Frustration Builds in Parts of New York

Power Outages Dot East Coast

Doing fine here in Atlanta, but other places on the East Coast are not as lucky.

Utility crews untangled downed power lines and tree limbs Sunday, working to get the electricity turned back on for millions of people facing a second day of 100-degree temperatures without modern conveniences like air conditioning and refrigeration.

“Unlike a polite hurricane that gives you three days of warning, this storm gave us all the impact of a hurricane without any of the warning of a hurricane,” Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said.

With the power out, authorities also warned people to be careful when using generators and candles to help light darkened homes.

The bulk of the storm damage was in West Virginia, Washington and the capital’s Virginia and Maryland suburbs.

150 MPH Winds Take a Toll on California

It looked like a scene out of the movie Twister.

The storms, described as a once-in-a-decade event, were the result of a dramatic difference in pressure between a strong, high-pressure system and a cold, low-pressure system, meteorologists said. This funnels strong winds down mountain canyons and slopes.

The system brought high wind warnings and advisories for California, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico. The blustery weather is expected to eventually hit Oklahoma, Missouri and Indiana.

In Southern California, the storm knocked out electricity to more than 350,000 utility customers. By early Friday, 270,000 of them were still without power.

A state of emergency was declared in Los Angeles County, where schools in a dozen communities were closed.

In some neighborhoods, concrete light poles cracked in half. Darkened traffic signals and fallen palm tree fronds and branches snarled traffic. At a Shell station, the roof collapsed into a heap of twisted metal.

In heavily damaged Pasadena, schools and libraries closed and a local emergency, the first since 2004, was declared. Officials said 40 people were evacuated from an apartment building after a tree smashed part of the roof.

Pasadena is known for its historic homes and wide oak-lined streets that are frequently depicted in films.
Many residents Thursday blamed the city for protecting its old trees from over-trimming to such an extent that they have now become a public safety hazard.

It's a fast moving weather system and is moving out of the area quickly.

Earl Could Produce Power Outages and Wind Damage at U.S. Open

The danger from most hurricanes is from water – either the massive amount of rain that falls or the surge that the high winds push onshore.  But in the case of the hurricane Earl path, the bigger problem once it leaves the New York and New England area is likely to be wind damage.

Since trees still have full foliage this time of year, the damage is expected to be worse than the fall, when nor’easters often hit the New England region.

Rain is only one thing U.S. Open Tennis officials have to worry about with Earl.  The U.S. Open is in the middle of a 2-week run in New York. 

We could see limbs down and the uprooting of trees,” says Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “If the roads are covered with trees, this could be a problem for responders if someone has an emergency.”

From the easternmost part of New York to Rhode Island and Cape Cod, Earl is expected to unleash wind gusts of 75 to 100 miles per hour, says meteorologist Mike Pigott of AccuWeather.com. In the eastern part of Cape Cod around Chatham, MA, for example, the winds could reach a sustained 75 miles per hour.

On Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center officially put southeastern Massachusetts – including Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard – on hurricane warning status. That means the region can expect winds of at least 74 miles per hour, probably starting Friday evening.

Utility crews on the East Coast are gearing up for the prospect of clearing trees off power lines and restringing lines, says Jim Owen, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute in Washington.

With widespread wind damage, power outages can stretch for days or maybe even longer. “That is why we encourage people to prepare and have adequate supplies of food and water, so they can withstand maybe several days without electricity,” says Owen.

One indication of how long power outages can go: After Wilma, a powerful hurricane, roared through Florida in 2005, many residents went for more than two weeks without electricity.

Let's hope Earl is a tennis fan and stays mostly out at sea.