CER2520@ritvax.isc.rit.edu (Curtis E. Reid) (03/06/91)
This is a quick brief to let you know what's happening in Rochester, NY. I am writing this from my office at the Rochester Institute of Technology which still has electrical power and heat. I live only 1.5 miles from RIT and I don't have any electricity or heat for 55 hours and still counting. Last Saturday, we had a great weather. Very sunny and warm in the 60s-70s. Great day to be outdoors! Then, Sunday evening (after 4 pm), things turned around for the opposite. We had a severe lighting storm and rain. By 11 pm or so, it had begun to freeze on trees, houses, poles, et cetera. Around 1 am (Monday), the weight of the ice staggered many, many trees and then nearly all power in the whole county went out at about 2 am. Then, came the light, it was a devasting sight. All the trees, grass, houses, cars, and anything that was outside were covered with 1-INCH thick ice. Nearly all tree tops have toppled over spilting the trunks in half, some with saps flowing out. The bushes lay flat under ice. The grass looked like a microbe under a manifying glass. Monday morning, several counties declared states of emergencies. Airports, businesses, food chains, malls, gas stations were shut down. Almost 200,000 of 325,000 utility customers are without power! Few areas lost phone services. The counities called on other electrical companies from Connecticut, eastern and western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and some other locations to come here to restore several thousand miles of wires destroyed by ice and trees. The newspaper had a 1/4 page headline that said "ICED OVER!". It said that it was the most devasting ice storm of the decade and since 1957 when Rochester suffered a similar ice storm of this magnitude. Now, come Tuesday. The sun was out blazing full and increased the tempurature to the 50s which caused a lot of ice to melt quickly which is what the counties wanted. But, there is a serious tradeoff. The trees that were freed from the weight of ice snapped back up pulling the wires with it. Thus, utility customers who had power restored were once again without power. I had to hire a guy with portable generator to operate the sump pump in my basement since it is beginning to flood with the melted ice water from outside. Another night passed with only about 118,000 utility customers power restored. Today is Wednesday morning at this time of writing. The utility crews have a long way to go to restore power and were issuing warnings that power may not be restored until Friday or the weekend. However, the phone services continues to be very reliable although 911 received something like 20,000 calls on Monday which quite bogged down the center. Rochester Tel is advising customers not to make any uncessary calls. The sun is out again and hopefully this will make it easier for the utility crew to repair a lot of wires today but from the looks of how devasting it is (that only one night can cause!), it will be some time. Signing off for now. Curtis E. Reid CER2520@RITVAX.Bitnet (Bitnet) CER2520@RITVAX.isc.rit.edu (Internet)