Worcestershire Journal – What we have here …
by Karl - December 22, 2008 4:32pm
At this writing, mid-afternoon on Monday, 22 December, we’re still not connected to the Holden power grid. (I’m writing from the Panera Bread in Shrewsbury.) Today is day 11 since the power went out. We are extremely fortunate to have a generator that gives us heat, hot water, and lights for about 12 hours a day. (That’s as long as we dare annoy our neighbors with this rather loud machine). If it wasn’t for the generator, we’d certainly have frozen pipes by now.
We share a house with my wife’s parents, both in their 80s. Last Monday, they decamped to my wife’s sister’s house on the Cape. They came back to town briefly today to pick up some clothing and other essentials and then went back to the Cape, where they’ll stay until Boxing Day.
Our street has had power for eight days, but our house needs to be reconnected to the pole. We’ve been “on the list” for reconnection for all eight days, but the department has unable to tell us being “on the list” means.
Holden has a municipal light department that is clearly outmatched by this event. One of the strengths of national companies is that they know how to handle big events because they’ve had experience elsewhere. When I called Verizon about our phone line that had been snagged by some yahoo who drove through the wires draped across the street, the phone company sent me text messages when they’d dispatched someone to work on the problem. After the work was completed, we received confirmation messages by phone and text.
The town used reverse 911 at the outset to inform people about emergency shelters. Since then, they’ve sent email with status updates. (Those messages are useless to my in-laws and those without computer access. I’ve been reading email on my mobile phone.) The updates show progress at a macro level, but tell next to nothing about individual reconnections. (”We’re working as hard as we can.” “We have six or ten or thirty crews working on individual reconnections.”)
WTAG has gone back to their regular programming. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh aren’t about to provide anything of use to us. Without cable (also down since the start of the storm), we have access to only a couple over-the-air television stations and, well, I talked about that a couple of weeks ago. So, we’re left to rely on anecdotes from neighbors and others of what is happening or not happening. A neighbor, also without power, went for a ride around our side of town and found no bucket trucks (the ones that can make connections to the power lines) on any of the nearby streets. I’ve not seen a light department truck on our street since the first weekend of the storm.
Finally, this morning I reached an HMLD employee who was willing or able to consult “the list” and tell us something. We’re assigned to Crew #7. “The list is much shorter than it was yesterday,” she said, hopefully.
Look, I know that someone has to be the last one connected and that we are very fortunate not only to have a generator, but also a wood stove and an ample supply of wood. I also know that we’ve got a lot of people working really hard in bad weather, away from their families in the run-up to Christmas, doing work that is hard and dangerous. I have no quarrel with them. I do have a lot of trouble with a system that doesn’t seem to know where the crews are, what they’re working on now, what they’re working on next, or how to treat customers like, well, customers.
My next letter will be to Santa Claus, suggesting that Brian Bullock, Holden Town and Municipal Light Department Manager, might want a set of asbestos underwear for the next selectman’s meeting.
[Update: We were reconnected to the Holden power system at 5PM today, after about 257 hours.]
[Second update on 12/23: I just received a call from the Holden light department, asking if we have power at our house. This gesture of confirmation is a very good step.]