cartera45

No it is not. Things are bad but let's not completely lose perspective. Over 1800 people died in Katrina.

TutuTaxi

My heart goes out to all you folks in the NE.

One of H’s employees has a nephew who works for Avista (our power co) who is out there attached to a crew from Minnesota or Wisconsin. He says the folks w/o power have been unbelievably kind and PATIENT. He is surprised at how old and basic the cables and infrastructures are.

In the last 15 years or so most towns/cities/counties in the Inland NW passed bonds to upgrade their power cables and facilities. Before, once or twice every year when there was rain or snow from the west followed by freezing Canadian winds from the north, homes/businesses would lose power and start-using generators – resulting in a lot of generator related fires.

Even if it is cost prohibitive to put cables underground, there are vast improvements that can be made to the above ground cables systems. Yes, it is VERY costly but that cost is shared by many, many more people in the NE than rural towns and counties in the Inland NW.

07DAD

nj2011mom--I contacted Entergy Texas and passed on your compliment. Ma'am, it was appreciated.

scmom12

Garland, glad to hear that. We are in hurricane country so I know how much it means to see the crews from other places come in and help. Looks like a slight warming trend coming to NE..I hope that helps or at least makes it more bearable for those without heat.

MaineLonghorn

It looks like my husband will be traveling down to the affected areas next week to perform structure inspections for insurance companies. Is there anything he should know or do to make things go more smoothly? Is he going to have a hard time finding gas, for instance? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Mattmoosemom

dkitty21, is there any way we can find out the names of families to adopt for Christmas? If you know how to connect us with them that would be wonderful.

dkitty21

Cartera - we can agree to disagree, this is a catastrophe. And I have a good perspective, thank you.

Mattmoosemom - Want to adopt a Hurricane Sandy family for Christmas? Email operationjerseyshoresanta@live.org and they will pair you up.

nj2011mom

Gasoline is fairly easy to find in NJ. It's still tough on Long Island. The main issue was gas stations not having power to pump it out of their tanks. (still a big issue on LI)

It's cold this week, but the weather is supposed to be better next week.

You may/may not agree w Chris Cristie's politics, but he has been amazing throughout this and has kept priorities in place and hasn't been aftaid to make specific requests from the Federal Goverment for aid, manpower, etc. (yes, many pockets have slipped and too many people still don't have power, but there was so much to do...don't get me going on the complete ineptitude of NJ Transit). Compared to the chaos in NY, we are lucky.


PS - from a pure property damage, this seems worse than Katrina. Just look at Staten Island. The loss of life is far less, as people did heed the evacutation warnings.

zoosermom

Doesn't this sound like fun? Lose everything, "go" to prison.
New York officials reportedly consider closed prison for displaced Sandy victims | Fox News

May I ask where is the outcry about the thousands of people in housing projects who have no heat, hot water, elevators, are defecating in the hallways and otherwise living in squalor? Half the people in NYC who are still without power live in public housing and there seems no urgency about helping them. I don't think this storm is comparable to Katrina, but I do recall a significant outcry when poor, elderly and people of color were left to fend for themselves. I don't see such outrage now and I wonder why. Particularly since it's gotten COLD here.

mathmom

MaineLonghorn, at least some of the gas stations in Westchester now have gas. I think there's plenty in CT (Exit 2 on I-95). They'd almost finished fixing the electricty in our town when we got the nor'easter and lost a bunch more trees!

I feel really sorry for people in apartments without flushing toilets and lights. That must be a nightmare.

jonri

NY has now put even/odd gas rationing into effect in NYC and on Long Island. Plates ending with a letter are considered odd. So once Maine's husband arrives in those areas, he will only be able to get gas every other day and the wait will probably still be one hour plus.

zoosermom

We've been driving down the Turnpike to exit 7A and have had no trouble getting gas.

nj2011mom

NJ may lift the odd/even after this weekend. No lines in any of the stations in our area.

samiamy

MaineLanhorn

Storm Sandy Gasoline Finder by GasBuddy.com

Your husband may want to add this app to his phone. You can see by this map gas is still very scarce in Queens/LI area.

Hotels also, I know some of the out of state crew people had to drive to PA the night of the NorEaster to find hotels.

stradmom

I just heard that CT crews are driving down to help out in LI, but they're going to stay overnight in Stamford and drive in for the day because there are no hotels closer.

The thing is, I know the same kind of aftermath has happened elsewhere...Katrina, the tornado in Missouri etc, and the national news just drops the story once the reporters go back inside out of the wind and rain. This is the point where people really need the help.