Buffalo October 2006 Storm Gallery - Page 23

Talk from the local net-Disaster timeline:
(more storm pix below the posts)

- Mon. Oct. 16, 2006 7:52 am: We lost power about 7PM Thurs night, during my son's b-day party. I had gotten out of work and driven up to John & Mary's on Harlem to pick up some food - getting seasick doing the swerve aroundall the tree limbs that were already down, and the one's bending down into the street. Then I see this IDIOT who must've been po'ed about the branches down in his yard, cuz he's dragging them to the edge of his property and then making a pile in the middle of the f'n' street! Moron. So, no power - well, phone line's still working - I've always kept around a simple plug and push phone just for the occasion. So, we should be able to get online, right? Well, sure, if the kids haven't been using the laptop to watch DVDs on because the portable DVD player was drained and not recharged. And OF COURSE the laptop didn't get recharged. So, other fun things - garage unaccessable cuz it only opens via garage door opener. Guess where the shovels are? At least we have a gas stove - cooking on top was no problem. Then my wife decided we could heat the house with the oven. Uhhhhhhh..... no. But it wasn't til her DAD told her not to do that that it registered as a bad idea. Well, let's make some tuna sandwiches. What? Can't find the hand can opener?? At least the Ravioli cans had pull tops.... Good things: our basement never floods (hope I'm not jinxing it by saying so...) - even when all our neighbors are pumping like crazy, our basement is bone-dry. We DID have a portable radio with enough batteries to let it run for days straight. And it's funny how so many people complain about the power being out and what-ever-will-we-do-to-keep-the-food-from-spoiling? when there's a TON of friggin' snow right outside the door. (Of course, all our coolers were in the garage with the shovels, but we bagged snow and put it in the fridge. And now our fridge actually got cleaned out and all the old stuff thrown out - yea! We have 2 trees and a bush - lost 2/3 of one tree and about 1/3 of the bush - only one limb broke out of the bigger tree. And our new porch awning didn't collapse under the weight of that massive wet snow. Good thing after the old one did a few years ago, the new one came with two supports........ oh, wait - the supports are in the garage with the shovels and the coolers. D'OH! Well, it's still standing anyways..... We went Sat to my mom's in Elma - they had no power, but she's got a real nice fireplace, so we was cozy. Then the power came on at home in Cheektowaga sometime Sunday afternoon. My favorite thing heard on the radio: "The UB football game is still on, but since there is still a driving ban in Amherst, we advise everyone to stay home and watch it on TV." Smart people RULE!!!
- Mon. Oct. 16, 2006 8:18 am: Like the ones telling us to boil water? 'cos I've got some candles, but that's about it. Glad to hear you folks are surviving!!!
- Mon. Oct. 16, 2006 8:22 am: You start to realize how stupid people really are once the crap hits the fan.
- Mon. Oct. 16, 2006 8:29 am: Touche. We have a gas stove in the basement, an auxiliary gas heater, and our house is well insulated. I have been very comfortable without power. Pack the crispers with snow, lite up some candles, bust out the Trivial Pursuit, and wait it out… Instead, people are fucking scrambling around trying to get common items like matches and candles, or getting themselves killed putting a generator in the basement or heating the house with a gas oven. This is social Darwinism; they should shut the power off all across America for like 2 weeks just to kill off the morons. They we should repeat the process every year.

- Mon. Oct. 16, 2006 8:30 am: Town of Tonawanda ... Still no power at my house .. thanks to Dad and his Hurricane experience I got his generatot Friday afternoon .. Feeding my next door neighbor and me . Sump pumps are working .. good thing cause I can not afford to replace any of the music equipment I have down there ... Im ok .. no injuries to report .. Dogs and Wife are safe .. This is messed .. I came in to work 2 hours early since I had no Internet since Thursday. Heat situation sux . I had to buy a space heater or go next door and enjoy the fireplace .... I had read the national grid report this morning ... Am I to understand that the Areas that are hit the hardest will not see power until this weekend ???

- Mon. Oct. 16, 2006 8:30 am: I'm at work today and we have internet, but I live in kenmore. Since we were one of the hardest hit areas, they are talking Sunday before we'll have power. I have been without power since Thursday night, although fortunately, I have phone service, hot water, no flooding, and cooking capability on my gas stove. My food is buried in coolers in the snow on our deck, but that is quickly melting. I am bored out of my freakin mind at home and am tired of listening to WBEN and staring at the radio by candlelight. My yard looked like a typhoon hit it because I have 10 trees in my backyard and only the pine trees survived without damage. my son's girlfriend's dad came and cut all the huge hanging limbs for us yesterday. The entire landscape of WNY has been altered forever.

- Mon. Oct. 16, 2006 9:04 am: Im just just tired and aggravated like the rest us .. I have done alot .. I have many seniors on my block that need Trees removed perscriptions filled and food delivered to them which I have done ... I have run electric from my generator ... ... I also working today as well with half my staff out dealing with dumbass's on the the phone ... and half my staff out .. Im tired . my back is sore and I am just pissed off

- Mon. Oct. 16, 2006 9:24 am: I live in Southern Niagara County. Lost power Thursday night and it won't come back on till Friday according to the News. Got a generator. Can't practice my bass with it, tho. The generator puts a high frequency noise on the lines and the guitar picks it up well. No cable or internet. Had 4200 e-mails waiting when I got to the office today. That also means I can't see the Sabres play but I was able to see the Bills with a rigged up antenna.

- Mon. Oct. 16, 2006 11:21 am: My brother had a few generators but had a hard time getting here from Rochester. I will never forget how cool it was to watch the Sabres on the big screen and they went 5-0 by scoring 7 goals. We will always remember this start of the season. Crit got juice on harlem near sheridan ... I brought over a brand new big ass screen ... he has a fireplace and all the candles lit up ... the house was full of people just happy to be warm, eatin' Bocce Club Pizza and wings (line out the door) catch a buzz and kind of force yourself to interact with elderly neighbors, get closer to family and friends and experience what it is to lose power. For my 6 and 10 year old ... they are just letting the good times roll, ya know? A bunch of relatives and best friends sleeping over, rescue missions to grandma's house ... cooking the shot out of what was in the back of the freezer (we had ALOT of hamburger meat!) it's an adventure beyond their wildest dreams ... and now we just got cable back last night in time for the 7 more days off of school ...

- Mon. Oct. 16, 2006 12:30 pm: Am I glad I put the generator backup system in my house this last summer. I was without electric for the all of five minutes it took to turn the genny on and flip the transfer switch. My neighborhood has been down since 11PM Thursday and still down at 12 noon Monday. The only part that sucks is no landline phone, no cable, no internet, and my gas bill for the electricity.

- Tue. Oct. 17, 2006 9:50 am: I've been known to bitch about a few things in my day, but I must say, I'm pretty impressed by the job the electric folks are doing and the clean-up of the branches. I was sure that we'd get the shit end of the stick and be without power until the weekend since we're in the hood, but we were connected relatively quickly given how many folks are still without power. Things like these bring out the mean and the nice. I've seen quite a few assholes, like the ones who blow through 4-way lights that are out, but mostly folks are helping one another and being kind to their neighbor. And... when our back-up battery on our alarm finally gave way, no one broke into our house and stole all of our music equipment. So I'm loving Buffalo right about now.

- Wed. Oct. 18, 2006 4:46 am: The power dudes told my neighbor yesterday that they ran out of transformers. The main transformer for our block is out. They have to replace several poles. Looks like we will be out a couple more days.

- Wed. Oct. 18, 2006 10:11 am: We finally got power where I work in Kenmore (Handlebars Bike shop)... but we still have 10 inches of water in the basement!!

- Thu. Oct. 19, 2006 8:44 am: still out on amherst by the zoo. *sigh*

- Thu. Oct. 19, 2006 8:08 pm: Projected time to power back at my house according to NYSEG..... Saturday evening.

Thu. Oct. 19, 2006 9:04 pm: Some "gangstas" on the East Side have been looting downed cables off peoples houses and throwing rocks at guys working on the lines. Classy!
- Thu. Oct. 19, 2006 9:19 pm: Time to allow the police to open fire on the East Side. Screw 'em. Let the lines stay down then.