Looking for news about power restoration in New Jersey, I’m drawn to these tweets from a customer of Jersey Central Power and Light:
@brianaericson 1h Brian Anders Ericson @jcp_l 30 degrees in house. Can’t stay warm. Still no power. Town comfort center closed. No one to stay with. I’m disappointed in jcp&l
@jcp_l also my fish are dead and there is a thin layer of ice at the top of their tank. I am officially angry.
Elsewhere, I note a picture of a cabin cruiser rather oddly (or humorously) named the Graf Spee–anyone recall how that ended up?–being hauled off a commuter rail line north of New York City, near our friends Jan and Christian’s place in Hastings on Hudson.
And then there’s the nor’easter that’s on the way.
I’m an inveterate reader of National Weather Service arcana: forecast discussions, quantitative precipitation forecasts, river stage summaries, and special weather statements. I went looking for news of the approaching storm and found the following instead. It was issued earlier today (Monday, November 5, 2012) by the NWS office in New York City. It says so much without a single specific mention of meteorological phenomena.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
1101 AM EST MON NOV 5 2012
THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC):
IN THE WAKE OF SANDY…IT IS IMPORTANT FOR CITIZENS TO REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION TO PROTECT YOUR LIFE AND HEALTH AND THAT OF YOUR FAMILY:
* DRINK CLEAN…SAFE WATER AND EAT SAFE…UNCONTAMINATED FOOD
* KEEP GENERATORS OUTSIDE AT LEAST 25 FT FROM DOORS…WINDOWS AND VENTS
* DO NOT GRILL INSIDE YOUR HOME…THE FUMES CAN KILL
* NEVER TOUCH A DOWNED POWER LINE OR ANYTHING TOUCHING ONE
* USE 1 CUP OF BLEACH FOR EACH GALLON OF WATER TO REMOVE MOLD
* NEVER MIX BLEACH AND AMMONIA…THE FUMES CAN KILL
* WASHING YOUR HANDS PREVENTS ILLNESS
* SEEK HELP IF HAVING TROUBLE COPING
FOR MORE LIFE SAVING HEALTH RELATED INFORMATION CALL THE CDC AT
800-232-4636…TTY 888-232-6348. HTTP://EMERGENCY.CDC.GOV/DISASTERS/
As a JCP&L customer who had power restored on Sunday, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the restoration process. Perhaps 75% of my town (East Brunswick) was restored on Saturday and Sunday, but some neghborhoods with 50 to 100 homes are still without power. Neither utility, PSE&G or JCP&L, offers any useful info about the process.
The temp is 28 this morning so people have to start worrying about freezing pipes.
Roy, out in California, regulators have allowed major utilities to scale back on their service crews in order to cut costs and deliver a higher return to shareholders. Of course, that doesn’t happen if the companies can’t provide some evidence they’re able to handle things when a crisis arises. Nevertheless, the evidence is that they are not quite as capable to respond to a major storm as they once were; they simply don’t have the people to do it and now appear to rely far more on mutual aid than they once did. Are people back there talking about whether the utilities carry adequate staff to maintain their infrastructure? I note the PG&E has sent crews back there to help out.
Last I heard the pocket battleship Graf Spee is berthed off the coast of Uraguay at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata.
Yeah, if you go a little further up the Metro North line you might also find the Tirpitz, Bismarck, Yamato as well. There’s gotta’ be some story to the naming of that boat.
I have a lot of friends from Rockaway who are coping without electricity, heat, hot water, etc. It’s a rough go and the weather tonight isn’t helping.
correction: Uruguay