Mother Nature WTF???

[Catrin]

Flying Scott...I had no idea things were so bad in Ohio! Guess I should watch the news more often instead of curling up with a good book. I knew there had been some serious storms, but not like THAT. I hope they are able to get to everyone sooner rather than later - this isn't the kind of weather to be out of power.

Tulip - I can picture you in the basement with your bike helmet on - that was a really good idea! I hope that all of our TE members are safe and stay that way.

I don't know if Indiana has had enough rain to decrease the fire potential, but I think there probably hasn't been - especially in southern Indiana. Almost the entire state has open burn bans and has banned private fireworks. We hope to get more rain this afternoon, and at least the cloud cover is protecting us somewhat from the big broiler in the sky...

[breeze]

Flying Scott, sorry to hear that you're dealing with that this weekend. I'm visiting family up near Warren/Youngstown this weekend, and while we hit some rain on the Friday night drive, things are fine up here. I have lots of friends in Columbus without power, though, and have a healthy distrust of AEP after the many times that I lost power (for days at a time) during even inconsequential storms there.

[ny biker]

Central Ohio was hit very hard as well. We had clocked 85mph winds. 200,000+ people are without power and the heat wave continues. They've called out the National Guard to go house by house in the "economically challenged" neighborhoods to make sure the elderly and sick are okay. We were out power for only 6 hours (my small city has their own power company that rocks. AEP not so much). The worst thing is that most of the gas stations and grocery stores are still out of power. Gas lines at the only open stations were approaching a 3 hour wait...as long as the gas lasted. Ice is getting hard to find. I don't have AC at all (hate it) so I'm better prepared to handle the heat and I'm acclimated to it. Power is not likely to be completely restored until the 6th. They are saying this is worse than when Hurricane Ike blew through in 2008.

On Friday night, I got up and checked the batteries in my flashlights after I read how many people had lost power in Ohio and Indiana.

Part of the problem restoring power in Va/MD/DC is that they have to wait for help from power companies farther away because the closer states like West Virginia and Ohio were hit so hard by this storm.

My parents have no air conditioning so I've learned from them that keeping the windows and curtains closed during the day will actually keep the house less hot. My thermostat was set at 76 when the power went out, and the indoor temp slowly reached 82 by the time my electricity came back on, just over 24 hours after it went out. However with so little cooling at night, it would have gotten uncomfortable today for me if I still had no power. Fortunately there are cooling centers open here -- various libraries, shopping malls and community centers.

They described the damage in the western part of northern Virginia (Loudoun County, Reston and Herndon in Fairfax County) as "catastrophic," so I assume those areas are being restored more slowly than my area closer to the city.

[ny biker]

!!! Please tell me this is a joke -- just saw this on twitter --

RT @JimCantore: Good Lord!! #Chicago has a #SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR 100 mph winds. SERIOUSLY DANGEROUS SITUATION FOR CHICAGO

[Catrin]

!!! Please tell me this is a joke -- just saw this on twitter --

RT @JimCantore: Good Lord!! #Chicago has a #SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR 100 mph winds. SERIOUSLY DANGEROUS SITUATION FOR CHICAGO

I just looked at Weather.com and the alert was for 60mph winds That is bad enough

[OakLeaf]

Actually there were 650k AEP customers in Ohio out at peak. They have it down to 470k last I checked. I think something like 1.2M statewide. We're on a co-op but there is a LOT of damage, plus AEP owns and maintains the transmission tower(s) that collapsed.

We're just lucky we have friends in town to get water from every couple of days ... And enough land that we can, ahem, dig holes...
Back to conserving battery.

[Selkie]

It'll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow, when people are set to return to work.

According to the news, there are still a lot of roads blocked and intersections dark because the power is still out.

[Koronin]

Flying Scott, sorry to hear that you're dealing with that this weekend. I'm visiting family up near Warren/Youngstown this weekend, and while we hit some rain on the Friday night drive, things are fine up here. I have lots of friends in Columbus without power, though, and have a healthy distrust of AEP after the many times that I lost power (for days at a time) during even inconsequential storms there.

OMG, Warren is where my family lives and where I grew up. When to college at Youngstown State U.

[ny biker]

It'll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow, when people are set to return to work.

According to the news, there are still a lot of roads blocked and intersections dark because the power is still out.

I've only seen info for Arlington, and while they are making progress getting traffic lights back online there are still many that are not working. Last night on my way home (after 10 pm) I noticed they had put cones in several intersections to block you from going some ways.

I'm on my way out to get a new phone (Droid Razr Maxx for only $199 at Radio Shack today) and then I want to hit the grocery store. Should be interesting. But if the stores are open, I'm hoping the main intersections in that area also have power.

[Crankin]

Wow. I have a friend (actually a former bf) who lives in Herndon. He's here in MA for a wedding and I wonder what he will face when returning home.

[lovelygamer]

Hour and a half south of DC here and we got the storm but not as bad as DC. I slept through it except for the part where I woke up screaming bloody murder. I guess my subconscious was listening to the storm. Thankfully, not much power was lost down here on the shore. Were all at 100 or over heat indexes. I am glad no one here got hurt. I was worried, I heard it was insane in DC. I know the governor called liberal leave for state employees for tomorrow (Monday).

NY I feel for you. That is just crappy. I'm glad you could get into work or somewhere at least, for reprieve.

[Owlie]

My sister and my adviser (he lives close by) got their power back Saturday. Friends of mine still don't have power.

[laura*]

This evening I (tried) calling my mom in Ohio. She's fine - they never lost power - and there's no damage other than some leaves down in the yard.

However ... the phone line kept going dead at about 3 minutes into a call. After the second time this happened, I decided the (Ohio) phone system must be overloaded or having problems. (It also took a loooong time to connect.) Mom and I decided to cut our third call short - and to talk at length some other time.

[Koronin]

Glad to hear some are starting to get power back. Prayers to all effected by these storms.

[Selkie]

Unscheduled leave for all of us Fed'l public servants. Hopefully, a lot of folks will be taking the day off so the traffic won't be nuts.