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When SNE Gets Hit Again by a Hurricane

vortex95

By vortex95,
in New England

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DavisStraight

DavisStraight

Posted
Posted

I think we're different from just last year in terms of individual preparedness. I can't speak for Metro Boston but I know a lot of people around me that are more prepared now than they were just a year ago. After Irene you heard 1 or 2 generators and then after October, I heard even more. I see more now that I did before that. 27 years ago they were very rare. Besides generators, I think more people have alternative lighting & cooking equipment than they did.

I think that because it had been so long since the last long duration power outage that people (and the utilities) were caught off guard and I think we'd be better off the next time.

Besides, if Facebook and Twitter are more important than basic necessities, somethings wrong. Either that or people need to get BGANs or Sat Phones to fill in the gap in their own preparedness.

I can vouch for this since I got to 10+ different homes per week, Id say 25% of the people in the smaller towns now have generators, Ive even seen a few whole house generators that run on LP, I thought of putting one in our home but the cost is $8-10,000. Cost of my 8k watt genny with electrcian was under 2k, runs the whole house.

I was lucky last time as I had a wood stove and was warm but no water since I have a well, now with a generator and a few days worth of gas that wont happen next time, you just have to put stabil in your gas and its good for over a year.

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Skivt2

Skivt2

Posted
Posted

We were basically near the worst tree damage in October. I learned a few things.

Gas stations need electricity in order to sell gas as the pumps are electric so only gas stations with generators can operate. Most gas stations were closed. No gas = no generator for most people. In October gas stations were starting to become ugly places that required police presence to maintain order all within the first 24 hours.

Someone mentioned people not being able to go to facebook. In October there were a few days where placing a simple phone call on your cell was difficult or impossible. Cell towers need electricity. The cell companies has to trick in and install portable generators before our phones started to work again. Even then there was no "smart" functions and lots of dropped calls.

The main power grid lines get fixed first. It was 4 days before line crews were done fixing the lines from the power plants to the substations. Only then could they start the "real" work of fixing the lines on streets that deliver to neighborhoods. The trees were wrapped in power lines and partially blocking roads. Again, it was 4 days before we even saw a line crew start clearing the power line wrapped trees. It sure made driving at night tricky when you never knew if you might have your path blocked suddenly. People made home made markers with ribbons and cloth to try to alert other drivers. There aren't enough cones in the world in a disaster to properly mark obstructions.

There are a bunch of things that happen that you don't realize. It's not a pretty sight.

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Ginx snewx

Ginx snewx

Posted
Posted

We were basically near the worst tree damage in October. I learned a few things.

Gas stations need electricity in order to sell gas as the pumps are electric so only gas stations with generators can operate. Most gas stations were closed. No gas = no generator for most people. In October gas stations were starting to become ugly places that required police presence to maintain order all within the first 24 hours.

Someone mentioned people not being able to go to facebook. In October there were a few days where placing a simple phone call on your cell was difficult or impossible. Cell towers need electricity. The cell companies has to trick in and install portable generators before our phones started to work again. Even then there was no "smart" functions and lots of dropped calls.

The main power grid lines get fixed first. It was 4 days before line crews were done fixing the lines from the power plants to the substations. Only then could they start the "real" work of fixing the lines on streets that deliver to neighborhoods. The trees were wrapped in power lines and partially blocking roads. Again, it was 4 days before we even saw a line crew start clearing the power line wrapped trees. It sure made driving at night tricky when you never knew if you might have your path blocked suddenly. People made home made markers with ribbons and cloth to try to alert other drivers. There aren't enough cones in the world in a disaster to properly mark obstructions.

There are a bunch of things that happen that you don't realize. It's not a pretty sight.

Yep, spot on.

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CapturedNature

CapturedNature

Posted
Posted

We were basically near the worst tree damage in October. I learned a few things.

Gas stations need electricity in order to sell gas as the pumps are electric so only gas stations with generators can operate. Most gas stations were closed. No gas = no generator for most people. In October gas stations were starting to become ugly places that required police presence to maintain order all within the first 24 hours.

Someone mentioned people not being able to go to facebook. In October there were a few days where placing a simple phone call on your cell was difficult or impossible. Cell towers need electricity. The cell companies has to trick in and install portable generators before our phones started to work again. Even then there was no "smart" functions and lots of dropped calls.

...

There are a bunch of things that happen that you don't realize. It's not a pretty sight.

Good points all. I know I learned a lot of things and I think everyone learned a lesson or two. One thing about October is that I think it caught a lot of people off guard. I know I warned people and even the Met community did but I think that those warning went unheeded for the most part. I think people were in disbelief that a foot or more of snow would come and even if they did, they thought about it in winter terms and then only thought of the snow removal.

I filled up my tanks on Friday before the snow and also my 5 gallon containers. I think a lot of people didn't and were caught off guard. There were big lines in downtown Springfield (where there was power) for gas on Sunday. I think that in a hurrican situation that people would have more notice and would take more precautions like getting gas ahead of time. Hurricanes and slow moving disasters and people are more cognisant of what damage they will bring - snow, not so much.

In terms of cell phones, you're so right. Disasters are a real test of the communication system. You can always invest in a sat phone and a BSAT and activate the service the day before the disaster and you'd still be able to make calls and surf the web. I guess you could also use satellite Internet if the dish hasn't been blown off!

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Skivt2

Skivt2

Posted
Posted

We were lucky in October in that I lurk here as I am interested in weather. So I knew what might happen. We were up in VT for Killington's opening day. I watched CL&P's outage list as power slowly dissapeared everywhere in north central CT. We got up Sunday and skied a few hours. We called neighbors to make sure no trees were through our roof. Then we went down to home depot in Rutland and bought a generator, batteries, generator oil, heavy gage extension cords and powerstrips, chain saw oil and four 5 gallon gas cans. We bought a bunch of non-perishable food and water in VT too. We filled our pick up truck's 34 gal gas tank and bought 20 additional gallons for the gas cans in Brattleboro. Then we made sure we got home before dark. Fortunately we had twenty 2 liter coke bottles filled with water for flushing left over from Irene when we did not lose power. We have a wood stove and lots of wood. We were as prepared as we could be with supplies.

Nothing really prepared me for seeing our neighborhood. It's odd going home to a disaster. In VT we tried to think of anything that might make life bearable when we got back. I expected to be without power for a week. As the week went on the routine got a little easier. We had to be home in time to start the generator and build a fire before dark. We had to have everything ready for work the night before so we could get up early, shut down the generator and stow it in our garage. We had power at work so we had warmth, lights, water, showers etc there. That was awesome. But I think we were prepared to shelter in place for at least a week. I think that is really what you need.

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Ginx snewx

Ginx snewx

Posted
Posted

We were lucky in October in that I lurk here as I am interested in weather. So I knew what might happen. We were up in VT for Killington's opening day. I watched CL&P's outage list as power slowly dissapeared everywhere in north central CT. We got up Sunday and skied a few hours. We called neighbors to make sure no trees were through our roof. Then we went down to home depot in Rutland and bought a generator, batteries, generator oil, heavy gage extension cords and powerstrips, chain saw oil and four 5 gallon gas cans. We bought a bunch of non-perishable food and water in VT too. We filled our pick up truck's 34 gal gas tank and bought 20 additional gallons for the gas cans in Brattleboro. Then we made sure we got home before dark. Fortunately we had twenty 2 liter coke bottles filled with water for flushing left over from Irene when we did not lose power. We have a wood stove and lots of wood. We were as prepared as we could be with supplies.

Nothing really prepared me for seeing our neighborhood. It's odd going home to a disaster. In VT we tried to think of anything that might make life bearable when we got back. I expected to be without power for a week. As the week went on the routine got a little easier. We had to be home in time to start the generator and build a fire before dark. We had to have everything ready for work the night before so we could get up early, shut down the generator and stow it in our garage. We had power at work so we had warmth, lights, water, showers etc there. That was awesome. But I think we were prepared to shelter in place for at least a week. I think that is really what you need.

This sounds exactly like my experience in Irene prep wise and work wise except I had to replace my roof.

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Typhoon Tip

Typhoon Tip

Posted
Posted

The atlantic looks a bit more favorable.....and whispers are the long range euro ensembles show a recurving 94L as a large cane around 70w. but alas that is fantasy land. I hope the good rev is saying his prayers.

Sure looks impressive coming off the coast of Africa.

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ORH_wxman

ORH_wxman

Posted
Posted

Thanks always count on jokes for long time posters. My memory of the quotwe was a bit off.

That was a pretty nice event to chase on Cape Cod....we got near hurricane force gusts...solid 50-55kt sustained out on the elbow there. My first semi-tropical chase....even though Noel was extra tropical by the time it got here.

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Amped

Amped

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Posted

That was a pretty nice event to chase on Cape Cod....we got near hurricane force gusts...solid 50-55kt sustained out on the elbow there. My first semi-tropical chase....even though Noel was extra tropical by the time it got here.

Cape Cod gets a lot of nice events. So does Blue Hill. For SW CT where I grew up, not so much.

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CoastalWx

CoastalWx

Posted
Posted

It can be a great place to live weather-wise but also a frustrating place. Sometimes I feel like I could never leave...other times I just want to move to Powderfreak's neighborhood. :lol:

LOL, I know what you mean though. There are days where you love where you are, but when it's raining and 20 miles away it's pounding S+....you kind of get pissed. Plus, snowing blowing off the spine of a mountain doesn't count.

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CT Rain

CT Rain

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Posted

It can be a great place to live weather-wise but also a frustrating place. Sometimes I feel like I could never leave...other times I just want to move to Powderfreak's neighborhood. :lol:

Skiing would be what I would miss most about living on the Cape. I'd be fine with a driving rain storm and 50 knot gusts when inland was getting a fluff bomb.

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