Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Thank you, Duke employees!

More storm images.

Just one of dozens of trees down or damaged along my daily route.

The sign at Speedway is broken, but the light at the intersection with the 4 lane highway is fixed. Hurrah!!

As I listened to AM radio last night, to learn more about the area-wide power outages, I heard the DJ talking with a call-in guest. The driver was headed southbound on I-75, and he was remarking on the wave after wave of electric company trucks driving north toward Cincy. Seems the linemen from Duke Energy Carolina were on their way to help local crews get our lights on just a little bit quicker. They arrived last night and were on the job at 7am today.

This happened at least once before in my memory, after a disastrous snow storm in December 2004 shut down the area for days. As before, energy workers banded together for the good of the community. It made me mist up to hear the caller say, "And there's another one!" as a convoy of trucks passed him, coming to our aide. Thanks, guys! You're the best!

Soon, we should be seeing a lot less of this:


and more images like this one:

And for the best news of all, my mom's power came on today, a little bit before 3 o'clock, while I was on the phone with her. We both heard a strange whining noise, and just as I said, "What was that?" she exclaimed, "My fan is spinning! And, my clock is flashing!" She couldn't decide which was her first priority: Hot coffee, hot food, or a hot shower.

Now, I have to think good thoughts for my sister in Columbus, who is still in the dark. Of course, this is a normal condition for her, so she should be used to it.

10 comments:

NCmountainwoman said...

That must have been one heckova storm! When we built our house, we got a generator that will run our house on full power for a week or longer. With two Golden Retrievers, we can't just drive to to a hotel for several days.

Glad your mom has power and hope your sister's is back on soon.

Sara said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
A New England Life said...

I had no idea the weather would be that bad in Cincinnati. My friend in Kentucky has been without power also for 2 days. It always seems to be the biggest hardship on the elderly and unwell. So glad your mom has her power back on!

Gotta love the electric company guys! They work hard to restore the power to those in need. We lost ours for 4 days one time and I could have kissed them when they finally fixed it out in front of our house! lol!

Dog_geek said...

Yikes - looks like you got hit pretty hard! We lost power for 10 days after hurricane Fran, when I lived in North Carolina, so perhaps the Duke Energy workers are repaying some old favors!

entoto said...

Do you have power yet? Mom never lost power, but my sister near Dayton still doesn't have any. Weird. I hope you get electricity back shortly.

Kathi said...

Trixie:

Thanks for asking, I was one of the very lucky ones. I was only out for about 6 hours on Sunday; from approx. 3pm to 9pm. I have met a couple of clients who never lost power at all, and have heard from others that they still aren't back on. One of my kennel staff people, a high school girl who lives east of us, still has no power and her school is out all week. The line from the road to her house is under a tree, and individual homes are last on the priority list.

As of 4:30pm, my sister was still without electricity in Columbus. I called Susan's house and spoke to Geoff about 5:30pm; they were back on line and Susan was out doing a RAPTOR program. I'm sure she will update us soon.

Kyle said...

Wow, I had no idea Ike was still packing such a punch by the time it got up to Ohio. You're photos look like what we've been seeing for the past few days down here in the Houston area. In fact, we've only recently gotten power and water back at our house, and many many more are still suffering without. We actually met a crew of Cincinatti folks working at the local Kroger grocery store yesterday, who had flown down to help relieve the exhausted and embattered locals.

Thoughts and prayers to all of you who are still suffering in the dark. We know what you're going thru!

Susan Gets Native said...

I'm baaaaaack!
Thanks for calling to check on us, Kathi. Power came back about 4 pm, thank goodness. I was getting very very close to killing someone with my bare hands.
Four days with no lights, no stove, no laundry, no dishwasher, no Internet, no way to charge my freakin' camera battery!

Mary said...

I chuckled at your sister in Columbus who is always in the dark :o)

Oh the joy when the power returns! Glad for your Mom...

Mary said...

And, Duke Energy Carolina makes me proud!