Glad to hear everyone is okay!

(Sheesh… And we complained about a lack of power for a few hours…  )

Take care,

Derek

Day 9 and still no power or hot water.  We’re looking at another week before we get lights back in my neighborhood. Luckily a friend lent us his generator and we sealed off a small area of the house that now has heat and light. The ambient temp in the rest of the house was 48 degrees this morning. The first few days were an adventure but now it just sucks. At least we have a roof and four walls though which is more than some people can say. Really getting sick of the 3 hour gas lines though. Makes the generator a bit of a mixed blessing.

Anyone have a nice hot shower you could send our way :=P

macgyver - 06 November 2012 12:59 PM

Day 9 and still no power or hot water.  We’re looking at another week before we get lights back in my neighborhood. Luckily a friend lent us his generator and we sealed off a small area of the house that now has heat and light. The ambient temp in the rest of the house was 48 degrees this morning. The first few days were an adventure but now it just sucks. At least we have a roof and four walls though which is more than some people can say. Really getting sick of the 3 hour gas lines though. Makes the generator a bit of a mixed blessing.

Anyone have a nice hot shower you could send our way :=P

I’d sent a shower AND my CA warm sunny weather to you if I could. Hang in there. How are you getting food and storing food? How far out is the blackout now. Is there anything we can do to help?

If you can get to Manhattan, send me a PM. We do have a shower!

When storm Sandy hit, it hit hard.  So much beach-front property crushed into splinters.  The meteorologists got it right when they said that the wind would not cause the most damage, but the storm surge from that low 940 millibar atmospheric pressure, added to the high tide of the full moon would cause the most damage.

Me and my family escaped with just some short-term problems, the floods came within one block of me, a close one!  I was in the lower Manhattan black-out from Monday night around 9 p.m. till Friday evening around 6:00 p.m.  Damn, you humanists do not know how very good the Sunshine looks now-a-days!  Oh, wow!    Lower Manhattan has power now, that is a big relief, not so much for the night-lights (just sleep until sunrise) nor heat (sweaters, extra blankets help, and shower with a washcloth), but now the elevators work, the shops in lower Manhattan are open, and for the water pumps… how could the elderly make the walk down to the ground floor and back up to the tenth, the twentieth, or even the thirtieth floor, with just one bucket of water.  That climb is a real feat of strength, not everyone could do that.  The buildings need to give better access to water for everyone in the building, I suggested to the Mayor’s office that everyone in a building form human chains on the stairwells to pass buckets all-the-way up to the top floor of every building.  But we need some permanent solution.

I was very relieved that my windows weren’t smashed by wind and debris.

Things are improving in the NY/NJ area for most, but many are devastated, and I hear that gasoline lines are still long.

At nighttime lately, NYC seemed like some sleepy little town with all the shops closed and no lights, that’s just not normal for NYC.  Is everyone on the Atlantic coast/Caribbean got a foothold on things yet?  I hope so.  It seems that the beach towns of NJ and Long Island got the worst of storm Sandy.

And here comes the next Nor’easter. 

(Darn forum says that the photo I want to post is spam!   Nit picky computer. )

Glad to hear you’re OK, JITP. Yes, this has been very bad for many people, particularly the elderly in high rises.

I wonder how all the East Coast and Caribbean people are here.  I haven’t seen Jules post a message yet, isn’t she a NYer?  I hope everyone writes soon. 

Good to hear from Macgyver, Doug, mid atlantic, and the rest of the East Coast.

I found the Rayovac Sportsman Xtreme 300 lumen lantern to be a real comfort during the blackout, lighting up the whole room with enough light to read by, and the mere three D cells lasted the whole blackout with no restraint about using it.  And no fuel to deal with.

I hope the hick-up in the gasoline supply clears up for you soon Macgyver.

asanta - 06 November 2012 01:05 PM

macgyver - 06 November 2012 12:59 PM

Day 9 and still no power or hot water.  We’re looking at another week before we get lights back in my neighborhood. Luckily a friend lent us his generator and we sealed off a small area of the house that now has heat and light. The ambient temp in the rest of the house was 48 degrees this morning. The first few days were an adventure but now it just sucks. At least we have a roof and four walls though which is more than some people can say. Really getting sick of the 3 hour gas lines though. Makes the generator a bit of a mixed blessing.

Anyone have a nice hot shower you could send our way :=P

I’d sent a shower AND my CA warm sunny weather to you if I could. Hang in there. How are you getting food and storing food? How far out is the blackout now. Is there anything we can do to help?

Thanks Asanta. Appreciate the offer but we’re fine. I complain a lot but the people who need the most help are the ones who had damage from the tide surge on the south shore. Their homes are mostly gone and they are living in shelters that the Red Cross has set up. The best thing you can probably do is donate to the Red Cross and they will get the help where it is needed although if you can figure out some way to package up that CA sunshine and send it our way I don’t think anyone would complain.

I’ve already donated to the Red Cross. I have issues with them, but they are still the best on the ground in a disaster.

macgyver, jump_in_the_pit, Doug, mid atlantic,

glad to hear you folks are doing OK.  It really brings it home.

I’d actually had my eye on Sandy from way early, because we were leaving Ft. Lauderdale, Florida that Friday… when Sandy was due to arrive, depending on the course it decided to take.  As it turned out Sandy remained over a hundred miles off shore.
All I witnessed was high waves a bit of wind and interesting clouds as we flew home, with the weather channel giving updates on the progress of the storm.

Now I’m high and dry (too dry, if we don’t get any good snow, it won’t be too far from being scary dry come spring time) back in Colorado, ~ wondering about global warming and the CO2 doping we have been doing to our weather patterns.

And all the folks that still don’t get it.  But, I’m rambling.  I am glad to read your posts and know you’re coping.

For a little on the physics of this storm here are a couple of interesting reads:

How Does Climate Change Make Superstorms Like Sandy More Destructive?
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/10/31/1117091/how-does-climate-change-make-hurricanes-like-sandy-more-destructive/?mobile=nc

Hurricane Sandy had nothing to do with global warming
http://www.skepticalscience.com/hurricane-sandy-global-warming.htm

Got clobbered with a hybrid Ice/Snow storm last night that snapped a few more trees. Went to the office and it was dark and cold..the ice had cut off the power there too. Just when i thought things were spiraling down the drain I got home and found a bunch of texas lineman outside our house and the power was back on. Wooohoooo!!!  Goodbye 17th century, hello 21st.

There are still too many people suffering to celebrate about this for long but after 10 days in the dark it sure is nice to be back. A big thanks to folks from all over the country who have come to help us out.

macgyver - 08 November 2012 04:24 PM

Got clobbered with a hybrid Ice/Snow storm last night that snapped a few more trees. Went to the office and it was dark and cold..the ice had cut off the power there too. Just when i thought things were spiraling down the drain I got home and found a bunch of texas lineman outside our house and the power was back on. Wooohoooo!!!  Goodbye 17th century, hello 21st.

There are still too many people suffering to celebrate about this for long but after 10 days in the dark it sure is nice to be back. A big thanks to folks from all over the country who have come to help us out.

Some people are asking the linemen (who have come from all over the country) if they are union. In many areas they are not, but they also didn’t have to volunteer to go to NY to help. They are turning away the non-union linemen…which to me is stupid. In parts of the country, unions are far and few between. I hope these guys are going straight to the Housing Authority high rises to help out those poor seniors trapped there. I’m glad YOUR power is on!

There are still too many people suffering to celebrate about this for long but after 10 days in the dark it sure is nice to be back. A big thanks to folks from all over the country who have come to help us out.

We’ve had power outages here, ex. in July, but nothing to compare to what you guys went through. I can only imagine what it would be like in a city without power for over a week. We’ve heard horror stories about looting but I hope they’re not true. Great to hear you’re back in the 21st Cent. Mac.

cap’t Jack

asanta - 09 November 2012 12:56 AM

They are turning away the non-union linemen

You sure about that?

An Alabama utility crew heading to New Jersey has returned home, claiming it had to affiliate with a union to help with the recovery effort after Superstorm Sandy. But union officials, a New Jersey utility company and the governor said Friday they are mistaken.

IBEW President Ed Hill said in Washington, “It is the policy of this union and the companies we represent to welcome assistance during major natural disasters — regardless of union status.”

Ron Morano, a spokesman for Jersey Central Power & Light, which serves Seaside Heights, said non-union crews are helping restore power, and the union knows it is all hands on deck.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said the Alabama crew got “bad information” and non-union crews are welcomed in the recovery effort.

Electric utilities in Alabama reported sending more than 600 employees to help restore power in states hit by Sandy.

Decatur Utilities later issued a statement on Friday that said: “To be clear, at no time were our crews ‘turned away’ from the utility in Seaside Heights.”