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Subscribe to RSSAs New York slowly comes back to life, it's electrical power that divides the haves and have-nots. Gridlock also remains a concern, but subway service is slowly beginning to resume and the New York Marathon is still slated to go forward. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
NEW YORK -- Days after the country’s most densely populated region was brought to its knees by Superstorm Sandy, those without power were going to desperate lengths to find it.
For graphic designer Robert Romiti, that meant a three-mile march up Lower Manhattan in search of electricity to charge his iPhone. Romiti told NBC News he had walked from his apartment on South Street to the corner of 36th Street and Fifth Avenue, where a condominium tower had put out several surge protectors for passers-by. About 20 people were huddled around it.
Romiti said he’d found a similarly improvised power station six blocks to the south – but it was fully occupied.
Some people were searching for even more juice. Widespread power outages, combined with forecasts of falling temperatures and ongoing uncertainty about when power would be restored, sparked a surge in demand for home power generators. Online sites recorded most models as “out of stock” and home centers sold out shipments shortly after they arrived. Phone lines to dealers of permanent standby generators were jammed. Home center stores turned away customers looking for portable models.
A Home Depot in Port Chester, N.Y. sold 190 units within hours on Wednesday, according to a store employee. At another location in Nyack, N.Y., a cluster of customers gathered in the darkened store based on word that a truck was en route with more generators. A store employee created an impromptu waiting list by handing out slips of paper with hand-written numbers and explaining the rules: “You can’t leave and come back,” she told a new arrival. “You have to be here when your number is called.”
Across the region, more than 6 million people were without power, and many were driving miles and miles to find it.
At a Lukoil gas station in Bloomfield, N.J., about 40 cars lined up for gas Wednesday afternoon. Cesar Baez and a friend had tried five stations from Newark to Union before reaching the station, where they had already waited 90 minutes before nearing the entrance. In nearby Union, he had waited two hours before reaching the pump, only to be told the station was rationing. Baez wanted to fill his BMW to drive to Boston. “We’re trying to get out of town,” he said. Baez did not gas up before the storm. “That was an error,” he said.
After days without power, residents of lower Manhattan have begun searching for new ways to charge their devices, even if it means standing out in the cold.
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Also in line were Eileen and Michael Minogue, from Butler, N.J., about 20 miles northwest of Bloomfield. This was their first stop because none of the stations in Butler had gas. The Minogues had been waiting 40 minutes for gas for their SUV and a generator they were using to power their home. The Minogues had been without power since Monday and had been told it wouldn’t be back until at least Monday. They were going through about two gallons of gas a day to run their generator for about 4 or 5 hours a day, mostly for their refrigerator.
Jonathan Sanger / NBC News
New Yorkers charge their cell phones on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Wednesday.
For some, the scenes harken back to the fuel-shortages of the 1970s.
“Right now, there is a shortage of gas in the area because of the extraordinary demand of the few places that have electricity,” AAA Spokesperson Chris McBride told NBC News. “Without power, even if they do have reserve gas in their storage tanks, they can’t pump it out.”
On one side of an Exxon station in Belleville, N.J., cars stretched down the street, snarling traffic. On the other, people stood in line with gas cans in hand, grabbing as much fuel as they could for cars and generators.
One man from Montclair, N.J., said his girlfriend's car ran out of fuel in line at another Exxon station. He offered money to people for their empty gas cans, hoping to carry away as much fuel as possible, but he didn't have any takers.
The station's owner said the pumps would run out of fuel around 8 p.m. He said Exxon had a new shipment of gas on the way, but that it wouldn't be in time to help anyone tonight.
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John Makely / NBC News
Stephanie Sikaris, of Union, N.J., waits in line with others at an Exxon station on Route 22 to fill up her gas containers to feed the generator that she bought Monday from Home Depot.
Improvised charging stations
New York City's power company, Consolidated Edison Inc., said Wednesday that it had restored power to more than 160,000 of the 930,000 customers left in the dark by Hurricane Sandy. Con Ed estimated Tuesday that those served by underground electric equipment in Manhattan and Brooklyn should have their power restored within four days.
Even without power, New Yorkers found creative ways to charge their phones and devices.
At 10th Street and Avenue C, where Bill DiPaola said he saw cars floating in flood waters just a day ago, some two dozen people were huddled around a two-person bike hooked up to a generator that was charging tens of phones. DiPaola, founder of the not-yet-open Museum of Reclaimed Urban Spaces, said he had used the bike earlier to power a pump to drain the basement. He hoped he’d still be able to open the museum as planned on Nov. 17.
Outside, two women were pedaling furiously; they had volunteered to do so in exchange for getting to charge their phones. Audrey Conway, a fashion school student whose apartment is without power or running water, said pedaling this bike was harder than the one she rides every day.
“I’m happy I can do this,” Conway said, slightly out of breath. “Better than sitting in my apartment.”
Jonathan Sanger / NBC News
New Yorkers found unique ways to work with limited electricity in New York on Wednesday.
At the main branch of the Montclair Public Library, where a line formed before its 10 a.m. opening, several hundred people were using every available outlet to charge computers and cellphones, with some sprawled on floors near electrical plugs. Library staffers opened an auditorium, additional conference rooms and arranged for a branch building to open Wednesday to accommodate townspeople without electricity.
“We’re trying our best to serve the public the best we can,” said library supervisor Dawn Quinn.
Jennifer Dwyer found a desk space at the library to work. “I was here earlier but the Wifi was overwhelmed so I had to buy my own hot spot,” a battery-powered Internet connection, for her computer. Dwyer had lost power Monday night. “I’m like everyone else here,” she said of her hunt for electrical power. “At least it’s not cold.”
Driving around in a mobile hotspot of their own creation, Daymion Mardel, 38, and Angel Hernandez, 36, were out in lower Manhattan to help people charge their phones out of their car. The two photographers, who live in Harlem, where they actually do have power, set up a solar panel where they could plug in about 40 phones.
“We’re just trying to help in the small ways we can,” Mardel told NBC News. “Some people donate money, we had the resources to do this. We know how important it is for people to have mobile phones to keep in touch.”
Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters
People congregate in front of a building that still has wireless Internet access in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in New York on Tuesday.
NBC News' John Schoen, Jane Weaver, Becky Bratu, Rosa Golijan and Jason White contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
What a sad bunch of humans, No Food, No Water, No Power, but its a mad scramble to charge up there phones and ipads with any available outlet. Talk about mindless minions of the electronic age, I am sure they think they will die without there electric toys. Here you have people walking 6-10 blocks for a plugin but others are complaining about having to walk down 10 flights of stairs to get food and water. What a sorry example, too bad the storm did not just wipe NYC off the map permanently.
Wow, sorry to see you're having such a bad day.
"After Sandy, a desperate search for power"
And no one is more desperate than the nuclear power plants relying on diesel generators trying to keep their reactors and spent fuel pools cool.
"blah blah blah scramble to charge up there phones and ipads with any available outlet. Talk about mindless minions of the electronic age, blah blah blah "
"there" phones?
Who's mindless?
My God, my brother in NJ is without power, & can only reach our family by cell. He has no internet, just family, and we are scouring stores here in upstate NY trying to find a generator he can drive up and buy here. So trash people you don't know, in a situation you can't feel, and show us all how "mindfull" you are! Jerk.
Hey Nancy, in other parts of the country, we have been through it. Many times. This was a Cat1 storm they get a lot worse for some of us. BUT, we get prepared in the off-season rather than scramble around after. This summer we were out of power for 10 days, no power, no internet, no refrigerators, freezers, microwaves, hot water, cellphones, etc...10 days in 105 degree heat. There was no presidential visit, or the army handing out water. We had to make due without contacting relatives, most understood we had more pressing issues.
May we continue to show strength in the face of disaster.
'Baronfergus', does being a troll make you feel superior? Once again you offer complete drivel; a pattern in your posts.
A cellphone is a lifeline for most of these folks. How can you not realize that?
Is you heartlessness so great that it can only summon ridicule for others who are suffering?
Look deep down inside yourself in your relative warmth, security and comfort and see if you can muster a little human compassion (rather than just ignorant criticism).
What a "sad human" (to use your words) you have shown yourself to be. Well done.
Nice comments Baron.....
I actually enjoy watching your rage manifesting itself in your hateful comments and spoken like a true 1%'er. You want to know the difference between you and most of those people looking for a charging station for their phones.....they can survive a disaster. You on the other hand, would have your ass handed to you if you had to interact and survive with the other 99% of the population in the same circumstances,
run down to the camping gear store if its open and get a jetboil or a biolite. These nifty camper stoves will cook food and charge usb items. The biolite can even run off of wood.
As I watched the evening national news reports this evening from the warm comfort of my home in Oregon, I was awestruck by the many, many individuals interviewed by the field reporters and the stories of personal sacrifice by first responders, neighbors and complete strangers.
We often see the people of New York and New Jersey portrayed to the rest of our country as rude and uncivil. But what I have viewed in the aftermath of this storm is toughness, resilience and inordinate kindness and selflessness.
I think the entire country has a lesson to learn from these people, and my hope is that all of us who are without worry and are safe and warm and dry and comfortable in our own homes this evening and in the coming days will let our own blessings flow -- in whatever way we can individually -- to our fellow Americans on the Eastern Seaboard of our country.
Be safe, be brave, keep your spirits elevated and you folks will come through this. You all are in our thoughts.
Baron,
Can you imagine if they had to depend on "green" energy? How many wind turbines would be damaged from hurricane force winds? How many solar panels ruined under a 12 foot storm surge? A lot easier to protect one isolated site like regular power plants than acres and acres of wind turbines or solar panels.
When Obama gets rolling again after the election and he gets the EPA going a lot of that cheap dependable energy we are used to will disappear. Just wait for the next hurricane after that happens.
economykiller said:
"Can you imagine if they had to depend on "green" energy? How many wind turbines would be damaged from hurricane force winds? How many solar panels ruined under a 12 foot storm surge?"
And how many flooded nuclear power plants have suffered grid power loss and are relying on failure-prone backup generators to keep their reactors and spent fuel pools cool to prevent a meltdown or fuel pool fire?
How many square miles are rendered uninhabitable after nuclear plant meltdown, as in Fukushima? How many after a solar panel accident? A wind turbine accident?
Nice to see the idiots can still post here.
economykiller,
How do you suppose a 12 foot storm surge is going to submerge solar panels that will be located on roof tops? Modern wind turbines are designed to withstand hurricane force winds, so they would not be at risk either.
Perhaps you could take five minutes out of your busy day devoted to reading Faux News and do a simple Google search to learn more about the technology you are trying to belittle? Oh, that's right, a little too much science involved for the Faux News fans.
singbiker: Keep watching the lamestream media or the corruptmedia for your information.
SingBiker: the wind turbines can withstand the winds of a mild Cat1 storm, but what about a Cat5? And if even one inch of the tip of the blade hits a wave it will shatter apart like tinkertoys.
What is astounding to me is that American citizens like you folks will read a story about devastation, scores of deaths, millions without food, power, or knowing how they are going to restart their lives ... and all you see is another opportunity for venting ridicule, and vitriol and to score cheap and heartless political points and push your personal agenda.
By your on-line behavior you contribute nothing positive to our country; just heartless fault-finding and a complete absence of compassion for our fellow citizens.
I would suggest that you should be ashamed, ... but clearly you people have no shame. You do however shame us by your incivility.
Mike-826197
"Nice to see the idiots can still post here."
Yes, they can. Go right ahead...
That's what they get for being so addicted to the internet.
Who you calling addicted to the internet? LOL
They may have to actually forgo the ipads, iphones, internet, facebook, and all the other bullsh** of modern society? Perish the thought they have to actually talk to another person who may be a stranger. What's this world coming to.
Instead of FN with the damn Ipad or phone they should be out help clear the mess up and help those in shelters.
Be a little more compassionate, folks. I feel for these people because I lost power in LAST year's hurricane. (this time, all I lost were a few trees.)
But I can't understand why Refrigeration is such a big deal. Eat the perishable foods FIRST and then the canned. No. 1 priorities: Cooking, light and HEAT. I bought several bottles of propane to run my campstove and if I needed heat, I could power my Mr. Heater propane heater. And a bunch of battery lanterns for light.
No generator needed. Oh, in case we ever lose power in mid-winter... I'm going to bring my Kerosene heater out of retirement and scour the area for a kerosene dealer.
Generators are noisy and smell terrible!
When there is a power failure there are a few good points: time to interact face to face with family and neighbors. Anyway, I hope for everyone who was touched by the hurricane to have a speedy recovery.
shadow2000, If you do have to resort to using the propane heater, campstove or kerosene heater please remember to allow enough ventilation to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. Hate to read about your family's demise due to improper use of alternative energy sources.
Dude,kero's about 6 or 7 bux a gallon here in NH.Good luck with that and propane's not much better.Diesel's running about four,and I have to buy that for my tractor.Kero stinks man,we;ve had to dry out sheetrock witha kero heater before and man ya could'nt breathe the next morning,lol.We switched to a propane salamander,works much better,
Many people depend on communications to check on family, friends, business, financials, etc...I don't understand why anyone would feel negative towards people who depend on the internet (or phones, radio, or TV). These people are not hapless souls because they depend on their smart phones. They are people like me. I live in the sticks in Texas and I depend on the internet, smart phone, landlines, radio, TV, to provide for my family. Anyone who says people are addicted to their phones or computers don't understand how important communications are to people. Granted that congested areas of any country depend more on these services for most people. We can't all go down to the creek with Hank and catch fish all day and eat home grown tomatoes. Sounds nice but it doesn't work that way for everyone. Personally, I have survived off the farm land and in New York City. Both require communications. I hope everyone will get their services back up soon.
Well,I think thats because most of uas that are older actually remember when you could use the phone during a power outage,when the POTS(plain old telephone system)used to be powered by 48 - 50 volts DC and was battery backed up and did'nt depend on the line power alone...times do change and in some circumstances like this not always for the better..
People just get some candles and wine. enjoy the event.
Gonna be a whole lot of late July early August babies named Sandy next year in NY/NJ.
Everybody should get a small solar charger, at least for the cell phone and other small accessories.
Troops take those portable solar chargers with them when they go on deployments to the Middle East so their smartphones always have juice. Or for pedestrians that don't mind hauling their gear, get the backpacks with the solar panels built into them. And your automobile's got a cigarette lighter outlet, right? Use it with a plug-in 100-120 volt AC adapter ...if you can spare the fuel for running the engine. Better yet, get a gas-powered generator with at least four AC outlets.
Strange how this storm snuck up on the people of Noo Yawk, without warning, catching them all with their pants down. The City works well, so long as the feed of energy, water and food continues - break the supply chain and it all fails.
No tears from here, We learned young how to survive 7 days without support of the city managers. Elect Rmoney, and he will show us all how important it is to be self reliant.
LOL you think a guy who makes $50,000 a day is going to teach people financial responsibility?? He is so out of touch. If he had a home destroyed in a hurricane he could write it off and just go to one of his 5 other homes. Romney was born wealthy. has never worked a day in his life, makes $10,000 bets the way most folks buy a scratch-off ticket and has NO understanding of how the common person scratches and claws to make ends meet in the terrible economy created by people like himself.
I agree people need to take care of themselves but Rombama will only make it harder for people to do just that. Our economy is poor because the dollar has no value and corporations do not support US manufacturing. Audit the Fed, end it, back our dollars with gold and get the US economy strong again. Boycott companies who hire Asians to make our goods while they HQ in the USA to enjoy all the benefits of a US based business. If they want to hire Chinese, then they can HQ their corporation in China.
Ok I know people have lost their homes. That is tragic. Nut wow seriously so many people get their lives turned upside down just because of no electricity? This is a picnic compared to some real disasters we could potentially face. Imagine NO cell phone service. NO McDonalds. No economy because all paper money is worthless. NO BEER!
I've heard people say they are roughing because they have to eat McDonalds or their food went bad or they can't charge their cell phones.
It's called camping gear. Portable cook stoves, dehydrated food, water purifiers, solar cell panels and rechargeable power supplies that can run small appliances. Wool blankets and good quality warm clothes from military surplus stores. Kerosene heaters. All this stuff is on Amazon.
You could spend $1000 (I know it is a lot for some people, me included) and have everything you need to survive indefinitely, except for food and water of course, which are consumables and unless you have kits from places like efoods dot c0m you will need to forage. To me, $1000 is a small investment for peace of mind and the ability to survive a disaster.
Just take some sound advice....throw away your TV and cancel your cable service. There. Now you wont miss it when it is gone. Get a really good shortwave radio for emergencies. Just don't consider things like electric power, FEMA, or McDonalds to be permanent because they are not, the illusion of permanency is something we will all have to withdraw from sooner or later.
Solar cell phones chargers are about $9.00. Best investment I ever made.
There is nothing like being "PREPARED" for an emergency. No gas, no electricity, no food, no shelter, no nothing. You would think after you are told over and over that the mother of all storms is going to take place, people would take personal responsibility for themselves. Maybe they thought the Government would provide everything for them. You cannot fix stupid. I bet most of them will rebuild near the beach once again or they don’t prepared for another emergency.
Just wondering.... are we still mocking the "preppers"?
DEPERATELY SEARCHING FOR POWER , SOUNDS LIKE THE ROMNEYS LIFE STORY , LOL !!!!! ;
OK. What’s Mitt’s known successes over the years?
1 - He successfully bankrupted companies for $90 million a pop profit, putting thousands of white people out of work
2 - He successfully hid our money in offshore accounts..
3 - He is successfully avoiding disclosing his tax returns that shows that he didn’t pay taxes.
4 - He has successfully ran a State as Governor that was 47th in job creation.
5 - He is successfully avoiding talking about his Mormon religion.
6 - He is successfully avoiding associating with minorities (especially black people). Because, you know, they are beneath him.
7- He is successfully avoiding associating with white trash. Because, you know, they are beneath him. Sorry, Tea Party people.
8 - He is successfully building a car elevator in his home. You know why. So that his pampered wife will not have far to walk when leaving her 3rd level bedroom.
9 - He will successfully lose the bid for the Presidency.
1 - He also save twice as many companies, along with their jobs
2 - He hid HIS money in offshore accounts, not yours
3 - Nobody has to disclose tax returns, yet you are required by the Constitution to prove your birth, before running, not 3 years after
4 - The state he was governor of, Mass, was also controlled by a Democratic Legislature. FIRMLY. If they have job creation troubles blame their policies.
5 - If he talked non-stop about his Mormon religion you would be trashing him on that too
6 - You guys demonize any minority that even thinks of talking to or becoming a Republican, why should THEY socialize with him. Look what you did to your biggest threat, Cain, destroyed him BEFORE he could even go up against the messiah
7 - The Repubs have always hated the Tea Party. It goes against their version of Big Government. If you noticed Obama sold out a large part of his ultra-left base (good for me) but he is just as guilty as Romney blowing off his fringes.
8 - No answer on this one, except pretty cool, I wish I had one. After all, it will EMPLOY at least 5 people for 2 weeks building it. But who cares about details. If he had no money, he would be SPENDING NO MONEY!!!
9 - Doubt it, we will see next week.
Personally I don't want either, they are both Big Government nuts. If we followed the Constitution we wouldn't have half the problems we have today. i.e. there would be no need for the government to FIX the economy because the government wouldn't have SCREWED UP the economy, GET IT???
Pretty sad that you feel you need to go there in this posting..... but bitter, angry folks like you are why we are the divided, angry, laughing stock country we are. We can't even stand by our own when they are down without bitterness..... a real shame.... but I will defend you right to be that way.....
Take a moment... think about how lucky you are..... and pray for the folks hit by this disaster......then go back to being you......
I'm just wondering about all the damage to the power grid... did they shut things down intentionally or wait for things to blow up? During Ike, Centerpoint shut down the grid to protect it.... all at once... 2:04am....I remember.
Was this done in NYC? Oh well... hope they get their power on and warm up.. at least we had warm weather after Ike but it took 2 months to get my power on and all I had was roof damage that took 2 years for Nationwide to pay up for.......
It's too bad we've become so dependent upon our electronic distractions because we cannot stand not being distracted from each other or distracted in general. Our thirst to "be in touch" via digital information really begs the question of whom or what we're touching. I really think we are becoming more neurochemically wired for useless data even while our gadgets themselves are evolving to wireless.
Solar, which can be portable to which solar companies have made solar cells in which those cells provide energy and keep the unused energy in a portable box, is another way to go, not worrying about wind, flood, or any nature disaster. Solar energy source can be kept in a luggage side box, easy to carry.
Hope that it has reminded us this is also the other way to go, a green, cheap, clean, portable energy source.
Regulations by States and our Federal Government costs us more than any product is worth. Liberalism is a disease that is Killing us slowly but surely