Hurricane Sandy

[first time builder]

Hi All.
We lost power at about 4:30, fired up generator and had nice candle light dinner with family. Took ride around at about 8 PM and half of the 4 surrounding towns are with out power. Trees and fences down all over, power lines burning in streets. Tryed to call 911 to report wire that just fell near where we were driving and they didn't answer the phone. Decided it was safer to go home.
Its really bad !!!! I live in Holbrook on Long Island , its on the eastern part of the island, but in the center and has high ground so no flooding.


Kenny

PS found out Fios Internet works off generator

[ROB J]

Mayor Bloomberg says to not use 911 for those sort of things. Call 311 instead.

[first time builder]

Mayor Bloomberg is the Mayor of NYC not Suffolk County where I live. And I wasn't calling to report a power outage , it was to report a down power line that was live and burning !

Kenny

[NAGA]

Heard there is water over the runway at Laguardia.

d

[TimC]

Originally Posted by first time builder

Mayor Bloomberg is the Mayor of NYC not Suffolk County where I live. And I wasn't calling to report a power outage , it was to report a down power line that was live and burning !

Kenny

Blumburg doesn't want anyone to drink a large soft drink but they can play around downed power lines. I heard the same broadcast where he said 911 wasn't for downed trees and power lines. A burning power line is an emergency in my book.
Good thing you live in Suffolk County. There's probably not much they could do until the major storm passes anyway.

[first time builder]

Tim, your 100 % about the power lines and the only reason I called(tried to) was it was burning and a hazard. The fire depts (all local volunteers) were sending units to block traffic at downed wires. I didn't call when my power went out (to even my power company)
as I know the whole neighborhood was out.
Holbrook, Long Island. A lot of damage related to trees, fences signs, roof shingles and trim blow off. etc. Fortunalty Havent seen any roofs off. Almost 1 Million wihout power( includeing me) I have a decent sized backup generator and have the esentials running. (computer and internet lol).
I personally consider myself lucky family is fine and only minimal damage to my home.

Kenny

[Cobra Cory]

Hey...I bought a Glastron-Carlson CVX20 speed boat off a guy in Holbrook, NY about ten years or so ago....Not you was it? I got stopped on one to the parkways for towing a trailer. I had a Biotch of a time trying to get off that island without using a parkway. Or was it a thru-way? ....

[NiceGuyEddie]

remembering Long Island, were i grew up (teen years)...

who is the numut that decided to plant hundreds of thousands of trees between the curb and the street, that are 6' in diameter, and 75 feet tall at maturity underneath power lines that are 18 feet above the ground????

[ROB J]

Originally Posted by NiceGuyEddie

remembering Long Island, were i grew up (teen years)...

who is the numut that decided to plant hundreds of thousands of trees between the curb and the street, that are 6' in diameter, and 75 feet tall at maturity underneath power lines that are 18 feet above the ground????

Come on Eddie, don't you know that's how they create future jobs?

[first time builder]

Cobra Cory,
Nope wasn't me, and yes it was a Parkway , and no you can't tow a trailer on a Parkway.

Eddie,
My neighbor hood is about 18yrs old and all utilities are underground IN THE DEVELOPMENT, but unfortunaty the power lines outside the development are above ground, well now they are kind of laying on the ground, thats why I don't have power. We also dont have trees along the curb. More of our power outages appear to be caused by rain and wind hitting the Pole mounted transformers. Last night it looked like lightning yet none was reported, it was the transformers arcing out then some of them caught fire.
That kept the local Volunteer fire depts very busy. I still dont have power . They are saying 90 % of all homes on Long Island are without power. After driving around a bit today I consider myself lucky that I only lost 3 shingles off my roof. Spent afternoon cleaning up downed branches and leaves and still not done.

Kenny

[Someday I Suppose]

Yea its fun out there. We lost power around 7:30 on Monday night, not sure why but the storms always seem to hit North Jersey at night. Scary night hearing trees coming down around you, wind howling.

We were very fortunate though, lost a ridge cap on the house which we got fixed yesterday, and then had a lot of trees down in the back yard, took out the fence.

We have the generator going so house is bareable, at the office today, but the biggest issue right now is lack of gas. I've only seen a handul of service stations open running off generators themselves.

Scott

[tfalk]

Originally Posted by NiceGuyEddie

who is the numut that decided to plant hundreds of thousands of trees between the curb and the street, that are 6' in diameter, and 75 feet tall at maturity underneath power lines that are 18 feet above the ground????

You can thank the local tree huggers who have that kind of stuff put into the site plans for any development... Fortunately we have underground utilities where I am but they planted trees 100 feet apart regardless of what else was near them. Needless to say, I have a tree uprooting my driveway and I am not allowed to remove the tree.

[cChrisM]

We are still out and not expected to have power until this coming weekend. Some of the schools in town with power opened today with a half day and full day the rest of the week. My wife talked with a power line crew from California today and I saw trucks from Georgia this morning as well. We have everyone staying with us as we can get out heat to work, temps this morning was 40 degrees.

I was lucky and only lost the tree below. I was standing on the front steps talking to my brother discussing if it would blow down or not when it went. $3,200 to have it taken away. 80ft tree about 32 years old. I got some neigbors and friends and had it cut up and hauled away in a day. Just have to grind the stump.

Client of mine lives a couple of blocks from the Jersey Shore and lost everything.

[Zulu]

Originally Posted by tfalk

You can thank the local tree huggers who have that kind of stuff put into the site plans for any development... Fortunately we have underground utilities where I am but they planted trees 100 feet apart regardless of what else was near them. Needless to say, I have a tree uprooting my driveway and I am not allowed to remove the tree.

Ted, don't need to remove the tree, rent a 3ft ditch witch and cut a trench on sides of driveway, will kill all the roots and slowly the upheaval will subside,

We did this with trees next to tennis courts , they are still alive and within two years the heaving went away..... Luckily they only slightly damaged the edges, not the playing surface.

[crash]

Originally Posted by Zulu

Ted, don't need to remove the tree, rent a 3ft ditch witch and cut a trench on sides of driveway, will kill all the roots and slowly the upheaval will subside,

We did this with trees next to tennis courts , they are still alive and within two years the heaving went away..... Luckily they only slightly damaged the edges, not the playing surface.

Not saying it won't work, but if you do this, there is a big storm, and the tree falls and damages something, it is likely the damaged property owner will come looking for you to pay for it.

That's what happened to my parents when a contractor cut too many roots off a tree when doing an addition. Took out the garage of the house next door and my parents home owners insurance ended up paying.

[Someday I Suppose]

Chris, thats a dang big tree you got there. Most of ours are down on the fence so the wife is trying to get the insurance company on the phone. Got a claim put in last week, tried to call today and was on hold for over an hour before she got disconnected.

On that rootball, do you think you are going to be able to grind it standing like that? We have one big one as well and the tree guy I talked to said he could remove the tree but couldnt do anything with the rootball except hope it falls back into the hole...

[cChrisM]

Originally Posted by Someday I Suppose

Chris, thats a dang big tree you got there. Most of ours are down on the fence so the wife is trying to get the insurance company on the phone. Got a claim put in last week, tried to call today and was on hold for over an hour before she got disconnected.

On that rootball, do you think you are going to be able to grind it standing like that? We have one big one as well and the tree guy I talked to said he could remove the tree but couldnt do anything with the rootball except hope it falls back into the hole...

Scott, big one for sure, I even emailed Rockefeller Center and asked if they needed some filler branches. Needless to say they weren't interested. The root ball fell back (mostly). I don't think it will be too hard to get ground down.

Who is your insurance carrier? Make the claim on-line (did mine on my smart phone), get a claim number, find out who the adjuster is and their contact info. Then send them quotes and pictures. I have a check in the mail today for my claim already with Travelers. The adjusters are buried but if you can make their life easy and able to close it out quick they should work with you. Don't forget your spoiled food for lack of power.

Good luck.

[JoeE]

I am glad to be back no damage to any of my property just no electric till today. 12 hours short of full week. It wouldn't have been that bad but, the utility worker who came out on Friday to get us back on line neglected to recheck the far end of the development before he left. My neighbors around me had power and me and 15 other homes didn't. Today the power company finally believed me and sent a truck out to turn on the rest of the block. It took him 10 min tops.

[dv/dt]

Be careful with fallen trees where the root ball pulled out. We had a case here last year where the father was cutting up a fallen tree and when he cut off part of the tree the base sprang back up and the root ball crushed his son. Very tragic.

[jimgood]

I finally broke down and bought a generator about three weeks ago. I called an electrician to install the sub-panel and he dilly dallied around until the day that Sandy hit. They got everything finished two hours before the power went out. This is the first time in the 14 years I've been here that we've had the luxury of riding out a power outage in such comfort.

We were lucky. We were only off the grid for 26 hours this time. The last time, when we had that freak storm for which no one was prepared, we were out for 4 days. No generator. No water. I had to strap a trough to the tractor bucket, drive it down to the creek and fill it with buckets to have water for the horses.

The power company insists that it's too costly to bury the lines. They would have to pass that cost on to the customers. So, instead, I have to invest in a generator and burn fuel at nearly $4 a gallon. Just this past week, they had the gall to announce they are seeking approval to build a $1.3 billion gas powered plant in Northern Virginia. I believe they said it would add .83 cents to everyone's power bill.

I feel for the people that I know have it much worse than we EVER have.

[Someday I Suppose]

Chris, we have State Farm, got in touch with them finally last night and they are sending a check and I am sending them some photographs. They were really pretty easy to deal with once we got them on the phone :-)

Now to find a tree service.

Scott

[ROB J]

Wow Chris, over 3 g's to get rid of that tree. This reminds me of the price gouging after Hurricane Andrew here 20 years ago.

[cChrisM]

Originally Posted by ROB J

Wow Chris, over 3 g's to get rid of that tree. This reminds me of the price gouging after Hurricane Andrew here 20 years ago.

I guess I can't blame these guys. They are busy and everyone has something to be hauled away. My neighbor across the street had a big tall dead tree from his neighbor's yard fall on his garage and house. His neighbor behind him has a "zero" maintance policy. His bill was over $5k. We got quotes from the same guy and the tree guy told my wife that they had to rent another crane for $20k a week so he had to pass on his extra costs to us.

A few neighbors and friends a couple of chain saws and free dumping thanks to the town and its gone. I'll rent a stump grinder for $150 and it will be ready to plant another one.

[Someday I Suppose]

Chris, I am leaning more and more in that direction, my wife really wanted to hire someone to take care of it, but most of the guys I called today are too busy to even come out and look. One basically said if a tree isnt through the roof dont bother us. I know I am going to have to replace at least 2 or 3 fence posts, so I want the trees gone sooner then later so I can get the posts in the ground before it freezes.

Scott