Ike: Blackout!

[Ed Mahmoud]

You can eat Chef Boyardee ravioli right from the can. It got me through Ike. It tastes better heated, but it is pre-cooked.

[azskyman]

As you know, Mary, the suburbs of Chicago took quite a beating too. My son's neighborhood in Arlington Heights saw manhole covers blow right out of the streets because of the water pressure during the rains. Was not a pleasant experience.

Clearly there is a big lesson in understanding with Ike. ANY category hurricane is dangerous and risky depending on so many other factors such as location and time of landfall. And, after following your own ups and downs with power, it becomes very obvious just how much we rely on basic services. When they are disrupted, so are we. Lots of lessons in the aftermath of Ike.

I still remember the aftermath of the Illinois tornadoes of decades ago which we lived through. No power or water and that eeriness of the silence overnight. Waking up to National Guard presence in your neighborhood and having to pass through checkpoints emphasized the gravity of the disaster.

I feel for those especially in and around Galveston who have much more to deal with than most would have anticipated from a Category 2. Now we know that the category is not always a measure of the misery and loss that follows.

[Miss Mary]

Once again, your words of wisdom do help Steve. Yes I know how hard hit Chicago was. How frightening to have lived thru that. At least we didn't have the rain down here, just the fierce winds.

I am discovering the aftermath is what matters most to people. You can prepare as best you can but always think of something later you wished you had purchased. My SIL wants to buy the crank up large battery operated flashlights or lanterns? Not sure what she is talking about. I felt like we were well prepared for radios, batteries, safe to use candles, but not specific canned provisions. I will be, from now on though.

I still have to chuckle at all the emerg. info I'm hearing given over the radio or TV (we still have 125,000 households without power in Cincinnati) - it's short, to the point and found on their website.

I have to send a letter to our local paper. When I have time......LOL

A website doesn't do you any good when you have no power! Silly people......

Trouble is for many of these younger media professionals they probably don't remember what it was like before this contraption I'm typing on!

Life before the computer....he he I think we knew how to rely upon one another better than people today do. That was just the way small town or communities operated before the internet. Before people moved away and took jobs miles from where they grew up. You had eachother and instinctively knew what to do in emergencies.....

[Miss Mary]

And for the latest in fashion t's......LOL!

http://lookatmeshirts.com/details.php?pid=394

[Pebbles]

Never thought our friends up North would need hurricane kits!!! That is just what you are describing. Of course, don't forget the batteries!!! Obviously, these"hurricane" kits would work well as blizzard kits too. Do our friends in the northern climes keep blizzard kits stocked during the winter months?

Actually yes!

Us yankees are suppose to have "emergency" kits (they are basically are hurricane kits). I'm really surprised people don't keep 3/4 days worth of food/water on hand. But most don't *sighs*. Has everyone forgotten the North East (New York) black out? How about tornados? Terrorist threats specially for those living in urban area's. Microburst or bad snowstorm can knock out power for a few days.

Even a box with ramon noodles, spam, and some canned veggies will do the trick. May not be very health or yummy but it will get you through a few days. For 20 bucks you can have a box full of cheap canned foods and a couple of those 2.5 gallon water things that will last in storage a few years for an 'emergency' food box. Don't need to keep a hugely stocked pantry to get by for a few days.. just a designated box for the unexpected.

For people who have money to blow and don't want to go through the effort, the red cross even has "backpack" kits you can buy (i believe they are 40 bucks or so) which is a 3 day emergency kit with food, water, first aid and all that.

[leenita]

Here is an update for the Columbus area as of Saturday morning. This is from WBNS's website:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel.

The number of Franklin County residents without power on Saturday morning dropped to about 52,000, and American Electric Power said it had repaired electricity to about 85 percent of customers who lost power in Sunday's wind storm.

In Delaware County, about 3,500 customers were still without power, while about 13,000 were without electricity in Licking County, AEP reported on its Web site.


Much of Ohio is returning to normal as power companies worked to restore electricity by the end of the weekend to the remaining homes and business left in the dark by the remnants of Hurricane Ike.

About 2.6 million lost power after hurricane-force winds swept through the Ohio Valley on Sunday. At least seven of the 56 deaths blamed on the Hurricane were in Ohio.

Most of central Ohio was expected to have electricity restored no later than Sunday.

Gov. Ted Strickland did not have power restored to the Governor's Mansion in Bexley until Thursday, 10TV News reported.

Strickland asked for a federal disaster declaration earlier this week. He said he had not heard from President George W. Bush but expressed confidence that cities and counties would receive federal money.

AEP's county-by-county breakdown of power outages includes:

Coshocton: 1,463 without power
Delaware: 3,428
Fairfield: 878
Franklin: 52,061
Hocking: 209
Knox: 4,987
Licking: 12,524
Muskingum: 1,564
Perry: 554
Richland: 2,194

[Miss Mary]

Our local national wx service based in Wilmington, OH finally released an official explanation for what occurred last Sunday, in our freak windstorm, from remnants of Ike.....

http://www.wlwt.com/weather/17512086/detail.html

There's an excellent article in my Sunday paper but I cannot find a link for it, it reads like a disaster movie straight out of Hollywood. Taking you day by day, beginning with what we thought our wx would bring last Sunday at this very time. Sigh.....it sure brought a whole lot more than they ever expected! It was an interesting read. Especially from our local electric company's perspective - Duke Energy - where the CEO and his staff were as the storm hit, what their first response and assessments were (and still are, we still have 50,000 w/o power in this city!)......

Anyway, what a wild week it's been. As I type I can see huge piles of trees limbs at my neighbors' curbs for our trash pickup slated for tomorrow. We just lost a few branches way in the back of our yard, near a patch of woods. We were so lucky. We have 2 Bradford Pear trees at our curb that have never - knock on wood - split. These 2 were 2 out of oh 50 on our culdesac street. These Spring blooming trees were quite picturesque each Spring but one by one, they all began splitting in storms. Our 2 are 2 out of oh 15 left.......each storm, I run to our front windows to see if they are still standing. They are huge! About 18 years old now......but one thing I do differntly than almost all of my neighbors - I water these trees (and 2 maples near our back deck) each week, each Spring to Fall, the growing season for trees, if we don't receive decent rainfall, these trees receive 1 inch of water from our garden hose. I water the entire drip line with a gentle sprinkler. Meanwhile my neighbors are concentrating on their lawns (in drought conditions....). Along with fertilizing. Combining the two - fertilizing and deep weekly watering, is what I believe has kept my trees from coming down. I can't convince any of my neighbors to water their trees though.......so many look like they're in severe distress too.....oh well. What can you do - you can't stretch your hose over into their yards!

[Dave]

Miss Mary, I'm over in SE Indiana, about 35 miles west of the city and as of today, the electric companies, REMC & Duke are finishing up the power outage work to the last homes affected in our area. This article below was posted on one of our radio stations website friday and shows why it took a little longer for some to get power restored back to them....of all things to steal when people need electricty the most:

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"REMC: Power Lines, Transformers Stolen
(Osgood, IN) - Thieves can be credited with slowing down the process to restore electricity to area neighborhoods.

Southeastern Indiana REMC said Thursday night that people have been stealing transformer tubs and downed power lines. The company believes they are being sold as scrap metal.

SEI REMC is asking for the public’s cooperation in stopping the crime.

If you see or know of anyone who has stolen power lines, report it to your local police or the power company at 800-737-4111.

In a release, the company says “Any individuals caught stealing equipment and material will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

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