Here We Go Again: Northeast Power Outages

[Dr. Cadmium]

9 years ago I posted this thread: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=9994

Well, here we go again. We had a major power outage here in the northeast yesterday afternoon and evening, and many areas could be out for 1-2 weeks or longer. Lots of oak trees are dead or damaged from the gypsy moths, and lots of of ash trees are damaged or dead from the emerald ash borer. A lot trees fell or broke apart in the high winds that came through.

Most of the gas stations are not functioning because the power is out, and the two down the street from me that\ are working are both out of gas.

[thecrazyone]

That was quite a storm! I'm in Delaware, and we were thankfully missed in our area. About a mile to my west, they were hit extremely badly! Trees ripped up, 4 telephone/power poles completely knocked down in a row, craziness.

Hope things get better in your area!

[Dr. Cadmium]

3 days now and the power is still out. My internet is over the phone lines and which are still working - for now. Everyone else I know in the area is still out of power and everyone I know who relies on cable for internet has no access. Many businesses are closed, even some bank branches.

The local stations that are operational have gas again.

[68Camaro]

Been there. It sucks - especially in the summer. After 3 hurricanes and a tropical storm within 6 weeks in 2004 I said never again and bought initially a big portable generator and then, after a move, installed a generac whole house. It gets used multiple times a year for short outages and about once a year for half to one day outages, and it kept us in power during a 5 day outage two years ago after Irma. It is not cheap, but the comfort and peace of mind (even if not priceless) is well worth it to us.

[Dr. Cadmium]

We lost power for just over 5 days, and many people were without power for over a week. Most have been restored at this point.

This time, the out of state response was greater and the restoration was quicker than last time. The cell phone and internet infrastructures were also more resilient.

One addition to my list from last time:

Do a "test run" or drill of your emergency setup/process before there is a crisis. I have gas siphons, but I never tested them with my vehicles. It turns out that they're not long enough to reach into the gas tanks of any of my vehicles! A test run would have turned up this issue.