After Irene’s Visit—

Newtowners Made The Best Of It

During Extended Power Outages

By Nancy K. Crevier

“There were so many struggles,” said Joanne Marcinek, who along with husband John and their entire Honey Lane neighborhood, was without power for six days, following Tropical Storm Irene’s rant through town. “Probably the water situation was the greatest problem for us, not being able to flush the toilets,” she said.

The Honey Lane residents were unable to get out of their street at all because of downed trees and wires until Tuesday, said Ms Marcinek, when someone in the neighborhood cut away some branches “and we could squeeze our cars through.”

Not having phones until Tuesday increased that sense of isolation, she added. The owner of AskJoanne.com, an Internet marketing company, Ms Marcinek is reliant on her phone and computer to work.

“Most of my clients were very understanding, and I was able to get in touch with people the middle of the week using my iPhone, and postpone some things. I was glad to have my iPhone,” she said, which enabled her to keep up somewhat in her work. “I’m sure [the power outage] affected others more than me. I’m sure I can make up in this week, what I lost last week.”

John Marcinek, who works for Pitney Bowes, also depended on his laptop until the business reopened on Wednesday.

In between fetching water and trying to find a place to recharge computers and phones, the Honey Lane neighbors took it upon themselves, Ms Marcinek said, to create a coordinated call campaign to the Department of Public Works.

“Finally, a utility team from North Carolina replaced the pole, removed the trees, and got us back on the grid,” she said.

Even though the Marcineks thought they had prepared for losing power, by the end of the week they found they needed to get water from the town disbursement sites.

“A big water container, like for sports events, to get water from the fire department, would have been handy,” said Ms Marcinek.

Hindsight is 20/20, said Ms Marcinek, who admitted that doing a big shop at BJ’s before the storm was probably a mistake.

“We lost a lot,” she said. “I didn’t think we would be without power for more than one or two days.”

Losing power was unpleasant, said Ms Marcinek, but she found her reaction after power was restored unexpected. “I didn’t want to be with people right away. It was like I needed healing time, time to be at home and regroup... and,” she added, “time to go into a cleaning frenzy.”

On Monday, September 5, Jan Sansevera noticed a tree still down on the power lines, and no signage, either way, to alert drivers that Farview Avenue in Sandy Hook was closed, she said in an e-mail to The Newtown Bee. “We were actually in Alaska visiting my boyfriend’s daughter when Irene hit, and that was all that was on the news all the way out there,” she said.

On Chipmunk Drive, where she was staying with her boyfriend whose power returned the night of the 30th, power conked out once again Tuesday morning, September 6.

“Fortunately we have a generator which at least provides us with hot water, keeps the refrigerator going, and some outlets and lights, and most importantly the well pump and furnace,” Ms Sansevera said.

Scout Master Prevails

“It’s about preparedness, right?” asked Peter Lubinsky — spoken like the true Boy Scout leader and Emergency Preparedness merit badge counselor he is.

“Plus, I’m married to a weather junkie, so we took this storm warning very seriously,” said Mr Lubinsky, who works in global services, quality assurance, for IBM, from his home office. “I talk to people all across Canada and the United States, so I need my phone and computer.”

The Lubinskys thought that they had dodged the bullet shot at Newtown by Tropical Storm Irene, when the sun came out Sunday afternoon, August 28, and the winds died down, and they still had power. “We were so excited — then the power went out,” he said. It stayed out for four-and-a-half days.

“I lost my work line, an AT&T line, for the first day, and without Internet I am stuck,” he said. Fortunately, IBM has a Southbury facility that was up and running, so with just one day off of work, he situated himself in an office there on Tuesday, working there through last Thursday.

“I just adjusted my work schedule accordingly. I had a back up, at least,” he said.

He had expected to lose power for one or two days, but had stockpiled containers of water and filled the bathtub for a longer period of power loss. “So many times, a storm passes and you drain the tub. This time it paid off,” said Mr Lubinsky. “We knew it was coming and we were prepared,” he said.

Brian Trudeau and his wife, Kristen, both work from their Old Castle Drive home, but Mr Trudeau said that it was probably his wife who suffered more than he from the lack of power for eight days.

“I’m a programmer for a company in North Haven. They lost power more briefly than we did here, so I could still go in to work,” he said, although the office building there took a beating from floodwaters. His work does require him to dial in some evenings, though, so he counts on Internet access and electricity to keep up on his jobs.

“Kristen is a bookkeeper for a virtual law office, so it was tricky for her to do the clerical things she needed to do, to get payroll information and that kind of thing. It was compounded, because we have two little ones. She’s a stay-at-home mom, so this was even more of a challenge to be able to work.

“We had to search for hotspots where we could, and in town, there are only so many places to go. We struggled to stay ahead,” Mr Trudeau added, “and we used our smart phones and pacified people as much as we could.”

While the Trudeaus do not believe they lost critical revenue due to the power outage, Mr Trudeau was not sure that was true for the attorneys for whom Ms Trudeau works in upstate New York. “That’s a different story,” he said.

The Trudeaus do not feel that they adequately prepared for eight days without power. “We had the usual amount of batteries and supplies on hand. I think we’d plan better the next time there is this kind of storm warning,” Mr Trudeau said. “We were very surprised how long power stayed out, especially being this close to the center of town.”

Taking into account last winter’s severe snowstorms, and now Tropical Storm Irene, Mr Trudeau said that he is seriously considering installing a generator system now.

Mark That ‘Sold’

Sandy Jossick Anderson, a real estate broker in town, ran 80 percent of her home and 100 percent of her mother-in-law’s apartment on generator power from Sunday afternoon, August 28, until the following Saturday afternoon — and brokered a sale on a home that had no power.

“The couple had seen the home once before, when it had power, then came back to see it again after it lost power, and put a deposit down,” said Ms Anderson. Even with the Internet down for the first days of the storm, and everyone relying on cellphones, her business was not badly affected, all in all.

“We were very fortunate to have our generator, though,” she said, even though it cost hundreds of dollars to refill the 500-gallon tank on Friday. “My mother-in-law is 90 years old. If not for the generator, we would have had to find somewhere else safe for her,” Ms Anderson said.

The Dana-Holcombe House on Main Street was required to install a generator when they opened, and with this storm, owners Jane and John Vouros were grateful for that.

They kicked off the storm weekend with a Friday evening rehearsal dinner for a former student, August 26, and hosted several of the out of town wedding guests. “We lost power Sunday morning when the tree went down across Main Street,” said Ms Vouros, just as breakfast was underway.

Mr Vouros was outside at the time. “I turned, and watched that tree come down across the street and the wires. The electrical storm it created was horrible,” recalled Mr Vouros.

But inside the bed and breakfast, the generator kicked in and the houseful of guests was able to enjoy a lovely breakfast.

“We have a gas stove, and gas hot water, which is a good thing. Everything was fine,” Ms Vouros said. Only one couple had planned to remain overnight on Sunday, August 28, and they were provided with a lantern for light in their room that night.

Meanwhile, the Vouros alerted the wedding party with 70 guests scheduled at the Dana-Holcombe House for September 4 that the power outage could still affect that event somewhat.

“The catering is from the outside, so that wasn’t really a concern,” Ms Vouros said, “but we were worried about no lights in the tent, if power did not come back on. We had to do some thinking about how we would get lights out there.”

Fortunately, power was restored to the area Tuesday night, August 31, and the couple was hitched — without a hitch.

Lessons To Be Taken

For others in town, the wait for power dragged on. “Day nine… still powerless,” lamented the Lintz family on Poorhouse Road, Tuesday, September 6, one of the .1 percent in town still not online, according to an e-mail received at The Bee that morning. Linda and Jim Lintz “finally ‘saw the light,’” though.

“Our saviors were a utility crew from Oklahoma, Georgia, Ohio, and who knows what other part of the country,” said Ms Lintz. “Unlike the crew from CL&P, who came and left off Wednesday [August 31], never to be seen again, our out-of-state guys removed our broken transformer, promising to return the same day with a replacement.”

The promise kept, it was then just a couple of more hours until they were powered up again.

The Lintz family was thankful for a generator that kept essentials running during the outage, she said, making for an exciting, rather than exasperating, visit for her parents from California, here for the duration of the storm.

“Our greatest struggle was our inability to stay connected with my husband’s work, and out-of-town family. It was difficult not knowing what was going on around us, although the daily updates from First Selectman Llodra were a source of great help,” she said.

The experience has made Ms Lintz realize the importance of “Water, Water, Water! We don’t realize how our lives revolve around a great amount of water,” said Ms Lintz, who also learned “Even flushing one energy efficient toilet, one time, still takes a staggering amount of water.”

There are lessons to be taken from the week-plus without power, she added. “I will miss the oneness, the intactness our family shared during the outage… We were a family again, congregating in one room, talking, playing games, sharing stories,” said Ms Lintz.

The family has vowed to have a greater respect for water, to keep it cleaner and conserve more; and (much to her teenage sons’ dismay) to institute a “power down” weekend, once a month. “Perhaps,” she said, “the age of technology is not all it’s cracked up to be.”

After the power was restored, the Lintzes noticed that one of the utility guys had written, “Not no more” under the word “Powerless.”

“We’re thinking,” said Ms Lintz, “of framing the sign as a memento of Irene.”