After 145 Hours without electricity, I am finally back on (SE Conn.)

[NutmegYankee]

Thanks for all the kind wishes from Fellow DU'ers as I posted a few posts whenever I could charge up my UPS. Connecticut Light & Power responded to the withering criticism from the Eastern portion of Connecticut to surge trucks over here. I had not seen a single truck until Friday, when I suddenly saw over 20 trucks. Sure enough I got power back last night.

Please remember the tens of thousands of people who are still without power, which runs their well pumps, leaving them without water.

[krispos42]

1. Yay!

Welcome back to the light!

[NutmegYankee]

19. Thanks! It's good to be in the light.

[malaise]

2. Glad you're up and running again

Until we lose our power and water supplies we never contemplate the real inconvenience left by tropical storms or hurricanes. After Gilbert we had six weeks without water and eight weeks without power. I never want to repeat that experience.

[NutmegYankee]

6. Good Grief!

I'd go nuts after an experience like that!

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. THAT is why I plan on visiting relatives on the opposite coast if we get hit.

The aftermath is almost as bad as the storm.

People who have not gone thru a bad storm do not seem to understand the importance of filling the bathtub with water, or ALL the bathtubs with water. Until they realize they cannot "flush" a toilet when water systems break down, or wells go out.( wells are often pumped using electricity).
That is the one reason I am keeping the enormous old claw foot bathtub in our 2nd bathroom...just in case I need to fill it.

but man, no A/c in the sticky hot humid weather following a hurricane, my heart goes out to folks who are enduring this.

[NutmegYankee]

13. The weather was great after the storm.

We had nice sunny days with clear nights and very low humidity. The highs got into the 70s, though the mornings were dropping into the low 50s. I did spend a lot of time during the blackout admiring the stars. The Milky Way was very prominent in the night sky as the moon was just coming out of a new moon.

[malaise]

21. I find the aftermath worse than the storm

The truth is that I left Jamaica for a conference in Cincinnati and then spent a few days with my sister in Miami - that one week break helped - it really gets to you after a while.

[NutmegYankee]

28. I still can't imagine weeks without running water.

[malaise]

30. We knew where to find water to fill up or take a shower

but there was none in pipes for months. The truth is the no water is always way worse than the no electricity.
We spent a lot of time at the beach where we could get delish fish cooked on coal fires and fresh water pipes to bathe.

We also have a good friend who managed one of the big city hotels so when we were really desperate we'd go there and bathe. :D

[myrna minx]

3. Welcome back. I'm so happy that yo have power again.

What an ordeal you've been though. All of my best.

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. That's a long poke...

...we had 11 days in the dark in the wake of the '98 ice storm. Seriously not-fun.

[midnight]

5. K&R....

[jpak]

8. I was 4 days w/o power and trapped by floodwaters for a day

Irene was overhyped!!!!11111

:hi:

[NutmegYankee]

17. I'm so glad I missed that debate on DU.

People may have groaned about hype, but warning people to go get supplies before this storm was spot on! Over a dozen towns in the SE of Conn. were 100% without power for days. No gas pumps, no food, and for many on wells, no water.

[malaise]

22. LOL

:hi:

[Honeycombe8]

9. OMG. Is that about 6 days w/o power? Awful. Did people still function...

go to work, go grocery shopping, etc? Or was the whole town pretty much at a standstill?

I hope it wasn't too hot there. Here in TX we've had record heat (100 to 110 degrees) and the worse drought in decades. We could've used some of that rain. Just a drop.

[NutmegYankee]

16. We still went to work, though schools closed.

Many stores used generators to bring up lights and registers. You couldn't get milk, frozen goods, or meat as the generators were not powerful enough to keep the refrigeration going. I talked with the some of the owners and they said they were working with the insurance company to cover the losses. Debit and credit didn't work so we had to use cash for everything. Gasoline was in short supply for days as people tried to feed their generators, usually to the tune of $40 or more a day. Connecticut now has the highest gas prices in the CONUS, beating out California.

The weather was delightful. Lows in the 50s, highs in the mid-70s and no humidity. I don't have AC anyway, so it was fairly normal for me other than I usually would have a few ceiling fans going.

[Fumesucker]

10. Woohoo...

Glad to hear you're OK..

[Odin2005]

11. YAY! How much rain did you folks get up there?

[NutmegYankee]

12. I only got about 2.5 inches. It was a wind event on the East side.

The wind was on the east side where I was and the rain was on the west side.

[hedgehog]

14. Now's the time to post some advice for the rest of us.

[NutmegYankee]

18. Here goes.

Stockpile drinking water even if you have a municipal supply. The system could go down and you may go to a boil water notice. If you have a well, fill buckets with water and fill the bathtub - you will need it for the toilets. Stock up on beer - it makes you not care as much that you have no internet and you will have plenty of company to chat with over the candlelight at the kitchen table.

Canned food with a can opener will keep you well fed. Dinty Moore Beef Stew is easy to cook in a sauce pan on a Coleman propane camp stove and makes a great breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which is probably why I will never eat it again. You can boil water in a teakettle and make coffee by manually pouring it into the coffee grounds with the coffee maker lid open. Invite the neighbors over and enjoy your coffee with canned condensed milk. YUMM! If you choose to not eat beef stew, just add water pancakes and real Maple Syrup will make those mornings go better. Buy those little packets of margarine, and other condiments for these meals.

A portable radio and a listing of talk radio or NPR stations will help you get news. Stock up on batteries. Be prepared to not have any electronic goodies working. I lost cell reception for two days and it takes the battery down fast.

Get candles in glass jars for safety, but try to find unscented ones. After 6 days of using Yankee Candles, I wonder if the honeysuckle smell will ever leave my nostrils.

LED flashlights are well worth the cost when compared to battery consumption of regular bulbs.

Do laundry before the storm and stock up on clean clothes. And when you go to use the dryer, don't be a complete idiot like I was and forget to hit the on button before you go to bed or you will wear wrinkled clothes for a week like me.


And remember that you will get to know your neighbors quite well. I went to two enormous cookouts as freezers were liquidated.

[malaise]

23. I know tons of Jamaican families who will never eat canned corned

beef again. That's too funny.

many people forget to wash all dirty clothes and dishes before a storm. They pay big time. We even change our sheets and towels and wash everything in sight. :D

[hedgehog]

24. The warning to wash the clothes and dishes is one I never

saw anywhere but here, and it makes a lot of sense.

[NutmegYankee]

26. I read it here too and did laundry.

But as I noted above, I forgot to start the dryer for the main load before I went to bed. I had clothes lines strung throughout the basement to dry clothes in the morning.

[CTyankee]

29. Also: get your car gassed up and get cash out of the ATM.

I did both, plus all the laundry you mention, so I felt pretty smug. I tried to get enough ice for my cooler but was unsuccessful in getting that much. However, what I had helped a lot. A gas stove and a gas hot water heater gave us cooking and hot showers...hooray!!!

For the wasted food, at least I could submit that to the insurance company! They didn't screw around (obviously, too busy with the really big stuff). We had only a relatively minor backyard fence problem...

[malaise]

31. And don't forget the car charger for your cell phone

Find that old phone that doesn't need power.

[HappyMe]

15. Well, that's great news.

I heard this morning that there is going to be an investigation into why it has taken so long to get the power in CT back on.

[opiate69]

20. Glad they got you back up and running..

It's kinda weird though, my Mom and Sister in the Jewitt City/Voluntown area had power back wednesday.. I remember going through hurricane Gloria back there my senior year of high school, and we were out of power for a full week too.

[KittyWampus]

25. Still people on eastern Long Island w/o power. Freaking disgrace.

[NutmegYankee]

27. I hear you.

It really wasn't that bad of a storm.