What's taking so long to restore power

[krcit]

South shore of Long Island here. Many people's frustration is with the lack of information from LIPA. My mom just got power back yesterday..she is wheelchair bound and elderly. Every time I was able to get through to LIPA, I was told a different story. Every time. A full week after the storm, they decided that inspections were needed before power could be restored...what changed in a week?? All the flood damage was there the day after the storm, why did it take a week to tell people to get information? My friends out of state told me that there was not much coverage about Long island until the past few days and the reason there is now is that the residents here are contacting the media. Over half of my town has severe flood damage, the contents of their homes are at the curb but the garbage hasn't been picked up since sandy, kids still haven't returned to school. This isn't just a power outage....people have lost everything. It's devastating. A bit of compassion goes a long way.

 

[cornflake]

I think there's a combo deal here -

First, there is a seriously significant amount of damage, not just from the trees and lines down but from water that damaged some substations/transformers/whatnot when it poured over places.

Second, as others have pointed out, there's terrible damage in Jersey, yet the Jersey power companies have gotten more than two million people nearly back on line and LIPA is still working on a decent percentage of the original outage. Criticism of their business and maintenance practices is nothing new - and this is part of that. No one is criticizing the crews and workers out actually doing the job; it's the company and its decisions.

Third, as to the impatience factor - in general, the longer outages don't tend to happen here, so people do tend to expect outages to be fixed sooner (if a place prone to ice storms and etc. has several-day-long outages every season, I think customers tend to be more accepting.) I think.

 

[JessicaR]

Also, during these outages we were experiencing below freezing temps. Some areas are absolutely devastated. Some areas have no water, no power, no gas at stations or unable to pump and lack of any real communication and help.

This isn't just a power outage....people have lost everything. It's devastating. A bit of compassion goes a long way.

Yes.

 

[LisaR]

After living through tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards, plus watching the news and seeing other areas deal with all types of disasters, my opinion is that very few places are prepared for true disasters. The only hope is they learn from their mistakes and are better prepared if, God forbid, they are hit again.

 

[hereyago]

sandy was over 900 miles in diameter,so it wasn't just NY and NJ affected.with that, salt from the water corroding the lines, trees down and debri still has to be removed first. Yea 2 weeks out of power sucks,but you have no control over it. Been there done that and I survived it. Some people did nothing to prepare whether they thought their area was immune to destruction or they were silly enough to think their local government would fix everything back to normal in 2 days. Hopefully this is a wakeup call for both individuals realizing they better be prepared to "save themselves" until help can come and things start to get things back on track. And hopefully the powers that be be better prepared to help their citizens I am sure other states would be willing to give advice on how they deal with certain natural disasters.

 

[Poohforyou]

Hey long island, stay strong and vent all you want. I'm in Nj about 50 miles from the coast & power is almost fully restored in our area. Most people here have never lost power for more than a few hours so going days & weeks w/o is tough no matter how prepared you try to be. Many people here have wells & septic so that means nothing unless you have a generator and even then you can't power up everything.

I can't believe the lack of compassion here or actually I can. No one is bad mouthing the work crews or implying they aren't working really hard. People are just cold, tired and frustrated.

 

[donac]

I think the problem some people have is what I have experienced and that is why it is frustrating.

Our power went out Monday. I had a tree take out the cable and the power line. Lucklily we still had the phone line. I called JCPL that night. By Wed night at least the police and one person from JCPL came through. The lights went on in the neighborhood Wed night. Over the next 6 days at least 3 other people came through to checked to see that a line had gone down. I called every morning and every evening because I was afraid I would be the lost house on the block. 8 days after we lost power we got it back.

We are not used to major storms like we had this time. I have been on the jersey shore for 34 years and I have never lost power for this long of a time. I have lived in jersey all my life and we never had this problem before. Yes certain areas do lose power more than most but those are usually in more remote locations in the state.

Hoper everyone gets their power back soon. I go back to school for the first time in 2 weeks.

 

[donac]

Hey long island, stay strong and vent all you want. I'm in Nj about 50 miles from the coast & power is almost fully restored in our area. Most people here have never lost power for more than a few hours so going days & weeks w/o is tough no matter how prepared you try to be. Many people here have wells & septic so that means nothing unless you have a generator and even then you can't power up everything.

I can't believe the lack of compassion here or actually I can. No one is bad mouthing the work crews or implying they aren't working really hard. People are just cold, tired and frustrated.

When I had no power I had no heat, hot water or light. It got pretty dark and cold most nights. I was very frustrated.

 

[shortbun]

I'm in Ohio and we still had people without power from Sandy yesterday!

If you're powered byAEP, good luck. They are corrupt. We waited 8 days after the Derecho-8 days of no power for a storm that went on for two hours. We had no trees down, no lines down, just old infrastucture. They just kept saying, "it was a big storm, be patient!" like we were children. I finally said to one young woman, "Have you EVER been though a "big storm", this wasn't one!" AEP's profits every year are in the billions.

Sandy WAS a 'big storm', whole neighborhoods gone. In several places, whole grids are being rebuilt. I understand why that would take a long time because first, things have to be cleared away. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of assistance I can give, besides money-already done, that will really make someone feel like people are genuinely extending help.

 

[J&J]

we live in PA without power 4 days. Very thanful to have it back on. Feel so sorry with people who have had it worse and still without power. Sick people
babies pets so many need it faster. Yes cold no hot food but thankful so many lost so much. Want to say thankyou to the our electric and power co that is a big job. Hope none of the people working to get everything back on line are safe. The are outside working also cold tired etc thank you.

 

[shortbun]

According to what I'm reading, NJ has 57,000 without power. Long Island has 127,000 still without power.

That is down from 2.4 million that were affected across 10 states. About 225,000 people in the region are still without power. Considering the nor'easter hampered efforts, I'd say that's pretty dang good.

Unless you are among the 57 or 127 thousand. Have you ever been without power/heat for two weeks when the night temperatures went below 40 every night and a Nor'easter came through half way through? You clearly have no compassion for those people involved in this disaster, or at least you are not representing ANY compassion in your posts.

 

[shortbun]

And help IS there. Why the nasty attitude?

No one stockpiles gas. I don't even know anyone with a generator. I lived on the coast in SC and in Florida too. Other parts of the country deal with this stuff too. People ARE there helping. 2 weeks without power when something as devastating as this happens IS common and to be expected. Frustrating? Absolutely! I don't know why just because it is NY it should somehow be restored faster or ?????

Wow! Here in Ohio, lots of generators and lots of people rotating their stockpile of gasoline, all the time-in the big city. I think it's possible you just don't realize what people are really doing because you are not doing it. And, have you BEEN to New York or New Jersey? It's the most concentrated population area in the United States. Lately, the trend of most electric suppliers has been to trim their labor force down to a bare minimum and make as much money as possible-depending on labor from other electric companies for help.

This storm came all the way into Ohio. That means, no one within a 10 state area surrounding was sending any help to the worst hit because they HAD to hang onto their own. So, it took several days for the whole east coast to assess and send a little help. In Ohio, on Tuesday of the storm, we had trucks driving through from west of here who would not have even reached the hardest hit area until Wednesday, IF that because of the grid lock and difficulty of reaching those areas.

OH, and just so you know. Many affected people have seen little help. Their homes are molding, their neighbors are dead, they don't have warm food, they're sleeping in their cars to protect what they have left. To say, "Help IS there." is so disrespectful. This is a disaster of epic proportions. Many of these people will be overlooked and have to fend for themselves. Many of them will relocate like the refugees of Katrina/Rita. Do you really think smacking down people in unthinkable situations or are seeing it go on is constructive? Are you really trying to teach them right now about gratitude for what they DO have? Just do something to help, lecturing is not that.

 

[Aliceacc]

According to what I'm reading, NJ has 57,000 without power. Long Island has 127,000 still without power.

That is down from 2.4 million that were affected across 10 states. About 225,000 people in the region are still without power. Considering the nor'easter hampered efforts, I'd say that's pretty dang good.

Could we talk about that for a minute? It's a pretty classic example of "lying with statistics."

Those numbers represent the number of HOUSEHOLDS without power, not the number of people. My friend's house has 6 people living in it, another friend has 4.

But it gets far worse. Those are the number of households in the non-flood areas. The areas south of Montauk Highway/Merrick road, the ones in Long Beach and Massapequa and Breezy Point and Oceanside-- those people aren't even in LIPA's official count. In other words, the numbers are fiction.

We had 8 inches of snow Thursday, and those people have no heat, no power, no lights. And LIPA has the temerity to publish false numbers in the hopes of appeasing people. A woman at the Hicksville LIPA protest yesterday was quoted as begging to be taken to jail-- at least that way she and her family would have heat, lights and a hot meal.

It's been 2 weeks. Gas has been in short supply, there's no heat or lights or power.
There's a lot to answer for.

 

[joviroxx]

Having been through many hurricanes, including a Cat 5 Andrew, I can tell you that however hard it is, you need to have patience. I know its frustrating ,especially if you have never really gone through something this big. Like Ive said before, we were out of power for 4 weeks and had no running water for 3. No phones, cell phones,etc. It was 90 plus degrees, mosquitos were a buzzin', it was tough. It was also tough to learn about grids and why your neighbor has power but you don't.

Jersey power might just have a lesson to learn about this. But , and I know this sounds harsh to people, if you step back and take an objective look, all seem to be doing a really good job restoring power.

Also remember that there are many areas that were really hard hit, not just the infrastructure, but the homes. Many many homes, especially in Long Island, are going to have to be inspected for safety BEFORE power can be restored. Many houses just aren't safe and will need to be recertified before the power company can "flip their switch"

I realize it might seem that people don't understand what you are going through, but believe me, we do. Its tiring, difficult, frustrating, and worse when you see things that MIGHT have been prevented. Patience, it will get back to normal. After a storm with damage of such proportions, the only time "unacceptable" really is important is if people do NOT learn from it.

 

[msjprincess]

Having been through many hurricanes, including a Cat 5 Andrew, I can tell you that however hard it is, you need to have patience. I know its frustrating ,especially if you have never really gone through something this big. Like Ive said before, we were out of power for 4 weeks and had no running water for 3. No phones, cell phones,etc. It was 90 plus degrees, mosquitos were a buzzin', it was tough. It was also tough to learn about grids and why your neighbor has power but you don't.

Jersey power might just have a lesson to learn about this. But , and I know this sounds harsh to people, if you step back and take an objective look, all seem to be doing a really good job restoring power.

Also remember that there are many areas that were really hard hit, not just the infrastructure, but the homes. Many many homes, especially in Long Island, are going to have to be inspected for safety BEFORE power can be restored. Many houses just aren't safe and will need to be recertified before the power company can "flip their switch"

I realize it might seem that people don't understand what you are going through, but believe me, we do. Its tiring, difficult, frustrating, and worse when you see things that MIGHT have been prevented. Patience, it will get back to normal. After a storm with damage of such proportions, the only time "unacceptable" really is important is if people do NOT learn from it.

Yes but those households aren't even in the numbers. No one expects the power to be back in Long Beach or south Lindenhurst anytime soon. everyone understands why those areas don't have power.

The main problem is there is no communication from LIPA. Every day they give people a different story. LIPA was warned after Irene that they better get their act together and nothing changed.

I'm not blaming people in the field, I know how hard they are working. My DH works for a different company on LI installing utility poles. He hasn't had a day off since Sandy and has worked a minimum of 15 hours a day.

 

[rockawaybeachgirl]

Could we talk about that for a minute? It's a pretty classic example of "lying with statistics."

Those numbers represent the number of HOUSEHOLDS without power, not the number of people. My friend's house has 6 people living in it, another friend has 4.

But it gets far worse. Those are the number of households in the non-flood areas. The areas south of Montauk Highway/Merrick road, the ones in Long Beach and Massapequa and Breezy Point and Oceanside-- those people aren't even in LIPA's official count. In other words, the numbers are fiction.
We had 8 inches of snow Thursday, and those people have no heat, no power, no lights. And LIPA has the temerity to publish false numbers in the hopes of appeasing people. A woman at the
Hicksville LIPA protest yesterday was quoted as begging to be taken to jail-- at least that way she and her family would have heat, lights and a hot meal.

It's been 2 weeks. Gas has been in short supply, there's no heat or lights or power.
There's a lot to answer for.

Exactly. In additon, LIPA has at best been inconsistent or unclear communicating deadlines- and at worst has just been fully uncommunicative.


2 things are happening this week which may speed things: my town (Belle Harbor in the Rockaways) will be featured on 60 minutes tonight -although not sure the focus will be power necessarily; and secondly, the President is visiting us on Wednesday/Thursday. If the power is still not on by then, it will definitely be a point of focus.

 

[Kaspar Houser]

Just wondering.Why does the US have all their electric wires above ground?

 

[SaraJayne]

Unless you are among the 57 or 127 thousand. Have you ever been without power/heat for two weeks when the night temperatures went below 40 every night and a Nor'easter came through half way through? You clearly have no compassion for those people involved in this disaster, or at least you are not representing ANY compassion in your posts.

Never mind.

 

[SaraJayne]

Could we talk about that for a minute? It's a pretty classic example of "lying with statistics."

Those numbers represent the number of HOUSEHOLDS without power, not the number of people. My friend's house has 6 people living in it, another friend has 4.

Yes, I realize it is households, not number of people. That is how power companies count those without power.

Sorry, I thought that was common knowledge.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

The crews are wonderful. It's LIPA's management that is the problem. When LIPA took over they promised to modernize the system and did not. They were ill prepared for the storm and aren't effective in directing clean up and repair operations. Read in the paper they're sending crews out with paper maps and highlighters. No wonder Suffolk County took over management of the repair operations in that county. I am hoping Nassau County wilk do the same.