Keystone State Thread

Give it 24 hours, they'll wish they had evacuated. Our Nat'l Guard unit is sitting here waiting for the call to head out. Who knows where we will end up. I brought lots of dry socks.

 

I know they already got hundreds of lineman and tree trimmers already out in Philly and Jersey. I was out near Philly this weekend and took the turnpike back home to Pittsburgh and passed like 300 bucket and digger trucks. At least they're prepared for power outages

 

They got a lot of heat After the last storm and widespread outages for being underprepared. Hopefully this time we can expect that the over preparedness works in our favor.

 

It's not a matter of "being prepared". The problem is when it comes time to start working and repairing stuff the companies get overwhelmed and the linemen end up waiting for work to be assigned when they could do the work themselves if the company let them. During the October snow storm there were people out of lights for over 2 weeks, because the company was still instructing the linemen to "cut and run" instead of putting the wires back up.

With my company atleast, management acts like every storm is the first storm. Too many hands in the kitchen or whatever that expression is.

 

That IS a matter of being prepared tho. Having the people in place without a good plan/management is a MAJOR failure to prepare. You said it when you mentioned they act like this is the first storm every time...That is an issue with leadership and short organizational memory. Have to make a plan, test the plan all the way out all levels before it matters, fix it, test it again, and then stick to it from the top to the bottom.
I've seen a few major catastrophe responses, and the success of each on hinged on having a good plan to start and then having dedicated and creative response crews that can put the plan into action...

 

Thanks for the well wishes. We are hoping for the best here, we're right in the middle of the storm track.

 

Grew up in Clarksville......now I reside in TX.

 

So far lots of rain in Philly and some wind, but nothing major to this point. Realize it's going to get worse throughout the day and tonight.

 

Very good points.

Not to argue, but theoretically if I sold hot dogs at a foot ball game, I could be prepared with 1,000 hot dogs already cooked and sitting on buns, and I could have 10 cashiers and 10 servers all working together, but that doesn't mean there still wouldn't be a line of people waiting.

Again, not trying to argue, just stating that even with the best layed plans and execution of said plans there is still going to be time where people are unhappy about the service they are receiving. Whether it be hot dogs or power outages.

 

Certainly not trying to argue...Just talking emergency management.
If the stadium is a 50k person stadium and you only have 10 people selling, the is a planning issue. Having enough folks to manage the linemen on the ground is the same miss on planning.

There will be time inconvenienced without a doubt, but the method of attack matters. If there is a solid plan to point to, public perception is easier to manage.
We watched two separate power companies work in our area..the city company and the state company for lack of a better way to differentiate them. The city guys were in the same situation you were talking about...poor management of deployment and limited oversight. The state company nailed the execution with very few issues.
Everyone was without power for a while..but folks in the city were very displeased about the service, but the rest of the area was a bit more understanding.

 

No problem, praying for you guys in the storm - we will get some rain and flooding but not like you guys since we're in the hills.

By the way - unrelated topic - how have your step bars held up under the salt/chemicals PennDOT loves to put down in the winter?

I'm hoping to get step bars just like those, and Line-X'ing them to prevent rusting.

 

Interesting that you mentioned that. I took them off for the Centralia trip and never put them back on. They need to be repainted or bed lined. I'm thinking of just selling them so let me know if you're interested.

 

wind and rain are picking up here....monroe county

 

Not supposed to get too crazy this far west, good amount of rain, but nothing as bad farther east. Wind gonna puck up tonight to around 60 mph gusts. Not crazy, but makes it hard to sleep wondering what's blowing around.

 

That's great, I'll PM you.

 

Here comes the weather!!... I JUST got my truck back from the shop last week with fresh painted bumper and new grill installed

 

Good ol' Lancaster county right in the bullseye.

This is more entertaining seeing how freaked out people get over this. Right now, its only some rain and barely any wind. All schools are closed, mall is closed, businesses are closed....

I'm not knocking the severity of the situation - just seems a bit premature.

 

Crappy picture quality but its all good

 

What unit are you in? Stay safe if you end up getting called up to go out.

 

Hope everyone is doing OK this morning....

Woke up at 2:30am last night and the wind was whippin!! Our sump had finally got enough water in it to start pumping. It was pumping about every 20 minutes. We were expecting more water....

No loss of power for us and no damages. No branches lost on the trees... - about a month ago we had a service come out and cut the trees back. They were cut back pretty hard (dead limbs). That could've been our saving grace.....

Things could've been a lot worse. I know it WAS a lot worse for some...

I hope everyone is safe. If you did suffer a lot thru this - Some prayers for you to get your lives & homes back together soon!!