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October 14, 2006

Stumble It!The October Surprise

Filed under: Environment,Random Recordings of Mental Meanderings — Eric Ptak @ 11:50 am

What a wild couple of days. Thursday afternoon, I was at work, and it started snowing at around 1:00. I didn’t think much of it, as the weathermen had been predicting some snow. The night before, they had detailed this cold mass of air coming out of Canada, which would potentially cause some snow in the traditional snow belt areas. However, I knew that by 4:00, something strange was happening. Here it was, October 12 and there was a significant amount of snow already on the ground and the precipitation was expected to last all night.

At about quarter to seven in the evening, the lights started flickering in the building. I wasn’t overly concerned, because we had a high-power generator as a backup, and it wasn’t long before I was to leave. At five to seven, I was preparing a briefing for a few fellow associates which synopsized a meeting we had regarding hurricane Katrina affected homes. There was a loud buzz, and the building went completely dark. The generator did not kick on, so we were. in a word, screwed. A few emergency lights, and that was it. I gave the briefing, assuming that we were going to be back at work in the morning, locked up as best as I could and left.

The snow was coming down wet and hard. I pulled out the old umbrella, and waited for the bus. After I was out for 10 minutes, I saw the bus going out to Lockport a half-hour late. So, I waited under the awning as others streamed out to their cars. About five other people had come out waiting for the bus. I advised them that the bus was going to be really late, so they started soliciting for rides into the city. One of the girls who is also a member of Toastmasters, E_____, offered me and another fellow a ride to the city line.

It was definitely different. All the lights at intersections were out. The roads were extremely sloppy with half-melted snow. Long stretches of road were darkened because of the loss of power. Finally, near the University, we got to an intersection where a policeman was attempting to direct traffic. We got through the intersection and about 50 feet later, her car just died. While she was trying to get it started again, the cop came up, and banged on the door.

“What the hell are you doing??? Get this care going! I can’t have this!”

We explained that the car died. We got out and helped the cop push the car to the side of the road. When we got back in, she tried calling her father who was out bowling, since her husband was at work and wouldn’t be able to help. To add insult to injury, her phone died. I gave her mine to use. She called several people, and we decided to go outside and wait for the next bus.

As we saw it coming in the distance, her mother called. I explained the situation and she said she would come out to help. I told E_____, who said she had just spoken with her father at the hotel lobby phone. So both parents were on their way, and I got on the metro into the city.

It was an amazing sight, all the new trees that were planted when Main Street was re-constructed were bent in half. There was a whiteout: I couldn’t see past 150 feet. Traffic was slow. Lightning and thunder and snow: it’s an awesome sight, if you’ve never seen it before. I wish I had my camera with me, simply because there were too many pictures to be taken.

Going home later that evening was surreal at best. It was like a war zone. Branches snapping sounded like gunfire. Thunderclaps sounded like heavy artillery. Lights were going off and on all over the place. Entire sections of the city were completely out of power. As I was walking up my block, I shook the young trees that were bent over with snow, because if they snapped, they wouldn’t survive.
 




 
When I got up yesterday, I was thankful that I live in one of the older neighborhoods, with one of the oldest sections of the power grid. It almost never goes out. So I went outside, and checked out the damage. One of the trees I had shaken snow off of had snapped in half. There were branches all over from the trees across the street. I started to shovel the snow. It was fucking heavy snow. Considering that it was supposed to rain later, I figured why bother, and checked on my elderly neighbor. She was OK, and was concerned about her garage. I went back to check on it. The trees that were behind it did break, but they did not fall on her garage, thankfully. Her neighbors on the other side had a grand old tree in their backyard that was so weighted down with snow, it was half its original size. The snow was so thick, there was no telling how much damage there was to it.

I went inside, got the camera out, and snapped a few pictures. Luckily, we didn’t have much damage to our property. Then I went in, put on the radio, and prepared to spend the day at home. All traffic was banned in the city, but people were still stupid enough to go out traviling in this crap. Over 300,000 homes were out of power, and a water purifying station was out. It was not a good situation.

I went out later to try to find someplace that had the Sabres game on. I walked for over a mile up one of the major streets before I found a bar that was open. The place was mobbed with locals, and they didn’t take credit. Since it was too far for me to go to a bank to get money, I turned around to come home. There were no lights in that area, and too much slush to wade through, anyway. I figured it was too much work to try to get at least a buzz on. The arab mart was even out of beer.

So I came home, and listened to the game. Of course, they won again. It was in a shootout, the third one this season. But they won, and that’s what counts.

When I got up this morning, the driving ban in the city was ended. I went outside to snap a few more pics. This is a pic of the branches that fell from just one tree. Notice the branch laying on the powerline in the upper left corner of the photo, and the branch leaning against the porch of the yellow house. It’s about five inches in diameter where it snapped off.

Carnage caused by one tree

After all is said an done, I’m sure there are going to be jokes made about Buffalo, and the bad weather we have here. I’ll tell you what though: consider New Orleans, consider the high cost of house insurance in Florida, the wildfires in the Southwest, and the earthquakes in California.

At least in Buffalo, when there’s a disaster I still have my home. Two days later, I can get to work. Unlike those other places.

You can have them, I like it just fine here.

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