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Did you know.... - Printable Version

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Did you know.... - The Horrible Esthete - 09-17-2008

....that 3,000,000 households -- primarily in Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania -- are still without electricity since Saturday / Sunday?

Since the outages and damage are widespread and not concetrated in low-income area (and therefore, not 'newsworthy'), I'm guessing you didn't.

Carry on.

Re: Did you know.... - chris - 09-17-2008

Three million households are without power? Or three million people? Either way that's outrageous, and alarming. I haven't heard any news about this.

Re: Did you know.... - The Horrible Esthete - 09-17-2008

Well, to tell you the truth Chris, I'm not sure if that's people or households, because national news agencies aren't reporting much on it....which was part of my point.

Local and regional news outlets are covering it, of course, but I was trying to get damage estimates today for the strom in total, but there is little to be found. It's focused on Houston / Galveston (and justifiably so), but as of this morning, there were still 350,000+ Duke Energy customers (households & businesses, not individual persons) still without power -- and Duke provides electric for just those affected in the Cincinnati-N. Kentucky-SE Indiana area. That estimate does not address other major areas of population like Louisville, Dayton, Columbus, Akron, Canton, Pittsburgh, and Texas / Arkansas, of course.

Ike converged with a frontal system here in the midwest and brought sustained hurricane-force winds to KY/OH/IN/PA. I, or anyone else in this region of the country for that matter, have never seen damage so widepread from a non-winter (wind) storm.

It was (is) surreal.

Re: Did you know.... - chris - 09-17-2008

Holy crap!

Re: Did you know.... - ron - 09-17-2008

The storm hit Western new york Sunday night. I lost power for a while. Wind gust hit over 50 mph. I can't imagine the strength of this storm when it hit Texas.


Ron

Re: Did you know.... - skippy the wonder dog - 09-17-2008

That is pretty surprising, but if you consider the difficulties in restoring power following the Quebec ice storm, for example ... if you have damage on that kind of scale, it does make sense.

Re: Did you know.... - smadabeer - 09-17-2008

In Pittsburgh Sunday night around 8:30ish we got nailed pretty well with strong wind, news channels reported wind gusts up to 80 mph. We lost power at 9pm until approx 5:30am. It was wind and no rain, so it was nice to sit on the porch, have a beer and think holy shit just imagine what this storm was like at 130 mph and lots of rain when it 1st touched ground Confusedhock:

Re: Did you know.... - The Horrible Esthete - 09-17-2008

Ice storms and big blizzards can cause massive prolonged outages, yes. Some get far worse than others, but it is not uncommon even here in the midwest US, and an event we all recognize as a possibility.

But this was very weird, and is truly unprecedented in this region of the county. This isn't a rash of tornadoes and springtime storm cells, which happens sometime every spring -- we're talking about September and the remnants of a tropical storm that re-organized inland and brought Cat. 1 hurricane-force winds (literally) clear up here into the Ohio Valley. We had 50-60 mph winds with gusts over 75 mph here in Cincy, and some nearby communities had gusts of 80+ mph. And it blew like that for 4 hours, not 30 minutes like a violent spring thunderstorm. I've never seen anything like it. And there was NO rain here -- the sun shone the entire time (northern IL and the Chicago got less wind but a lot of rain). I just stood on the porch and marveled at the awe-striking sight and sound of the wind, bending trees over and breaking them into bits....all afternoon long. Hour by hour, I wondered if it would ever end -- I began to wonder how many hours of sustained winds could be withstood by buildings and other structures.....

To put it in perspective, the energy company never experienced higher percentages of outages in this region. I believe over 90% of Duke's customers lost power.

And like Ron said - just think of what it was like in TX! It is a bigger mess and more chaotic in Houston, for sure....

It just seems to me that while as many people aren't dead, hurt, or stranded as a disaster like Katrina, for example (which is far more serious and important and concerning, I realize), the total damage this storm in dollars has to be absolutely enormous, and I just don't quite understand why it seems to be back-page news?

Re: Did you know.... - direwolf74 - 09-17-2008

The Horrible Esthete Wrote:It just seems to me that while as many people aren't dead, hurt, or stranded as a disaster like Katrina, for example (which is far more serious and important and concerning, I realize), the total damage this storm in dollars has to be absolutely enormous, and I just don't quite understand why it seems to be back-page news?

Sadly, the only way this storm would make the front page is if it destroyed Sarah Palin's house or threatened to derail her fantastical run to the white house. The American media is so bloody obsessed with that dipshit right now, that it would take a nuclear holocaust to push her off the front page.

Re: Did you know.... - ron - 09-17-2008

direwolf74 Wrote:
The Horrible Esthete Wrote:It just seems to me that while as many people aren't dead, hurt, or stranded as a disaster like Katrina, for example (which is far more serious and important and concerning, I realize), the total damage this storm in dollars has to be absolutely enormous, and I just don't quite understand why it seems to be back-page news?

Sadly, the only way this storm would make the front page is if it destroyed Sarah Palin's house or threatened to derail her fantastical run to the white house. The American media is so bloody obsessed with that dipshit right now, that it would take a nuclear holocaust to push her off the front page.


Amen--- Brother :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Re: Did you know.... - skippy the wonder dog - 09-18-2008

The Horrible Esthete Wrote:It just seems to me that while as many people aren't dead, hurt, or stranded as a disaster like Katrina, for example (which is far more serious and important and concerning, I realize), the total damage this storm in dollars has to be absolutely enormous, and I just don't quite understand why it seems to be back-page news?

Well, that part is surprising. Partially because of the election, no doubt, but moreso I would think because of the influence of TV news... the more widespread the problem, the fewer the easy visuals, the less coverage it gets. TV news likes stories where they can get in, get some visuals, and get out. They prefer not to do any work more strenuous than standing in a darkened street doing a cheesy live shot where there is, in fact, no live action to cover. And what makes the TV news helps to set the agenda.

(I have to say, TV news in the States has become so stupid it's unwatchable. Live! from a street corner where nothing at all is happening....)

Re: Did you know.... - Tthip - 09-19-2008

Damn - what are the odds of all the houses being swept away - and yours is left seemingly untouched by Ike:

[Image: hurricane-ike-lone-house-02-420a091808.jpg]

Re: Did you know.... - grimes - 09-19-2008

^ The odds are pretty good if you know how to use photoshop.

Re: Did you know.... - chris - 09-19-2008

grimes Wrote:^ The odds are pretty good if you know how to use photoshop.

Maybe... but:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://news.aol.ca/article/how-did-lone-home-survive-ike/347664/">http://news.aol.ca/article/how-did-lone ... ke/347664/</a><!-- m -->

Re: Did you know.... - thedarkcanuck - 09-19-2008

now theres a family who could go home and say that the neighborhood has gone to hell, and mean it