Comments on: Updated Again: A Storm in a Tea Cup, Apparently

By: Leonard

Leonard — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 16:54:02 +0000

Here in the East, we had a big summer storm a few years back that had similar effects. And my coworkers and I debated the same sort of things. Why are all the power lines exposed like that? (Must be cheaper, but how much cheaper?) What sort of legal regime around line maintenance is there? Clearly the power company can trim trees around their lines, but I don’t think they are very aggressive about it. Could they be? Why do they have all those old transformers that blow up? Can’t they use modern tech to shut one down fast enough if a short happens?

Meanwhile, for your winter storm I ama little surprised you lost food. Right now I am seeing 38 for the high in Seattle. Couldn’t you put the stuff in a cooler and put it outside? It would take a very long time for a bunch of frozen food to thaw in such conditions, and you can maintain freezing indefinitely if it gets below 32f at night.

By: Stephen w. Browne

Stephen w. Browne — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:50:27 +0000

Loved your comments about the Lada. In Poland the “peoples car” was the Maluch or Maly Fiat, manufactured under license.

I had to help a lady start one once and was amazed when I opened the hood in back. It was the first vehicle with four wheels and two cylinders I’d ever seen that wasn’t a lawn mower.

How do you double the value of your Maluch? Drive it to the gas station and fill it up.

Why does a Maluch have shoulder belts? So when it breaks down you can use it as a backpack.

I adapted an old VW joke about how when you get into a collision with a big dog – you lose. Then a lady told me that she had in fact hit a big dog with her Maluch. The dog got up and ran away – but the Maluch’s front end was totaled!

By: concha

concha — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 15:42:00 +0000

Ilana,
I am glad to hear of your triumph over nature. You are right, there has been no coverage of this fierce storm in California. Oh, I’m sure it’s been mentioned, but nothing like the coverage of the lost climbers. I’m not a t.v. hound, but I have noticed it’s all about them when I do turn it on.
I had no idea, and am sorry to hear of the death and destruction this storm has caused. Take care.

By: james huggins

james huggins — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:26:38 +0000

Nobody can forsee the exact date of natural disasters but they can forsee that the disasters WILL come sooner or later. As populations grow governments grow and become less flexible and effecient in their ability to prepare for
or respond to the non-routine events of the day. In other words it’s not going to get any better so the citizens should be prepared to take care of themselves. In the case of real disasters the efforts of governments become self defeating so we had better be prepared to not only fight the elements but to resist the incompetent boobs in our various govermental bodies who are making decisions based on ignorance and ideology. The incredible series of events preceding and during the Katrina disaster in New Orleans is just a warning. The major local political figures who should have been in the know about local conditions botched the whole thing through ignorance and political posturing. It seems they are being rewarding for their official malpractice by being re-elected and no doubt being in place to help with distribution of gazillions of dollars of tax payer supplied relief funds.

By: Dan Maguire

Dan Maguire — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 23:18:59 +0000

First, sorry to hear of your misery. On the admittedly meager plus side, the experience has prompted you to take precautions for the future, which is good.

In the northern mid-West where I live, older neighborhoods have all their power lines above ground, while the new ones have their power lines buried. Now, as far as the main lines go…ugh, I don’t know. I confess ignorance regarding the prime lines that bring the juice to large numbers of people. My guess is that a lot of these are still above ground, subject to the hazards in Ilana’s article. By the way, it seems to me that an earthquake is a peril that will knock down power lines whether they’re above ground or not. Depends on the severity of the quake, maybe.

It would be informative to see the costs of a one-time tree “pushback” along with the regular trimmings that would need to happen versus the cost of what Ilana and the rest of the Northwest just went through. My bet: trimming trees would win.

In all fairness to the utilities, customers complain about any and all manner of rate increases. Trimming the trees and properly passing the cost to the consumer would result in a lot of angry consumers. Of course, that’s what you have now after the power outage. Basically, people want their power but they don’t want to pay for it. So, we have what we have today: an intensely regulated industry so that the benevolent government can make sure we’re not getting screwed. In the meantime, we get screwed. Go figure.