12 dead and 3.9 Million Without Power in Mid-Atlantic States

[Tater Raider]

Power in town just came up, should be able to get some gas. My brother and I walked all the lines on our road, noted pole numbers, broken poles, down lines, trees on lines etc and gave it to the power company with a hand sketched map. They were able to plug them in via gps etc. The crews are from out of state so they didn't have a detailed map of our lines. We will definitley do this again in future storms. They were very appreciative and said it helped them better understand the equipment requirements. Best case scenario they are saying next thursday for power, one day shy of 2 weeks, ugh.

I'll have to remember that one. Good tip.

[Dawgboy]

My honey went back to Gary Indiana for the holiday. They just got nailed by a microcell storm with 70MPH winds and it took the roofing off her sisters house, blew in all the soffets, took down a bunch of trees and powerlines on every road around their house. If you are southeast of Gary Indiana, watch out...

[RickOShea]

That's what is so bad about these storms (compared to the hurricanes we get): very little to almost no warning.

That's probably why the power restoration seems to be taking so long. Whenever we get a tropical system in the Gulf of Mexico, our state-wide representatives start coordinating with other states to start lining up help.

Back in 2004, we had several hundred linemen and right-of-way guys already pre-positioned in hotels in places like Birmingham, AL and Jackson, MS two days before hurricane Ivan hit (our worst storm in 25 years). And there were already hundreds, maybe thousands, of out-of-state linemen in Florida because they had already been hit by three storms that season.

We have 70 linemen and 30 ROW guys at my county co-op. Within three days after Ivan passed thru, we had 500 linemen and 200 ROW from 14 states helping us.

[DarkAxel]

That's what is so bad about these storms (compared to the hurricanes we get): very little to almost no warning.

That's probably why the power restoration seems to be taking so long. Whenever we get a tropical system in the Gulf of Mexico, our state-wide representatives start coordinating with other states to start lining up help.

Back in 2004, we had several hundred linemen and right-of-way guys already pre-positioned in hotels in places like Birmingham, AL and Jackson, MS two days before hurricane Ivan hit (our worst storm in 25 years). And there were already hundreds, maybe thousands, of out-of-state linemen in Florida because they had already been hit by three storms that season.

We have 70 linemen and 30 ROW guys at my county co-op. Within three days after Ivan passed thru, we had 500 linemen and 200 ROW from 14 states helping us.

I think the weather we've had in this area recently is also effecting the re-connect efforts. The linemen at a local co-op are getting pissed because as soon as they get the lines patched up another storm rolls through and and fucks everything back up again. Weather reports are forecasting a chance of these types of storms every day for the next five days.

Here's a news story about the storms we had roll in today: http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/Damage_reports__161484625.html

[williaty]

We're having the same problems here. Every other day we have a full day of storms. Today has been a storm day. We've had 4 or 5 short-lived bursts where we're getting a brief flooding rain, winds into the 50s, a shot of hail, and then sun again. There's another one about 45 minutes upwind of me now. The clouds are making on hell of an anvil, so we'll see what it's like when it gets here.

[Calzonewdippingsauce]

Its been a long 4 shifts at work which started for me just after the storms in MD. I want to express my gratitude to any of the BGE or other electric company crews out there that came in to get the job done. I had the opportunity to meet many of you out on the roads this week doing your thing.

This is probably preaching to the choir since everyone here already knows that being self sufficient is something we should all know how to do, but remember that a lot of people work very hard to make sure that the citizens have the things they take for granted every day. It pained me this week to see people in the community I work in cursing at the linemen and other BGE crews while they worked round the clock to get their power back, we were not immune either. I work as a firefighter here Maryland and I cant count the number of times we were screamed at after the storm for responding to 911 calls for wires on fire, and not putting out fires on live wires or removing trees from live wires. We just note the pole number and report it to the electric company and if there is no expected hazard from it, we leave. We need to be available for whatever else many citizens percieve to be an emergency these days. So once again my hat is off to many of the lineman and other electric crews still out there working.

Whoever mentioned that they went around and wrote down pole numbers and locations where hazards on the lines were present I say great job! Way to take an actual interest in helping your community, rather than cursing those and complaining and saying that "This is someone elses problem" (which is what many of the unprepared choose to do these days).

My $00.02 done.

[airballrad]

Just got back from a few days at the in-laws, about 150 mi SW of my AO. The storms that rolled through northwestern VA on the 3rd and 4th were impressive, but the power stayed on. Some of the outages and debris I saw on the drive down there on the 3rd were impressive too. I'll be glad to see this stretch of hot weather and associated storms wrap up.

Whoever mentioned that they went around and wrote down pole numbers and locations where hazards on the lines were present I say great job! Way to take an actual interest in helping your community, rather than cursing those and complaining and saying that "This is someone elses problem" (which is what many of the unprepared choose to do these days).

Amen to that. I saw a local news article today where an older couple still without power declared that being in the dark and heat was unfair and that while they were happy for the free water, ice, and food that had been delivered, they had called the mayor's office and indeed the POTUS's office to complain that they were still without power. Having a ZS mind-set (obviously), I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.

[callista]

Wow... I mean, yeah, they can't have been comfortable; maybe they had to spend their days at the library or mall or someplace with power... but they had food, ice, and water. Hadn't they heard of a thing called "patience"? If they'd been desperate for refrigeration for their insulin, or they were in danger of heat exhaustion despite the ice, I'd understand. But... no. Complain because it's hot and dark--that's just making an ass of yourself.

[Rev]

Wow... I mean, yeah, they can't have been comfortable; maybe they had to spend their days at the library or mall or someplace with power... but they had food, ice, and water. Hadn't they heard of a thing called "patience"? If they'd been desperate for refrigeration for their insulin, or they were in danger of heat exhaustion despite the ice, I'd understand. But... no. Complain because it's hot and dark--that's just making an ass of yourself.

Grandma is 97. I was a bit concerned with her being without power for so long because she has trouble telling when she's overheating. She also never would have complained about it though.

[callista]

Yeah, if you're in particular danger from the heat, then it makes sense to seek out a cooler place. But calling the President's office? What the heck is he supposed to do? He's not a fricking genie; he's a politician. If they'd called the Red Cross, they'd have been pointed to the nearest air-conditioned shelter. Problem solved.

[airballrad]

I pointed this out not to poke fun at the folks (although it was funny), but to point out that there are some people who really will make poor choices both in failure to plan and in failure to react properly when bad things happen. And perhaps say dumb things to a TV news crew.

As an organization we can watch out for neighbors or even relatives that might need a good shove in the right direction.

[Evan the Diplomat]

It's So Hot The Subway is Derailing

101 degrees according to my thermometer. There was a derailment on the Metro subway green line. Cause under investigation. Once my subway surfaced in the suburbs, it had to slow because of the linear expansion of the tracks increases the risk of derailment.

[RickOShea]

Yeah, if you're in particular danger from the heat, then it makes sense to seek out a cooler place. But calling the President's office? What the heck is he supposed to do? He's not a fricking genie; he's a politician. If they'd called the Red Cross, they'd have been pointed to the nearest air-conditioned shelter. Problem solved.

"Where's FEMA ???" was a popular chant a few years ago.

[RedKnightt]

I live in Fairfax County and we lost power for about 40 hours, according to my calculations. I'm happy to say the storm was not much more than an inconvenience for me, but a little sheepish to admit that while my "bug out" location had food, AC, and all the other amenities, I did lose money when my set of 5s got beat by a flush on the turn. That's because my BOL was the casino at Charles Town Races in West Va.

I did encounter some debris in the roads in between CTown and Herndon, but there were already crews working to clear it at about 3 am on Sat morning. I simply went to bed when I got home and found no power (flashlight from 'things' bag in car). When I got up the next morning, I spoke to a few neighbors, one of which had a genny going and everyone was unhappy, but unharmed. I checked in with a few friends locally; some had power, others not, but all were fine. As there was really nothing that could be done, I headed back up to the poker room for 12 or so hours. Still no power when I get in Sunday am. Did the walk around again next day, pretty much more of the same. My neighbors were keeping an eye on each other if help was needed, my landlord and wife went to their son's, who had power. I just stayed in the shade and read for a while, then went to a theatre and watched Prometheus. 3 minutes before the movie ends, the power at the theatre cuts out. LOL. It came back within a few minutes. When I got home the power had been restored so it was back to business as usual.

TL;DR: power out for weekend, hid out at casino, neighbors and I inconvenienced but not affected badly.

[raptor]

TL;DR: power out for weekend, hid out at casino, neighbors and I inconvenienced but not affected badly.

Actually I have not thought of a casino as a BOL. It would be great though since they want everyone to stay inside they are very likely to be the last to lose power and the first to get it back.

[Pilsung]

Airballad said: As an organization we can watch out for neighbors or even relatives that might need a good shove in the right direction.

After years of gentle prodding of friends and family, I've come to the conclusion that the only way most of them are going to "get it" when it comes to preparedness is to go through their own ordeal - hopefully a short-lived but instructional object lesson like the mid-Atlantic power outages.

[offcamber]

Day 8 no power, trucks are working on putting up some new poles today. Looks like we might be in the home stretch!

[Calzonewdippingsauce]

Airballad said: As an organization we can watch out for neighbors or even relatives that might need a good shove in the right direction.

After years of gentle prodding of friends and family, I've come to the conclusion that the only way most of them are going to "get it" when it comes to preparedness is to go through their own ordeal - hopefully a short-lived but instructional object lesson like the mid-Atlantic power outages.

Going through their own event still seems to surpass most people. Some of the people I saw only thought as far as to go buy a generator, but then plugged in their big screen TVs, XBOXs, phones, laptops, ipads etc. While they left their food to spoil in the fridge. The generators were either in the house, in the garage, or right outside a window with an inward blowing fan. They then called us because they werent sure if their smoke/CO detector was beeping because it was out of batteries. Some dumb people are just very lucky, some are just content to let the goverment provide everything, some need their hand held, but your right Pilsung, most will "get it" when something big happens, and there is nobody to answer their calls.

[callista]

They don't think of it as a disaster, just an inconvenience--they take it for granted that things will go back to normal. For us, it's an inconvenience too; but we see it as practice for something bigger, when we'll need to be able to get ourselves and others through it, when things will take so long to go back to normal that we'll need to watch out for each other in the meanwhile instead of just depending on the infrastructure of a large scale civilization. I don't know if I'd call it a "disaster" myself; that feels too dramatic for a power outage, even a really big one; but it's a heck of a mess all the same, and the families of the people who died would certainly call it a disaster.

[Pilsung]

God forbid that we blame murderous scumbags. Although I can see how people's nerves are stretched to the breaking point.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... rders.html

Temperatures rose beyond 104F (40C) in cities from Kentucky to Pennsylvania, with a record 107F (41.7C) registered briefly in Washington DC.

Some 16 murders have been recorded in New York City over the past five days, roughly twice the average rate. One city councilman described the city as a "brewing cauldron".

At least 36 more have died across the region in incidents linked to the heat. Most victims were elderly but a four-month-old girl died in Indianapolis after being left in a hot car in 106F heat.

Two people were killed after a train derailed in Chicago, while a US Airways flight was delayed after the plane sank into the softened tarmac of a runway at Reagan airport in Washington.

Meanwhile more than 400,000 people around Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey and Indiana remain without power in their homes a full week after being lashed by storms, leaving them with no cooling systems or refrigeration.

[TodaysBushcraft]

Hurricanes, tornados, storms happen all the time, and people go without. Some will learn and prep, even if just a little. Others will blame the government for not taking care of them. They will do nothing, and if it happens again, say the same thing. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Not sure how that applies, just felt it was appropriate.
On another note, The elderly and disabled need to be the focus. Helping them, as said in earlier posts, they won't complain, and may need your help. If you are able, please help them in any way. Good luck to all of you out there!


Sent from my Tactical Communication Device.

[callista]

The crime rate always rises when it gets hotter... nobody seems to know why, but it does. Heck, we don't even know that it's the heat causing the crimes; it could just be that some third factor is related to both. But there you go--statistically, you can predict crime rates with a thermometer.

[williaty]

The crime rate always rises when it gets hotter... nobody seems to know why, but it does. Heck, we don't even know that it's the heat causing the crimes; it could just be that some third factor is related to both. But there you go--statistically, you can predict crime rates with a thermometer.

Better yet, murders and ice cream sales are HIGHLY correlated. Clearly, Rocky Road and Cherry Garcia cause homicidal tendencies and we should ban all ice cream under the Assault Ice Cream Ban. We must think of the children, after all.

[KJ4VOV]

The crime rate always rises when it gets hotter... nobody seems to know why, but it does. Heck, we don't even know that it's the heat causing the crimes; it could just be that some third factor is related to both. But there you go--statistically, you can predict crime rates with a thermometer.

Better yet, murders and ice cream sales are HIGHLY correlated. Clearly, Rocky Road and Cherry Garcia cause homicidal tendencies and we should ban all ice cream under the Assault Ice Cream Ban. We must think of the children, after all.

Sprinkles. There's something in the sprinkles... bath salts maybe?