Residents still without power growing frustrated

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By DAVID EGGERT and COREY WILLIAMS

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Staring at a sixth day without power in a house as cold as a refrigerator, a frustrated John Johnson finally was able to borrow a generator from a neighbor Friday.

He "never in a million years" thought his tree-lined city neighborhood near Michigan State University would be without electricity this long. But it could be Sunday or even the middle of next week before the power is back after a weekend ice storm that tore off tree limbs and snuffed out lights from Michigan to Maine and into Canada over the Christmas holiday.

"Hopefully, I make it through without any frozen pipes until the (utility) gets in here," said Johnson, 63, as he tried setting up the generator to warm up the house above 40 degrees before giving it back to his neighbor.

Michigan bore the brunt of the storm as nearly 600,000 homes and businesses lost power, and as of Friday afternoon, about 60,000 customers remained in the dark. Maine reported almost 12,000 outages and in eastern Canada, nearly 62,000 still hadn't had their power restored, including 33,000 in Toronto.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20131227/DAAUVVM81.html

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Cory Bean works atop a utility pole to repair a power line, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013, in East Lansing, Mich. Bean is part of a crew from utility service company T&D Solutions out of Kentucky brought in to assist Consumers Energy with restoring power in Michigan after an ice storm. Bean has been working in Michigan since Sunday. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

[Thinkingabout]

1. My heart goes to those without power. Since I live on the Gulf Coast and lost power

For a week last time life is difficult. I have a generator but gas is sometimes difficult to acquire. My area was not hit hard but in some areas they had to do a complete replacement of power lines and some was without power for months. Hopefully power will be restored soon.

[Thinkingabout]

5. You must know about third world countries.

[Julian Englis]

2. No capital investment in Reagan's America-it lowers dividends.

I bet there won't be any mass firings of electric company executives because of this.

[Thinkingabout]

6. Did the executives put the ice on the lines? Wow, they are powerful.

[LiberalEsto]

3. Good luck to those working on the lines

and to those waiting for power to be restored.

We've been through this twice in past winters, and it's awful.

[WatermelonRat]

7. My aunt and uncle are missing the extended family Christmas today because of this.

Their farm has an emergency generator, but it can't be left alone.

[Ezlivin]

9. It's a pity we can't move those lines underground

I imagine that moving utilities underground would be very expensive. Probably more than simply repairing them when they fail.

Business calculus seldom takes customer's comforts into account.

[Earth_First]

10. Burying existing lines, yes...

However new installation is nearly conpletely underground in residential neighborhoods in our area.

During the ice storm of 1991, large portions of our area were without power for nearly three weeks.

[Psephos]

11. If the lines were to be buried, the cost would be borne by ratepayer increases.

That's how it works in regulated utilities, by law.