Full Storm Ahead!

Despite the obstacles we are moving forward. For two days we have had no need to go to a shelter to charge computer or phones and our power has been on consistently and long enough to have caught up on laundry and dishes. The ambulance company tracked us down for billing and my parents now know for sure their oven, coffee maker, surge controls, phones and various lights are blown by the surge that happened when power returned. This time we unplugged our refrigerator (new due to the last big storm) and other expensive appliances and seem to have emerged minus additional power complications. I can still see crews working to restore power down the street and when we drive toward the center of our town the devastation is still too real. School is still not back in session and this is day 6 of 180. With Irene school didn't start on time so most north central schools have already used their allotted snow days and then some...and we are nowhere near the end of winter.

Legislators have been wandering through the public spaces (shelters) and I have received some e-mails that attempt to demonstrate intervention on our behalf. Each local community is allowed to do their own thing, which has left many of us without essential services. Thursday Don and I passed through our municipal buildings and found MREs (meals ready to eat) provided by the National Guard or someone and no plans to distribute those resources to people stranded. I was horrified to pass a house with a grill set up INSIDE the house...sure, the door and windows were open but there have been so many carbon monoxide poisonings (including deaths) that it was hard to believe people would take the risk.

Bottom line? We need some serious distribution of disaster preparedness info...and our communities should be better prepared to inform people of what is going on. I would have gladly gone house to house as a volunteer...I am sure others would have also been willing.

Now the worst is over what was most distressing? The fact that my parents, who happen to live next door, were not willing to leave their home even for a short time. We kept our fireplace going and the temperature near the fireplace was well above 60 degrees...far warmer than the rest of the house and surely far warmer than theirs. Our neighbor with a generator, Justin, was generous and shared his shower facilities as well as electrician information. The electrician is practically a member of the family at this point. He hooked up the old generator to my folks' furnace and pronounced their power and appliances unsafe. I could have done the same thing even as a layperson, but my elderly parents wanted that expert opinion and we were grateful to have it.


Each time we say "lesson learned" but this time...two devastating storms in two months...perhaps we actually have.