What's taking so long to restore power

[SaraJayne]

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

Not all of them do. It varies, for many reasons. Age of town, geography, how high the water table is, etc.

 

[RadioNate]

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.

I've been through my share of hurricanes & other disasters. You really don't need to lecture me about what that is like.

No one got a smack down. Please.

There are out of area electric crews, Red Cross, FEMA...help is there. I asked if that poster needed something specific we could help them with. Adjusting to the new normal is tough. No one is minimizing that.

Those of us who've been through this sort of thing are simply pointing out that this is all typical, we've acknowledged that it is stressful & frustrating. That this is a huge disaster & it sucks.

And yes, I've been to NY & NJ.

 

[SaraJayne]

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.

Correction ~ the storm came all the way into eastern Wisconsin. Like you said yourself, this is a disaster of "epic proportions". Which means it will take time for everyone to get their power back.

 

[krcit]

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.

Exactly! The complete lack of communication from LIPA for the first 7-8 days and then when they do communicate it's all bs. People want answers. If there isn't going to be power for 2 months then tell people so they can make a plan but no, LIPA tells you maybe by wed and then oh, maybe by Monday. It is very disheartening for people who have lost most of their things to just not get answers. Nothing like this has ever happened over here so agaon a bit of compassion for people, please. I know this has been a huge learning experience for me and my family. However, I will have even more empathy for people who go through disasters like this than ever before because now I have seen it first hand. An "I told you so' attitude is really never attractive.

*princess, this was not aimed at you, I was agreeing with you

 

[Kaspar Houser]

Not all of them do. It varies, for many reasons. Age of town, geography, how high the water table is, etc.

I'm not exactly Methuselah but I remember we also had all power wires above ground. In a few years we put them in the ground and that for a country that lies below sea level.
I am not judging just wondering why.
I feel very sorry for those that are suffering.
We visited New Orleans a few months after Katrina. It was terrible. Never saw such a destruction.
O and we did ask if we were welcome. I was on a Katrine board and we asked if people would mind if we would visit NO.
They told us that every dollar spent was welcome.
Last year we visited NO again and they showed us the dams and weirs we silly Dutch build for them. ( I was a little proud, shame on me)
I saw plans for NY to and I pray for you all that they use it. The people living in that area deserve a life whiteout fear.

 

[iheartdisney]

I know for one town in New Jersey, it might have something to do with the fact that they are sending away non-union workers who came from out of state to help. yep, their priorities are in the right place.

I was in Pensacola post-Ivan... we didn't get power back for 9 days. And when Isabelle hit Virginia Beach in 2003, it was about the same timeframe.

 

[msjprincess]

I know for one town in New Jersey, it might have something to do with the fact that they are sending away non-union workers who came from out of state to help. yep, their priorities are in the right place.

I was in Pensacola post-Ivan... we didn't get power back for 9 days. And when Isabelle hit Virginia Beach in 2003, it was about the same timeframe.

No one was sent away for being non-union. http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/sandyunion.asp

 

[DISvirgin1]

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.

YES! My sister and her husband are 13 days and counting without power in LI. They have been told by the power companies who are out and about that LIPA is the WORST company they have ever had to work with - they are not telling the crews anything. No one is *****ing about the crews. They are *****ing about LIPA. And rightly so.

 

[cornflake]

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

It's not practical to have it otherwise in many places. In most major cities, they're below ground. In Manhattan, they're below. In most of Queens, they're below - some of what happened in Queens is due to the trees taking stuff out, some to flooding. The power outage in Manhattan was due to water flooding into a transformer and shorting it out.

However, the U.S. is huge and a lot of the country is more rural. Thus the cost to go around and bury all those lines is beyond substantial because aside from the regular cost just to do it, in some places you'd be talking about burying miles of lines and connections to get to each singular house. That problem is exacerbated by the fact that the power is provided by smaller companies all responsible for their small shares of equipment and etc.

In New Jersey, there were three different companies working on restoring the power because three companies provide it to the areas that lost it. So to bury all the lines, or even a quarter more of them, we'd have to convince ALL those small companies to spend the money, and work out exactly who would be responsible for what piece of what and etc. You begin to see the problem I think.

 

[dismichelle]

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.

I have been without power at least a dozen times (hurricanes/tornadoes) and have never called the power company. I just waited and when it came on I was so thankful each time. Never really any communication either from the power companies. As long as I saw workers out somewhere, I knew they would eventually get to me.
Only the last time when I was out for about a week did I see that they had a map online that showed estimates. I was looking at it at work one day and it said my power would be back on that day, well I got back home and it was on. But this is in the south and with power companies that have been dealing with this stuff for years now, and they've finally gotten better with communication.

 

[dismichelle]

Nasty attitude? Sorry you took it that way. We're all in this together, right?
Not asking to have the power restored faster, everyone is working hard.

Just asking for the assistance that you would ask for if you were in the same situation as many people on the south shore of LI are in. The news isn't covering it.

Well, if you don't have power then you probably aren't sure, but it is being covered every single day on national news. Even though I'm not really sure why some feels it still needs to be covered everyday.
I remember finally getting to a television about 3-4 days after Katrina hit and CNN reporting about people being stuck in the Superdome. That shocked me and I was wondering why the federal/state/local government wasn't doing more for those at that time, but everything I've seen on television about Sandy has been normal/typical for this type of disaster; frustrating, but normal/typical.

 

[krcit]

I have been without power at least a dozen times (hurricanes/tornadoes) and have never called the power company. I just waited and when it came on I was so thankful each time. Never really any communication either from the power companies. As long as I saw workers out somewhere, I knew they would eventually get to me.
Only the last time when I was out for about a week did I see that they had a map online that showed estimates. I was looking at it at work one day and it said my power would be back on that day, well I got back home and it was on. But this is in the south and with power companies that have been dealing with this stuff for years now, and they've finally gotten better with communication.

We were told to call and report outages. And believe me, if we didn't make a stink and get the media and politicians involved, most of my town would still be out of power. And for 8 days after the storm, I didn't see one truck in my town. So yes I wanted answers as to when my elderly wheelchair bound mom would be getting heat and power so we could make arrangements to move her.

 

[Robbi]

No one was sent away for being non-union. http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/sandyunion.asp

An official, can't remember who spoke a couple of days later said non union crews were welcome. He also apologized for the confusion so there were crews that were told, "No thanks." at first.

 

[krcit]

Well, if you don't have power then you probably aren't sure, but it is being covered every single day on national news. Even though I'm not really sure why some feels it still needs to be covered everyday.
I remember finally getting to a television about 3-4 days after Katrina hit and CNN reporting about people being stuck in the Superdome. That shocked me and I was wondering why the federal/state/local government wasn't doing more for those at that time, but everything I've seen on television about Sandy has been normal/typical for this type of disaster; frustrating, but normal/typical.

Really? You're not sure why it should still be covered every day? Entire towns were wiped out....thousands of people lost their homes. They are homeless. In my town, over half of the homes had severe flooding and the homes are unlivable for a while, people lost all their vehicles. My school district alone lost 120 school busses. The next town lost most of it's schools. Garbage hadn't been picked up for 2 weeks just waiting for rats and disease. Elderly people and babies sitting in freezing houses with no where else to go. But yeah, I guess it's not really news worthy because hey, people have been through worse and we should just suck it up. The lack of compassion on this thread is really something.

 

[tvguy]

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

Most U.S. construction in the last 40 years has the utilities underground. That's part of the reason it's taking so long now to repair it. They have to dig, pump out water, and then repair. Above ground, they replace the pole and string wire, and it's fixed.

 

[dismichelle]

Really? You're not sure why it should still be covered every day? Entire towns were wiped out....thousands of people lost their homes. They are homeless. In my town, over half of the homes had severe flooding and the homes are unlivable for a while, people lost all their vehicles. My school district alone lost 120 school busses. The next town lost most of it's schools. Garbage hadn't been picked up for 2 weeks just waiting for rats and disease. Elderly people and babies sitting in freezing houses with no where else to go. But yeah, I guess it's not really news worthy because hey, people have been through worse and we should just suck it up. The lack of compassion on this thread is really something.

I'm just not sure why some are saying why it's not being covered. 1st, it is still being covered daily. 2nd, does having it covered daily or not change the circumstances?

 

[msjprincess]

Most U.S. construction in the last 40 years has the utilities underground. That's part of the reason it's taking so long now to repair it. They have to dig, pump out water, and then repair. Above ground, they replace the pole and string wire, and it's fixed.

Actually most of the affected area has above ground cable.

 

[Aliceacc]

From Newsday:

Why LIPA failed: Utility ignored warnings it wasn't ready for major storm

Originally published: November 8, 2012 11:24 PM
Updated: November 9, 2012 12:37 AM
By GUS GARCIA-ROBERTS and WILL VAN SANT gus.garcia-roberts@newsday.com

WHAT LIPA DIDN'T DO

At the request of New York State's Department of Public Service, a consulting firm reviewed the Long Island Power Authority and National Grid's 2011 response to Tropical Storm Irene. The review found significant problems with the two entities, including:

-- They ignored a 2006 recommendation to replace an outdated outage management system, which runs on a 25-year-old mainframe computer running COBOL, a computer language considered obsolete. The system had been "patched together over many years" and "lacks the ability to manage large-scale outages" or "take advantage of current advances in technology."

-- The outage management system was "one of the biggest shortcomings in the storm restoration effort." It was set to be replaced in late 2012, but will "likely take several years to be fully functional."

-- Many employees underestimated the likelihood of another major storm hitting Long Island, calling Irene a "once in a career or lifetime event."

-- Instead of smartphones or tablets to input data or receive maps, crews rely on paper maps and pencils.

-- Some substations used dial-up modems to access the Internet, and printers and fax machines didn't work.

-- National Grid used a "rudimentary" damage prediction model.

-- Recommendations from 2006 to harden the system against storms had been "implemented slowly or incompletely," including "many improvements that could be made at a reasonable cost."

-- LIPA stated that it reviewed its storm and emergency response policy annually, but the plan still referred to its relationship with KeySpan, the company it worked with until National Grid acquired it in 2008.
"

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Really? You're not sure why it should still be covered every day? Entire towns were wiped out....thousands of people lost their homes. They are homeless. In my town, over half of the homes had severe flooding and the homes are unlivable for a while, people lost all their vehicles. My school district alone lost 120 school busses. The next town lost most of it's schools. Garbage hadn't been picked up for 2 weeks just waiting for rats and disease. Elderly people and babies sitting in freezing houses with no where else to go. But yeah, I guess it's not really news worthy because hey, people have been through worse and we should just suck it up. The lack of compassion on this thread is really something.

I am sure everybody has a clear picture on what happened here. It is being covered heavily. There is help all around us. People have rallied from ALL OVER to do anything they can to help.

What some are trying to do is offer some "comfort" in letting everybody know that others have gone through this before. Others have gone weeks with no power and no way of knowing when it would be returned. Others have lost homes, cars, loved ones etc and had nowhere to go. Although we have plenty of shelters open at least here in NJ so it's more like people have nowhere they WANT to go.

 

[dismichelle]

I am sure everybody has a clear picture on what happened here. It is being covered heavily. There is help all around us. People have rallied from ALL OVER to do anything they can to help.

What some are trying to do is offer some "comfort" in letting everybody know that others have gone through this before. Others have gone weeks with no power and no way of knowing when it would be returned. Others have lost homes, cars, loved ones etc and had nowhere to go. Although we have plenty of shelters open at least here in NJ so it's more like people have nowhere they WANT to go.

Thank you, Thank you! for actually understanding what some of us are saying. I'm sorry you all are having to go through this, but I do think that some things happen for a reason. Every single hard thing I've gone through has made me more compassionate. Going without power in extreme temperatures is VERY hard. I sent my kids away with DH out of state to a hotel because I absolutely could not miss work, ate PB&J sandwiches until that was all gone, but still never complained.
Some of us are just letting some others know that it is very frustrating, but you will eventually get through it.

And to the poster with the elderly wheelchair bound parent, I would have gotten her out of there ASAP into someplace more comfortable/warm.