal agencies easing gasoline distribution challenges in New York."

http://www.dvidshub.net/news/97243/national-guard-relieves-suffering-after-hurricane-sandy#.UJZZ32c2c0g#ixzz2BFrS7kMI

The numbers mentioned in the article regarding deployments to impacted areas are lower than what I would have expected. You have a disaster impacting millions of people; I would have expected each governor to deploy every asset possible to relieve the suffering and protect the people. I would have also expected Guard or active duty troops from other areas to be deployed by the Feds to assist because a lot of the "local" guard may have their own storm damage to deal with.

Things are markedly improved here on Long Island. Considering the magnitude of the destruction, I think that LIPA is doing a pretty good job. To get power back up on my street yesterday, in the span of two hours, a telephone pole was replaced by one crew and then another crew came in and restrung the wires. I have seen dozens of broken poles while out and about and I'm not looking for them. LIPA is getting to the power outages in a methodical yet swift and organized way. It just an enormous job.

I was driving on the Long Island Expressway yesterday afternoon and passed four fuel trucks that were headed out East. The gas shortage will be resolved quickly. I think the shortage was a byproduct of all of the personal power generators mixed with a little panic. Last night, five of the seven gas stations that I passed still had lines but more important, they also had gas. The last two were Hess stations, what's up with them?

I can't complain about the response so far.

I suspect Obama will be smart enough not to do his own version of "great job Browny!"

Quote: odiousgambit

I suspect Obama will be smart enough not to do his own version of "great job Browny!"

Heckuva Job Brownie - Moron

Quote: odiousgambit

I suspect Obama will be smart enough not to do his own version of "great job Browny!"

I would hope his folks won't allow anything close to that to hit the teleprompter!!

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Fortunately, it missed the house. Unfortunately, it took my electric cables out. So when the rest of the area gets their electric back, I'll still be waiting....

That happened to us last year. The trees sometimes fall down after the storm has passed. Since only one or two houses are affected, you are relegated to the bottom of the list.

I heard about a new drink at the bar called a Sandy. When I asked what it was I was told it is a watered down Manhattan....

Quote: RonC

I think President Obama is getting more favorable coverage than President Bush did during the two disasters. FEMA and the federal government response has been weak both times but Bush was blasted. How in the heck can it by a President's fault that people told to evacuate ignore the order? That is WHY a great many people died--they made poor decisions. Not everyone died from failing to evacuate, but many did. In this disaster, I hear very little blame being placed on Obama for the poor response.

The bottom line is that FEMA failed one more time to be prepared. They ran out of water--why did they not have contingencies for having water supplies delivered to the stricken areas? The East Coast is heavily populated and ANY disaster there can impact millions. The storm was coming for days; they had time to bolster supplies and pre-position them within a 24 hour drive of the impacted area. I'm not convinced that FEMA is all that much better than when "Brownie" was on the job.
The media? They were too busy making fun of Romney not making the right kind of donations and "staging" an event than actually reporting news. I don't think a single person here is dumb enough to believe that there isn't some staging involved in every campaign event and every Presidential appearance (yep, like visiting the impacted area) yet the media wastes time on that instead of the real news--how things are going towards helping our people recover. The Red Cross does want cash but we sent a truck load of water and some workers to Alabama to help out--the people who got the help were grateful, even if it wasn't the Red Cross' approved method of assistance.

FEMA and the Red Cross have basically been invisible in much of Central Jersey, except for appearing on TV with the governor. The Red Cross is so disliked in this region that it does not even operate the highly active blood donation program. Neither the utilities nor their regulators have ever been able to describe their system to restore power. And this from a government that issues speeding tickets for doing 27 in a 25 m.p.h. zone that result in literally hundreds of dollars in fines and penalties for each infraction.