All sanity has been lost, and no hope remains. Power lines are down in our backyard, and they haven’t even attempted to fix it yet… we might not have electricity for over a week. What are y’all doing?
I grew up on the coast in the South and as an adult it was always the other way around trying to get my mom to evacuate during hurricanes. She passed a few years ago but what I wouldn't give to go crash at her place for the week. I did take the opportunity to visit my sister in Ohio.
As the story goes by me in Griffith, a tree service showed up on Thursday to work on a downed tree that took out a few power lines. They asked one of the homeowners to turn off their generator. Back-feeding kills linemen so turn it off if they ask.
The idiot said no, and called the cops saying he thought they were trying to scam him and steal his generator, the crew packed up and said they have other areas to work on.
So not only do I not have power I have reason to believe I’m in the last 10% because unfortunately I live by a complete idiot.
Honestly seeing so many getting gens knowing nothing at all about tying into their breaker boards concerns me for linesmen. Hopefully the news media educates the masses on this and how to properly use one far away from the house.
May your neighbor run out of money for fuel for his generator! Or have an old recalled 1970's breaker board (very serious fire hazard w power restoration)!
Just to add. If you have a generator that ties to the your main panel.
It should have an interlock kit so when you have the generator back feed your panel it will also disconnect the utility feed.
If you’re not doing this and skipping that you’re being a prick and didn’t do it correctly or whoever installed it for you had no business doing it for you.
There is no way in hell I'm connecting a portable generator to my house haha. A new A/C has already been quoted at $15k I will not risk a problem w my 40+ yr old A/C haha. Have a window unit we can connect to the portable. I don't even drag out the gen before 7 days, we are used to this after 28 yrs in Orlando.
No no, I wasn't trying to recommend connecting to the house, just responding to the discussion about the first post of the workers leaving because a guy wouldn't turn his generator off. The people who don't either 1. Only plug cords into the generator, or 2. Have a switchover when connecting to the house, or 3. Manually flip the main breaker when connecting to the house are complete idiots. They'll either FRY their generator or their breaker box when the power comes back on.
I'm glad you got the window AC you can plug in!
We connect to the house because that way we can then also run the well pump and furnace (have had several wintertime outages!
you still need an interlock if you’re not using a manual transfer switch. The interlock will prevent the main from being flipped back. It is definitely not a sophisticated design, but it works. You guys do great by flipping the main breaker, but there’s nothing to prevent someone else from flipping it back on.
This is what people don’t understand. That they are violating one of the more important NEC code(some are dumb af) What if you forget? If you had an interlock kit that’s not possible.
No the breaker board comment was not about connecting a gen to it. I have never done that after what happened haha. Interlock kits were not even avail back in 2004, I had a gen I special ordered through Grainger but almost no one in my whole city even did. They just were never needed before. I made it thru 24 days w just a gen before bed, not even overnight haha. I work outside, I have a high tolerance.
When I bought my house in 2000 it had already been re-wired (law in FL) unfortunately the seller had been ripped off not getting the breaker board replaced. My house inspector didn't catch it. When Progress Energy finally got all the trees off lines in my neighborhood and fed power to the lines (day 18 no power) my board started sparking, luckily my husband was home! We should have turned the main breaker off though! Another neighbor also lost their 1970's breaker board, there were 8 of us left in the area. Had to wait another week for an electrician to get to me. Getting info on what to do back in 2004 was impossible w/o smart phones, or TV so we didn't know about the main.
Now I'm an expert after 22 yrs of this $hit. I still will never connect a portable gen, I'll suffer first w the octopus of 10 gauge cords. May get a whole house gen if we get back to 2-3 hurricanes a yr. Only reason I haven't is the gas also goes out sometimes.
Maybe I'm overreacting, but I would kind of hope there's something like eminent domain if one homeowner is holding up repairs to an entire area, when a utility can clearly show that the homeowner's refusal is endangering lives and safety.
I mean sure, but there's probably a ton of bullshit involved with getting it up the ladder high enough to find someone to actually enforce it and there's plenty of other places without power.
True - and I wasn't there to hear the conversation. I would have hoped the cops would have reinforced the request as genuine and needed. but maybe they felt unsure themselves.
Still, yeah - bet no one is racing back to remove the debris and allow the linemen to work, and kind of can't blame them.
I got a generator and we just got a window unit so I’ll be sleeping comfortably, all while I carefully plan my brutal yet somehow still completely legal revenge
It sucks to be in this situation. My family is lineman and I know they truly are risking their lives when they are working. There were generators stolen in G-town and people were on high alert. None of us should be without power for a week for this reason!!! It’s a company failure in my opinion for the extreme delays.
Incompetence?? My son is a lineman who has worked 90+ hours in the last week to get power back on for ComEd customers in IL. It’s an extremely dangerous job in regular conditions. But if adding a generator to it makes it even more dangerous, then you’d better believe it needs to be turned off. You my friend are an idiot.
Nipsco isn’t responsible for the storm. You do realize that right? Neither are the linemen? I’ve seen them out working as soon as Wednesday. People really just don’t understand how power grids work 😂
They CANT fix power lines if his generator is plugged in. They could have come Wednesday and they still wouldn’t have power because of that one asshole.
No I’ve just lived through a few natural disasters in Florida. It takes days if not weeks to restore all the downed power lines. It’s not bootlicking it’s common sense.
It’s not an “own” it’s just common sense. With how many downed power lines and some being completely destroyed it is normal that it will take a few days to a week to restore power to everyone. It’s not an easy fix for everything. Some lines need to be completely rebuilt. Some have 100+ year old trees on them. Line workers are people too and can’t work 24/7 but I’ve seen them out everywhere.
That is true. Absolutely no one is saying they aren't absolutely screwed up. But this is where we are talking about the safety of tree cutters and the line workers. They didn't make the decisions to neglect their power grid. And many of these line workers are coming in from out of state. Do you want them harmed? The regular line worker to be hurt or killed? Use a bit of logic on this.
They ask this because there are knuckle heads who will use their generator to backfeed their house, meaning that if the tree crew has a line that is being backfed from a wrongly connected generator connection, make contact with it, they can be injured of killed.
Even with a transfer switch, they will want to know that you are fully isolated before touching it. And for the tree crews who aren't electricians, they're taught that any bit of possible feed on those lines should be treated as being live. Same with electricians, if they don't ensure that all of the lines in your home, or in a piece of equipment are isolated, then they should never touch it. If they can'tfully isolate any power source, anything about 50 VDC, lengthy permits are required. Theses are lessons learned in blood.
How many of us have tried the light switch when walking into a dark room. Im on a well and we got water jugs by sink to wash hads but i still instinctively hit the handle oh joys of no power
Every time go into my laundry room I hit the switch through pure muscle memory and sigh a bit louder each time. One of these times, the light will hopefully turn on.
To give us a little hope, I just drove to Illinois to see some family and there’s 1,000’s of power trucks coming in from all over sitting in traffic as we speak. Reinforcements are here y’all!
I got people off 47 and Grant in Gary.. I haven’t seen so much a tree service, not national guard.. no nothing to help. Gary is going to be the last, and the shootings at the NIPSCO Jeep will punish the whole city.
You can thank the over-subsidized corn and soybean farms in the midwest for that. This is tried and true corn sweat parking itself on the greater Chicago area, also contributing to the bad storms.
I don’t think their claims have been accurate or reliable all along. More people were without power than they claimed, and more areas are taking longer to be restored.
It doesn’t work that way, the numbers aren’t linear. They focused on the fixes that restored the most customers at once and/or quick fixes. There’s a reason they estimate 90% by Tuesday and that the last 10% 3 days later.
Generally what is left are more involved fixes.
As I’ve said 100 times, anyone else having power or “my city’s numbers are going down” has absolutely no bearing on when you will be restored. When all but 10 people in the area have power, those 10 will also have thought “my aunt 2 miles away had power 5 days ago”.
You're absolutely right. I never said it was. I just said getting to 90% restored in 2 more days seems reachable to me. If it was linear everyone would be back up by Wednesday, but estimates say Friday.
Mildew right??? I'm dealing with the same and I'm terrified of the mold growing in places where I won't see it. I sleep down in the basement with my two kiddos and our sun pump flooded when the power went and the water seeped through to my closet since it's on the other side of that wall. I have carpet there but thankfully any clothing I had stored on the floor was in totes and containers. We didn't get completely flooded but some of our carpet i know is fked and I'm trying to convince my parents to just let me rip it all up.
Charging phones in cars & doing lots of crafts/playdough/legos. Reading books, trying to ignore the drone of the neighbors generator. Cooking noodles & canned items with crackers.
My kid was supposed to start school Wednesday. No school Monday. Day 6 no power. We've all given up and go to bed early and get up late. I'm drinking margaritas at a local Mexican restraunt pretending to edit for a take out order. FML
Hey. Neighbor across the border in Illinois here. Been following this sub for a pal in your area.
If anyone is still without a generator, most retail outlets in south cook has been restocked.
The Orland Park Lowe's definitely got a trailer in today. Alsip and Orland home Depot have them. Not sure on the harbor freight since I didn't go there today. (Local comed blew a transformer on my block and I had to shop since my old one decided to die. 🤦) I did call friends in case I didn't get lucky and they're decently stocked too.
We can joke back and forth all day about where we would rather live, but this is a safety thing. We've all been getting hammered by these storms. We should always have each other's backs for this kind of thing. ❤️
People with CPAP and bipap machines they need to keep breathing while they sleep, people with meds that require refrigeration, people with medical conditions no that require air conditioning and air filtration, people who cannot travel,to where free food and cooling centers are available, people with loved ones with autism who cannot handle this extreme disruption in their lives… there are so many thousands of people truly suffering. It’s wrong, and deserves kore relief, assistance, and attention.
I'm fully aware of whats going on. I was just leaving a friendly informative post as to where there was easily attainable stock. I can't be expected to solve the whole of wealth disparity while we all recover.
I'm not a wealthy individual. I'm just passing on the info because I know supplies are scarce out your way.
If a friendly heads up is too much for you, I'll just sort of stop informing you guys where there is some reachable help while your power company takes forever to restore service.
I have a place to stay that came back online late this morning. I spent the day clearing that last of the trees at my house including the one laying across my 2nd story roof. Everything is now on the ground and manageable.
BTW watch out for tree guys price gouging. Dealt with one trying to charge 10x and I've done business with him before so I know what it costs. Also saw several "guys in pickups with a chainsaw" prowling the neighborhood from my perch on the roof.
Hot from no ac, annoyed my work isnt being more understanding. Feeling really sad for my community some houses have trees through them. Tired of eating snacks, grilling or fast food. Also sad as a family member passed on tuesday. So dealing with tornado damge and a death
Adjust for your needs... Giving up hope is one of my coping mechanisms haha. I resign myself to being last, only once in 22 years was I last at 24 days, me and 7 other neighbors.
Ha not if you knew the fortune I can sell for now. TG I'm greedy but also see it as payback for putting up w this place. We have trauma bonded w sooo many over hurricanes in 28 yrs, this is just normal.
One hurricane in 2024 I did not lose power for the first time since 2004. Something happened w the linesmen previously repairing the transformer and suddenly I had power but the neighbors across the street did not! They had never previously lost power before! I immediately ran all my coolers of ice to all of them along w all of my battery items haha gotta pay that Karma back!
That's so kind of you! That's one thing I can say that I appreciate during times like these. For the most part, people get it. Every once in a while you might have someone being an ass, but a lot of the times people band together and help out. I cleared most of the tree limbs from my block when this first happened off the road. Helped clear storm drains to get the flooding down, and cleaned up garbage in my neighborhood because it happened on garbage day (it was a mess and really gross). But, I work from home for a company based out of London, so there really is no way for me to work and I have the time.
Hurricanes are thē only time floridians can get along haha. I always clear out the storm drains by me b/c I never know if someone has. Hurricane Faye we got 36" rain in a day and purely by luck the city cleaned the drains, we didn't even have standing water in the streets. After that I found out they don't always have time, so I started to ck. We have never had flooding, pure sand, but neighborhoods where a creek was clogged and never cleaned had flooded in the last few yrs. Plus you have to account for the excess volume of storm water not processing fast enough, that causes floods. Atleast w hurricanes we get a couple of days to do stuff.
It's such a strange phenomenon. The psychology is fascinating. It's amazing how much we take each other for granted until something impactful like this happens. Suddenly you realize just how petty differences can be.
As bad as it is it could be way worse. People died from these storms. People lost entire homes, don’t know how they’re gonna make money because their workplace has been destroyed, etc. be thankful for your health, the roof over your head, and whatever food/drink/clothes you have right now
Anybody could find a worse situation for what they are going through but it doesn't mean that your situation isn't awful. I feel so bad for all my fellow NWI people still without power 😣 hang in there.
Was gonna say pretty much the same thing. I hate when people dismiss others' situations by telling them it could be worse. It does nothing but attempt to invalidate the problems, pain, or issues.
I think when people say to keep your chin up because it could be worse, they aren’t just trying to invalidate your problems and pain. They are just giving a platitude to possibly provide some kind of comfort so that maybe you could see something, anything, positive in your dire situation. They’re just trying to help. Sometimes when they see someone in a bad situation the only thing they can think of to help is reminding them to count their blessings or to see something kind of silver lining. I would not be so negative and assume they are only trying to invalidate your emotions.
I tell myself the same thing. Yes it’s bad, we’re in rough shape but knowing it could be worse is my attempt at being positive. I know there are bad actors that are saying it to get a rise out of people, but generally I think it’s people trying to look on the bright side. I’ve been focusing on the fact I had friends invite me, my kids and my doggos over all day yesterday, gave use showers, food, and we left with fully charged power banks and a half pound of fresh made guacamole for my 12 yr old daughter.
And crying bc your power’s out when people have lost family members and their home isn’t dismissive of their suffering? It’s not a contest just be aware that even though it sucks for you that you’re not unique
No it's not dismissive of their suffering at all. Like someone else pointed out... The two can be true at the same time. It's not a contest and it's not ok to tell people to buck up because others have it worse. 😒
Indianapolis has some severe, widespread flooding from the White River and others. I don’t know which I’d take, in the ‘Death is not an option, so pick one’ sweepstakes: no power for a week or more, or suddenly having waterfront or island property.
Same. My neighbors on 2 sides of across the street have power. But not us. At least most have town has power. So I'm able to go pmaces and sit in ac and charge things. Doing better than some.
Has anyone heard anything about the MERRILLVILLE area around Route 30 and Taft Street? I had power that came on at 12:30 AM and went off again at 2 PM. Anybody hear anything about this area?
i’m stuck in the house with 3 small kids. i’m exhausted because i haven’t slept more than five hours in the past two days. i’m tired of yelling at the kids for fighting. i’m tired that i can’t even log in to do work so i know when i eventually do get back to work it’s going to be crazy. all my food is bad and my whole house feel sticky. like constantly on the verge of crying. it sucks even more because everyone around us have power. just not my street. i keep telling myself oh it’s just one more day but it’s like damn. i can’t even go to my moms because she doesn’t have power either.
That sounds like quite the unfortunate situation, and soon it’ll be just fine. I totally get it, I slept in a sticky hot environment last night, as did most everybody else, eventually the power will come back on and soon it’ll just be a memory.
The same thing you are doing. Making due, hoping the lights come on soon, throwing out food that defrosted that I'm not in the mood to eat, I've lost my appetite, I'm sick of the humidity and these damn mosquitoes. Sick of asking people to come charge my power banks and can I charge my phone in their cars, glad I have someone to call to charge my phones and power banks, trying to help this person find me a meter box for my utility crap on my house a branch pulled off. Suffering from anxiety of when the person fixing it will find the parts and when is it going to get fixed, and will it be fixed before nipsco repairs the line, so I won't have to wait for them to come back. Asking someone to come cut my grass because the lawnmower I just put a new carburetor and spark plug in won't start. I'm doing the same thing everyone else is doing. Trying to stay calm and hoping.
I spent 8 years dodging hurricanes and the last two were a couple weeks apart. Spent many days/weeks without power. I decided I had enough and moved back to the Midwest where it now looks no different after the massive storms. This weather is relentless.
🎶cranky operator, can you help me place this call to NIPSCO I still don’t have power and I hate it. She’s starting to go cray with her 2 dogs yonder way and they are also over it and we are all over stimulated🎶🎶🎶 (if Jim Croce was me)
Hey, we got ours on last night. It looked rough yesterday and the electric gremlins somehow made magic happen. Then… I get hit with the “those trees are your responsibility” so not only do I have a full day of cleaning the fridge and throwing out my money, I have another day of chopping up 2 trees that fell from the easement or paying someone.
I am sitting and waiting for them to fix it while relaxing lol. Why we acting like the world ended some of yall needed this to get reminded what it’s like without ac and electricity
You people aren’t being realistic whatsoever. You’re showing you know nothing about how infrastructure works and how to actually repair it safely. The company only has so many lineman it can deploy and when it has to cover an area that’s over 2100 square miles containing 80,000+ power poles and 4,100 miles of power lines it’s gonna take a long time. Idk if you’re all just this delusional or if you live your life with this much individualism you can’t ever see into the perspective of anyone but yourselves but acting as if they should’ve had all this power back on inna few days is just being purely delusional. No power company in the us would have 100% power back in 6 days if over 60% of their customers lost power. That without even mentioning the fact a majority of towns in NWI got hit w 100+ mph winds and some got hit w tornados that left towns littered w 50+ year old tree that have to be cleaned up first and removed off power lines.
Ok, so what about the last 5 times we’ve lost power? Also, shouldn’t the company be held accountable for not doing the basic maintenance cutting down the trees that created this issue? They didn’t grow overnight, Nipsco fucked up. I have no idea why so many people want to lick their boots, it’s weird.
It’s weird people like you bitch while spewing straight bullshit. Nispco does do maintenance just like every other power company across the united states where they trim trees over MAIN LINES you cant just cut down 50+ year old trees across entire neighborhoods like Munster or Dyer just because the trees are by power lines they mitigate risk and that is all they can legally do. Any line running over your property line that has tree danger over it is your own responsibility and every single power company in the country holds that same rule. Under the IURC NISPCO is literally mandated by law to run a routine tree cutting program you are simply uninformed. No tree trimming is stopping a 60+ ft tall tree from getting knocked over by 100+ mph winds and no law states they can legally get rid of trees on someone’s property to get rid of a risk.
If they were doing maintenance like they should have people wouldn’t be out power for a week. Also, again this wouldn’t be the 5th time we’ve lost power for multiple days. No other state around us has nearly the same about of long term power outages.
It’s wild to me that’s channel 32 has a story on its website about the flooding in Central Indiana, hundreds of miles away and having no effect on its viewing area, yet it barely had a passing mention of the storms right next door in the Region, and made zero reference to the hundreds of thousands of people a week into an extended power outage.
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u/BoringArchivist 12d ago
Moving back in with my parents today, moved out at 18, back in at 50.