<p>Be prepared. Have a plan B. California is nicer. </p>
<p>At one time the Oregon Territories had more population than CA. When the Oregonians (Washington, Idaho) discovered that California had nicer weather, grapes grow well, surfing, gold, and babes; They all went south, never to return.</p>
<p>Read this letter to the editor in the Seattle Times today:</p>
<p>Their lips are frozen</p>
<p>Families are cold. People are dying in their homes. Stoplights are out and intersections are uncontrolled.</p>
<p>Where is the government? Why isn’t the National Guard going door to door delivering blankets and informing people of the hazards of burning gas or charcoal? Why aren’t the police manning the intersections? Why aren’t people being contacted and told how to get help?</p>
<p>I drove past the Seattle City Light depot in South Seattle on Sunday and half the utility trucks were still parked there.</p>
<p>No state, county or city officials are quoted [as of] Monday’s Times regarding the power outages. Do they not care? I am furious with our leadership. The last thing I saw from our governor was her non-statement about the viaduct. Mayor Greg Nickels’ Web site is all about the tunnel. I haven’t seen anything from King County Executive Ron Sims.</p>
<p>People are being told they might not get power until Friday and we’re getting only 80 crews from out of state?</p>
<p>I hope this will be like the Chicago snow storm of 1979, when Chicagoans finally realized their leaders were not there for them and voted them out.</p>
<p> Paul Fichter, Seattle</p>
<p>I don’t know about ya’ll, but this guy seems waaay over the top in wanting govt help- what happened to self-sufficiency and neighbors helping neighbors? Yup, we went 4 days with no power last month in the snow and it ws lousy, though unlike WA Dad, my office had power which made all the difference in my state of agitation…so what if the bedroom was 40F, I could still work.</p>
<p>D and her husband of 5 weeks left Saturday on their honeymoon. They had no power in Olympia for a few days before they left. The airport motel at which they had a reservation Friday night didn’t answer the phone and was dark when they got there. They snagged the last room at the Ramada for—are you ready?-- $300. Meanwhile I had been checking Alaska Airlines to see their flight status. Alaska didn’t seem to be affected by the outage. It was quite an adventure though. She called me at 7:30 a.m. to say they were in the security line, then 8:50 a.m.to say they were on the plane. It landed only 38 minutes late.</p>
<p>I continue to be appalled by PSE’s handling of the storm. They replaced 1000 poles in 1993 and expect to replace 1200 or more in this storm, but I hear NO ONE suggesting that the wires could go underground. They are rebuilding numerous roads, opening up the ducts for cable–but electricity remains on tall poles!</p>
<p>Hey Dmd, you are right. Also, in our formal rural heavily -treed town, every fall the tree comapnies would drive through the streets trimming any trees deamed of concern before winter…why doesn’t that happen here? It’s so much easier to fix it before the problem (and the whinging) begins!</p>
<p>Power came back on last night for us 
Lots of big trees down all over the neighborhood, but none that hit the house this time. Seems we were lucky to get our power back so “soon.” Others in more rural parts of the city have been told not to expect it back before Christmas!</p>
<p>we are lucky it hasn’t been that cold- but what the heck are we gonna do when the earthquake hits, if we can’t last a few days with our own supplies of water and food.
I mean people are flippin out because their cable is down? c’mon
If people dont know what to do at a 4 way stop, when the traffic light is out they shouldn’t be on the road.
Personally I don’t want what few police we have manning traffic control, sorry that it is an inconvience for the stoplights to be out- but at least we have fewer people running them !!
For years we have been warned that The BIG One is coming-this is nothing compared to what the people of New Orleans went through/going through or what people living in less developed areas deal with all the time- but maybe this will start to get some who weren’t prepared for emergiencies to realize that the thing about emergencies is, they dont wait until you are ready!</p>
<p>Re wires: They have said that above ground wire are much easier to locate and fix, and in case of earthquake, are still accessible- I am sure it is probably much cheaper for the utility company to maintain above ground.
But I know what you mean about Puget Power, when we lived on the east side we didn’t think too highly of them either.</p>
<p>They should require all trees along the powerlines to be cut lower than the lines for 50 feet or so on both sides. Otherwise this will happen every 10 years when a big wind comes through. Undergrounding high powerlines has it’s own problems and high costs.</p>
<p>Power’s back on here in the Third World, and I heard on the radio that even Duvall has power (at least in some neighborhoods). </p>
<p>Every year a fleet of Asplundh trucks rolls around our area trimming trees around power lines. The number of minor outages has dropped a lot since they started trimming 3-4 years ago. Doesn’t this happen everywhere in the region? I talked to the trimming crew last year and they said that they could only trim trees outside the utility easement with the permission of the homeowner, and even then county, state and federal rules prohibit trimming trees in some areas (see “CAO” and other well-meaning environmental laws and regulations). They told me that lots of homeowners just say no to any tree trimming.</p>
<p>Lots of great stories of neighbors helping neighbors in our area. Jr even used some of them in a college essay. (Yes, he’s still writing essays, why do you ask?) </p>
<p>Humorous blackout anecdote – my office building was blacked out until yesterday. We could get in to retrieve things, but there was no practical way to work in the building (cold, dark, cold). When the power at the building came back on yesterday afternoon I was the first employee trying to get in. A facilities person showed up with the key, which wouldn’t open the door since the powered electric locks were up and running. The electric locks wouldn’t open since the security system that controlled them wasn’t rebooted yet. The security system could only be reset at our headquarters in Ohio. It took three hours to find the right combination of magic settings to allow the doors to work again. At a little after 4 pm Facilities sent out an email to go ahead and come in to work. One manager who lives near the office did go in, only to find that it was still about 42 degrees inside. He went home. Good times!</p>
<p>Humorous blackout anecdote #2: Two years ago I walked around my lot with an arborist identifying trees that were unsafe (two) and needed to be thinned (another three). None of these trees fell down. The ones that fell looked fine. I’m not blaming the arborist, by the way, just noting an amusing coincidence.</p>
<p>The argument that overhead power lines would be easier to fix after an earthquake doesn’t hold water. First, the poles would be more likely to come down in the first place. Second, there are continuity sensors, so they could narrow down the location of any line failures without difficulty. And if it’s earthquake issues, why are ANY lines put underground (as they are in most new construction areas)?</p>
<p>Rule #1 - Everybody gets furious with their power company after a big storm. You don’t know how really lame they are until you have a big emergency. (Then, once they have power, they forget all about it.)</p>
<p>Rule #2 - If you didn’t complain to your Congressperson after Katrina, you don’t have much of a right to complain when it hits your own town.</p>
<p>Rule #3 - You realize how important LOCAL officials are in handling emergencies. Think about that next time you elect your town supervisor.</p>
<p>Undergrounding costs a multiple of above ground poles. New developments will do it for sales purposes and they can pass the cost to the buyers. Tough in older areas and for the high power distribution lines.
Get the trees away from the poles and they are fine in most cases.</p>