On 10/29/2012 09:20 AM, Han wrote:
Swingman wrote in
:

On 10/29/2012 10:42 AM, Leon wrote:
I don't doubt that this could be pretty tough but the way it is being
described from my neck of the woods is that this could very well be
the end of the world as we know it.

In my best Nailshooter/Hispanic accent: It's Butch's fault ...

It is starting to blow and rain here near the extreme NE corner of NJ,
and the center is still 100's of miles away. Irene was bad here not
because the winds were that high, although we had pretty bad power
outages. It was so bad because of the flooding from streams and rivers
overflowing (and because people had built in flood plains). Here they
expect not that much rain (still plenty for the area), but winds that
cause power outages and the long lingering they expect that will keep
power company crews from fixing the problems. PSEG has already said
they don't really expect to start fixing problems until Wednesday or
Thursday, and it may take them a week or 10 days to finish. Whether the
prediction is to lower expectations after the twin disasters last year
of Irene and the freak snowstorm, or a more realistic approach, I don't
know. SO far, so good here, though.

As far as fault - the US has far greater amounts of overhead power and
other utilities than in (denser populated) Europe. Anytime there are
winds over 30 mph, branches break and cut power lines. Apparently the
repeated costs of fixing these things (including the need for large
standby crews) is less than simply investing in underground wiring.
Just one little pet peeve.


Apparently underground utilities have their drawbacks, at least in lower
Manhattan!


--
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure,the creed of ignorance, and the
gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery"
-Winston Churchill