Jump to content

Hurricane Sandy


Jetsfan80

Recommended Posts

I'm an electric system operator on Long Island.

This storm devasted us. Worst storm I've ever seen. More than 80% was out of lights at one point. Hours after the storm passed, we were still getting new outages as hanging tree limbs finally gave out. There are substations that are still days away from getting transmission feeds into them, leaving entire towns in the dark for the foreseeable future. The problem here is that the vast majority of the system is overhead lines, rather than cables. People don't want to look at overhead lines, so the company strung a lot of them thru people's backyards. The result is that it becomes impossible to get to many outages. In other places, the locals lose their minds when the tree trim crews come thru in the good weather "scalping" their trees to keep branches away from the wires - so the crews get chased off. Looks like a lot of those branches came down Sunday.

I only got my power back last night. I have time to post this morning because my shift is changing, so I actually got more than 12 hours off and spent 10 of them sleeping. Crews are working 16 hour shifts, tirelessly working to restore power. If you see a truck in your neighborhood, be kind. They're doing absolutely everything they can to get your lights back on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 193
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I'm an electric system operator on Long Island.

This storm devasted us. Worst storm I've ever seen. More than 80% was out of lights at one point. Hours after the storm passed, we were still getting new outages as hanging tree limbs finally gave out. There are substations that are still days away from getting transmission feeds into them, leaving entire towns in the dark for the foreseeable future. The problem here is that the vast majority of the system is overhead lines, rather than cables. People don't want to look at overhead lines, so the company strung a lot of them thru people's backyards. The result is that it becomes impossible to get to many outages. In other places, the locals lose their minds when the tree trim crews come thru in the good weather "scalping" their trees to keep branches away from the wires - so the crews get chased off. Looks like a lot of those branches came down Sunday.

I only got my power back last night. I have time to post this morning because my shift is changing, so I actually got more than 12 hours off and spent 10 of them sleeping. Crews are working 16 hour shifts, tirelessly working to restore power. If you see a truck in your neighborhood, be kind. They're doing absolutely everything they can to get your lights back on.

The overtime must be awesome -- Keep up the good work and Good Luck to ya.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The darkness....anyone else bored of it? I used to go to bed at 2am. Now I am sleeping by 10.

Yep, bored with no TV, lights, stereo....ehhh whats the use of conplaining. I have a battery powered radio and battery run lantern.

Had to clean out the fridge of all perishables, and damn, its chilly out, but I suppose it could always be worse...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hang in there, all! My heart goes out to all of you back home. Our little hospital donated $5k to the relief efforts, and my wife and I have organized a clothing drive for children who are without clothes due to the great losses suffered. I just want all of you in the northeast to know that the rest of the country is pulling for you. I wish I could do more.

Things will get better, and unlike the Jets, you guys actual will rebuild and get back to being on top of the world again...

Keep the faith!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is truly a thankless job. My best friend is a lineman for JCPL. He is working those 16 hour shifts, only to have the locals hold them up while they are workin to bitch about not having power.

I'm an electric system operator on Long Island.

This storm devasted us. Worst storm I've ever seen. More than 80% was out of lights at one point. Hours after the storm passed, we were still getting new outages as hanging tree limbs finally gave out. There are substations that are still days away from getting transmission feeds into them, leaving entire towns in the dark for the foreseeable future. The problem here is that the vast majority of the system is overhead lines, rather than cables. People don't want to look at overhead lines, so the company strung a lot of them thru people's backyards. The result is that it becomes impossible to get to many outages. In other places, the locals lose their minds when the tree trim crews come thru in the good weather "scalping" their trees to keep branches away from the wires - so the crews get chased off. Looks like a lot of those branches came down Sunday.

I only got my power back last night. I have time to post this morning because my shift is changing, so I actually got more than 12 hours off and spent 10 of them sleeping. Crews are working 16 hour shifts, tirelessly working to restore power. If you see a truck in your neighborhood, be kind. They're doing absolutely everything they can to get your lights back on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm an electric system operator on Long Island.

This storm devasted us. Worst storm I've ever seen. More than 80% was out of lights at one point. Hours after the storm passed, we were still getting new outages as hanging tree limbs finally gave out. There are substations that are still days away from getting transmission feeds into them, leaving entire towns in the dark for the foreseeable future. The problem here is that the vast majority of the system is overhead lines, rather than cables. People don't want to look at overhead lines, so the company strung a lot of them thru people's backyards. The result is that it becomes impossible to get to many outages. In other places, the locals lose their minds when the tree trim crews come thru in the good weather "scalping" their trees to keep branches away from the wires - so the crews get chased off. Looks like a lot of those branches came down Sunday.

I only got my power back last night. I have time to post this morning because my shift is changing, so I actually got more than 12 hours off and spent 10 of them sleeping. Crews are working 16 hour shifts, tirelessly working to restore power. If you see a truck in your neighborhood, be kind. They're doing absolutely everything they can to get your lights back on.

The overtime must be awesome -- Keep up the good work and Good Luck to ya.

I did not think of that. I want my positive rep back. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Worked through the heart of this storm. Ten hours of incredible destruction all around and I'm trying to get to emergency calls in a dodge charger with a door that didn't close because the wind sprung the hinges Hot power lines trees and telephone poles coming down all over the place. Having to constantly reroute to get to areas that needed evacuation. Hoping I could get through the roads when so many were impassable. I'm not being a drama queen. That was one hell of an experience. A Wayne cop I know had a big oak fall on his cruiser and was trapped for 40 minutes. He suffered a badly broken neck and went through 7 hours of surgery. Don't know if he's gonna walk again. Never seen anything like it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Worked through the heart of this storm. Ten hours of incredible destruction all around and I'm trying to get to emergency calls in a dodge charger with a door that didn't close because the wind sprung the hinges Hot power lines trees and telephone poles coming down all over the place. Having to constantly reroute to get to areas that needed evacuation. Hoping I could get through the roads when so many were impassable. I'm not being a drama queen. That was one hell of an experience. A Wayne cop I know had a big oak fall on his cruiser and was trapped for 40 minutes. He suffered a badly broken neck and went through 7 hours of surgery. Don't know if he's gonna walk again. Never seen anything like it.

Hopefully your friend walks again and soon.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey guys. My family and I are ok out here. Weve been without power since Monday, but thats nothing compared to what others are going thru. Its unreal what has gone on in south Jersey. My sisters school had sea turtles in it and some of the rooms and equipment is totally destroyed. They are off for at least another week as they try to make the school useful again. We had a gas fireplace that has kept us warm and have been able to use the back roads to towns with power to get food. We drove to a hotel in PA today to stay for the weekend which is why Im back online now. The ride was crazy as there are just wires and trees down everywhere. We had to give up cutting across the county to get to route 80 as the downed lines just got too dangerous to keep driving around.

Not that this is much but if this is a shot from the bottom of our driveway that shows the main exit out to the main highways.

561929_10151201827751731_1636304963_n.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First time I've been able to catch a breather all week, get to relax and watch Heat/Knicks. Been caught up like crazy playing facilitator and communicator for family and friends since I'm the only one that isn't in the area anymore and cell service has been so spotty back home. Keeping people updated on where to get gas, where to go for power, how others are doing...etc. Thank god for internet and Facebook, I don't want to ever see anyone on this site denigrating social media ever again with how key it's been in coordinating efforts in NJ. My old man has proven to be a superhero yet again with the way he's been all over the state helping out various family members. My family has seen a ton of damage; sister's now displaced and grandparents won't be returning home for a long time, but everyone's OK and I guess that's all that matters. My mom also has wicked arthritis and no heat has been playing hell with her body, so I'm praying the heat comes back on soon for her as she's in a ton of pain.

It's funny, a lot of things in life that were important to me as of last week all seem so trivial now. Best I can tell all of you is that it's never a bad time to call a family member or friend. When you lose that privilege and you don't know what's going on with your family or friends and you're seeing your home completely destroyed all over the news at the same time...it's just a feeling I'd never wish on anyone. Happy it's over and it's good to see everyone here is OK. People first, stuff second.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I live in Plainsboro and I was very lucky where I didn't lose power at all. There were some trees that fell around the apartment complex but nothing really close to my building. I was glued to the tv and internet for days since my office didn't have power until yesterday. I almost wish I had lost power because seeing the devastation on tv as it was happening and then afterwards and not being able to do anything but relay info to my friends and family was just heartwrenching. My heart goes out to everyone who lost everything and who lost loved ones. This one was everything they predicted unfortunately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in staten island. Our house is on the south shore 2 blocks from the ocean but we are 52 feet above sea level so no water damage, just a bunch of trees down. We lost power Sunday and just got it back yesterday. Thankfully I had some generators and directv for my tailgatejoe setup so we had tv and refrigerators kept going the whole time.

Yesterday when power came on I shared my generators and now that my family is ok I went today and bought 1,000 hot dogs and 100lbs of polish sausage. Dropped about 900 bucks. Going to take the tailgate trailer to one of the hard hit areas tomorrow on staten island and set up, show the football games and cook and give away the food to all the displaced and those without power.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in staten island. Our house is on the south shore 2 blocks from the ocean but we are 52 feet above sea level so no water damage, just a bunch of trees down. We lost power Sunday and just got it back yesterday. Thankfully I had some generators and directv for my tailgatejoe setup so we had tv and refrigerators kept going the whole time.

Yesterday when power came on I shared my generators and now that my family is ok I went today and bought 1,000 hot dogs and 100lbs of polish sausage. Dropped about 900 bucks. Going to take the tailgate trailer to one of the hard hit areas tomorrow on staten island and set up, show the football games and cook and give away the food to all the displaced and those without power.

That's awesome!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in staten island. Our house is on the south shore 2 blocks from the ocean but we are 52 feet above sea level so no water damage, just a bunch of trees down. We lost power Sunday and just got it back yesterday. Thankfully I had some generators and directv for my tailgatejoe setup so we had tv and refrigerators kept going the whole time.

Yesterday when power came on I shared my generators and now that my family is ok I went today and bought 1,000 hot dogs and 100lbs of polish sausage. Dropped about 900 bucks. Going to take the tailgate trailer to one of the hard hit areas tomorrow on staten island and set up, show the football games and cook and give away the food to all the displaced and those without power.

:thumbup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in staten island. Our house is on the south shore 2 blocks from the ocean but we are 52 feet above sea level so no water damage, just a bunch of trees down. We lost power Sunday and just got it back yesterday. Thankfully I had some generators and directv for my tailgatejoe setup so we had tv and refrigerators kept going the whole time.

Yesterday when power came on I shared my generators and now that my family is ok I went today and bought 1,000 hot dogs and 100lbs of polish sausage. Dropped about 900 bucks. Going to take the tailgate trailer to one of the hard hit areas tomorrow on staten island and set up, show the football games and cook and give away the food to all the displaced and those without power.

Total class; great work.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in staten island. Our house is on the south shore 2 blocks from the ocean but we are 52 feet above sea level so no water damage, just a bunch of trees down. We lost power Sunday and just got it back yesterday. Thankfully I had some generators and directv for my tailgatejoe setup so we had tv and refrigerators kept going the whole time.

Yesterday when power came on I shared my generators and now that my family is ok I went today and bought 1,000 hot dogs and 100lbs of polish sausage. Dropped about 900 bucks. Going to take the tailgate trailer to one of the hard hit areas tomorrow on staten island and set up, show the football games and cook and give away the food to all the displaced and those without power.

Keep up the great work.

Its times like these through efforts of people like you one comes to understand why we will recover from a tragedy of such magnitude and come back stronger!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in staten island. Our house is on the south shore 2 blocks from the ocean but we are 52 feet above sea level so no water damage, just a bunch of trees down. We lost power Sunday and just got it back yesterday. Thankfully I had some generators and directv for my tailgatejoe setup so we had tv and refrigerators kept going the whole time.

Yesterday when power came on I shared my generators and now that my family is ok I went today and bought 1,000 hot dogs and 100lbs of polish sausage. Dropped about 900 bucks. Going to take the tailgate trailer to one of the hard hit areas tomorrow on staten island and set up, show the football games and cook and give away the food to all the displaced and those without power.

:sign0098: Too often, when there's some catastrophe, the only things that make the news are the negative incidents, but people do this kind of thing all the time. There are a lot more good people out there than bad, but they just don't get recognized!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got power back tonight. Taking a hot shower is going to be a good thing. More so for those that have to smell me.

Spent time this weekend in a few of the towns that were hit so hard, Union Beach and Keansburg. So sad...There are so many people that are homeless. I am really not sure where some of them go. I am so impressed with the kindness of others, really seeing the best in humanity in this. So many are giving time, money and just being compassionate to those in need. It is really cool to see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got power back tonight. Taking a hot shower is going to be a good thing. More so for those that have to smell me.

Spent time this weekend in a few of the towns that were hit so hard, Union Beach and Keansburg. So sad...There are so many people that are homeless. I am really not sure where some of them go. I am so impressed with the kindness of others, really seeing the best in humanity in this. So many are giving time, money and just being compassionate to those in need. It is really cool to see.

Glad to hear you're back in action. We could smell you through the interwebz.

The compassion the nation is showing is impressive. Sucks that it takes a catastrophe like this to see the good in people but glad its taking place nonetheless. I've noticed all the little check out debit thingies in FL have an option to donate some money to the relief efforts. I cant help but throw a 5 in there whenever it gives me the option. I know my company is doing a nationwide local office "donate 5 bucks to wear jeans day" for the rest of the month every Friday. Could be a nice chunk of change, we are a huge company.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad to hear you're back in action. We could smell you through the interwebz.

The compassion the nation is showing is impressive. Sucks that it takes a catastrophe like this to see the good in people but glad its taking place nonetheless. I've noticed all the little check out debit thingies in FL have an option to donate some money to the relief efforts. I cant help but throw a 5 in there whenever it gives me the option. I know my company is doing a nationwide local office "donate 5 bucks to wear jeans day" for the rest of the month every Friday. Could be a nice chunk of change, we are a huge company.

Thanks man!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At work we started a fundraiser to help recover the Jersey Shore. We are trying to raise $10,000 and there are 10 people here, including myself, that are not shaving until the goal is met.

All donations will be for The Red Cross.

Here is the link. If anyone has some extra money to donate, even if it's $1, I am sure everyone affected by Sandy would be very grateful.

Thanks!

http://www.crowdrise.com/ShaveTheNJShore/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any NJ people open to volunteering? I would like to see if we can get a bunch of us out together. Some of the towns need SO MUCH help, labor, moving garbage, sorting through donations etc...

I am going to post more info soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I drove through my town tonight, half of it is still in total darkness. Seeing block after block of rubble is rough. I can't imagine basically taking everything you own and piling it up outside because it is now garbage. Yet for blocks that is all you see...

The curfews and National guard presence make it feel like a war zone. Especially when you add in all the helicopters flying to and from the Early Navy Base.

The good side is there are so many stories about people being selfless. About Red Cross helping out and FEMA being a great resource. I was in the store tonight and one guy paid for the two people in back of him, they were both with the National Guard. That was really cool to see. But I bet they wish they had put more in their cart, haha.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's at least this funny story out of all of this:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/vodka_with_twister_as_bar_washes_55d1Q8TLDPBvHRVvtH3ExJ?utm_source=SFnewyorkpost&utm_medium=SFnewyorkpost

Vodka with a twister as bar washes up on block

  • By KENNETH GARGER, DANA SAUCHELLI and RICH CALDER
  • Last Updated: 9:53 AM, November 6, 2012
  • Posted: 12:54 AM, November 6, 2012

The drinks were on Sandy!

A Brooklyn marina pub broke off from its main structure during the hurricane — and floated two miles before landing on a residential street, treating stunned residents there to its well-stocked bar for an after-storm bash.

“We had a big party. We had nothing else to do while we were waiting for everything else to dry, and this was a great opportunity to get our minds off everything,” said Michael Sarrell, 27, one of the Gerritsen Beach residents who took solace in the battered Gateway Marina bar that came to rest just outside their door.

bar--300x300.jpg

Lisa Mauceri for the Mail online.com

PUB CRAWL: Cops close up "Sandy's Bar," which became a party spot after Sandy tore it form its Mill Basin foundation and carried it - its booze intact - two miles to Gerritsen Beach.

The bar — which residents identified as a chunk of the marina establishment on federal parkland on Flatbush Avenue — had been lifted from its foundation in Mill Basin during Superstorm Sandy and drifted in swollen Deep Creek Bay, past the Belt Parkway, all the way west to the dead-end block at Madoc Avenue and Keen Court in Gerritsen Beach.

“It was moving 30 mph toward my house!” said Patrice Dolan, 52, who recalled screaming, “Oh, my God! What do I do? What do I do?” as the surreal moment played out.

When the bar hut came to a rest, residents discovered its tables and chairs were miraculously intact — as was a wide variety of booze.

By Wednesday, residents had set up an impromptu watering hole, writing “SANDY’S BAR” in red marker across the gray facade.

Once the liquor supply quickly ran out, “B.Y.O.B.” was scribbled below.

Sarrell’s brother Keith, 26, said the whole neighborhood then took to bringing in booze, coolers and even power generators to keep the party going.

“We had Jameson, Skyy Vodka and a bunch of beer,” said resident Nino Coppolino, 29. “We packed 40 people in there. That’s a lot of body heat to stay warm.”

The partying lasted through Friday night but ended Saturday, when cops and sanitation workers arrived and razed the structure for safety reasons.

“I was going to try and put it in my back yard and make it a permanent bar, but they had to knock it down,” Keith Sarrell said.

Last night, with the bar gone and reality setting in, residents along the strip were burning damaged furniture and cardboard in a barrel to keep warm.

It’s unclear when the devastated seaside community will get its power back.

Bill Gallucci, a 50-year-old boat mechanic, said the liquor license on one of the displaced bar’s walls indicated it was part of Gateway Marina.

The structure “had thousands of dollars of floatation devices under it,” he said. “And they had barnacles growing on them.”

Some residents had briefly believed the bar was actually part of a popular beach bar in Breezy Point, Queens, seven miles away called the Sugar Bowl because the structures looked similar.

“It’s a shame they had to tear it down,” Gallucci said of the hut.

“It probably could’ve been transported safely back to the marina.”]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...