Electrical Outage Due to Sandy

There is a road I pass daily that has been closed since super storm Sandy went through Oct. 29 and 30.

The sign on the road stated it was closed because of flooding. Two days past the last of Sandy, the road was still barricaded. Sandy didn't deliver enough rain for that kind of flooding. I decided to investigate.

It was fifteen minutes before sunrise and birds were singing and chirping all around. I parked just past the barricade and walked towards the stream where the flooding would occur. As I progressed farther, I could hear the drone from one electrical generator.

In front of the house with the droning generator I saw a large branch of a Catalpa speciosa(cigar tree) lying atop the power lines. It was putting a severe amount of tension on those wires.

Beyond the broken branch, on the ground, was a electrical transformer. Due to the tension on the wires the utility pole, on which the transformer was mounted, was broken and dangling upside down. When this incident originally happened, this was a very dangerous situation. Live wires on the ground. The ground wet with rain. A deadly situation.

The transformer was definitely off the pole and on the road pavement. It was fairly obvious the electricity had been turned off to this section of the road. But you can never be sure. It is best to stay far from the wires and transformer if you were to come across this situation.  Electricity is not forgiving.

At the time this photograph was captured, except for the one house with the generator, the houses on this road were without electricity for four days.

As sure as the sun will rise again, electricity will return to the houses on this road. Just not sure when.


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved