NO! Just a thunder SHOWER! D O N O T FALL FOR THEY POLLY LINE OF CRAP! P R E P A R E . Time IS running out. When this happens every where at once, there will be no knight, on a white horse to help you.

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), July 30, 1999

Answers

Scotty,when they die next year it won't be for your lack of trying

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), July 30, 1999.

Errrrrr, that's the, not they. It was Chuck's fault, he was down here the day before. Strange that the storm came from Cleveland:)

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), July 30, 1999.

Thanx ZOOB! I still hope no one dies, but I know better.

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), July 30, 1999.

URL Please

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), July 30, 1999.

Lighter than air; I do not have a url, I live here. If you go to kdkatv.com, or wtaetv.com, or pittsburgh.com I am sure you can find it. Search news this past wed. SORRY!

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), July 30, 1999.

Flame, I do think time is running out. The grid might fall before 1/1--maybe soon (solar flares, embedded chips, summer overload, whatever). Hey, I hope not, but the signs aren't too wonderful. Best to everyone.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), July 30, 1999.

http:// news.excite.com/news/r/990730/04/pa-state-news-1

http:// news.excite.com/news/r/990730/04/pa-state-news-3

short tid-bits

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), July 30, 1999.

Here's the stories that go with the links above:

Updated 4:31 AM ET July 30, 1999

(PITTSBURGH) - There was some relief for southwestern Pennsylvania residents. Two water pumping stations are back up and running after raging storms and flooding knocked out power to most of the area. As of midnight, about 21-thousand Duquesne Light Company customers were still in the dark... as well as 23-hundred Allegheny County customers. The storm is being blamed for one death. Severe rains caused a motorist to lose control of his car in Clarion County.

Updated 4:31 AM ET July 30, 1999

(MOUNTVILLE) - It wasn't a power outage that inconvenienced residents in the western part of Lancaster County yesterday. But those in the Mountville 2-8-5 exchange lost telephone service right before noon. Service was restored later in the day.

And a few more I found:

New Jersey Has Multiple Troubles Updated 4:31 AM ET July 30, 1999

(HOBOKEN, NJ) - A multiple cable failure left more than eleven-thousand businesses and residents without power yesterday. But that could be the least of New Jersey's problems. The state... like many others this summer... is suffering from a lack of water. Authorities are expected to issue a drought warning by Monday.

more on that outage: 11,600 lose power in Hudson County Friday, July 30, 1999

HOBOKEN -- Some 11,600 homes and businesses in Hoboken and Jersey City lost power for eight hours Thursday when three cables leading to a substation failed, a Public Service Electric and Gas Co. spokesman said.....

And a longer article on the overall problem (not including Y2K):

Heat Wave Taking Toll On U.S. Power System

ROLLA, Mo. -- The current heat wave throughout the continental United States is straining the nation's aging power system, says Dr. Mariesa Crow, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla..... Through funding from the National Science Foundation, Crow is looking into the causes of "voltage collapse" -- a sudden drop in power with little or no warning.

The problem many utility companies are currently facing is not due to a lack of power to run those air-conditioning units, but problems with the distribution of power, Crow says.

"The problem we have is trying to ship power from one place to another over long distances," she says. Because most major power plants are located in remote areas away from large cities, electricity must travel over miles of transmission lines that also are subject to stress during the hot summer.

As the metal transmission lines heat up -- a result not only of the rising temperatures, but also of the electrical power they are carrying -- they expand and sag. For safety reasons, transmission lines can sag only so far. A breezy day can carry away some of the heat and reduce expansion and sagging, Crow says. "But now that it's hot and still, this is one of the worst conditions for transmission lines that we have," she says.

Adding to the transmission problems is the fact that much of the U.S. power infrastructure was built in the years immediately following World War II. The nation's economic growth since then has simply "outstripped the growth of the power system," Crow says.

Yet another problem has to do with the buying and selling of power. In the summer, utility companies in the United States often purchase surplus power from Canada. When the heat wave expands into Canada, however, Canadian companies cut off that supply, Crow says.

Utility companies are trying to alleviate some of the stresses on the power transmission system by building smaller "peak units" nearer to population centers to generate power during these critical times. "That brings the power closer to the people who use it," Crow says, but it costs more to produce electricity with these natural gas- or oil-fired units than with the main power plants.

Another alternative in cities involves planned "rotating blackouts" -- shutting down power in certain sections of a city to relieve some of the stress of demand. "Rather than having the whole system come crashing down around you, only a part of the system is down at one time, and that alleviates some of the stress on the system as a whole," Crow says.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), July 30, 1999.

Why were they without water FLAME?

Okay, I'll tell you why.

Because a few substations pumps lost power.

Some are still without power--two days later.

Hey, it's not even winter yet!

Next week I close the deal on getting my solar panels, etc.

Got power?

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), July 30, 1999.

I also live in the Pittsburgh area. South of Pittsburgh in the Mon Valley area. Although I had power, I had no water because the pump station that lost power serves my area. It is part of the PA American Water Company. I found out we had no water at our house after I came home from the Mon Valley Y2K meeting that evening. A board member from that same water co. was there and he informed us that if the power goes out they cannot deliver water to us. He said they do have a generator but only an 18 hr. back-up of water cleaned. Maybe they could use that generator to pump the last of it but I guess they won't be able to process it. They have water towers all over the area, but he said there is only enough to last 3 days, although he said the hospital has one just it's own and I think he said that one could last for 14 days. This was just the thing to get me going on my water storing again.

-- shari (shari_h72@hotmail.com), July 30, 1999.

How was the meeting Shari?

Did you learn anything?

I just learned recently that one of my co-workers' husband is a GI. I have to find out how long he's prepping for and compare notes.

Get your preps done soon, at least the stuff that people are likely to want when they panic. The market is about to tank and there will be another new wave of GIs panicking at local stores near you.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), July 30, 1999.

Nothere, Flame Away, this posting illustrates the ultimate in knee jerk reports meant to validate one's mindset with regards to y2k, but instead gives rise to the belief that EACH of us should have basic preparations---y2k notwithstanding---should a catastrophe hit. I find it odd that I live to the north of Pittsburgh and lived without power for 5 days last year when a microburst devastated my locale. If nothing else, the event got me off my rump to store a couple of months worth of food and water, and a lot of batteries, as well.

And yet here in the Ohio Valley, if we have a bad winter and systems do go down for a long period of time, I am not sure that basic preps can even begin to stem the tide of deaths due to cold and isolated, snow-covered areas that didn't get plowed, making it impossible to get to the snowed-in, freezing, starving people left unprepared.

That's the simple reality of the weather patterns in the USA today. The could-be and might-happen tone of the original post here really is childish, but the exhortation to always have basic preps is paramount to the discussion of y2k---or any possible disaster.

An aside to Nothere: I learned a long time ago to remain 'in the middle' of issues like this. There are certain things in life that demand my having a backbone and taking a stand, and yet, joining a camp mentality (in some people on the left and right---it's almost a cult) is not one of those instances. With regards to your warning abut the truck coming my way, I appreciate the words. I'll rely upon my quickness of foot should that truck actually come down my road but for now, will rely upon what's left of my intellect and stay firmly on the yellow line.

Regards,

Badco

-- Bad Company (johnny@shootingstar.com), July 30, 1999.

Bad; There are times one must be CHILDISH to get the point across to the dwgi's. As you stated, prep IS the point. Something the polly's cannot understand.

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), July 30, 1999.

nothere nothere, I thought the meeting went very well. The paper said there was about 100 people who attended. Some brief highlights: The Red Cross rep said we should call the sewage co. and get check valves installed on our sewar lines. He recommended listening to "Qiunn in the Morning" for good info. The county Director of Public Safety said the NG will be prepared to assist if the police and such are overwhelmed. The water co. pretty much said they can't pump water if the power is off (already know that for sure now). Also they gave us the update on what the water towers hold, 3-day supply. The power co. said they think they are going to be okay. That they have made all the changes that they can to be able to deliver power. But when he was asked by a local police chief if we will have power tomorrow, right away he said yes, provided we do not get a storm like this to cause us problems. Then he was asked, by the same officer, if we were going to have power on Jan. 1st and this answer took a little longer. After some "um's" and "well, uh's" the power rep said they couldn't guarantee it. The two banks there said they will be open with or without power. The grocery store rep said we will see "out-of-stocks" starting in the fall. He said we should not go crazy over buying things because it will disrupt the whole system and we will see hardly anything in the stores come Jan. Everything else was pretty much the prep stuff we hear all the time. We have a great Red Cross guy here in the Mon Valley. He spoke the truth and wasn't afraid say it. The way he talked we have no choice but to prepare ourselves and I agree w/ him. That's about all I can think of right now.

-- Shari (shari_72@hotmail.com), August 01, 1999.

Shari,

Thank you SO much for the info. Did the Red Cross guy explain what a "check valve" is? I know there has been some discussion of sewage backing up into houses, but is this a potential problem in the Mon Valley alone, or does it apply to the rest of the city as well? I find it almost hilarious that Quinn is perceived as a good source of info on this. Not that I don't agree, especially with all the work that Rose has done for their web site on preps, but TPTB obviously shun him.

BC,

It's an old adage, and not a particularly clever one. I am fortunate that I have enough money to afford prepping for anything short of Infomagic or Milne without spending my life savings. I just hope that you have some place to run to after you first turn your head, straining your eyes to make out the shape of the object behind the oncoming headlights.

I don't mean to be critical, but the jist of most of your posts is the Flint-like, "We can't know anything!" Usually, you follow it up with, "You people are all so EXTREME!" "Can't we all just get along and prepare?"

I prefer to stop short of the angst about agnosticism. Just prepare people. Do you own life insurance? Do you expect to die tomorrow? Just prepare.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), August 02, 1999.

nothere nothere,

Your welcome fo the info. I wish I would have taped it so I could refer back to it. There was a lot of info to take in. A check valve is put onto your sewar line to prevent sewage from backing up into the house. He didn't mention that it would be a problem for any specific area, he just said it would be wise to get one put on. Not one rep from any sewage authority was at the meeting so we couldn't ask them any questions. I wonder if they have manual back-ups. I am not sure about this, but if the water co. can't pump water into your house w/o power how can the sewage co. pump sewage w/o power? I asked about the check valves in a chat room and someone said they also go by the name of a plumber's plug. I will have to look into what it takes to get one put on.

-- shari (shari_h72@hotmail.com), August 04, 1999.