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No Power for 4-14 days after Hurricane Hermine

jonny5

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Republic of Florida
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I just got power back here in Tallahassee, and thus internet, so it got me to thinking about several political issues that came up.

Here is the situation. Hurricane Hermine came right through Tallahassee last thursday night and took out nearly the entire power grid for the capital city of 150,000 people. As of today, 20,000 are still without power, and some might not have power for another week or more.

1. the role of govt in providing power - in the city we have a power monopoly. the city requires you to use their power. outside of the city, there is a private power company, which also had significant issues, though their grid is linked to our city power. at times we in the city have been overcharged, forced to use digital meters, and our city managers just got a 50% raise from 125k to 175k.

2. the govts response to region wide emergencies- People are pretty pissed to say the least. I dont know how much of this could have been avoided, whether the city has done anything to prevent the power outage issues that happend exactly the same way 30 years ago when the last hurricane came through. I dont know if they prepared a response to expected problems. Certainly they didnt have enough crews for tree removal, and there are reports the city declined offers of help (rumoured to be because of them not being unionized. The governor finally stepped in and forced help and organization on the city. No idea if there has been any federal help, FEMA etc. (and I dont think there needs to be except that I am forced to pay for it)

3. private response to the hurricane - many of the big evil corporations all were ready with generators. groceries, restaurants that could were quick to get open and serve food and supplies. the evil monopoly ISPs all kept service up during and after the hurricane, and set up charging stations, and free wifi. charities were on the spot with water, food, etc. Regional power companies, and local cities all have now sent hundreds of lineman and trucks to get power back on (once allowed). people locally have all been very charitable

4. media coverage - i havent seen any. weather channel moved on, and I havent seen anything on any major channels about our recovery area, though LA, new jersey, etc all got plenty of air time. Not to mention the political scandal ongoing. our local extreme republican talk show host stayed on the air connecting people and reporting conditions, for 15 hours straight through the worst of the weather

Any thoughts on any of this?

Current outage map - top is city, bottom is private power, which is mostly rural customers

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