# Who else lost electricity??



## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

We lost power around 11PM last night (Friday) in the Annapolis area of Maryland and are still out. Apparently the word is that some outages may continue into next week!

Fortunately, we've got a standby generator, so we're not totally without power, but we don't have A/C. Fairly cool in the basement, though, fortunately!

Who else is "powerless"?


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

Not much "weather" in the Chicago area.  Just HOT!


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## gadgetgirl003 (Mar 22, 2009)

Sandpiper said:


> Not much "weather" in the Chicago area. Just HOT!


It was very hot in Atlanta today, but thankfully our air conditioner has performed well. Many people in the area have had their ac's konk out on them . We feel very fortunate that ouurs is still plugging away.


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## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

No A/C here! <gasp> :^D


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

um, mikey....

if people have no power, how you expect them to post?  not gonna waste cell phone power!


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

We just got power back after losing power at 10:45 last night.
We found the cell phone was out also - no service until just a couple of hours ago.
The only thing we had was the land line phone.


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## KTaylor-Green (Aug 24, 2011)

Ours was out from about 5pm Friday night til 11pm. My daughter, who lives about 15 miles from me, had no power from Friday evening til just about 2 hrs ago. I haven't heard from my younger daughter in Columbus yet, but I hear that they are still without power.


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## JezStrider (Jun 19, 2012)

I live in Tennesse and our power went out twice yesterday for at least an hour each time.  The heat wave was wrecking havoc here.  They closed down Wal-mart and sent customers home.  Traffic in that area was outrageous.  Today was fine, though.


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## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

Still over 300,000 customers out in the BGE service area, including us! :-(


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I was still posting, scarlet--that's what the iPad is for.   Then, we went to the library for awhile.  I was able to use my MiFi for a couple hours yesterday around this time, then the cell system in the area went down.

Sorry to hear you're still out, Mike!  Ours came on at 4:41 am--30 hours out.

Friends in Leesburg and just north of us in Alexandria got theirs back by mid-day yesterday.  We're thankful that our neighbors had a generator that we could plug our fridge into....

So, Mike, did you all move into the RV?

Betsy


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

It is kinda weird.
We got our power around 11 last night - almost 24 hours total.
And our "street" (cul-de-sac) also got power.
But the street behind us is still out and also much of the rest of the 'hood.


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## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

We're still out. We'd like to just pile in the RV, but the local KOA doesn't have power, either, and we can't go too far out because our eldest boy has a Doctor's appt on Tuesday morning. Trying to get reservations at a campground in Woodbine (about 50 mins from here), but haven't gotten confirmation yet. D'oh!


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

We're in west central Ohio and lost power Friday around 4 p.m. As of 9 a.m. Sunday, it's still out. Husband and I had to go out of town yesterday (bad timing, but couldn't get out of an obligation), so the college-age kids are holding down the fort. Bummer is, if we go less than 2 miles either way, they have power, but we're on a rural road, so we're generally last on the priority list. 

The biggest inconvenience is that I have four fish tanks. Yesterday the fish were getting stressed and one had already died. The kids caught them all, put them in large coolers, took them to a friend's house and added aerators. So far they've survived one day like that and we'll be changing the water every day for as long as this goes on.

I had been driving home from Cincinnati when the storm descended Friday. 70 mph straight line winds, blowing debris across the highway, cars slowed to a crawl, power out EVERYWHERE. Then, driving north through Ohio yesterday, the devastation in Findlay, Ohio was tremendous. Dozens of century-old trees down, roofs blown to bits... even saw a storage barn (20' tall and 40' wide maybe) overturned and CRUSHED.


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## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

Yikes! I can't imagine driving in that howling mess! Glad you got there in one piece, and hope you can keep the fish alive. Oy! :-(

Damage here, from what I've seen while out driving around, wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Some trees and big branches down, but nothing like you described for Ohio, thank heaven.

We managed to get reservations at a campground that a) has power and b) looks like it has stuff for the boys to do (including a pool), so we'll be piling in the RV after bit to head up there until Tuesday. Hopefully our power will be back on by then!


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Anyone have any updates?  I am getting a little concerned about flying in to Reagan National on Wednesday, I hear not many flights are operating.

The national news reports of damage look horrendous.  Hang in there, everybody!


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## *DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon) (Jan 19, 2011)

I feel guilty about such a nice weather in N. California when most of the country is boiling. At the top of this all the weather-related damage and loss of electricity. Just hang in there. It will pass. Nothing lasts forever.


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## Tatiana (Aug 20, 2010)

We live in Occoquan, Prince William Co., VA.  Our property is surrounded by tall, old trees and in the tropical storm in September we lost 2 trees.  We were worried Friday night when the storm hit but the trees survived intact!  Our four foot tall ready to bloom Thistle plant wasn't so lucky.    It was knocked over but still managed to have 2 flowers bloom today.  

We were truly blessed, as all our utility wires are above ground and surrounded by trees but we did not loose power.    The lights flickered a bit and that tripped one of the breakers.  Half the house lost power but the main living area and the AC were fine.  After the storm was over, DH flipped the breaker and the power was restored to the "dark" half of the house.

With all the devastation, and so many of our friends and acquaintances without power (still out on Sunday night) we feel very blessed that a few branches in the yard and the damaged Thistle were our only casualties.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

We've had a few blips the last few days here in southern NJ as T-storms went through, but none for more than a few seconds (at least while I was home). Those were probably circuit breakers doing their jobs during lightning strikes, but fortunately no downed lines in the immediate area.


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## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

Our power is still out north of Annapolis, MD. We're hanging out in the RV at a campground in Woodbine, about an hour northwest, getting updates from our trapped neighbors. Also heard (not sure if it's true) that one of the local hotels was charging $600/night, gouging people trying to escape the heat!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Michael R. Hicks said:


> Our power is still out north of Annapolis, MD. We're hanging out in the RV at a campground in Woodbine, about an hour northwest, getting updates from our trapped neighbors. Also heard (not sure if it's true) that one of the local hotels was charging $600/night, gouging people trying to escape the heat!


Mike, sorry your power is still out....

Yes, the gouging hotel report was on the evening news, several in the area were doing it.

Our neighbor's pregnant daughter and husband are staying with them tonight as their power (Annandale) is still out.

Betsy


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

No 'lectric from 12:45 p.m. yesterday until 3:45 a.m. this morning.  STORM yesterday.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

telracs said:


> um, mikey....
> 
> if people have no power, how you expect them to post? not gonna waste cell phone power!


I had the same thought. 

We never lost power. . .in fact we seemed to be in a small oasis of electricity as there were clearly outages all around us. Traffic on the weekend was difficult because of signals dark. . . .but it's pretty clear that they were working hard to get that sorted for this morning.

What we did lose is Comms. . . .no TV, internet, or phone. So in the early morning I could use my Verizon wireless hotspot to check in but it was limited. Saturday morning, I only got about 10 minutes before the network overloaded with people waking up to call and find out why they're power was out.  For most of Saturday, then, text worked on Verizon but voice and data was right out. Sunday was a little better, I got about a half hour before the network got too busy. Everything came back sometime late last night.



crebel said:


> Anyone have any updates? I am getting a little concerned about flying in to Reagan National on Wednesday, I hear not many flights are operating.
> 
> The national news reports of damage look horrendous. Hang in there, everybody!


Crebel, I wouldn't worry much about Wednesday. . .unless there's another between now and then I'm sure things will be fine. Keep checking, of course, but I believe most flights are back on schedule as of this morning. Gonna be HOT though. . . . .predicted temps for the next week or so have highs in the upper 90's with a chance of thunderstorms pretty much every day. . .that's really pretty normal for around here in July, though, so shouldn't really cause too many troubles.

Might want to check if where you're staying has electricity, of course. Though, again, MOST who went out on Friday are back. . . .but not all. . . WTOP is available on line and updates the details regularly. And, contrary to the gouging, they were basically willing to give free advertisements to hotels who were willing to give deals for the night. . .specifically if they were willing to take pets. They did a report about a gas station that had hiked it's prices by 30¢ a gallon and encouraged listeners to call in with places that were nearby and selling cheaper.


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

Our power went out for not quite 24 hrs. My parents lost power about the same time, but got it back several hours before we did so I packed up the kids and spent the night there. My in laws are still out of power and it looks like it will be next week until power comes out. Stubborn people won't come here and enjoy the a/c. We did loan them our coolers and will end up cooking a lot of meat from their 2 chest freezers. Good thing DH has a new smoker and is willing to play


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## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

Oh, believe me, one of our neighbors has been posting on FB CONSTANTLY about the status at home! LOL! They have a small generator so can charge the phones, run the fridge, etc. reading those posts make me wonder when the asteroid is going to strike... 

Power came back on last night finally, although I was surprised the storm that came through here later didn't knock it back out again. TONS of lightning, but not much wind, fortunately. The boys want to go back to the house where the PS3 awaits, I'd rather stay here (and we've already paid the campground fees through Tuesday), so we'll see...


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Talking to a friend last night he had a story from years ago where he was on vacation.  The were gone for near a month and, when they got home they found out there'd been a short power outage while they'd been gone.  It had only been a couple of hours, so there shouldn't have been any problems.  But when it came back on, the ground fault switch where their second 'fridge was plugged in, had tripped.  So power didn't come back to that outlet.  He said it was practically a brand new refrigerator but they had to throw the whole thing out. . . .

We also have a friend out toward Herndon who lost power this past weekend. . .and he said a lot of the houses have some sort of generator.  They do because he and his wife have a lot of musical instruments that need to be kept at reasonably consistent temps.


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

my in laws still don't have power and it doesn't look like they'll get power until next week.  We've loaned them both of our coolers (the huge ones we take camping) so they can keep things cold.  I'm also making up reasons for them to come to my house where I have a/c.  We've tried to get them to stay w/ us until the power comes back on, but they refuse (I even laid on the guilt, "I'll feel bad if you go back to your hot house while we have room for you to stay in the a/c", but no dice).  Hopefully it comes on sooner than they expect it to


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

We're still out. May not get it back until later in the week. Borrowed a generator and need to shut down the computer here soon so I can turn the fish tank filters back on, as it's a very small generator. You can't find a generator to buy around here right now.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

We lost power at 11 PM on Friday and got it back Sunday afternoon.  No phone, no cell phone, no wireless.  

Luckily I had half a charge on my K2, so I was able to use the 3G (boy that's slow!) for email to reschedule some stuff.

Not really a big deal here, just the inconvenience of losing most of the food in the fridge.  Things are much worse for some other households.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Susan!  I'm glad you are able to check in and let us know all is well.  I guess that's one way to make a person clean out their refrigerator.

I still haven't heard from my friend in Nokesville and am hoping we will soon be able to communicate.  I heard your area was one of the hardest hit in Virginia, so if your power is back that sounds promising.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

crebel said:


> I still haven't heard from my friend in Nokesville and am hoping we will soon be able to communicate.


Out here in the 'burbs, landline phones are working but sometimes you have to try a dozen times before you get through. You get either the "all circuits are busy" recording or just a busy signal.

And if your friend's online access is via cable, she may not have that yet. My parents live in my neighborhood and got power back when I did, but it took another 24 hours for Cox Cable to get its act together so that their phone and email access was functional again.


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## geniebeanie (Apr 23, 2009)

Friday night was a nightmare. Never saw a storm like that in my life. Still think it was a tornado. Woke up when a tree came down on my trailer roof. It caused a noise and shaking that I still cannot believe. I really thought I was going to die. Never was so scared in my life.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Holy moly, geniebeanie! Thanks for checking in. Is your trailer okay?

L


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## geniebeanie (Apr 23, 2009)

Okay except for three holes in the roof.    Been trying to get a hold of a roofer.  Guess it is a long wait.  My niegbor took the tree top off of the trailer.  He is a good neigbor.


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## cheriereich (Feb 12, 2011)

We lost our power around 8:30 PM on Friday, and we lucked out when it came back on around 5 PM Saturday. We didn't get our phone (land-line) back until Sunday morning. I've never seen a storm (the derecho) like that before. It blew 4-feet in diameter trees over, roots and all, and cut steel signs in half. Across the road from us, they still don't have power as well as other portions of our area (in SW Virginia). It could be this weekend before everyone gets power back.

I hope those still without power are staying safe and cool in this heat.


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

We are back online after 4 days without power. No damage to our property, but a close friend had a tree fall on his car and crush it. Missed the house by mere feet. Saw some amazing destruction in northern Ohio while traveling this weekend. Barns overturned, roofs blown off, billboards crumpled.


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## Ruby296 (Nov 1, 2008)

Geniebeanie, so sorry that you experienced that but at least you are ok. Glad you have a good neighbor too, makes things like this a bit easier to cope with. Hope you get your roof repaired soon.


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## geniebeanie (Apr 23, 2009)

Hi hanging in there, cannot get a roofer yet.  They must  be really swamped.    The trailer park did remove the bad trees from my yard.    Will try to get a roofer as soon as possible.    It could have been must worst.  Near me a tree came down and killed a 90 year old lady in her bed and another lady had  her leg broken when a tree came down and destroyed her trailer.  Just glad I am not hurt and have power.  The roof will get fixed as soon as possible.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Geniebeanie, please continue to be cautious and keep us informed - we will keep you in our prayers.

Gemi, glad to hear that all is well with you after 4 days without power.


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## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

One of our neighbors finally got their power restored. On top of the electrical outage from the storm, there was an underground cable problem that no one knew about from when their deck had been installed years ago. Apparently the cable sheath finally wore through and shorted out, zapping all the appliances! 

On the other hand, even that's not so bad: while walking through the neighborhood this morning, our first time since the storm, one of the houses had half a dozen big trees down (trunks about 12" to 24" in diameter), at least two of which landed on the house. As far as we know, no one was injured, but there was a lot of damage and the house was roped off as unsafe...


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## J.R.Mooneyham (Mar 14, 2011)

I'm in east Tennessee, and lost power Thursday evening, to get it back roughly 12 hours later, at 4:30 AM Friday (thank goodness for graveyard shift utility workers!). A powerful windstorm came through and ripped a big pecan tree in half, casting the loose portion upon our power line, tearing it loose from the pole.

On April 27th of last year, a tornado landed in our back yard, (among other things) tearing our weather head completely off the house-- so we couldn't be reattached to the grid until we had a new one. But similar stuff happened to hundreds or thousands in our area as well, so it took three days to get power back in that case (it took nearly six months to get our roof fixed, due to the tight supply of repair folk, and the huge demand).


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## Cuechick (Oct 28, 2008)

Here's a question, would you rather lose power in the summer or winter?

Last December, I had just moved into my new place in Cali when big wind storms knocked out our power. Mine was out for _only_ about 32 hours, I have a friend who went almost 7 days! It was during a very cold (yes in California, it can cold) snap. I braved it out the first night but was ready to pack up my cat and head over to my parents if it went into another night.

Still, I think no power in a heat wave would be worse. Food would spoil faster and as much as I hate to be cold... 100+ degrees with no relief? Very rough!

My heart goes out to y'all! We are getting some warmer temps here now but it cools off at night and I have central air, thank goodness!


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Since we have a fireplace and a gas grill, I would rather lose power in the winter.  You are correct, no worries about food spoilage and it is easier to keep warm than get cooled off.  Our biggest worry when losing power in the winter is frozen/cracked/bursting pipes.


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