Posted by: Mark_M
Snow in October? Not here (at least until now). - 11/01/11 05:08 AM
2AM and we've been without utility power for over 55 hours. The estimate is for power to be restored by Thursday, but JCP&L, my power company, doesn't have a good track record for quick repairs.
This October Winter Storm is unprecedented in our area. The quantity of snow -- over 12" in my area -- would have been inconvenient, but because the trees haven't shed even half their leaves yet that made it catastrophic. Huge branches and entire trees are down all over the place, taking wires down with them. More than 90% of my town is still without power and many roads are still closed, even though the snow melted off the blacktop due to today's warmer temperatures. Over half a million homes lost power, and 200,000 are still off the grid.
Like many I poo-pooed the weather forecasts. Even if they came true, (which they did and more), we've had worse snow before without major incident. What I didn't factor in, because I had no previous experience, was how the leaves would catch the snow and cause so much damage.
But all is well at the moment. My default preparations, with some minor exceptions, are working out reasonably well.
Lessons Learned:
This October Winter Storm is unprecedented in our area. The quantity of snow -- over 12" in my area -- would have been inconvenient, but because the trees haven't shed even half their leaves yet that made it catastrophic. Huge branches and entire trees are down all over the place, taking wires down with them. More than 90% of my town is still without power and many roads are still closed, even though the snow melted off the blacktop due to today's warmer temperatures. Over half a million homes lost power, and 200,000 are still off the grid.
Like many I poo-pooed the weather forecasts. Even if they came true, (which they did and more), we've had worse snow before without major incident. What I didn't factor in, because I had no previous experience, was how the leaves would catch the snow and cause so much damage.
But all is well at the moment. My default preparations, with some minor exceptions, are working out reasonably well.
Lessons Learned:
- Flashlights and Lanterns, with lots of extra batteries. Fortunately, as a flashoholic, I'm never more than a few steps from a flashlight wherever I go. I like the idea of having several cheap lights to give away to others, but I doubt I'd carry the extra bulk. I'm sorry, but I am not loaning out one of my good flashlights or pricy gear to a stranger.
- A battery-operated radio is an absolute necessity. Fortunately, I have two battery-operated and one solar/crank radio.
- Maintain your generators, and be cautious about lending them (or other critical gear) out. I loaned a fellow Jeep club member my 6000W generator after Irene and wasn't really worried about getting it back until Thanksgiving, when the traditional snow season starts. My 2000W generator cannot requires careful consideration as to what items I power-on to avoid overloading. This generator also required a lot of effort to get running because I hadn't done maintenance in months.
- Prepare your house for your generator. Having never gone through an extended outage, my plan involved running extension cords, tapping receptacles into hard-wired appliances such as my boiler and septic pump, etc. Aside from having the hazard of lots of extension cords, some fed off another, I had to keep unplugging and plugging different ones in to stay within the generator's capacity. Today I replaced that all by connecting a suicide cord from the generator to the breaker box (after shutting-off the main and unnecessary circuits). The term "suicide cord" is quite appropriate, and a new sub-panel with transfer switch will be installed as soon as possible after things normalize.
- A smartphone with Internet tethering provides back-up communications, but when everyone else has the same idea things can slow down to a crawl. Fortunately, by the time I got my generator hooked-up to the panel my FIOS Internet and TV was already back up and running.
- Facebook can be helpful in many ways. We shared info about road and store closings, store stock levels for critical items, and various other tidbits. A friend from out-of-state helped me hook my generator up to the panel after reading my Facebook status worrying about my septic pump.
- An inexpensive ($45) clamp-on ammeter is a very useful tool for determining how much of a load each device puts on your generator so you can avoid overloads.
- If you need propane (residential or canisters), keep a good supply on-hand. I'd used-up all but four 1-lb canisters on recent camping trips, and replacements are proving to be elusive at the moment. If you use bulk containers, make sure you always have at least one full spare at all times.
- Help and be helped. I ran to the mall and picked-up a neighbor's daughter and friends who were stuck in the snow. I helped several of my neighbors temporarily connect their boilers and septic pumps to their generator, supplying tools and parts/wire in some cases. One family didn't know they could disconnect their garage door opener, so I showed them how. I setup an outlet strip in my garage so neighbors without generators could recharge their phones. I winched trees out of driveways and, in one case, off of a pickup truck. In return I got forgiveness from my next-door neighbor for the tire tracks in their front yard (my Jeep slipped sideways while trying to get out of my steep driveway, and I had to back into their yard to recover), help shoveling my driveway, walk and stairs, and a promise to share propane if my limited supply ran out.
- If you wait for the flakes to start falling before heading to the store, expect slim pickings. If you wait for the power to go out first, expect to find nothing.
Sounds like you've got some good folks around you. I hope the utilities get things fixed for you soon.
