Was Sandy as Bad as Snowtober?
For much of the past week, Hurricane Sandy dominated the region's media coverage. Did it feel worse or not quite as bad as last year's storm?
Much of the Northeastern United States slowed down on Monday to watch Hurricane Sandy make its way up the coast toward its eventual landfall on New England. Throughout the day, residents of Tewksbury and elsewhere endured high winds and power outages and in some cases, downed trees and wires.
The storm came a year after the so-called "Snowtober" storm left many Massachusetts communities without power. So which storm do you think was worse – Sandy or Snowtober?
Share your thoughts in the comment box below!
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Kerry
1:13 pm on Tuesday, October 30, 2012
At least locally everyone was much more prepared for the 2012 storm than the one in 2011. Two completely different types of storms with different outcomes. Power outages in 2011 may in part have been due to systems that were not as strong/up-to-date as they should have been. The repairs/updates completed at that time may have helped out this year so the outages were not as many or for as long.
Some will say that we 'over reacted' to Sandy. I say the roads being as clear as they were contributed to the quicker response where there were issues and also prevented many more potential accidents. I am relieved that the damage (locally) was not as bad as some expected and am happy that the precautions were taken to keep people safe.
I also hope those in areas hit hard are able to get themselves back on their feet soon.
roys boys
1:34 pm on Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Hear you there
Sarah
11:10 am on Wednesday, October 31, 2012
I haven't had power since 3pm Monday, we were some of the few who didn't lose it during snowtober. Still. Snowtober was worse. Decent temperatures, less "almost the whole town's out" more "scattered outages". Plus I just got a text from home saying despite the estimate of Friday, our power's now back on. Nice.
L C
11:20 am on Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Completely disagree...no quicker response, just as long if not longer without power. I'd love to know how things were better. I have been without power since 2:30 pm on Monday and the estimate that we are finally being given after 2 days time is another 2 days - Friday 11/2 by midnight is not an improvement by any means. The thought that any repairs or updates completed last year helped this year is completely false.
Sarah
1:30 pm on Wednesday, October 31, 2012
If I recall correctly almost the whole town was out during Snowtober and it took a week+ (I'm not talking work week, I'm talking 7 days) for lots of people to get power back. Also the tempuratures were lower. I think a lot of those outages were not only wind taking down trees like this storm, but also ice weighing down trees that still had leaves on them. My neighborhood had an estimate of Friday as well this time around, but I was told a few hours ago my neighborhood's back on now, so you very well may get it back sooner. I will say the way National Grid does the estimate stuff online at least is lame, they don't really update it well, but I guess I'd rather have them getting the work done faster than wasting time getting accurate estimates.
Patty
1:33 pm on Wednesday, October 31, 2012
I've called Natl Grid multiple times and was told they were not giving estimates. I just want some idea of what to expect.
Sarah
3:16 pm on Wednesday, October 31, 2012
The estimates I was referring to I looked up on their outage map online, which every one I saw said by midnight Friday. Including my neighborhood, which now has power restored I'm told, so I think those "estimates" are worst case scenario, if that helps any.
L C
5:20 pm on Wednesday, October 31, 2012
I think what I was getting at is just because the weather is better for this storm and less peoples power went out doesn't mean that anything was better prepared. All it means is that we got lucky. If the same areas lose power every time there's a storm then obviously no repairs are done on the infrastructure for those areas. And let's be honest the people answering the phones don't repair lines so someone being courteous and offering information will not have any affect on the amount of time it takes to get the work done. People do not have the option of going online if their power is out and rely on person on the other end of the phone - as with anything this is just my humble opinion H person allowed to their own.
Sarah
5:42 pm on Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Ah, I think I was more answering the title of the article: "Was Sandy as Bad as Snowtober." instead of the bigger issues.