Drove up and back to Jensen Beach today on I-95. 200 miles round trip. Sae 7 power company contractor trucks together going north, later saw three groups of Asplundh Tree Service trucks, totalling 20 trucks, all big ones, going north also. Have to assume they are headed to Houston/ Galveston. Anybody else notice these convoys? Looks like the cavalry is on it's way.
We had the same thing happen here after the big hurricanes a few years back as well as the fire storms of '98--trucks from all over the place, and not just neighboring states. That's nice to see.
I was living in Tampa when Andrew hit. All my kids lived in the Miami area, my daughter's house was badly hit. I loaded my van with plywood, visqueen, ice, dry ice, and a chain saw and headed down I-75 two days after the storm. The traffic was amazing. Power trucks from all over the country, church vans filled with volunteers, all kinds of supplies, even a big truck from NASA! Not a single government vehicle, nada. I hope that is different this time. Those folks are in need. Rather skip the gypsy roofers, though. I imagine an awful lot of unemployed construction types are on there way as well.
I always wonder how these big crews get paid. I mean alot of people volunteer, and that is great, but who pays for the truck, and money for the crews?
Joey
joey48442 wrote: I always wonder how these big crews get paid. I mean alot of people volunteer, and that is great, but who pays for the truck, and money for the crews? Joey
You do well we all do it's usually hidden some where in your electric bill.
No volunteering on those crews.
There's BIG bucks working storm repair.
Always double time (double their already high wages) plus expenses, sometimes more.
I've got a friend who works the power lines. Spends all the time he can working storm damage.
Everyone pays for large recovery efforts Either through you electric bill or Federal money.
I can't speak for the power crews, but you couldn't pay me enough to do that job anyway. After Katrina NYC sent a number of buses, fireman and police officers down to Missisippi at the federal Govts request. I don't know about everyone, but the guys I talked to were basically paid what they would have made at home, but they did get some free shots for malaria and such. It works similar to insurance. We all pay a bit to cover someone else's misfortune, and thank God that it's not us.
Most services have just enough people and equipment to cover their needs, so when a catastrophy hits, you need to get the extras from somewhere.
cwh wrote: ...even a big truck from NASA! Not a single government vehicle, nada.
que?
Self-reported because the "quote bar" extended down to my comments
Osterkraut wrote:cwh wrote: ...even a big truck from NASA! Not a single government vehicle, nada.que?
NASA (yes, boys and girls, a government agency) could have been experimenting with lauching debris into space, or maybe they were just supplying the Tang....
I see. One of those extra .0000whatnot charges per KW hour of energy I use, or CFM. Thats cool, I guess.
Joey
OK, NASA is a Gov. agency, but not anyone you would expect to respond to hurricane damage 1000 miles from Houston. They were not part of any organized relief program, but showed up to help as best they could. If the REAL federal government had that attitude, things would have gone a lot better afterward. And, again, it was ONE truck. Geeesh
There is a lot of NASA in Florida, like all that launch stuff they have on the Atlantic Coast and they have a lot of stuff in Houston (I think they call it Mission Control.)
So, yes, they very well may be responding to hurricane damage a 1000 miles from Houston.
If they were coming from Canaveral they would have been on I-95, not I-75 on the west side, OK?
cwh wrote: If they were coming from Canaveral they would have been on I-95, not I-75 on the west side, OK?
What are you, the large NASA truck police?
Nope, just easily irritated right now. I get pissy about people that should help and don't, but give large credit to those that do help that are not expected to. Tender topic, having been through several bad storms. End of rant.
The Votec welding course I started last night is taught by a trainer for the local power company and the subject of disaster crews came up.
According to the instructor the power co's all have relief agreements with each other and the pay is lucrative. It's 16 hours on, eight off for three weeks straight. Doing the math, it's a minimum of the rough equivalent of four weeks pay earned every seven calendar days. However, you get to live in a tent and camp out in a disaster zone for the priviledge. Line trucks started leaving NJ yesterday and are expected in Houston Wednesday or Thursday. That's got to be a wonderful trip.
I saw a bunch of utility and tree company trucks headed west on I-20 Saturday afternoon.
I had the pleasure of driving from Myrtle Beach to Charleston during Hurricane Gaston (with a death dealing hangover, no less) and I saw power company crews working on the lines along Highway 17 during the storm. I'm not sure there's enough money to get me up in a bucket truck in 75MPH winds. Brave folks and I tip the brain bucket to them.
cwh wrote: Nope, just easily irritated right now. I get pissy about people that should help and don't, but give large credit to those that do help that are not expected to. Tender topic, having been through several bad storms. End of rant.
Cheer up, grumpy gills!
Here, have a cookie!
Thank you, that was tasty, but now my monitor is all gooey.
I was just listening to the woman in the cubicle next to mine complain about how a friend of hers who lives in Houston hasn't even seen FEMA yet. They don't even have electricity! OH NOES! FEMA should be there right now restoring their power. They shouldn't have to wait a single day for it. Get out of Galvestin, FEMA, and go restore the electricity to Houston!
Geeze! The berkeleying storm was the size of the GULF OF MEXICO! Give the clean-up crews a break. They're doing the best they can.
/end super rant
Centerpoint (the owner of most of the electrical transmission and distribution network) will get the power on in Houston and Galveston long before FEMA gets a flashlight that will shine far enough up their collective @$$ that they can find their collective head.
See, e.g., the FEMA idiot at Reliant Park (the staging area for relief supplies for the whole area) who was trying to turn away trucks of ice on Monday because he thought there was already enough. He's lucky the mayor of Houston or the Harris County Judge didn't have the authority to shoot him.
We drove down to Houston and back Saturday. The devistation was amazing. From about Nacadoches south, every tree and house had some damage. In Houston large areas still had no power. Power lines were down, power poles snapped in half, etc. There were a lot of bucket trucks heading down 59. Hundreds.
I'm glad that help is coming. The utilitiy companies have arrangements inplace, but there are other good hearted folks on their way as well. God bless for that. There is a miserable bunch of work for all to do there. I'll bet you don't hear a single complaint about Mexican workers now.
Dr. Hess wrote: We drove down to Houston and back Saturday.
Dang, now I've got to check under my Miata. I've driven all the others since Saturday. 
Glad I didn't go to Best Buy.
My office got power late yesterday. Stuff is almost normal for me. My parents still don't have power, and probably won't for a while. The transformer pole that serves them has the fuse holder completely missing. Because Centerpoint can't get a bucket truck to that pole, somebody has to climb it.
In other news, the absence of traffic signals is really screwing up traffic. I took billy4 to the dentist this morning, and a drive that takes 35 minutes in normal morning traffic took an hour and twenty.
It looks like the center of the storm passed directly over my old house in League City, according to the maps. Just west of I-45 at 518. But I think the place survived. They say only the fences were down, and besides no power, things held up OK. I guess my steel garage doors did just fine, replacing the crap cardboard ones that the house came with.
My stepson went back to work Monday at NASA. He said the Guppy took some damage.
When we were there, we lost about a half hour to no traffic lights, especially trying to get back on I-45 at 610 and Telephone Rd. However, as with most of Texas besides Dallas, the people were friendly and everyone pretty much cooperated at the intersections. That friendlyness is what we miss the most up here. We don't miss the hurricanes. Otherwise, we did 1100 miles in 20 hours, including pit stops, meal stops, drop off stop, etc. That LS400 practically drives itself. And about 25.5 MPG for the trip.
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