Evil Storm This Way Comes

[MrAl]

Hello again,

What a mess. 'Sandy' is wayyy too nice of a name to attach to this storm,
after what i've seen i'd say 'Attila' is more like it.
Trees downed all over the area, with dirt masses attached to the
roots some 20 feet in diameter, sticking right up out of the ground.
The problem with the power must have been the trees falling on power lines which
took a long time to clean up. Crews from several states were called in to assist
with power restoration but it still took a long time. All the motels in the area
where booked up because of the large crews alone.

We went for a ride to try to find something open and what a mistake that was. There
where so many downed trees that many roads were blocked off so most of the time we
were turning around and going back the other way. That is until we got back on the
highway where we found that the center parts of the highway where you can normally
make a U turn were all barricaded. That was because all of the traffic lights were
not working due to no power so people could not cross the highway to turn 'left'
and go back the other way. We had to drive all the way down the highway through
several towns just so we could hit an overpass where we could actually make a
U turn.
Found a store by accident as we were forced to move through the maze of streets.
It was only selling dry goods because everything else was perishable. We bought
a few things to hold us over.

We had a few shingles ripped off, while right down the street there was a big tree
that had been uprooted and fell across the power lines. It's amazing how strong
the high winds can get.

I found out this time that light isnt enough in a storm that hits this time of year.
I had built a very long term LED light that can stay lit for days at full brightness
and even longer at reduced output, but heat becomes even more important. Without
electric power the heat doesnt work. We were able to cook though using some Sterno
but next time we'll have a stove hopefully.

In spite of it all and even the long power outage we have to count ourselves
lucky with this big storm because other parts of NJ were not so lucky by far,
and Staten Island was devastated with thousands of homes destroyed. And as i
write this there are still hundreds of thousands without power in this state alone
along with quite a few deaths.

 

[steveB]

Welcome back MrAl. I'm glad you are OK. I can only imagine how bad it is down there. I'm much farther north in RI and just the tail end of this storm knocked my power out for 4 days, and our coastline is heavily damaged. The storm center was surely much more viscous.

Interestingly, my employer is sending us down to NJ to work at the Navy base for a week starting tomorrow. Somehow they found us a hotel with heat working, which was not easy I'm told. We go down there every 2 months and I think that I'm going to be very sad to see all of the waterfront restaurants we normally go to destroyed. I've heard the entire NJ coastline is destroyed.

 

[Ian Rogers]

I've been waiting for your input aswell... A newly married couple just up the street have just got back from their honeymoon in NY, they said it was scary..

 

[MrAl]

Hi again,

Steve:
Glad to hear you are ok through all of this. I guess you had to sleep in the cold weather a bit too. Nasty. Im going to try to prepare better for next time and the next storm possibly coming a week from now. They say this is not a freak storm but a view of the near future.
Yes the NJ coastline has been ripped up. Many of the boardwalks uprooted, places i used to go a lot. People who live there yearlong said they didnt leave because they would not be allowed to come back right after the storm.
Long Island got hit really bad too like Staten Island. Gigantic debris all over the place like other roofs and stuff flung up from the sea. It's going to be a massive cleanup effort taking months. On the news i can see fences that used to surround front yards, but with no houses in sight cause they were swept away. People over there just dont know what the heck to do. Looks like a bomb hit.
I think this has been the worst storm i've seen in this area ever.
The financial end of it is supposed to come in lower than other storms like Katrina, but im betting that is just because Katrina hit a very unprotected and old infrastructure area. I think they are saying between 10 and 25 billion. Katrina was over 100 billion.
They are already talking about building up the waterfront protection with various man made structures and restoring natural protective structures that existed before land developments.

 

[DerStrom8]

Glad to hear you guys are ok. I hear there's going to be another storm making its way up the east coast, except this time it'll be a snowstorm. Nor'easter, to be exact. Stay safe guys.

 

[tcmtech]

Too bad some of you guys weren't closer. I would loan you out a few of my portable generators and diesel powered industrial heaters!

Still rather amazes me what get passed off as bad weather in the rest of the civilized part of the country though.

Around here if you are not set up to handle a week or more without power and don't have at least 1 alternative heating source capable of keeping your home warm at -30 F your looked at as being a real unprepared greenie!

 

[Reloadron]

Al,

Real happy to see your post. Talking to my friends in NY and you guys really got nailed. Sent you all some First Energy crews from Ohio.

While we have some people here still without power I can't believe the devastation in NY and NJ. Then, I hear people here in Cleveland crying the blues because First Energy sent crews to NY & NJ. All these fools need to do is check their TV for a look at where the linemen are most needed. I am glad you weathered the storm, real glad.

Best wishes to all you peoples back there on the east coast. Just hang tight.

Ron

 

[steveB]

Too bad some of you guys weren't closer. I would loan you out a few of my portable generators and diesel powered industrial heaters!

Still rather amazes me what get passed off as bad weather in the rest of the civilized part of the country though.

Around here if you are not set up to handle a week or more without power and don't have at least 1 alternative heating source capable of keeping your home warm at -30 F your looked at as being a real unprepared greenie!

Personally, I wouldn't need the loan. I have a generator, two wood stoves, cabinets full of non-perishable food and a tank I pre-fill with water. We can do 2-weeks standing on our head if we need to. Still, if a 150 ft tall solid oak tree decides to fall on our house, those things are not going to prevent me, my wife and our kids from getting squashed like pancakes. If you are willing to erect a steel-framed protective cover over my house, I will take that loan any day.

There are many hidden dangers in such a storm. Falling trees, and flooding are obvious, but there is also the carbon monoxide deaths and those from fires. My neighbor had a close call, and could have easily been killed along with her 2 daughters. At 7:00 PM Wed the electricity came back on, but somehow the nuetral line to her house got blown out in a power surge. This caused half her devices to blow out, but more importantly her power strip went up in flames right in front of her. If the electricity had come back 3 hours later, she would have been sleeping for a short time, and might have been dead for a much longer time. (Smoke detectors you say? Well, they were blown out by the surge, since they are wired in with battery backup that was useless after the surge)

For most of those that survive, it's perhaps not the worst storm imaginable, but for the over 100 people killed in US (as well as those 60+ in the Caribbean), and their families/friends, I think it was just a bit more than "bad weather".

Perhaps this is not a good subject to joke and taunt people about (there are several posts in this thread that seem to do that). When you get down to it, most of the preventative measures we can take (with the exception of leaving a dangerous area) are more for comfort than survival. It's the unexpected things that are more likely to kill. -Just a thought to pass from one civilized part of the country to some other civilized parts.

 

[tcmtech]

If you think 111 dead from this storm is bad consider reading up on what storms like this used to do 50 - 150 years ago.

111 out of some 30+ million affected is nothing. Back less than a hundred years ago this level and size of storm would have put that number well into the 5 digits or higher numbers.

For example given that the 1900 Texas hurricane killed between 6000 and 12,000 people and in a much less populated area and time in history 111 out of 10's of millions is very very low. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane

I am not trying to be rude but I for one always finding amazing how few people get the concept that nature vastly out weighs us an all levels and it s only ourselves personally that can keep us safe.

I would like to know how they came up with that number being that statistics say far more are dieing every day than just 111 over a week long period especially when you factor in the dense population located in the east coast!

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm

 

[Mr RB]

The media loves hyping up a tragedy.

 

[MrAl]

Too bad some of you guys weren't closer. I would loan you out a few of my portable generators and diesel powered industrial heaters!

Still rather amazes me what get passed off as bad weather in the rest of the civilized part of the country though.

Around here if you are not set up to handle a week or more without power and don't have at least 1 alternative heating source capable of keeping your home warm at -30 F your looked at as being a real unprepared greenie!

Hi tcmtech,

Well it sounds like you can teach me a lot about surviving the cold weather and power outages.

One of the worst things this time was the cold weather which was not as bad last time or any other time i remember. So tell me how you keep warm over a period of say 1 week...do you keep fuel around to burn for heat, or do you use a sleeping bag and if you use a sleeping bag what brand and degree rating?
This could help a lot with me and my neighbors too.

I do want to mention that some foods have expiration dates too, so you cant keep them for years and years anymore but have to rotate your stock over each year or so.

 

[tcmtech]

Surviving for a week all depends on the person and what level of convenience they want really.

For me being we live out in the country and have tractors so that makes it mandatory the we have bulk fuel tanks which means that as far as my personal fuel supply there is always more than enough on hand to run my big old military gen set non stop for few weeks if necessary.

From that I can keep the normal heating systems going including the propane backup and the primary heat from my used oil burning boiler going. I have around 1300 gallons of propane in tanks at the moment and rarely let it drop below 500 in the winter. Relating to the used oil burner I have nearly 3000 gallons in tanks now so that is enough to run the whole winter!

As far as food goes frozen stuff lasts a long time and of regular foods we usually have enough on hand to go at least two weeks if needed and after that there are numerous ways to make it to town if nessisary.

Regarding bad weather transportation I have my F250 4wd that runs on propane which if needed I can fule off of my bulk tank so getting fuel for that is also not an issue.
I also have a old snowmobile for those days where the pickup can't get around and we have two bigger sized tractors that can run our 8 Ft snow blower and three loader tractors if we need to clear roadways in an emergency.
Plus there is the old dozer now too. Not sure what kind of conditions would ever stop that!

Relating to high winds or ice storms and downed trees well the loader tractors, my backhoe and chainsaws, plus the dozer would make easy work of clearing stuff off roads and buildings.

The times we have ever had bad weather I am always happy to help out the neighbors with snow moving and lending out a gen set and heaters if needed. As far as me though I can generate more power than I need and heat for longer than the whole winter lasts so I live pretty much as normal in really bad weather.

The main thing is its all a matter of thinking about what could realistically happen and making sure you have some level of strategy of dealing with it that only requires minimal if any outside help or assistance.

As far as the hurricane goes well if I lived over there I would probably be the first guy out after the storm clearing roads with my one equipment at my own expense and not waiting/complaining until the authorities figure out how they are going to milk the situation for all they can.

Personally I would suggest that when bad weather is coming plan ahead and have your poop in a group before it get there. Make sure you have a gen set that can run for extended time periods and that its set up to keep the critical systems like heat and refrigeration working sufficiently.
Plus obviously have some estimate of time as to how long it may have to run and that you have enough fuel on hand to run it that long. As far as generators go I would recommend it be of a type that uses the same fuel at lest one of your primary vehicles uses so even if you don't use it all during the storm you can get rid of it there afterwards before it goes bad.

Same with back up heat sources. portable propane heaters or wood burners are a good choice and obviously again make sure you have enough fuel on hand to keep them running for longer that the estimated length of the storm as well.

 

[Gronkdude24]

Did anyone else see the picture of the roller coast in the ocean. That was a pretty crazy sight.

 

[tvtech]

The angry sea and the isolated outback are TWO different things. I would choose the isolated outback any time
Isolated areas...used to making plans.

At the seafront...you are at God's mercy. You are not used to stuff that can/may happen. Good weather, beaches and all...Commerce areas and always activity and just so much to see and do...never ending activity. No time to actually stop and think.

You don't think about bad stuff. Until it happens... No planning necessary until the proverbial crap hits the fan.

Just saying,

Regards,
tvtech

 

[DerStrom8]

The angry sea and the isolated outback are TWO different things. I would choose the isolated outback any time

Just saying,

Regards,
tvtech

I agree!

Personally, though, Vermont suits me just fine!

 

[tvtech]

I agree!

Personally, though, Vermont suits me just fine!

Hi Matt

The sea makes me lazy. No good.

Till next time

tvtech

 

[MrAl]

Did anyone else see the picture of the roller coast in the ocean. That was a pretty crazy sight.

Hi,

That was at Seaside Heights, a place that i had visited many many times as did other residents here. I most likely rode on that roller coaster more than once. We also went there during vacations down the shore.

There's an island down there too we went to many many times also, which was beat up pretty badly. Long Beach Island.

 

[DerStrom8]

Hi Matt

The sea makes me lazy. No good.

Till next time

tvtech

I love Vermont because it's very secluded. I only like to go to the ocean for vacations. If I lived on it, I'm sure the novelty would wear off very quickly and my vacations wouldn't be fun anymore
That is why I like VT so much--you can go just about anywhere and it's a vacation

Till next time!

 

[tvtech]

Hi,

That was at Seaside Heights, a place that i had visited many many times as did other residents here. I most likely rode on that roller coaster more than once. We also went there during vacations down the shore.

There's an island down there too we went to many many times also, which was beat up pretty badly. Long Beach Island.

Happy you and your Family are OK Mr Al.

You Guys got hit hard.

Stay strong.

Regards,
tvtech

 

[MrAl]

Hi,

Thank you tvtech. We are about 15 miles from the coast and we got hit quite hard with large trees uprooted (what a sight that is). I could just imagine what happened at the shore, and i see pics on the web now that show how bad it was on the shore line and also in Staten Island and Long Island. A huge mess.

There are several factors that made it even worse. Gas stations although having thousands of gallons of gas could not pump any of it because of the lack of power. Electrical crews from out of state taking up all the motel rooms so people had no recourse there either when the power and heat went out.
They are considering now making it mandatory for gas stations to have generators in case of a storm like this. Lets see if they go through with that plan.

I myself am gathering more equipment for the next time so it wont be as bad hanging around waiting for the heat to come back on. Im considering my own generator but not sure if i want to have hassle of keeping cans of gas laying around all year long.
I love solar but i noticed that each day during this recovery there was little direct sunlight so power input from the sun would be very limited even once the storm passed. If it were not for that i'd have several panels ready to go.