| Author |
Message |
    
papayagirl
Citizen
Username: Papayagirl
Post Number: 102
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 9:33 am: |     |
cody - I live in the college hill section. Normally i work in nyc, but i'm home this week working on the house. We lost power from about 5-5:30, then again from 5:45-11:45. I was amazed to check MOL when our power came back to find out others in Maplewood had their power all along.
I picked my husband up at the train station at about 1:15am, after he'd finally caught a ferry to weehawken, then took to the bus to hoboken to the train to maplewood. |
1-2many
Citizen
Username: Wbg69
Post Number: 241
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 9:36 am: | |
we live on Courter Ave - no power until about midnight.
I thought the governor's (was it NY or NJ?) 'decree' prohibiting alcohol sales was totally draconian! if ever there's a time for some drinks, or an excuse for a party, it's a big blackout! what a stick in the mud! |
NCJanow
Citizen
Username: Librarylady
Post Number: 896
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 9:36 am: | |
We lost power totally at my house from about 5:15 till about 10:30 or so (Wyoming Ave right by the SO/WO border.
My old 1985 Jeep finally came in handy. Mr. LL brought in the battery, hooked it up to a small light and the family played chess and boggle by car and gaslamp light. Best family night we've had in years. Emergencies do wonders for families of surly young adults, they actually pretend to be human.
NCJ aka LibraryLady |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 1116
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 9:37 am: | |
I stuck with the 38th street ferry, partly out of curiosity and partly out of sheer masochism. From the time I joined the crowd until the time I set foot in NJ, four hours.
Then, no info or anything in Weehawken. I ended up walking down to Hoboken station, over an hour's walk. There were a few trains out, finally got home at 12:30.
I hope this wasn't a drill for a real evacuation of Manhattan, because if it is we're all screwed. |
sac
Citizen
Username: Sac
Post Number: 663
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 10:01 am: | |
Our power was out from just after 5:00 until about 7:30 and then we had power for about 20 minutes. Then it was out again until around midnight. We are on Oakview Avenue near Prospect Street. |
ashear
Citizen
Username: Ashear
Post Number: 671
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 10:13 am: | |
They evaced my building when the power went out. Im near city hall so headed for the ferry which was croweded but not yet crazy. Of course at Hoboken there was a helpful man announcing that service was suspended "indefinitely" and that we should "make other travel araingements. Then the power came back for a while and they started saying trains would be leaving and giving track info. Spent 30 mins on a train with no ac (it was a diesel so why no ac not clear. Spoke to several utterly useless NJT employees and then happened to stumble upon one who said there were buses to Maplewood outside the terminal. And there were. Again I got there before crowd become psychotic (as opposed to just slightly insane). Got home about 7:30. Wife says house on Midland never lost power. I think there was a brownout at some pont as clocks were blinking, but still had correct time. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 1117
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 11:48 am: | |
Here at Parker/Boyden, those that were home reported a few short blinkouts, but nothing longer than a second or two.
My cable service was out last night, I restarted the cable modem and router this morning, and it worked for a while, then went out again. But it's (obviously) up now. |
ReallyTrying
Citizen
Username: Reallytrying
Post Number: 124
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 12:08 pm: | |
On Burnett Terrace, power went out at 4.11, I'm told (I was still in my office), went on at 7.20 (yea! we thought), and then back out again at 7.40ish. What a cruel joke. I went for a drive through town at about 10.00, and was surprised to find lights on, the Trat open, and things looking fairly normal. But there were way too many commuters' cars still parked around the station and on Baker Street; I felt very sorry for those poor people.
At about midnight, I wen to brush my teeth (in the dark), and noticed that the little nightlight in the bathroom was on. "How interesting", I thought, "how is that light on when everything else is still out?" Then I realized the power was back on. (Nothing gets past me, does it?) I did such a good job of turning things off, so as to avoid a surge, that nothing came back on when power was restored.
My daughter was in Manhattan, attending an Indigo Girls concert. Luckily, one of the girls with her has an uncle who lives on the Upper West Side, so they stayed there last night. She's on her way home on the train right now.
Let's all hope for a calm weekend. |
Joan
Citizen
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 1853
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 12:30 pm: | |
Power went off again right after my above post and came back on at about 11:53 P.M. Let's hope the power stays on today as those areas still without power try to get up and running.
From reports I heard on the radio this morning, it sounds like we made out a lot better than many other communities in our region. |
Jason & John
Citizen
Username: Johnh91011
Post Number: 46
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 12:47 pm: | |
I walked down 12 floors of my office building at 49th/6th in midtown at 5:15p. Walked to the ferry at 38th/12th. Waited in line for 4.5hours for a 5 minute ride (sounds like Disneyland doesn't it) and got to Weehawken. No info No buses to Hoboken. Luckily my coworker was with me and her husband picked us up(they are Maplewoodians as well) and I got home at 11:15p.
Cell phones wouldn't connect.
Wonderful day. The crowd at the ferry was for the most part ok. I thought they would lynch a newsreporter and his camera man who were cutting into line to film and interview.
Amazing experience
John |
bak
Citizen
Username: Bak
Post Number: 344
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 1:37 pm: | |
After walking down 47 flights of stairs, I remarkably was able to get my car quickly from a garage and headed up the West Side Highway from Midtown. An hour later, crossed over the GWB and did 75MPH home.
The ride from Times Square to the West Side Highway was surreal, especially trying to get across town vs. heading North or South on an Avenue.
I would say people handled it pretty well, but you forget how many people work in NYC until something like this happens.
I wish I could have given soem of you a ride. |
C Bataille
Citizen
Username: Nakaille
Post Number: 1512
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 2:18 pm: | |
I was at University Hospital in Newark in a patient area when everything went black. Luckily no outpatients were there at the moment. I went across the hall to the Boarder Baby unit to make sure everything was okay. Those infants were wailing so I stayed to feed several and try to help resettle them. Luckily they have a window so we had some light. Then the phones went out. About that time I started to get anxious about my own kid as I heard that the power outtage involved several states at least, so I made my way 5 stories down a completely dark stairwell lit only by the dim light of a cell phone display. I laughed when I saw our Gov claiming that with the new system in place after 9/11, none of the area hospitals had any problems with the power outtages. I read in the paper that UMD issued a request for people to bring in flashlights, extension cords and battery powered radios. No problems, right???? And we're not talking about an old facility. This campus was built in the 70's. Traffic lights were out in much but not all of Newark. I was surprised to see that as soon as I passed under the Parkway on South Orange Ave, the traffic lights were back. It took about 45 minutes to make the 20 minute trip. Not bad considering what it could have been.
Luckily at home we had only those very brief fizzles folks are describing.
Cathy |
spw784
Citizen
Username: Spw784
Post Number: 350
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 3:27 pm: | |
We arrived home (around 6 pm last night) from a two week trip in a rented Motorhome. We live in West Orange and did not know about the power outage until watching the news. Since we didn't have to return the motorhome until today, if we were without power, we would have just spent the night in the camper. Glad to hear everyone made it home safely.
(Someone said MW had power but SO didn't?) |
sac
Citizen
Username: Sac
Post Number: 664
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 3:52 pm: | |
There were definitely parts of MW that did not have power ... per my post and others above. |
Jackie Day
Citizen
Username: Zoesky1
Post Number: 71
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 4:22 pm: | |
Over here near the Millburn border just off Ridgewood, we never did lose power either. Couldn't believe it. Came home from the pool early after being kicked out because of no power, drove through nonworking traffic lights and expected to arrive at a powerless house, but everything was on and stayed on all night. Felt pretty lucky. Took in some of my friends' freezer items from elsewhere in Maplewood. |
mtierney
Citizen
Username: Mtierney
Post Number: 385
Registered: 3-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 4:45 pm: | |
We are near Prospect & Park and we lost power around 5:15 and it did not return until sometime during the night.
What's with the selective service within the same small town? There have been instances when an accident or tree falling that disrupts service within a particular grid. But this blackout was massive!
Any electricians out there?
|
C Bataille
Citizen
Username: Nakaille
Post Number: 1513
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 6:01 pm: | |
Colleagues told me Irvington had the same experience, some places on, some off, some off and on. Probably a commie plot. Oh, wait, that's passe.
Cathy |
shh
Citizen
Username: Shh
Post Number: 614
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 11:12 pm: | |
I was at the parents' house in SI powerless w/ my girls. Scared to leave because I didn't know how the drive home would be w/o street lights. Husband made it home from NYC, even took a few strangers in his car. The kids played card games by candlelight with my parents, brother and his girlfriend. Very sweet. I would have rather been home with power though! |
bookgal
Citizen
Username: Bookgal
Post Number: 400
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 3:28 pm: | |
I left my office at 4.30 a bit wobbly from the stairs. Went to penn...where some moron told me the path was running..surprise! Walked to the ferry and waited until 9.30 ish until I got on a ferry which deposited me at North Hoboken. Walked the 18 blocks to the train station and finally go the bus to Maplewood station..I crawled in the door at 11.35pm. The worst thing was lack of communication from the ferry employees and that my cell phone didn't work and I didn't know what was going on at home. Still...it could have been so much worse and I'm grateful that things worked out so well. |
deborahg
Citizen
Username: Deborahg
Post Number: 638
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 9:37 pm: | |
And I ended up spending a lovely afternoon in Hoboken station with Mr. Bookgal  |
lamojo
Citizen
Username: Lamojo
Post Number: 31
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 8:41 pm: | |
We just returned home from a long weekend away - how long was power out on Headley Place? (by Orchard Park near Jefferson/Ridgewood)....trying to figure out if we have to trash everything in the fridge. |
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