After the Storm is Over
Decatur Metro | June 13, 2013
Well, that sure made for an interesting evening!
And what was with the eerie orange sky afterwards? Not to mention the random drop in water pressure at the taps beforehand.
- rss
Well, that sure made for an interesting evening!
And what was with the eerie orange sky afterwards? Not to mention the random drop in water pressure at the taps beforehand.
ww
LM
Nelliebelle1197
Nelliebelle1197
Bo
LM
TopHat Cat
Sharron
just cranky
Old School
smalltowngal
Rob
At Home in Decatur
KMT
Sharron
Drop heck! We completely lost water and immediately grabbed the largest pots we had to catch rainwater to boil just in case. Of course the first priority would be morning coffee, on the gas stove with Grandmother’s stovetop percolator if necessary! Hope everyone is safe.
So strange. Why did the whole city lose water for a short time??
I called DeKalb Watershed and asked if they knew what was happened. They didn’t know, and said they were waiting for the storm to pass completely before assessing. I didn’t get a straight answer about whether we’re supposed to boil water.
You got through to them? I tried a couple of times and got busys.
I was inside The Brick Store the whole time, I feel like I’m missing something, but not really, and definitely didn’t miss a water outage.
I am very relieved to learn the drop in water pressure was NOT unique to our home!
Power went out at my house at 8pm, bedtime for the kids-both young. Have just awakened to find my neighbors to one side have power, we do not. Last time this happened it was almost TWO days before power was restored at our house. Had to throw out the entire contents of the fridge. Can’t get a live person from Ga Power to save my life. Meanwhile, I sleep next to a fretful child so sweaty he can’t get to sleep (all windows are open). Going on hour six….wish all I had to worry over was a drop in water pressure. I’d take a single operating fan, at this point, and a decent operating power grid…..why doesn’t this crap one get replaced?
I’m sure Georgia Power was well aware of the fact that you didn’t have power. They were rather busy all over.
I’m interested in what you might suggest to improve the power grid, and burying lines is not an option.
Well, Steve, I don’t know what can be done to improve the grid. Perhaps new wiring? There is no downed tree or debris that I can see and it seems to be a stretch of ten houses next to me that chronically loose power during storms and have prolonged outages, while all surrounding are fine. While I’m sure that the power company was “well aware” of my outage, as well, it does nothing to assuage my frustration with a chronic problem. I am STILL without power this morning and no estimated time for it to be returned. This is certainly a first world pain, but I beg you not be too judgmental when you are presumably logging into your computer with power and pulling milk, that hasn’t spoiled, from your refrigerator.
Dear Beyond: You are not having a real problem. You are experiencing some inconvenience. When your power has been out for several days and the temps are back up in the 90s, then you will be experiencing a problem. People with first world problems this week, i.e., they live in the first world and are up against real problems, are the ones in Colorado whose homes burned to the ground with an hour or two’s warning to get out with their valuables; the families who lost loved ones in that fire (which is still raging). Also, people in Oklahoma who lost everything in the tornadoes a few weeks ago; people in the NY/NJ area who lost their homes to Hurricane Sandy last fall and are STILL living in tents. I haven’t caught up on local news yet this morning, but would be surprised if trees didn’t fall on houses last night and just hope no people were hurt.
We can’t do anything about acts of nature, but we choose how we cope and there are many options available to us–cheerfulness, humor, sarcasm, resignation, generosity, as well as fretfulness, entitlement, whining… Think about taking a couple of deep breaths and turning this into an adventure and learning opportunity for your kids, instead of making sure it’s a terrible ordeal.
You can’t control absolutely every human on earth, but you can choose how you respond to them. You can wrap yourself in a cozy blanket of self-righteousness and deliver an unsolicited lecture(your choice). You can write a sarcastic reply using their own unbearably preachy style (my choice). Or you can decide that you have not been appointed to decide whether others have real problems or not.
You might want to take a deep breath, realize that the only shoes you walk in are your own, and judge not, lest ye be judged.
It cooled off nicely at our house after the thunderstorm passed.
“judge not, lest ye be judged” — If being judged amounts to having someone tell me to quit whining and count my blessings, when that’s something I need to hear, then bring it on.
Keep digging! God fobid someone vent some frustruation on DM hoping to find someone with a similar experience who can relate and/or a little sympathy. Even assuming your message is appropriate, your tact was awful (and I am sure you will agree that I know a thing or two about that). You have successfully made a bad situation (problem or inconvenience – call it what you want) worse for someone.
As far as tact goes, maybe beyond should have considered that before posting a rant about inconveniences the morning after a storm that knocked over trees onto houses and cars. No air and no power are minor problems compared to some of the things people are facing today.
That can be said about every day of the week, Bulldog. There is always someone, somewhere going through worse issues. Has that ever stopped you from complaining? Certainly not. Beyond was merely complaining that her power goes out all the time. It’s frustrating. The response by STG was out of line. I mean, come on, people complain about little things on this blog ALL THE TIME!
Thanks Walrus, my thoughts exactly.
Of course it can. There will always be someone in a situation that is worse. But these are actually local events. And in the grand scheme of things after a storm like that, no air and no power seem like minor inconveniences. I think STG’s message – and now mine – is to be thankful for what you have.
STG – Word! Thank you very much for posting this. You summarized my thoughts exactly.
Bulldog and STG need to have a little sympathy for the woes of others. I am sure that we will all remember their lack of sympathy when they write in with a complaint.
When only a few adjacent houses lose power it could be loose equipment at a junction pole or even a main wire chewed by squirrels (happened to me). Wait til Ga Power is not busy and ask them to come check your tranformer and lines.
Did the squirrel die, at least?
Serious question here – why can’t we bury lines?? A few years back it seemed every street in Atlanta and Decatur was ripped up to put in high-speed fibre optics. When the city was allowing that permit, I feel they could also have requested that while the streets were already blocked and open, GA Power be allowed to bury some lines. Seems like a missed opportunity.
I also got to question the cost/benefit of sending technicians out every time we have a storm to fix the overhead lines versus burying the lines once and not having power go out as often??
Burying a 1 inch fiber-optic line, which carries essentially no voltage, is not the same thing as burying electric lines carrying several thousand volts.
Here’s some more reasons:
A. Utility expense – are you willing to pay more for power to have lines buried? We’re talking $ multi-millions here
B. Infrastructure disruption – this area has very old infrastructure, some of it undocumented. How many broken gas and water lines are you willing to tolerate in the process?
C. Environment – how do you suppose we could bury lines under the 100-year-old trees that cause the problem in the first place?
D. Homeowner expense and disruption – every service line would have to buried, involving trenching through their yard, at the homeowner’s expense.
I recognize that doing this for every customer is a daunting task, but I don’t think it is actually as impossible as presented. I lived in DC for years with infrastructure far older than we have and never lost power because the bulk of the lines were under ground. I also lived in Swanton Hill in Decatur for years and only lost power once while my friends on the other side of the square seemed to lose power every storm. The difference? My lines were under ground. Yep, in Decatur. That community was developed much later than most of the city so they *gasp* buried the lines. Why can’t this be the norm in new construction/major renovations until the grid winds up under ground? The answer is Ga. Power doesn’t want to. Years ago I sat on a committee looking at the subdivision ordinance in Atlanta and someone suggested that it require new subdivisions bury the lines. The very next meeting someone from Ga. Power showed up and he attended every meeting after that to make sure it was not proposed in the final draft. His objection was primarily about expense and he tried to argue that it would be more costly and take longer to deal with an outage when the lines are under ground than when they are over head. I believe that is likely correct, but it is also less likely to occur. Just MHO, but I think it’s worth considering.
Just a couple of thoughts offhand:
1. Automated reclosers that don’t require a truck to restore power (the grid can be assessed for safety & turned back on remotely)
2. Looped feeder lines (this gives you multiple points to get power so if one fails, you can still access the other)
3. Distributed storage, either in-home or at substations (a little bit of dreaming, but not too far off in the future)
Curious why you say that burying the power lines isn’t an option. It definitely is an option (and a good one, IMHO, for reasons beyond reliability). Just one that Georgia Power won’t entertain…
One more – allowing homes/schools/businesses to lease solar panels that sell back excess electricity generated.
Other places do this, and in cases where the lines are down, it wouldn’t affect solar generated power.
As it is now, we have to installed a closed system and foot the whole bill upfront.
You need to take that up with the Public Service Commission. Ga Power has been fighting that for a couple of years.
When mine were real little, I once picked us all up in the middle of the night and checked into the then Holiday Inn Downtown. There comes a point when sleep and sanity are a priority. Few of us have screened in sleeping porches anymore as an option when the power goes out.
I was at work downtown until 8:30pm last night. It would take a tornado in front of my face to keep me from leaving work when I’m free (!). The worst was over by then, but it made an interesting drive up Dekalb Ave. Pretty sunset/sky to the left and the Four Horsemen riding high on the right. I kind of wish I could have seen the lightning from a tall condo downtown.
We lost power and still don’t have it!
Grammar police on duty…”eerie.”
I hope eveyone and their property made it through the storm unscathed.
Geezaloo.
We only do this because we love you, and you’re always a good sport about it.
i believe it’s “jeezaloo.”
We did not lose water pressure or electricity according to the males at home. But they might not have noticed the water pressure. The electricity they would have noticed because of the TV. I was out on foot Downtown and found the storm eerie to the max. My friend and I kept an eaterie from closing because we didn’t want to venture out until the wind and lightning died down. The establishment’s lights flickered a lot but no loss of power. On my rapid walk home, it was kind of cool being Downtown. Not only was the lighting interesting, but everyone emerged at once in the calmer weather and Downtown had a bustling pedestrian feel to it. The rumor Downtown was that a tornado had touched down in Cobb but I saw no report of that on my brief internet search when home.
No reports of tornado in Cobb – only lots of wind and many, many trees down.
Cobb tornado confirmed today.
Yup, and described in today’s AJC. Sometimes rumors are true.
North Mead Rd has power and never lost it, but Mead south of the school still does not.
Ate at Sun in My Belly last night as the storm flew over – lights flickered, their computer system crashed, but power stayed on (and we had a great dinner!)
It didn’t help that the table next to us kept calling the orange sky “a tornado sky” as we waited to see if there was more to come.
Steve, you are a troll. Hope you are enjoying yourself.
My apologies, Steve. That was intended for smalltowngal
That’s OK, I’ve been accused of worse, but, for what it’s worth, I agree with many of her comments.
Beyond-
Had I read your original post at 1am, I would have gladly opened my spare bedroom to you and your family. Seriously, I would have and I don’t even know you. Because that’s what neighbors do.
Now, reading your comment to STG, I’m glad I didn’t make that offer.
I think Beyond just wanted to vent, and be heard.
LOL
See you and raise you.
This is probably a really obvious observation, but if you don’t want to find out that other people may not sympathize/agree with your plight/position, you might want to consider not posting it on a pubic blog. And yes, I’m prepared to learn that someone will think I’m mean for pointing this out.
A tree fell on my street last night during the storm and took out the phone/internet, but not the power. Then power went out around 1:30 AM (I think — I woke up at 1:30 and my window unit A/C was quiet, so I assume that’s about when it quit). Still no power when I left home at 9:00 this morning. I had to cut through the neighbors’ back yard to get out of my house because my driveway has a tree on it and my front yard is full of downed power lines, roped off by Caution tape (no sign of anyone actually working on the power lines, though — the fire department came last night and put them up, but I guess Georgia Power has its hands full today!). I’m glad I take the bus to and from work; my car is trapped behind my house until the tree is cleared.
I can’t believe some of the complaints I’m reading on here. A serious storm just passed through that knocked down trees and power lines.
I am still curious about loss of water pressure. We are currently in an apartment complex at Northlake/Tucker/Lakeside/Briarcliff-whatchamacallit and ours went completely dry (toddler bath time!) until the storm passed. Just odd that it sounds like a lot of DeKalb lost water pressure at the time of the storm!
We close in Avondale Estates in about a month, so we will be suburban Decaturites, even though I had a condo there for about 10 years. Not as many fancy eateries, but shopping consignment stores will not be a problem. Also, power lines routed to houses from the rear, and door to door mail delivery. Plus, corn dogs!
I believe this is due to a rapid and large drop in atmospheric pressure. Not certain, though.
I don’t think we had a drop in water pressure (I washed my hands right after the storm), and we kept power all night. The biggest casualty was the garden. My tomato plants were really beat up by the wind and rain. Having seen some of the trees down around town, we were very lucky. I hope everybody is ok.
Too many asshats commenting today. So I’m outta here and heading to the Beach Party.
Can’t we all just get along…? Nah, fehgitaboutit!