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Hurricane Sandy Discussion Thread

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app103:
Storms like this tend to bring out the best in some people and the worst in others.

There was stories of people having their generators stolen before the storm even hit, and sightings of Craigslist ads selling generators worth about $500 new, jacked up to as much as $2000. Also stories about criminals posing as utility workers, knocking on people's doors, tricking them into letting them in and then robbing them.

There is a local curfew here, to help prevent looting and robberies.

They DID give preferential treatment when restoring power to various neighborhoods around here, and continue to, but for VERY GOOD reasons. They restored parts of towns that were considered more important than others. Anybody that lived very close to a hospital were among the first to get their power restored. Hospitals have backup generators, but they can't run them forever. They were given top priority to get them back on the grid. This was followed by major chain drug stores, where people need to fill vital prescriptions, like Wallgreens (which also sells food, batteries, candles, ice, etc.), then supermarkets, some gas stations, convenience stores like 7-11, Quick Check, libraries (they have internet, too), etc. Residential service in general isn't a priority, and only gets restored as a result of something else important in the neighborhood needing to be restored.

The poorest of the poor were kind of taken care of before the storm hit. Most church run food pantries in my area were giving out bags of canned goods and other nonperishables, the weekend before the storm hit.

Another thing that seems to be popular here is businesses with power advertising the fact and allowing people to come in and charge their laptops and cell phones, for free. In addition to Wallgreens doing it (no purchase necessary), there is a nearby Thai restaurant telling people to come on in and charge their electronics, while they enjoy their meal.

Wallgreens had a "buy one, get one free" sale on big jar candles, as soon as they could open again.

And if the power outage continued longer, I would have found myself cooking 10 lbs of chicken legs and sharing the leftovers with my neighbors in my building, due to not being able to properly store them without electricity.

40hz:
They DID give preferential treatment when restoring power to various neighborhoods around here, and continue to, but for VERY GOOD reasons. They restored parts of towns that were considered more important than others.
-app103 (November 01, 2012, 01:56 PM)
--- End quote ---

As did our local utility here despite the allegations of one toady mayor.

There is a fundamental difference between setting priorities and what is irresponsibly referred to as "discriminatory" behavior.

Unfortunately, in our current "gimmee" culture, some people will routinely have trouble understanding the difference.

app103:
Unfortunately, in our current "gimmee" culture, some people will routinely have trouble understanding the difference.
-40hz (November 01, 2012, 02:21 PM)
--- End quote ---

And that falls right into what I said about bringing out the best in some people and the worst in others.

wraith808:
Unfortunately, in our current "gimmee" culture, some people will routinely have trouble understanding the difference.
-40hz (November 01, 2012, 02:21 PM)
--- End quote ---

And that falls right into what I said about bringing out the best in some people and the worst in others.
-app103 (November 01, 2012, 02:27 PM)
--- End quote ---

Very much so. And glad to see that you and 40 are back online and ok.  :Thmbsup:

40hz:
Ok...these are the three last things I want to say about Hurricane Sandy in CT:



1. We still ain't ready worth a damn.

Despite assurances by those in power, and tens of billions spent on "preparedness" and "homeland security." the Northeastern United States still remains unable to effectively deal with even a moderate regional emergency. I shudder to think what a repeat of a natural disaster on the scale of Katrina would do to this area.






2. Voluntarism during emergencies may become a thing of the past.

After hearing about the plight of the elderly people who were being sheltered in her town's Senior Center, my sister thought it might be nice to bring them some homemade cookies since she (to her amazement) had power restored while most of her town was still out. She got up at 6:00am and spent a few hours making over six dozen cookies, which she then brought over to the Senior Center. However, when she got there, the prissy town bureaucrat in charge declined to accept them - or let her hand them out - because the shelter was "dealing with the general public" and my sister's cookies were "privately made."

She then unhelpfully suggested my sister bring them over to the volunteer fire department building about a mile away. "They'll probably take them," she was told. So my sister did - only to find the firehouse locked up - and nobody home.

This afternoon, she and I consumed about two dozen of her cookies while we talked about her morning over a pot of coffee.

My sister's conclusion: "Never again." :-\





3. You can't expect rational or responsible behavior from some elected officials when the chips are down.

Read this story about how utility crews were being subjected to abuse in the wake of a city mayor accusing the utility of having a policy to restore power to the "wealthier" surrounding communities ahead of the "poorer people" in his city.

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