[Phsstpok]

I live in the Memphis area. We were without power for over 6 days at my home at the end of July. Some folks only got power back last week after one of the most powerful super cell thunderstorms in US history (100 MPH straight line winds). Over 350,000 customers (bill payers) were without power, which translates into well over a million people in a blackout. Guess you didn't hear about it on the news, as they compeltely chose to ignore it. We didn't have circuit breakers trip. We had wires and poles ripped out of the ground. We had 10's of thousands of trees toppled. We had a few hundred miles of power lines torn up. It wasn't a matter of throwing switches to get us back on-line.

The AP put together this lovely chart they sent to all of their subscribers after the NY blackout showing the biggest recent blackouts. They showed two blackouts in the SF bay area in the last 10 years where 200,000 people lost power. They didn't mention Memphis last month. I guess we really don't exist as far as they are concerned.

I'd like to see how many seconds they devoted to our problems versus how many hours to New York, or how many minutes to Baghdad or Paris.

are we ready? Damn straight we're ready. And we're not counting on any help from anyone else (the local unions would reject it, anyway).

[from occupied ga]

I'd like to see how many seconds they devoted to our problems ...

The networks are run by New Yorkers - the most self-absorbed, arrogant and short sighted people in the universe*. If it doesn't happen in NYC it doesn't happen (when they say fly over country, they actually mean it). I happen to have relatives in Memphis It was pretty grim from what I heard. Tree fell on the house and it cost $3400 to get it removed - not counting cost to fix the house. One of my vehicles was there and a tree fell on it too - a few minor (but very expensive) dents.

*The majority of New Yorkers are not only all of the above, but dumb as dirt too - for evidence of this hypothesis look at who they elect to Kongress.

[archy]

I live in the Memphis area. We were without power for over 6 days at my home at the end of July. Some folks only got power back last week after one of the most powerful super cell thunderstorms in US history (100 MPH straight line winds). Over 350,000 customers (bill payers) were without power, which translates into well over a million people in a blackout. Guess you didn't hear about it on the news, as they compeltely chose to ignore it. We didn't have circuit breakers trip. We had wires and poles ripped out of the ground. We had 10's of thousands of trees toppled. We had a few hundred miles of power lines torn up. It wasn't a matter of throwing switches to get us back on-line.

I shut off my power mains as soon as I returned home, fired up my generator, and had my radios on the air with a field expedient antenna within an hour of the storm's passing. My refrigerator's freezer compartment had all the extra space filled with frozed 1-liter pop bottles filled with water, which both kept my fridge usable for 4 days without being turned on [I unplugged it so the genny wouldn't have to carry it] and gave me a supply of nice cool drinking water as they unthawed.

I spent most of the rest of that morning and the afternoon using my chainsaw to clear neighbors' driveways; once we had that done we could use the various vehicles to clear a path to an open street- four blocks away.

One thing I need more of: 5-gallon gas cans. And a better way to carry multiples of them. But the motorbike sure was handy for getting around those first couple of days, though riding out the initial storm on it was kind of sporty.

-archy-/-