Note: This post was to have been published at 6 PM Monday evening, but just as I was finishing up, the electricity went out and the town went dark. What you read now is history. More later.
Sandy has now shifted a bit farther north of northwest and will likely come ashore in southern New Jersey. Delaware is a short distance across the bay from Cape May, NJ; this isn't exactly good news.
Winds are gusting to 90 mph and the rains are relentless at this hour. Reporting that Sandy should come ashore at any time now.
As I wrote earlier about riding out these storms and the isolation we felt, I've been thinking more about the isolation and loneliness of riding out hurricanes in New Orleans (in the dark ages) when all we had was a deck of cards, books, lots of candles and a radio.
Ah yes, the radio. Radios were great for official updates and other important information, but unfortunately, they would eventually lose electric power and revert to backup generators. This meant that their signal was reduced to a few mile radius of the towers. So, when the power failed, the lifeline broadcasts disappeared as well.
Back then, local stations were AM stations only (FM was a promise for the future) and many of these station licenses were restricted to dawn-to-dusk broadcast hours, so as not to compete with signals of the larger network stations broadcasting from cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
When the lights went out and/or darkness fell, we were totally isolated and very much alone. The only technology that kept us connected was the good ol' telephone. Say what you will about old Ma Bell, but their foresight in designing and building their infrastructure in the south means that even today, if you have a land line - and a corded phone (not cordless, they are useless when the power goes out) you could always reach out to friends and family to check in on them.
During and after Katrina the only people I could reach were those who maintained a land line. The cell sites went down almost immiediately creating instant panic. As a matter of fact, that's how my NOLA friend called me this afternoon - on my land line. It's an automatic response learned in childhood.
There are some lessons one better not forget.
thinking of you; you guys seemed to get the full force of the storm.
ReplyDeletewe never did lose electricity up here. but everything is still closed, even the liquor (state) stores. no work today either.
at 6:45a, all seems quiet outside. of course, I cannot see if there is any damage since it is pitch dark.
please post when you can with an update.