<p>Arrived home to find the power is back on. Woohoo!!</p>
<p>Guess I won’t be needing that borrowed camp stove after all!</p>
<p>As a DC native, it never occurred to me that this didn’t happen other places too. Is that really true? Now that I think of it, I don’t remember losing power once during my three years of college in Evanston, IL. </p>
<p>We were really lucky this time, whereas last year I lost the contents of my freezer 3 times in 12 months, this storm the power didn’t even flicker.</p>
<p>apparently it was like a land tornado… a “derecho”</p>
<p>my parents house still has no power.</p>
<p>I didn’t lose power, but lost cable/internet, and just got it back today. There are still LOTS of traffic lights with no power in the area.</p>
<p>Another obvious example of climate change, as have been the fires and high temperatures throughout the US for some months now. </p>
<p>My son in DC was on a building roof when the storm came through but otherwise unaffected - except that he has been taking a cab to places he would normally walk because of the high heat and humidity.</p>
<p>I don’t live in DC , but I do live in an area that was equally impacted by the storm. We were lucky to not have lost our power at our home , but the damage in the surrounding area is pretty extensive. Our business has suffered with one of our locations having no electricity and closing for the last three days , when this should be a busy time for us</p>
<p>But in putting things in perspective, we aren’t living in fear of fires consuming everything we have worked a lifetime for and all of our belongings like so many other people in our country right now</p>
<p>We had an unexpected visit from the grandkids this weekend. My stepson’s house in Alexandria lost power Friday night, and first thing Saturday morning we got a call saying they were already halfway up 270! They left on Sunday and we haven’t heard anything, so I guess they got their power back.</p>
<p>stevensmama, your stepson and his family were actually following the official advice.</p>
<p>Saturday morning, the DC-area radio stations were giving out the message “If you have friends or family with power, go visit them.”</p>
<p>What the authorities were trying to do, as far as I can tell, was minimize heat-related deaths. At that time, there were few hotel rooms available even for those who could afford them because many of the hotels didn’t have power. Few shelters were available because a lot of public buildings didn’t have power. And the forecast was for very hot weather. The authorities wanted people to get to places were there was air conditioning, rather than staying home and trying to cope with the heat.</p>
<p>S didn’t want to pack up and stay with his cousing in MD who had power. If I were him, I certainly would have.</p>
<p>As far as I know, he still has no power in DC, but PEPCO told his roommate they’d have it by tomorrow. If you can trust what PEPCO says.</p>
<p>My D has an apartment full of “refugees” riding out the heat. They already had 4 in their 2 bedroom apartment, I can’t imagine where they’re putting everyone. But they’re college kids, I guess they’ll make do. Glad she has an airconditioned apt and an airconditioned job.</p>
<p>My family in central Ohio has been out for days. My aunt has been bugging my uncle to get a generator for a few years. They don’t have one still and let’s just say it hasn’t been pleasant in that household. Their power is still out but they finally got a generator… had to drive 3 hours to get it though. She’s a doctor and they’ve been staying at her hospital because of the heat at home.</p>
<p>Parts of lower Michigan are out today as well. Our neighbors called to ask if they could go in our small pool as we’re on vacation in northern Mich and they don’t have AC. </p>
<p>Scary. Stay safe everyone.</p>
<p>According to PEPCO’s outage map, it looks like S finally has power back, but we won’t know for sure til he gets home from work.</p>
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<p>I can always find out whether my power is on or off. All I have to do is call my home phone. I have an old-fashioned answering machine. It only works when the electricity is on. If it picks up, the power is on. If it doesn’t, the power is off. </p>
<p>Outdated technology sometimes has its merits.</p>
<p>^^^That worked for us too when we lost power last Oct. DH also used that method to see if his office had power then, but, with only a cell phone, S will have to wait to find out.</p>
<p>Sometimes it pays to be a dinosaur.</p>
<p>Our friend and his wife have been without power since the storm hit. I would have offered our garage apt , but they have a puppy that sent my year old dog into a frenzy that resulted in an injured neck which not only delayed his neutering , but set me back in over $600 in vet bills…our dog has to come first this time</p>
<p>I just found out our house in Lynchburg VA had a major tree limb come through the roof and crash through to the floor below causing major damage. Luckily no one is in the house right now as were doing some remodeling work. Right now the branch sticks out about 25 feet above the roof. Looks funny if it were not so sad. Flying from Seattle tomorrow to see what I can do to start getting it fixed. Of course every tree man is booked for a month. Can’t even put a tarp on until we get the tree removed. Crap. But have insurance.</p>
<p>The news showed some of these major trees crashed into houses. Some of them have done major damage and have to be removed with heavy equipment to not cause even more damage.</p>
<p>I hope it works out okay.</p>
<p>These are the times when one feels fortunate to be a tenant and have the landlord take care of these issues. S is a tenant, living in a condo. From my hazy memory, there were no large trees anywhere near his unit or building, so I suspect his building should be OK.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about your home, Barrons, as well as the damage that others have and are suffering.</p>
<p>Three houses on our block had big trees land on them, another had a very near miss, and our neighbors across the street had six 80’ trees down – nothing hit the house or the cars. We lost power for 15 hours Fri.-Sat., and got back cable/internet this afternoon. We are the only house on our block with power this time around – last time (in the winter) we were the only ones without it.</p>
<p>We were prepared to bug out to a hotel. We have been offering ice, food and a cool place to sleep for anyone who is still in the neighborhood. I think a lot of folks have left for the week. I know a few folks have bought generators in the past few days – it’s noisier at night than it was Saturday.</p>
<p>S did indeed get his power back while he was at work on Tuesday. I feel for those of you still without power and those who’ve experienced significant damage to your homes.</p>
<p>parents house got power back today</p>
<p>apparently ice cream was on sale on the trip to the grocery store last week. My parents have discovered that those cardboard ice cream boxes fall apart… and spread their melted ice cream all over the basement freezer. yuck.</p>