Superstorm Sandy

[ezdays]

I've been getting email from, Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine saying that their server is in NYC and having problems:

The MRH website is hosted at a facility in Manhattan, which, as has been widely broadcast, just got hit by "Superstorm Sandy." As a result, there are a lot of fiber cuts, a lot of flooded basements, and a very uncertain power situation. As we understand it, the first MRH outage on Monday night/Tuesday morning was caused by a the failure of a fuel tank pump when the basement it was in was flooded.

The outage today was caused by two other facilities experiencing problems that effectively cut our hosting facility off.

There may be additional outages - all of these facilities are currently running on generator power as ConEd both waits for the water to recede and then dries out their salt-water soaked substations and transformers.

[jglfan]

I tried to contact Gary Pfeil (jglfan), in Boonton NJ, but no response. I hope it's just a case of the power being out.

Wayne

Hi folks, yes we've lost power as of 4:00 Monday and was told today that it may be another 5 to 7 days. The first two days weren't bad but now the nights have been colder ( no heat or hot water). My wife has been using the catering type burners to heat up food. House temp was in the 50's till today, now in mid 40's. I am back at work today, they just got power back, and it is my first chance to see the news since Monday. No damage to my home, other than the gate that opens to the back yard, which was blown off its hinges. Biggest piece of luck was little rain, with no electric I have no sump pump and a lot of rain would have caused water in the basement. No trace of water thankfully! Biggest problem now is not lack of electricity, it is the lack of electricity at the gas stations. Most are still closed, those that are open have lines 1/4 mile long. I had filled up over the weekend but will need to get gas tomorrow again, hope some more stations get power.

[ezdays]

Good to hear from you Gary. I don't think I'd like to be anywhere near the east coast right now. Thanks for letting us know that you're OK for now....

[doctorwayne]

Good to know that you've come through this so well, Gary.

Wayne

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I'm pretty concerned about Staten Island, since a good chunk of my Family lives there, and also the Diesel shop I work at. So far, things haven't appeared to be to bad for them, though Staten Island apparently has the highest death toll, and places I know there were pretty much wiped out by the floods.

At our home, we only had about 5 big trees, fall, but only two of them did any damage (splintering to sections of fence). We managed to clear it all before noon on tuesday though.

I suppose I'm lucky that the worst thing to come from this storm for me was a horrifying case of poison oak to the face (I could probably audition to be the phantom of the opera with this face). Must have ran into it prior to the storm when clearing out drainage ditches to make sure they didn't block up and flood the area by our shop.

Hope everyone else is alright, though I suppose by now things have settled down.

[tompm]

Last night we discovered additional damage to the house. One of the downspouts in the back of the house was ripped off the wall. Something hit the siding under my son’s bedroom window. There is a big dent in the siding and the molding is broken. My son remembers something hitting the wall but at the time we were dealing with the down tree in the front yard. Tonight when I get home I will be taking a closer inspection of the back of the house.

This is getting old fast for us. The gutters, downspouts, roof, and portions of the siding were replaced two years ago as a result of the major hailstorm. This is now the second National Disaster in three years that we have damage to our house. I know we are luckier than a lot of other people but it is just frustrating.

My daughter has been trying to reach one of her teammates from last year’s club volleyball team. They are year-round residents of Long Beach Island. So far she has not heard back.

[jglfan]

Good to hear from you Gary. I don't think I'd like to be anywhere near the east coast right now. Thanks for letting us know that you're OK for now....

Good to know that you've come through this so well, Gary.

Thanks for the concern and keeping me in your thoughts guys. It is much appreciated!

[ezdays]

Our local news this morning showed Nation Guard planes being loaded with trucks and equipment from Arizona Public Service to be dispatched to Long Island to help repair the electrical infrastructure. They said that there would be 20 plane loads heading there today. I hope this is happening all over the country..

We here on this side of the country can't really comprehend the damage and chaos that this storm has caused, we can only view the pictures and shake our heads.

One thing that bothered me is that one of our local stations sent a reporter and crew to the east coast prior to the storm hitting, and we get the usual pictures of him holding a microphone standing in two feet of water and being blown down the street by the wind. Doesn't everyone back there have enough to deal with without having more people like that needlessly risking having to be rescued and diverting efforts from those that really are in need? Food, gas, lodging has to be at a premium, now there are probably thousands of extra news people there to take up some of these much needed commodities. I wonder just how they would feel if they were occupying a hotel room that a family that just lost their home needed for some shelter, or to use up a few tanks of gas to travel around the area, that someone else would need to go find groceries for their family or to get to work? Sorry, it just frosts me when I see stuff like that, we don't need all these extra and duplicate reports just to satisfy the egos of a manager of a TV station.

[FiatFan]

Well said, Don!

[Puddlejumper]

Sorry I didn't check in sooner guys. There was some flooding and high winds resulting in downed trees, otherwise my area got away relatively unscathed. I do appreciate the sense of concern, and family, brought about in this forum. You guys are the best. Wayne, I appreciate the little extra effort you took to check on me.

Dave

[tomustang]

Thanks for checking in chris and dave. hope all is well


Last night I drove around to look at the area and I didn't need to go father than two blocks to see snapped power poles and lines hanging on the ground. Really dodged a bullet with having a minor power outage in my neighborhood

[bdw9535]

As others have stated I too appreicate the concern showed by members of the forum. We have been without power since Monday, but thanks to a line crew from Alabama Power we have our electric restored, they have been replacing downed poles, wires and blown transformers in our area. Also have a large group of lineman from Texas working here. Other than the electric and downed trees on the property we have no damage to the house. Sixteen miles East is another story.

Bruce

[faraway]

Glad to see you back, unhurt and no severe damage to the property

[Charlie B]

Hi Bruce
I'm glad you are back. Loss of power is pretty bad. I'm glad your problems did not extend to damage to the house, nor to you or a family member.
It was very bad in many places.
Charlie

[ezdays]

I know there are a lot of frustrated people, and that things can't get restored to normal soon enough, but I just read something that borders on ridiculous. Utility workers trying to restore power lines in Bridgeport, Conn, were pelted with eggs and other things because the mayor of Bridgeport said that they were being "shortchanged" while more affluent areas were being restored first. As a result, the power company pulled their workers until the city could provide protection for them. True or not, (and the power co. denies it), isn't that kind of like shooting yourself in the foot? If it were me, I'd have bound and gagged the mayor and stuck him in a basement until power was restored..