From Dr Science

via liberal japonicus

Hello Mr and Mrs America and all the ships at sea. The good doctor is fine but doesn't have the bandwidth to post this up, so she sent it as an email to the usual suspects and Japan time being what it is, I'm putting it up. 

I've had an easier Sandy than most of the people in my area. We only lost power from 5pm Monday till 8am Tuesday, and then again all of yesterday afternoon (while they worked on the trunk line -- the entire town was out). And since we have a gas stove, we had a hot meal Monday night, and got through all 3 Lorien chapters of the Lord of the Rings --  Sprog the Elder used a book light to read aloud and did all the voices, including Galadriel's soliloquy to great effect. I also appreciated that she gave Haldir an accent, because he's speaking a language he's not used to.

But alas, our Internet connection went down on Tuesday and hasn't come back yet -- if this gets out, it'll be by way of using my husband's phone as a hotspot, a very thin and shaky pipe.

Here in central NJ we've luckily had very few deaths or injuries, so it's just an EPIC pain in the neck. Some of the towns have power, but not all: Princeton has some power, for instance, while Somerville looks to still be almost all dark. Schools are all closed, either because the school buildings don't yet have power, or because so many roads are blocked with trees and downed wires. I've *never* seen so many downed wires: even today, days after the storm, there are wires dangling alongside major roads -- so you can imagine what the side roads are like.

Many people still aren't back to work, so travel wouldn't be too bad --  except now the gas-hunters are out. Very few gas stations are open, so the ones that are have lines half a mile to a mile long -- or longer. "It looks like pictures from my history book", says StE, "the ones of that old Gas Crisis long ago." That would be the 1970s, pipsqueak. Yes, it's like that, except there's also a pump at each station dedicated to people on foot carrying gas containers.  Thank goodness we reflexively filled up both cars over the weekend -- we won't need gas until next week, when I hope the status will be more quo. I haven't noticed gas price gouging -- but then, I *have* noticed police at all the open gas stations, directing traffic and keeping tempers in check.

Everyone you see looks exhausted, but not particularly traumatized: just worn with effort and cold. Luckily, it hasn't been below freezing at night, but temps in the 40s are no fun. Every time you go into a building that has reliable power there's a drift of people around the outlets, charging their laptops and phones. The grocery store I went into today had tables set up in the foyer with power strips on them to accommodate all the people.

I haven't encountered people getting angry, yet, about the pace of recovery: we can all see it working its way from the larger cities to the smaller, the larger roads to the smaller. And here in central NJ, we know we really didn't get hit *badly*, not compared to places on the shores, so people seem resigned to struggling along comparatively stoicly. At least for right now -- tempers will start to frazzle in areas that are still powerless on Election Day, or if we get temperatures below freezing. 

I'm going to be a pollworker, as usual, so this election should be an *interesting* experience. All the voting machines in use in Mercer County, at least, can run on battery power if necessary, but I don't know if other counties may have to go to paper ballots.

Frankly, I really want Obama's 2nd term agenda to include another, better-targeted Stimulus bill, with *no* tax breaks but lots and LOTS of infrastructure spending. And also a climate change bill. And a pony ...

 

Comments

[lily]

Thanks for checking in. I'm so glad you are OK!

[sapient]

Obama was in Wisconsin today. I love the guy in the crowd who says "One Country!"

In fact, we are one country. Glad you're okay, Doctor Science.

[bobbyp]

Good to hear you made it, doc. A pony you say? Everybody can get behind that!

[hairshirthedonist]

Glad to know you're well, Doc Sci. I feel guilty reading about even your relatively minor problems, which sound relatively major compared what we got 40 or 50 miles south of you. (I don't even want to think about Hoboken....)

[sapient]

The Marathon. I know one person who was going to run (and a couple of people who are friends of friends). I thought that it should have been cancelled on Wednesday. Now it is cancelled.

I hope that the participants who travelled to NY are able to enjoy something there. The fact that it was supposed to have started on Staten Island - that would have been incredibly depressing. Or inspiring (I was trying to talk myself into that). I just wish the decision had been made sooner. Or not at all.

It's mind boggling how huge this disaster is. (Although I do have to say that I (in Central Virginia) have been without power for multiple days many times. I'm not in a rural area. I recognize, of course, that being lightless is less scary, perhaps, in C'ville VA, than in Manhattan. But, still, we take electricity way too much for granted.)

[sapient]

Just reread my comment, and certainly didn't mean to compare the lack of electricity that we have suffered here for a week with the flooding and devastation that occurred on Staten Island.

What I meant was: those of us lease affected by storms, etc., tend to take certain services for granted.

And, despite having family and close friends in New York and New Jersey, it's only beginning to sink in how huge this damage has been.

[sapient]

least (I give up.)

[Hartmut]

At least in rural areas there is a good chance that a house was built before electrification (or designed to that standard) and thus has the options to go without built in. Big city living quarters rarely have that. Gas lines are not that dissimilar to electric ones (i.e.likely to fail in an emergency). And what big city dweller (not on a nostalgia trip) has petrol lamps and a sufficient supply of fuel ready these days?

[sapient]

At least in rural areas there is a good chance that a house was built before electrification

Maybe in Europe. Not true in the U.S. Again, I'm not in a truly rural area, but my small town has suffered a lot of bad weather in past five years. Most of my friends have had a tree on their house, or their car, or serious property damage. Not much flooding (because we live in the mountains), and not much loss of life (none among my friends, thankfully). Most people (including me) have been out of electricity for almost a week at a time. About ten years ago, it was more than a week for me.

Unprecedented tornadoes, "microbursts", derechos... Still, lots of climate change deniers. Anyway, good to learn how to prepare (and to evacuate, if necessary).

[Hartmut]

I thought that some esp. rural parts of the US only got electrified in or shortly after the New Deal era while a lot of housing dates back to the early 20th century, i.e. a few decades before that. I think I remember quite a number of still living US politicians claiming that the power lines reached their houses only after they were born (showing how humble their upbringing was).

[sapient]

That's probably true, Hartmut. I'm not sure how many rural people live in older dwellings though. Maybe it's more than I think.

[joel hanes]

In most of the pre-Depression homes I know best, remodelling has replaced gravity/convection/hot water central heating with much more efficient modern fan-driven heat. Old chimneys have been sealed against heat loss and vermin.

So even in old houses, there's often no recourse when the electrical service is out.