Sandy

[Rich G.]

Re: Sandy

I just put some 100LL Avgas in the two vettes. Looks like I'll be forced to drive them on local missions and save the mogas for emergencies. At least that's what told my wife. :-)

People are lined up for a mile or more at the few stations that have gas. News reports say that there have been "over 100 altercations" in gas lines as of this morning. That's the number they know about. If you count the number of times that "the universal sign of non-compliance" has been used you probably need to express it as a power of ten.

Once again, we have been very fortunate around here. The destruction on the shoreline west of here is stunning. The farther west one goes toward NYC the more dense the population becomes, which just magnifies the problems both from the original storm and the difficulty in recovering. There is a small shore community near here on very flat land that was wiped out. The National Guard is there to keep looters out. Injuries are not the issue as most if not all heeded the evacuation orders. It's just they have lost everything.

Rich

[Terry M.]

Re: Sandy

No, they were turned away by New Jersey because they were non-union. Read it here.

I suspect there is more to this story than what is reported here. I would urge you to wait for the rest of the story before drawing conclusions.

I have to admire the workers who go into these situations. Their communication with the dispatchers has to be minimal, and that is extremely dangerous. Of course I am the dispatcher, so I have a biased point of view. They have no maps of the electrical system, and from what I have seen on TV in many cases there is nothing left to give a clue as to what used to be there. Having so many crews with minimal communications ability working in an area is just fraught with danger. I just don't understand how they can do their job safely -- and they have my admiration for taking that risk in order to help others.

[Michael J.]

Re: Sandy

This is certainly a sad and tragic situation, my heart goes out to all. After living for 30 years in SE Texas, around the coast, much of this looks very familiar, but it never gets acceptable. A friend of mine on the Jersey shore posted this poll, since he said they are tough, will survive and come back strong, and have a sense of humor, as well as being in need of a laugh at this time of crisis and suffering:

Question:

Why do you think this is the perfect time to visit New Jersey. I don't like hot showers. Large Oak Tree in the living room adds to the home. Beach front property is dirt cheap. Driving anywhere is way overrated. Huddling around a Portable Propane Heater adds to family unity. Red Cross & FEMA trucks are way cool. I really enjoy using my chain saw. I hate Boardwalks.

[Thomas H.]

Re: Sandy

We were very lucky here. Last year with Irene and Lee, my basement flooded twice within a few weeks. No fun cleaning up after 12" of muddy water. All that with two sump pumps running.

For this storm I did more "sand bagging" outside in anticipation of the back yard flooding again and trying to keep it away from the house. Lucky for us, we had very little heavy rain. Lost power early on Monday got it back late Wed. Had generator running to keep heater and refridge running, plus a few lights. Interesting thing, throughout the whole storm I never lost TV/internet service. Many people in my neighborhood still without power. Lent my generator to a co worker for the weekend.

Adam Boca also called me on Tuesday. Funny thing is, I made sure the cars were secure late last week before I turned my attention to the house............

It was amazing standing in my back yard late monday night listening to teh wind howl and watching the sky light up from all of the transformers going and trees falling on the wires.

Had some neighbors have some pretty big tress come down. I'm going to offer up my chain saw services to them over the weekend.

Could have been much worse.

Tom

PS: Crew from Louisana restored our power. Gave them a big two thumbs up as they were leaving the neighborhood

[Henry S.]

Re: Sandy

I suspect there is more to this story than what is reported here. I would urge you to wait for the rest of the story before drawing conclusions.

I have to admire the workers who go into these situations. Their communication with the dispatchers has to be minimal, and that is extremely dangerous. Of course I am the dispatcher, so I have a biased point of view. They have no maps of the electrical system, and from what I have seen on TV in many cases there is nothing left to give a clue as to what used to be there. Having so many crews with minimal communications ability working in an area is just fraught with danger. I just don't understand how they can do their job safely -- and they have my admiration for taking that risk in order to help others.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/11/02/Alabama-utilities-deny-anti-union-rumor/UPI-87531351887473/

Terry, you are correct, there is more to the story. It's pretty sad when news?? media outlets have to make up stories to advance their own agendas!! Some sleezeballs will stoop to new lows this close to the election. Their energy would be a lot better served if it focused on the needs of those still needing help. As Roy pointed out our hearts go out to all of you affected by Sandy.

[Terry M.]

Re: Sandy

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/...7531351887473/

Terry, you are correct, there is more to the story. It's pretty sad when news?? media outlets have to make up stories to advance their own agendas!! Some sleezeballs will stoop to new lows this close to the election. Their energy would be a lot better served if it focused on the needs of those still needing help. As Roy pointed out our hearts go out to all of you affected by Sandy.

Thanks for the link Shooter. I also suggested in my post at 1:14 this afternoon that people were prone to use this disaster to advance their own agenda, and that was before I read the link Dave posted. It has happened before, and it likely will again. I wish that were not true, but it is the way of life now days. It is sad, as you say, when people will lie and distort the facts for their own ends, and especially heinous when we all should be doing our best to help those who need it. As I said, the world is not a nice place.

BTW: My father was a member of the news media in the '50s. He was proud of that, and I am too -- but this is not the '50s, I am sorry to say.

[Ed H.]

Re: Sandy

Dave,
I thought the Mafia was gone in NY and NJ. They must have a motto "UNION BEFORE HELP YOUR NEIGHBOR". Sounds like the peoples republic of NJ. I should not be suprised, we have a number of communities out west that fit the pattern. Santa Monica, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, funny, they all begin with the name of a saint.

[Gary C.]

Re: Sandy

OK guys, let's remember Roy Sinor's intent when he initiated it

[Edward B.]

Re: Sandy

I live on a point of land that juts out into Peconic Bay on the eastern end of Long Island. At the end of the point was the old Southold Yacht Club building which had been there since the late '40s. This picture was taken around 1730 hours on Monday, October 30th. By 2100 hours the water had finished its work and the structure was gone.

[Paul J.]

Re: Sandy

I suspect there is more to this story than what is reported here. I would urge you to wait for the rest of the story before drawing conclusions.

I have to admire the workers who go into these situations. Their communication with the dispatchers has to be minimal, and that is extremely dangerous. Of course I am the dispatcher, so I have a biased point of view. They have no maps of the electrical system, and from what I have seen on TV in many cases there is nothing left to give a clue as to what used to be there. Having so many crews with minimal communications ability working in an area is just fraught with danger. I just don't understand how they can do their job safely -- and they have my admiration for taking that risk in order to help others.

I too hope that there is more to this than we have heard.

I have the upmost respect for the line crews. The longest that I've ever been without power was for 10 days after Fran, and it was tough for my four young children. Every time I saw a line crew working in my area I would drive 20 minutes to the only fast food restraurant with power and I'd bring them some hot food and drinks. Seeing their caravans from GA, TN, LA, AL and other States was quite a sight, and we always waved at them because we were glad they were there. Not all of these guys were contractors, a lot of them were from large electric utilities.

Terry, at one time our utility put system maps in capped PVC pipe attached to the utility poles. These were spaced along each circuit. I don't know if they still do this.

Paul

[Richard T.]

Re: Sandy

Here are a couple of pictures from the Jersey shore. The first is what remains of the Fun Town pier in Sea Side, the pier is completely gone and the roller coaster (Wild Mouse) is just sitting on the ocean floor. The second shot is a house a mile or so away from me. Fifty percent of Toms River still has no power. Rich

[Brian M.]

Re: Sandy

I'm in central western LI, power went back on after 100 1/2 hrs last night at 7:30. Huge trees down throught Nassau Co. beach communities destroyed. We are very Lucky and I feel the pain of many friends and relatives that are suffering. God Bless Them.

[Dennis C.]

Re: Sandy

We are in the center of Long Island in Huntington and the power has been out since 5:30 pm Monday. I drained gas from the 61 today to feed the generator since we currently have a gas shortage. That should last me until Tuesday when the gas should be plentiful again. We have 8 trees down and I'm working on cutting them up, but house, cars, and us are fine.

Dennis & Donna

[Terry M.]

Re: Sandy

I too hope that there is more to this than we have heard.

I have the upmost respect for the line crews. The longest that I've ever been without power was for 10 days after Fran, and it was tough for my four young children. Every time I saw a line crew working in my area I would drive 20 minutes to the only fast food restraurant with power and I'd bring them some hot food and drinks. Seeing their caravans from GA, TN, LA, AL and other States was quite a sight, and we always waved at them because we were glad they were there. Not all of these guys were contractors, a lot of them were from large electric utilities.

Terry, at one time our utility put system maps in capped PVC pipe attached to the utility poles. These were spaced along each circuit. I don't know if they still do this.

Paul

Paul,
See Shooter's post of yesterday at 10:41.

Placing maps on poles would work -- until there is a change in the circuit. I suppose many locations rarely change, but that is not the case for us in the Second City.

At my utility our maps are almost all computerized now in part because keeping paper maps current became an overwhelming task. Our line crews and electrical troubleshooters have laptops in their vehicles and they can look at the same system maps I have in the office. They are almost as up to the moment on which switch is open and which is closed as I am -- and I have the computer control of many of those switches. After I retired I and seven of my dispatcher and operator colleagues spent a year and a half doing QC on the electronic distribution maps for the City of Chicago before that mapping system went live -- and that did not include the high-rise buildings. We were only allowed to check up to the main station in those buildings.

[Michael J.]

Re: Sandy

Glad so many are getting along OK. Heard news reports that the government is giving away free gas, any news on that in LI?