Posted on 12/12/2008 2:57:05 PM PST by dragnet2
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire declared states of emergency Friday after high winds, rain and snow swept through the Northeast, leaving at least a million homes and businesses without power.
In Massachusetts, work crews struggled to clear the debris, left roads and bridges covered in ice.
Gov. Deval Patrick told WCVB-TV in Boston it would be optimistic to think power would be restored by Monday.
"This is not going to be a couple of hours," Patrick said. "It's likely to be several days."
Patrick mobilized 500 National Guardsmen to help clear roads, WCVB-TV reported. Utility company National Grid reported that nearly 300,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts were without power.
Ice knocks out power to thousands
In New Hampshire, more than 300,000 residents had no electricity, citing reports from four of the state's utility companies.
The station reported that fire departments across the state were scrambling to respond to reports of transformer explosions, downed power lines and utility poles, as well as burning and felled trees.
Gov. John Lynch declared a state of emergency
Amtrak train service between Albany, New York, and New York City was suspended Friday morning, as was service between Portland, Maine, and Boston, Massachusetts.
Central Maine Power had 220,000 homes and businesses without electricity,
In upstate New York, two utility companies reported that more than 200,000 customers were without power
More than 50,000 Central Hudson Gas & Electric customers in the Hudson River Valley were without power early Friday afternoon.
National Grid in New York reported more than 185,000 customers lost power in 23 counties. The company also had 22,000 customers in New Hampshire and 6,000 in Rhode Island without power.
Residents also were having to contend with floods caused by excessive rainfall and blocked storm drains.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Yeah, I'll bet all those folks in the north east are looking forward to some cool weather about now.
You know, I’ll bet Gore and all of these global warming groupies, and those that use this charade for more government control, just cringe when these big cold storms roll in.
The power industry throughout the US is in dire straits.
30 week lead times on transformer manufacture.
During the last Hurricane, all three major transformer manufacturers shut down operations for 2 weeks minimum.
All have back logs in production.
Couple that with metal thefts and we will soon compete with Mexico for least engineered electrical power distribution.
Sad...Not surprised though when our leaders live and act like celebrities, are completely detached from the reality of common everyday life working folks face, and the big CEO's make 100k an hour, not including their bonuses. Chaos.
Its a big mess. Power was out yesterday, came on in the afternoon, went out again last night, and was back on aroung 4 am.
Join the club. I have a generator on the way. Absolutely NO ice or downed limbs in my area; parts of my town have had power since last night, but NOT my area, of course. Lynch telling people not to expect any progess today...wonder why?
Here in southern New Hampshire, I just got power back a couple of hours ago. It was out for 34 hours.
After a snowstorm in 1996, this area didn’t have power for 4 days. Luckier this time.
Some photos here:
http://www.wmur.com/weather/18255928/detail.html?widgetId=55963
Lynch was wrong...just got mine back, as well...sooner than expected.
Another Hussein used to do that on a regular basis.
Still cold and dark here in Durham, NH.
Yeah, we just saw some video of the NH, New England, Maryland and Ohio regions...Pretty bad in some areas, better in others.
Latest updates from New Hampshire:
From an electricity company spokesman: “What is facing us is the apparent need to rebuild the entire infrastructure of some sections of the electrical delivery system,” said Martin Murray, spokesman for PSNH.
Derry, NH, may not get all power back for two weeks!
Very few gas stations are open, because they need electricity to pump, and many roads are blocked by trees and wires. People were driving for miles to get gas for their generators. Some gas stations that were open have run out.
Local supermarkets that are on generators are running out of some foods, if they didn’t have to throw the food out.
Sleeping in a forty-degree house isn't much fun...
C and D-cell batteries are nearly impossible to come by.
Wal-Mart's were cleaned out, but nearby Walgreen's and CVS stores had plenty. Keep that in mind next time around.
Not all of us here are liberals, and nobody deserves your hateful words.
People seem to forget that...myself included.
Strangely enough, it was the Walgreens/CVS stores (the ones running) that were out (along with Home Depot, the grocery stores, etc). Wal-Mart had them for about 10 minutes after they opened. The parking lot went from empty to jammed almost immediately after they opened.
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