On Aug 29, 11:12*pm, "Ed Huntress" wrote:
"Pete C." wrote in message

. com...



Ed Huntress wrote:

"Ignoramus4719" wrote in message
...
Life lesson #116: having a generator or two is essential.

In my case, in this storm, a generator wouldn't have done anything. The
last
time I wished I had one was after a nor'easter 25 years ago. And all it
would have done for me then is save maybe $50 worth of food.

You misunderstand the purpose of having a generator. Saving $50 worth of
food is great, but being able to go about your life as normal is
priceless.

Pete, let me repeat: I'm in a place where we don't have long power outages.
We had one once, 25 years ago. This time, and a couple of times in the past,
I've just whipped out my 200 feet of extension cords and borrowed power from
a neighbor who didn't lose his drops.

A generator would not have done anything for me this time. After 33 years, I
have acquired a sense of risk and reward on this issue, and a sense of
whether it's worth it to devote precious space to another gadget that has to
be maintained.

I have no objection to generators. They make good sense for many people. As
a college student, I sold lots of them in the farm and garden department at
Sears in Lansing, Mich. On commission. In a sale, I could scare the hell out
of someone who said he didn't need one. d8-)

For me, though, it makes little sense. Actually, I was more worried about
losing gas than electricity. My wife took a lukewarm shower yesterday before
work and *that* is where I'd be at risk of divorce.

--
Ed Huntress

FYI..

Factbox: 5.1 million customers without power after Irene
By Joshua Schneyer, Selam Gebrekidan, Eileen O'Grady, Bernie Woodall,
David Sheppard, Jeanine Prezioso, Anna Driver, Bruce Nichols | Reuters
- 19 hrs ago


(Reuters) - More than 5.1 million homes and businesses along the U.S.
Eastern Seaboard were still without power Monday evening after passage
of Tropical Storm Irene. That was down from 5.5 million earlier
Monday, but utilities said it could take days to restore electricity
in accessible areas and weeks in hardest-hit regions.

The U.S. Department of Energy reported that 5.12 million customers
were without power as of 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), with the most outages
in New York state, where 888,637 customers - down from 939,000 Monday
morning - were affected.

An earlier DOE report on Sunday had identified 5.95 million customers
without power. Monday afternoon's figure implies at least 800,000
customers had power restored since then.

Reports from utility firms and tallied by Reuters identified at least
3 million users without power at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT), but that
estimate doesn't take into account all utilities.

Monday's DOE figures break out power cuts by state. New York, New
Jersey, Connecticut and Virginia -- where the outages were greatest in
number -- all had more than 600,000 users affected.

In Rhode Island, where the biggest percentage of users was affected,
about two-thirds of the customers had no power, or more than 280,000,
the DOE said.

Utilities brought service to some customers on Monday, but said the
work would take days in many areas.

Utilities spent the first hours after Irene assessing overall system
damage and deciding where to send crews to restore service. Crews were
already busy in storm-damaged areas on Monday. In some hard-hit areas,
however, the fixes could take weeks.

RESTORATION SCHEDULES

Consolidated Edison said around 121,000 customers in New York City and
nearby Westchester County were without power on Monday afternoon, down
from around 188,000 on Sunday. The utility had plans to restore
service to all customers by late Thursday.

Jersey Central Power and Light, which serves central and northern New
Jersey, said 350,000 customers were still without power, down from a
peak of 670,000 on Sunday. Most will be back by the weekend, and all
by early next week, the company said.

"There are still areas we can't get to because of flooding and
debris," said Jersey Central spokesman Ron Morano, who estimated that
restoring service would take several days.

In Pennsylvania, utilities estimated 90 percent of customers would be
restored by the end of the day Wednesday.

In D.C. and Maryland, Pepco said it expected to restore all customers
by Thursday evening. DelMarVa Power expected to have customers
restored by noon Thursday. Baltimore Gas & Electric foresaw all
customers restored by Saturday.

In Virginia and North Carolina, Dominion estimated at least 90 percent
of affected customers would have power restored by end of day Friday.

(Reporting by Joshua Schneyer, Selam Gebrekidan, Eileen O'Grady,
Bernie Woodall, David Sheppard, Jeanine Prezioso, Anna Driver, Bruce
Nichols)

(Reporting by Bruce Nichols; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

=========

Long Island residents frustrated by power outages
By Jonathan Allen | Reuters - 18 hrs ago


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly 350,000 homes and businesses on Long
Island were without power on Monday as workers cleared hundreds of
trees downed by Hurricane Irene, fixed boardwalks and replenished
beaches denuded of sand.

In Long Beach, a barrier island community on the south side of Long
Island hard hit by the storm on Sunday, sand several feet deep was
swept into the sea or dumped further inland.

"It looked like a dried-out baseball field," Kevin Mulligan,
commissioner of public works for the City of Long Beach, said as
workers cleared and sieved large piles of sand for its eventual return
to the waterfront.

"This is the worst we've seen it in 20 or 30 years," he said.

Local officials said their priority was clearing fallen trees off
major roads but in many cases could only do so once the Long Island
Power Authority (LIPA) determined there were no dangerous or downed
power lines.

Both Long Island counties -- Nassau and Suffolk -- said the damage
done was less than had been feared. The only reported death was a man
who went windsurfing as the storm arrived, and there were no reports
of serious injuries.

But people remained frustrated by the power outages.

"If your lights are on, you're happy. If they're not, you're
miserable," said Steve Levy, Suffolk County chief executive.

He said LIPA had assured him that at least half of the county's
residents affected by power outages would have their electricity back
by Tuesday afternoon.

LIPA did not respond to a request for information about the
restoration efforts.

In Nassau County, drivers were warned to take extra care on the roads
as many traffic lights remained dark.

Residents in coastal areas, many of whom had been ordered to evacuate
ahead of the storm, were pumping water of basements and ground floors.

A mobile van from the state Department of Financial Services was
traveling to the worst-hit areas to help residents file insurance
claims.

The Nassau County Consumer Affairs Office was investigating a few
reports of price-gouging on gasoline and water, according to a
spokeswoman.

While many beaches remained closed, officials said they should all
reopen in coming days, in time for the Labor Day weekend, one of the
busiest times for waterfront businesses.

The Allegria Hotel in Long Beach said even with two feet of water
flooding its lobby, it remained open throughout the storm, hosting
journalists covering the storm.

"It did make a mess, but we're clearing it up and it's looking pretty
good," said manager Ingrid Dodd.

(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Peter Bohan)