NJ Storm

[Aceon6]

Can't get a tree service for 3 weeks!

We have two companies in our town. Both have been commandeered by the electric company and can't do any private business until they are released.

Folks down the street have a tree leaning against the house. Any high winds may finish it off, bringing their deck down with it. Their insurance company finally found a tree service from down the Cape to come and get rid of it. Thank goodness our neighbors won't have to pay (insurance is paying as loss prevention) as the service is charging 4 extra hours to cover the transit time. btw, the estimate for clearing it was 30 minutes work.

[cruisin]

We have two companies in our town. Both have been commandeered by the electric company and can't do any private business until they are released.

Folks down the street have a tree leaning against the house. Any high winds may finish it off, bringing their deck down with it. Their insurance company finally found a tree service from down the Cape to come and get rid of it. Thank goodness our neighbors won't have to pay (insurance is paying as loss prevention) as the service is charging 4 extra hours to cover the transit time. btw, the estimate for clearing it was 30 minutes work.

Thank goodness for your neighbors!

We spoke to a private tree company on Sunday. They said that they could cut down the damaged trees and chip what has fallen that day, but it would cost over $1000.00. they said that if we wait 3 weeks it will be $700.00. There is nothing that is a danger to our house, and I've already cleared the street, so we can wait. We have a HUGE tree that is leaning across the driveway, if it falls it could hit the kitchen roof. But the tree guy said that since it sustained the storm, it would be safe for another 3 weeks. Said it's a locust tree and they're pretty strong. Maybe so, but I want it down. We'll have to wait for Spring to see what other landscaping damage there is. Can't tell what shrubs and smaller trees are not going to make it. The hydrangeas are looking bad, Madonna would be pleased ().

[GarrAarghHrumph]

The rinks in Hackensack and in South Mountain have been closed due to lack of power, and just reopened today.

I have heard that there are still 450,000 people without power in CT (down from 750,000). What is it that causes CT to lose power in storms in larger numbers of households than neighboring states, where the storm seemed to be just as bad?

[sk9tingfan]

The rinks in Hackensack and in South Mountain have been closed due to lack of power, and just reopened today.

I have heard that there are still 450,000 people without power in CT (down from 750,000). What is it that causes CT to lose power in storms in larger numbers of households than neighboring states, where the storm seemed to be just as bad?

CL&P has been notoriously remiss in their planning and overall administration over the last few years. In addition, since they are in line for a merger with Amstar up in Massachusetts, they have steadily reducing their cost structure by not doing maintenance, not replacing trucks and equipment that are wearing out/worn out, not hiring additional linesmen, not having any high wire linesmen at all, etc. etc.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

Thanks for that info. I was thinking something must be up with CT, because the neighboring states get just as wacked, if not more so, and yet it's always CT with more power outages, and a slower repair timeline.

[gkelly]

Though 46 degrees (in the house) is somewhat manageable, if it were 20 degrees, I might feel differently.

If it were 20 degrees inside the house, your water pipes would probably burst, so it really would be much worse even aside from comfort level.

[cruisin]

The rinks in Hackensack and in South Mountain have been closed due to lack of power, and just reopened today.

I have heard that there are still 450,000 people without power in CT (down from 750,000). What is it that causes CT to lose power in storms in larger numbers of households than neighboring states, where the storm seemed to be just as bad?

Mennen is open today, but only 1 surface is up. The other two melted down to the cement.

If it were 20 degrees inside the house, your water pipes would probably burst, so it really would be much worse even aside from comfort level.

Very true!

[Lacey]

We live in a random suburban neighborhood. We were hit twice by 5 day power outages, one in summer and one in winter. Winter was worse because of the cold. We finally went and got a generator from Home Depot, it is hooked up to heater/air conditioner, refrigerator, and some lights downstairs, and electrical outlets for laptops. Generators are the best thing ever invented.

One of the men in our neighborhood is a stay at home dad and got on a project to remedy the situation. He had our power gridded off a different street, and we have not had any major power outages since, been about a few years. All we have to worry about now are minor outages, like a tree falling on our very own wires, but sometimes that type takes longer because there are fewer people to please. And our electric and gas co does do major preventative tree trimming, interesting that Conn. seems to have none any more.

[milanessa]

I'm seriously considering a whole house generator. Just not sure if it's worth the 10-15K price tag.

[cruisin]

The problem that many people here, who have generators, had was getting gas. The smaller generators only last about 4 - 8 hours. Since there was no power, they couldn't get more gas locally, the gas stations were closed. I do have one neighbor who has extra gas, but it's kept in a shed. You can't store it in your house. Also, for anyone who doesn't know, the generator has to be hooked up to the heat/A/C separately from the house electricity. One of my neighbors found that out, the hard way.

[milanessa]

Whole house generators work on propane.

[zaphyre14]

According to this morning's radio news, there are still more than 80,000 people in MA without power, down from over half-a million on Monday. Three of the 80K are friends of mine. One co-worker has been out since Saturday; she's the only one on her street still out and National Grid doesn't know why.

[cruisin]

Whole house generators work on propane.

But, don't you still have to get propane tanks filled?

According to this morning's radio news, there are still more than 80,000 people in MA without power, down from over half-a million on Monday. Three of the 80K are friends of mine. One co-worker has been out since Saturday; she's the only one on her street still out and National Grid doesn't know why.

Maybe she should contact an electrician, there could be a problem on her property/in her house. Is it an older home? Could a surge have blown something out that is preventing the house from going back on? Do they have underground utilities? Could a tree have gone down and something in the root system took out a conduit on their property? I'm not sure how all of this works, but it could be something wrong that needs "on property" attention.

[milanessa]

But, don't you still have to get propane tanks filled?

Yes but with a whole house generator you have a big propane tank installed - it's not the little ones like you use for a barbecue grill. Everything is all hooked up and, if it senses that the power is off, after XX minutes it fires up and, voila, power to everything. Still not sure if I want to drop 10-15K on one, though. Although the next time the power goes out I'll be considering it again.

[Louis]

If you have natural gas, I believe it's possible to have a gas line piped directly into your generator.

[milanessa]

If you have natural gas, I believe it's possible to have a gas line piped directly into your generator.

We don't. That would be easier and less expensive but...

[Aceon6]

We don't. That would be easier and less expensive but...

If we had gas, I don't think we'd even consider a generator. If we could have kept the house warm and used the range, we could have gotten by just fine.

[milanessa]

For those people with all electric homes it is a bit harder. We have a small generator but they're almost as much a pain as no power at all - not quite but almost. You can only feel safe storing so much gas on your property and (as cruisin said) it's hard to come by in a widespread outage.

[Jenny]

What about a woodstove? My grandmother had one in the basement of her farmhouse, and it could generate a lot of heat. She even used to put a pan of water on top of it as a makeshift humidifier.

[milanessa]

What about a woodstove? My grandmother had one in the basement of her farmhouse, and it could generate a lot of heat. She even used to put a pan of water on top of it as a makeshift humidifier.

That might work for a lot of people. I live in Florida - doing without heat is not my problem. We do have a barbecue grill that works with either gas or charcoal and it has 2 side burners so cooking isn't a big problem, AC and the lack of water are. Luckily we have a pool so can use the water to flush toilets but a week or more without bathing is rough.