Topic: Tempers flare over 6 days of Conn. power outages

[Pandora]

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Tempers are snapping as fast as the snow-laden branches that brought down power wires across the Northeast last weekend, with close to 300,000 Connecticut customers still in the dark and the state's biggest utility warning them not to threaten or harass repair crews.

Angry residents left without heat as temperatures drop to near freezing overnight have been lashing out at Connecticut Light & Power: accosting repair crews, making profane criticisms online and suing. In Simsbury, a hard-hit suburban town of about 25,000 residents, National Guard troops deployed to clear debris have been providing security outside a utility office building.

...

The October nor'easter knocked out power to more than 3 million homes and business across the Northeast, including 830,000 in Connecticut, where outages now exceed those of all other states combined. Connecticut Light & Power has blamed the extent of the devastation partly on overgrown trees in the state, where it says some homeowners and municipalities have resisted the pruning of limbs for reasons including aesthetics.

There are over 1700 crews working on restoring power.  I suggest these people take a good hard look at how they're living now; this is where the entire country is being forced.

Link

I checked with JF to see how his daughter AND GRANDSON made out.  Maybe he'll pop 'round to repeat what he told me (they're fine).

[charlesoakwood]

Why hasn't Obama gone up there to help?
Does he not care for the suffering of  all his
starving and freezing and dying white constituents?

[BMG]

Looks like the natives are getting restless...
...can't say I blame them though! How much tax $$ have been spent on useless garbage and government waste when it could have gone to upgrading the basics like this? Of course, here the people are venting at the wrong group yet again imo. It's not the power company...so much as it is the politicians that have squandered the tax money!

[BMG]

Why hasn't Obama gone up there to help?
Does he not care for the suffering of  all his
starving and freezing and dying white constituents?

No. He doesn't.

[Pandora]

Looks like the natives are getting restless...
...can't say I blame them though! How much tax $$ have been spent on useless garbage and government waste when it could have gone to upgrading the basics like this? Of course, here the people are venting at the wrong group yet again imo. It's not the power company...so much as it is the politicians that have squandered the tax money!

Are the power companies not responsible for their lines and equipment?  I know the villain is most often the gummint, but I don't see it in this case.  And then there's the issue of entities not wanting the trees properly dealt with to avoid this.  What am I missing?

[BMG]

Depending on the way the power company is structured it may be an arm of the government, or a co-op, etc. Utilities often times benefit from taxpayer money (like schools) and become dependent upon that money, etc. I can certainly see a scenario where the government may shut off that taxpayer cash flow spigot to influence the population (sort of like how the government always threatens to cut back on the police and firefighters if the voters won't vote for some tax increase or other, etc.). Makes me wonder if Obama will trot out an 'infrastructure' speech in the near future, if you get what I'm saying.

So Yeah, in some cases the utility might be private - in other cases, they might not. Add to this the government restrictions that siphon cash away from the utility's coffers that might otherwise go toward repairs and that is another way that the government could well be at fault in this situation...maybe not 100% of the time, but I'd wager it's probably up around 75% of the time.

[charlesoakwood]

If you are saying stuff happens, you are missing nothing.

They had nice trees and wanted to keep them.
They know storms happen.
Pay the piper.

I'd rather have my trees and take my chances than live on baldscrape street.
I've lived on the waterfront the house was subject to hurricanes.
If you don't like hurricanes don't live on the coast.

They used to call this stuff an act of God.

[Alphabet Soup]

This is what most of western Washington looks like when it snows:





It isn't so much a matter of what private property owners want regarding their shrubs and trees as it is problems with the county and state right of way. And as hilly as it is here, it doesn't take much to paralyze entire regions. The power companies are pretty good about getting us going, but it is typical to have 4-5 outages each winter that range from 24 hours to 6 days.

I used to be at the mercy of the utilities but no more. Right now I can comfortably go 10 days without power before needing fuel. I'd like to expand that to 3 months but that will require a replacement genset.

Let it snow...

[BigAlSouth]

Why hasn't Obama gone up there to help?
Does he not care for the suffering of  all his
starving and freezing and dying white constituents?

Why should he? Even the dead vote Democrat . . .

[John Florida]

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Tempers are snapping as fast as the snow-laden branches that brought down power wires across the Northeast last weekend, with close to 300,000 Connecticut customers still in the dark and the state's biggest utility warning them not to threaten or harass repair crews.

Angry residents left without heat as temperatures drop to near freezing overnight have been lashing out at Connecticut Light & Power: accosting repair crews, making profane criticisms online and suing. In Simsbury, a hard-hit suburban town of about 25,000 residents, National Guard troops deployed to clear debris have been providing security outside a utility office building.

...

The October nor'easter knocked out power to more than 3 million homes and business across the Northeast, including 830,000 in Connecticut, where outages now exceed those of all other states combined. Connecticut Light & Power has blamed the extent of the devastation partly on overgrown trees in the state, where it says some homeowners and municipalities have resisted the pruning of limbs for reasons including aesthetics.

There are over 1700 crews working on restoring power.  I suggest these people take a good hard look at how they're living now; this is where the entire country is being forced.

Link

I checked with JF to see how his daughter AND GRANDSON made out.  Maybe he'll pop 'round to repeat what he told me (they're fine).

 They were out Sat.to weds. My niece got hers back on Thursday.

 I bought my daughter a generator and they didn't expect what happened so they didn't bother to fuel the trucks up and had enough gas for the snow blower and even that hadn't been started  yet for the season. Luckily my mother didn't lose power and everybody ended up at her house for the duration. Nobody missed work because nothing had power so nobody could work anyway.


 My father the ultimate prepper had enough food in the house for the gang to last for at least two months. But that being said it didn't stop me from chewing on my daughter and my SIL for not being ready  for the storm till they felt like children.My grandson is there and I demand that they do the right thing at ALL TIMES.

[charlesoakwood]

Glad they're OK.

[John Florida]

Glad they're OK.

  Thanks Charles. For their sakes this had better be the one and only time they get caught like this. I was furious at their lack of responsibility and preparedness for the child's sake. In the long run it would have meant them buying gas for the trucks on Friday instead of Saturday. Ant they would have had all the comforts of home without any problems.If they didn't have a generator I would have had nothing to say but I bought them the effing thing so this would never happen.

[Damn_Lucky]

Like they say "When seconds count the Government is only minutes away"!