Frustration Grows During Isabel Recovery

[newyawker99]

As frustration grows for people still without electricity or drinking water because of Hurricane Isabel, officials are urging patience and reminding victims of the sheer size of the task facing repair crews.

"With a disaster of this magnitude, there are going to be problems, but we're going to work through those problems," Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner said Monday during a visit to one hard-hit Richmond neighborhood still without electricity.

Warner stood in Arenzo Jefferson's back yard, where a walnut tree and a massive maple entangled in electrical wires had toppled onto the roof of Jefferson's home. Many of his neighbors' homes sustained similar damage as the storm roared through Thursday.

"As I've traveled around the Richmond area, there are neighborhoods that look like a war zone at this point," Warner said. "Progress is being made, though."


trying to recover

[meegbear]

1. Yesterday on NPR ...

* was saying "if you need help, let us know".

I really don't think these people need to say anything.

[bushh8ter]

2. Be patient is very easy for those who have electricity/ water

to say. I'm STILL waiting for Pepco to turn the juice back on.

[rocktivity]

3. The mayor of Viginia Beach said recovery could take up to 2 weeks

and she said that the night of the storm, not a couple of days later. Obviously, they're short on repairmen, supplies, and money. With most of America's cities courting bankruptcy in the face of the Bush tax cuts, that's hardly surprising.


rocknation

[calimary]

21. That's because too many of the National Guard troops are in Iraq.

Thanks again for nothing, george.

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

4. Last night (PG County MD) the power went out AGAIN..

..for about 45 seconds. It was a VERY LONG 45 seconds.

NO damage other than having to log in again.

note to bushh8ter - where are you? In DC proper, or the burbs?

[Ivory_Tower]

24. How long was your power out after the storm?

IIRC, I think I live not far from you, and I only lost power for a few seconds overall, but the area across from Goddard (not far from me) was completely dark for a couple of days. College Park and Bowie both seemed to have major outages.

It was strange for me, because my route from my house to my office (also nearby) was pretty much unscathed, so for a day or so I thought the area dodged a bullet. It was only after I started to check the area out a little bit more that I saw the extent of the outages.

[quispquake]

5. With the National Guard...

...over in Iraq, repairs here will just have to wait...

We really need to get this stupid chimp out of here...

[Ripley]

6. My cousin who lives in Wilmington, NC sent this pic...

Mean looking Isabel coming up on the coast. Thankfully, all of my family ended up with little damage, just some small trees down.

[Bandit]

14. Is this taken from a tanker? Sure looks like one

I guess it could be a breakwater but looks like it's throwing a bow wake. I don't think I would like to be aboard that ship at that moment in time. Awesome picture.

[Ripley]

18. My cousin wasn't actually on the ship.

In fact, I don't know where he got the pic..but it is out to sea. For all of those who said Isabel was "disappointing"...let's see your ass standing out there and take that picture!!!

Nature can be so beautiful yet terrifying.

[Sequoia]

17. Breathtaking!

Thanks for sharing that with us.

[catzies]

22. That's a very good Photoshop job - Snopes debunked already

We discussed this in the Lounge yesterday.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=214705

[Ripley]

27. Thanks...I didn't look that closely...I either have a dumb cousin

or he is yanking my chain!

[Beetwasher]

7. Where's the national guard?

Oh yeah, right..Iraq. Once again, this can be layed squarely at the feet of the Chimp's disastrous Iraq policy, believe it or not. The mess down there would not be nearly as bad if the national guard were available to help out.

[Gin]

8. My power was out for 4 days....many still without power....water is

on in most places..I am in Va Beach...Hampton and the Peninsula were hit hard.

No power is really inconvenient. I feel for folks still in the dark.

[underpants]

16. I think when these people do get power back they will understand

Okay we were without power for 30 hours (Friday at 9PM) and I was never really upset about it.

I understand how frustrating it can be and I have heard many calls here in Richmond airing that frustration...

BUT

When our power did come back on and I saw the pictures of the actual magnitude of what happened not only did I feel very lucky to have power but I understood why it took as long as it did. I think when those without power see exacty how catestrophic Isabel was/is they will understand too.

[BiggJawn]

9. I got it! Tax Cuts for the Rich!

That'll get the lights and water going again!

Man, I see what you folks on the East Coast are dealing with, and I can't help but think "What happens if we have an ice storm or blizzard this winter?"

The stuff in the fridge would be OK, we just put it outside, but there go the pipes and just how many sweaters can you put on?

Here's a motto Bush could use "Bush-Bringing a little bit o'Baghdad Home to YOU!"

[gratuitous]

11. Well, tax cuts and fat contracts for Halliburton

Don't forget the fat contracts for Halliburton and Bechtel. That's the surest way to get things going again.

In the meantime, those of you suffering from some privation, the corrupt Bush administration is going to send Donald Rumsfeld up and down the coast to explain that while there is some messiness and inconvenience, surely you're better off now than you were before, right? (Your part of the charade will be to shout "Right!" when he says that.)

[PATRICK]

10. Two ice storms of experience

in our region with blackouts! it amde the summer ggeat power failure seem a relative cakewalk and our crews had experience tand the popluace knew the drill and what to expect. Somethings that happen for the first time just can't be prepared for or educated about 100%.

it makes you wonder how REALLY well prepared Homeland Security is for ANY of the catastophic new manmade horrors. It can't be better and I suspect it would be far far worse.

[kathee]

12. When we went thru that tornado in 1997

(it hit us right before it hit Jarrell,TX)I recall that the electric company told us to cut our own trees, and clean our own mess, if we wanted our electricity restored. We all got together in our neighborhood, shared assorted saws and chainsaws, and had it done the same day. Took them a week, anyway.

In this climate, with these weiners in control, I guess that "if ya want somethin done, do it yerself". Why no one got zapped is beyond me. Oh, it was a trailer park. I always wondered if that was why...

[bbernardini]

13. PECO was completely unprepared for this...

People (including my wife and I) were waiting in line for HOURS to get dry ice. They didn't know when it was coming, or how much there would be, and they kept running out. Their new "outage reporting system" was also a piece of garbage.

[dofus]

15. An interesting side note to all this.

A day or two after Isabel came through, I was watching the BBC, and in their coverage of the storm and its aftermath, they said something to the effect that power was out because the U.S., unlike the UK (and maybe most of Europe?) still has above ground power lines. It was clear they were quite bemused by that.

Who here has lived in the UK or western Europe and can comment on this?

[Ripley]

19. My spouse travels to Germany regularly and says that is true

in the countries he has been in in Europe...they do have mostly underground powerlines. I also noticed a big difference when I moved to the south from the midwest...down here in Alabama, only the most recently built subdivisions have underground utilities.

[Kellanved]

20. Yes

Telephone and power lines are almost completly subterran here.

[calimary]

23. Only problem for people along the West Coast - earthquakes.

Would it even be possible here?

[Don_G]

25. I Don't See Why Not

It would be far easier to splice in a few feet of cable than to replace a long run of transmission towers and telephone poles. A lot safer too since the power would go directly to ground and wouldn't affect lives or property.

[Kellanved]

26. probably not

And there are quite a few problems associated with subterran lines: construction and repairs are far more expensive and time consuming.
I think that makes them unusable in earthquake endangered areas.


BTW:
The long range lines are above ground here as well.
Only the short range lines are below ground.

GIs coming to Germany and thinking that there is neither Power nor Telephone were a popular story in the 80s (and still are).

[Ripley]

28. But how often do you get hurricanes and tornadoes?

It wouldn't make a lot of sense to do it in your area...but it makes an enormous amount of sense to bury the lines in the south and eastern areas prone to severe weather.

Lucky you, you only have earthquakes! ;-)