Current Situtation
Living in the hills with a gas can and 7500 watts.
Helena has disrupted our regularly scheduled programing. We have been without power and Internet since Friday, and the cleanup continues here in southern West Virginia. At first it didn’t seem all that bad, but then our big generator went on the fritz and I had to make a midnight run out of the area to locate one with enough umph to run the well pump. Unfortunately, it does not have enough AMPs to run the hot water heater. Power lines are down everywhere and a lot of roads were blocked by trees; there were three across our one-mile road.
Yesterday I went to the local Lowes to get some roof repair supplies — because of course, all the rain caused a leak — and they had just received a shipment of 7500 watt generators. They were selling like happy meals and were all gone before I left the store. The problem many here will now face is finding a way to fuel them once they put them into service. It would be easier to find a Harris voter in West Virginia than to find a five gallon gas can right now.
I case you’re wondering; 7500 watt generators are going for a grand or more and a day’s worth of gasoline powered electricity will cost you about $75, depending on how far you must drive to get the fuel. Other than the creature comforts electricity provides, in the end it might be cheaper to just let all the food in the fridge and freezer go bad.
The current estimate is for power to be restored by midnight on Tuesday. However, I don’t think that will happen. They’ve already missed their first estimate of midnight last night, and the local news is reporting 1700 spans of fallen wire, 400 downed poles, and 100 damaged transformers. As you can see in the map below, power is out just about everywhere — we are located in the big red blob. But we are very fortunate that the power is on in town where we can at least obtain supplies. The local fast food stores have been raking in the cash since Friday — 30 cars in line at McDonalds is not uncommon and what they sell does not even qualify as food.
Small Problems and Big Problems
Speaking of good fortune, we are living in a utopia compared to our neighbors in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, where an utter catastrophe has occurred. Folks there are missing cars, homes, complete towns, and more importantly loved ones. There are people completely isolated with no power, cell service, or road access. Essentially, some folks are in the middle of nowhere and on foot with nothing!
I know a little bit about what all that is like. I was part of the National Guard response during West Virginia’s flood of 1985, and I worked in Hinton, Marlinton, Cass, and Kingwood. I witnessed complete houses floating down the river and we rescued residents, recovered dead bodies, and salvaged and protected property. It was bad – damned bad – and it was an incredibly shocking scene. But based on the imagery and news reports I’ve seen out of North Carolina; it was not as catastrophic as what has hit those folks, what they’re dealing with right now, and what some will deal with for the rest of their lives.
For those desperate people, I’m reminded of the line that made Joe Exotic famous as we all watched Tiger King, because we were told to hide in our homes from the deadly China flu. Some people caught up in the devastation from Helena will never – ever – financially and emotionally recover. That’s what I’m thinking about while I’m refueling my generator every five hours and bitching about not having decent Internet service. If I were not recovering from minor surgery and trying to tend my own family, I’d load up Ole’ Yeller and head that way to help. The real question is, is there even enough help to go around for all those poor souls!
*article posted by cell phone
Thanks!
Good catch, I transposed my directions.