New England Ice Storm

disneyjoe7

HHStuart wrote: »

Our power went out Friday morning in Massachusetts. I shaved via the light from a flash light. By Saturday the house was down to 47 degrees. By Sunday it was 37. I ran the fire place all day long and got it up to a balmy 41. I'm sure that letting a faucet drip makes it much less likely to freeze unless it is really cold. Unfortunately, since my water comes from a well, the pump doesn't work without electricity. Luckily it warmed up and we finally got our power back today (Monday). I'm going to have the house wired so I can use a generator. No heat and no water sucks.

If nothing else you could drain the water in the lines, removing any water which could freeze and burst line. Knew of a house in RI which was a summer house for someone who drained all water in house because it wasn't heated. Worked for him.

bobman1235

Now on day 6 of no power. Utility company claims they will have power back to most of my town by the end of today, but since I have specific individual damage I will most likely be waiting longer.

It's getting old, I tell ya.

Motzart

Glad your ok! Hope your pipes didn't freeze?
That would be worse than the exterior damage.
We got it very mildly here just some slick roads and a few powerlines down.
Nothing in my immediate area....lucky cuz I live on a hill!

treitz3

If you don't mind me asking, where are you staying throughout all of this? Also, do you have a buddy or family member that can let you borrow a generator or Kerosene heater? I ask because the Kerosene heater was used as a stove, a heater, a dryer and after we got ours it sure was nice to have a hot meal.

bobman1235

I stayed a couple days with a friend, and then the past few have been staying with my brother. Both have power, obviously, and are pretty local so I can still swing by my house a few times a day, see if there's been any progress, make sure I haven't been looted, etc.

My dad is going to let me use his generator tonight so I can at least heat things up to avoid any problems with pipes and whatnot.

They're saying my town should be mostly back online by the end of today, so I'm hoping they can start focusing on individual problems like mine by tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

treitz3

Oh, if only Lightman1 was in your neck of the woods. He'd get ya' up and running today. Glad to hear that at least you have a warm place to stay. I'd like to caution you with the generator though. I had a friend of mine running theirs in their backyard during a power outage a couple of year's back and two thieves came onto the property and somehow loaded it up in the PU truck quick enough to get away. There were 5 people in the house at the time but it happened so quick they didn't have anything except a description of a truck that had no license plate.

Secure it to something if at all possible is all I'm sayin'. I'd hate for anything else to happen to you.

bobman1235

Thanks for the tip. I'll be sitting by the window with my Ruger at the very least.

bobman1235

Day 12 without power. PSNH (NH electric company) has told me I would have power "tomorrow at the latest" for the past 3 days. I've developed a manic depression about it, where I go between putting it out of my head or laughing about it to a blind rage where I want to go on a murdering spree at PSNH headquarters.

disneyjoe7

Hang in there dud, it sucks I know... But look at like this you will never forget this time ever.

bobman1235

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Hang in there dud, it sucks I know... But look at like this you will never forget this time ever.

I may go to a hypnotist just to TRY to forget this ordeal.

mhardy6647

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Hang in there dud, it sucks I know... But look at like this you will never forget this time ever.

I assume that was supposed to say dude ;-)

bobman1235

The typo's probably more accurate.

NotaSuv

bobman1235 wrote: »

Day 12 without power. PSNH (NH electric company) has told me I would have power "tomorrow at the latest" for the past 3 days. I've developed a manic depression about it, where I go between putting it out of my head or laughing about it to a blind rage where I want to go on a murdering spree at PSNH headquarters.

Sadly most of the country has no clue to how people have been without power..once out of the national news its quickly forgotten....


......you werent a mailman once were ya

bobman1235

I know. PSNH says there are still 10,000 people in NH without power. That's down from well over 300,000 at the peak (in a state of 1.5 million). 10,000 people have not had power for 12 days (and there's more in MA too but I don't know the numbers). It feels like this should be a bigger national story. A hurricane hits Texas and 10,000 people are displaced for a week and you hear about it for a month.

megasat16

Yeah...the news people goes where the current exciting stuff happens even if it's Britney Dogs gone missing, etc. They would chose their coverage over such small matter and leave out the BIG ones from the picture. Well, the news without news to keep you in the dark under the bright daylight.

Yeah...hang in there...the power will be back on again and I hope you don't go insane before it does. My best wishes to all the people without power in this darn freezing cold weather.

treitz3

Dude, that sucks! Kinda takes the "holiday spirit" away doesn't it?

Fireman32

Sorry to hear that your still without power. Hope they fix it soon for ya. I would have driven to there office and not stopped bugging then untill they fixed it.

Systems

Fireman32 wrote: »

Sorry to hear that your still without power. Hope they fix it soon for ya. I would have driven to there office and not stopped bugging then untill they fixed it.

That would have only made things worse....Apparently you don't know whats involved in trying to get power lines back up again after an ice storm......

bobman1235

Lorthos wrote: »

That would have only made things worse....Apparently you don't know whats involved in trying to get power lines back up again after an ice storm......

I, unlike a lot of very irrational people (including someone who waved down and ATTACKED a utility worker who refused to work on his house) DO understand the massive undertaking to get 300,000 people power. Despite my assertion that I want to go on a killing spree, I'm not mad at the utilities, who have been working their asses off through some HORRIFIC conditions (snow and freezing cold, in particular), I'm merely frustrated at my own predicament.

mhardy6647

It was an awful and powerful storm.

bobman1235

To amend my previous statement, I'm STARTING to get mad at the utilities, as we enter **** day 13 and they tell me "we ahve people in the area, and HOPEFULLY you'll have power today." HOPEFULLY. I'll call the idiots at the prayer hotline if I want hope, YOU GUYS ARE IN CHARGE, don't hope, DO SOMETHING. I'm really getting tired of being dicked around. I've been told "today or tomorrow" for six goddamn days.

mhardy6647

They're now claiming in Fitchburg, MA, that all power will be restored today. I guess folks (yourself included) are in day 12 (or 13?) now? People on radio interviews are clearly getting pretty frazzled/frustrated. The single-digit outdoor temps last night aren't helping, either.

bikezappa

bobman1235 wrote: »

To amend my previous statement, I'm STARTING to get mad at the utilities, as we enter **** day 13 and they tell me "we ahve people in the area, and HOPEFULLY you'll have power today." HOPEFULLY. I'll call the idiots at the prayer hotline if I want hope, YOU GUYS ARE IN CHARGE, don't hope, DO SOMETHING. I'm really getting tired of being dicked around. I've been told "today or tomorrow" for six goddamn days.

I guess you got the short straw this time.

It will be a great story to tell your children later.

Keep warm.

bobman1235

"Look kids, this is where daddy buried the utility worker he murdered back in ought-eight."

mhardy6647

I dunno... as I am sure you know, NH sentenced its first person to die since the late 1950s this past week... you might just wanna rough 'em up a little...

polkatese

soft persuasion by slipping the utility worker a benji or two might work better than screaming at him? I can't imagine not having power for that long. Hope things get better soon, Bob.

bobman1235

Don't worry, despite my intense rage at times over the issue I haven't yelled at anyone, aside from my empty freezing dark house.

And I would gladly bribe someone if I saw them anywhere near my neighborhood, unfortunately I still have to go to work so I can't.

treitz3

If it helps, you can yell as loud as you want at me. I think I'm far enough away.

Good luck with getting your power back and try to have a Merry Christmas Bob.

bobman1235

Just a quick update for anyone who's interested - finally got power back after a very long Christmas Eve. The utility guys came around 9AM, decided the work was too much for their limited equipment and skills and told me to hire a private electrician, and they would come back if I could get things fixed up enough. After a lot of calling (it WAS Christmas Eve) I ended up using a friend of my father's who did enough to get me connected up, but has to come back and basically replace all the outside stuff (meter boxes and disconnects) which was pretty seriously damaged. Gonna run us about 2500 bucks all told.

BUT, I had heat and power for Christmas, and internet and cable got hooked back up today. And insurance is paying all but our homeowners deductible, so, not too bad.

Went just under 13 days without power by the time we got it hooked back up... just before midnight on Dec 12 until around 7PM on December 24th.

I-SIG

bobman1235 wrote: »

Went just under 13 days without power by the time we got it hooked back up... just before midnight on Dec 12 until around 7PM on December 24th.

****' A, man.

Glad you got juice. Remember, file a claim with the county, or whoever plows the road since they ripped your service off your house. They really should have known better to look for low wires and and other safety hazards as public workers and such.

Wes