Here in the Cleveland area we got hit fairly hard, but not, of course, on a par with the coast. My brother has been without power until just a few hours ago, and various parts of my town are still dark or damaged. The city my sister-in-law teaches in has been 75% without power all week, so no school. Plenty of trees down and minor damages. My neighbor’s wooden fence blew over into my yard, and the other neighbor’s trampoline went airborne into still another neighbor’s yard. Our section of town stayed electrified throughout, with only a few flickers on and off, but the east and west sides were out for much longer. My doctor’s office and the Houlihan’s below it have still not reopened, though everything around it has power. The public libraries and the Paneras have been packed to the doors with charger-vampires and wifi-seekers from surrounding areas. Trees are still falling over even though the winds are done…the ground is so wet. It rained non-stop for so many days, and one morning, the weather girl said in her perky voice, “Good news! The rain from Sandy is over! What we are getting right now is just regular old lake-effect rain!”
My daughter and her husband and my grandbaby had to drive back to North Carolina on Monday through the blizzard in West Virginia. I lent them my new car since they needed new tires and brakes on their car. Luckily it was the beginning of the snow, and it was mostly slush on the roads.
On Monday night when my power started to get glitchy, I started brewing coffee. I made 3 full pots and poured them into empty milk cartons for storage.
I guess it hit me right at that moment how difficult it would be to make coffee without power.
A great big cheer for PSEG, who got my power up at 11:11 P.M. on Saturday night. When they say “round-the-clock-repair-crews” they ain’t lying.
However, the bitter irony that the first day I woke up with power was Sunday after the clocks were changed. I’d been stumbling in the dark since Tuesday morning, and on Sunday I got up late and it was already light! I spent Sunday plyaing music and reading.
I lost my power at 8:45 pm last Monday and it is still out. For all of last week I also had very weak and sporadic cell service. The first few days after the storm my town was a maze of closed roads (my town is about a mile squared and they have said 250 trees came down).
I can deal with no TV etc. but the cold really stinks. It’s 50 degrees in my house right now but I know first hand others actually lost their house so I am lucky (even though don’t feel so lucky when it is freezing in a dark house). I am told my power may be back as late as Friday.
My office got its power back yesterday so they opened today which allows me to post this. I am still here (not that any one really missed me ) just really really cold.
We lost power last Monday at about 8 PM. We got it back yesterday, right after the snow started. I wrote about this yesterday but the internet connection was wonky and ate my post just before collapsing entirely.
Never in the 50+ years since this house was built has any storm left us without power more than a day. So we scoffed at those who were frantic for a generator. When we lose electricity, the well pump and the oil burner won’t work, but we know to fill up a few large pots and the bathtub with water so we’ll have something to flush with. We are well stocked with firewood. We have lots of blankets to snuggle under at night.
By the 4th day we were no longer so smug and self-assured. Our stored water was gone, all the food in the refrigerator and freezer had turned to toxic waste, and it was getting dam cold at night. When some generators became available at the Shop Rite, we sheepishly broke down and bought one. It isn’t big enough to power the well pump, but we had heat and a few lights to supplement the flashlights and candles.
I wish I’d kept a record of the various lies we were told by the power company. There were some doozies.
) just really really cold.