To thank the linemen
 

For all those who have loved ones that have traveled far and wide to help the needy poeple all along the east coast I want to thank you for giving your time away from family and routine. There are still many people in need and I am so very lucky to only have lost power for one short week.

I saw trucks from as far away as Missippi in my area of Pa. Thank you over and over. No one should ever complain about the amount of time it takes to get power back after a storm like this. I also went nine days last year after the freak snowstorm. I'm sure some of the same people were here helping us out then.
You do a great thing and I can't thank you enough. Bless you all.
peace

glad you are safe. big thanks to all the helpers.

I am glad you are safe and you are so very right to thank all those that help. We often forget how many wonderful people leave their families and travel often at their own expensive to help people in need. Thank you all. And thank you to those who make quilts, send toys and clothes to those who are in need. We love you for all you do.

Kat

Com Ed sent lots of trucks to the east coast...first batch was 70 trucks...I don't remember the # of the second batch. BTW, Com Ed is from the Chicago area of Illinois.

Glad you are OK....

It warms my heart to hear a thank you for these hard working guys. Two of my sons work for a tree service that contracts with the power companies. Whenever and wherever there is a storm they volunteer for storm duty to go help clear the fallen trees and limbs so the lines can be restrung and power restored. Yes, they are paid overtime, but they are away from their worried families for a long time, sometimes weeks. They have been gone since last Monday, working 16 hour days without a break. Last year was terrible what with tornadoes and Hurricane Irene and that freak snow storm here in October. Often people do not realize the work involved in restoring power and get angry that it isn't back on sooner. Believe me, they are all doing their best!

I just read tonight that several crews from AL went to NJ to help. They checked in with the powers that be and were told unless they became unionized they would not be allowed to work. Refusing to participate in that, they regretfully left and went home.

Jan in VA

Thank you, Ube Quilting, for recognizing the hard work these men do. I'm married to a lineman who just left yesterday from S. Dakota and will be going to the NY/NJ area, probably for about 2 - 3 weeks. Many people do not realize how much can be involved in restoring power to so many people after a disaster such as this. I've started writing about his trip on my blog if anyone is interested. (I did a post today on how power gets to your home - it's not just one big switch that someone turns on ;-))

I'm glad you finally have your power back on.

Jan, I've heard that story too, but I'm not sure that's exactly what happened. This is what Snopes has to say about it:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/sandyunion.asp

I know there were some workers from Missouri that went up to help out. Don't know from what part of the state they were from.
Electric is a wonderful thing. Thanks to all the helpers.

I live in KY and three years ago we had an ice storm in January that knocked power out throughout most of the state. At our house we were without power for eight days, but I know there were people in very rural areas who were without power for three weeks. Help from power companies came from states as far as Georgia and Alabama to help. They work in very unfavorable conditions and long hours. Those workers are our lifesavers because they bring our lives back to normal!

there are many workers going down from Ontario and Quebec. I hope that you all get power soon. My thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery but know it will be long for some of people

It is a heartwarming sightte when I see our Mississippi Power & Light aka Entergy trucks in a convoy heading to the disaster areas. Yes, these men do sacrifice many hours away from their families but they do it with a willing heart.

As to the AL story, it has been confirmed. My niece lives in the area. I'm hoping it was just truly a misunderstanding on the part of the supervisor on site. No help should ever be turned down. I do remember during Katrina, many volunteer workers not being allowed to go into the areas to work. A friend of my son's who owned a mobile home lot was moving mobile homes into the area. He coordinated with FEMA but never got the final ok to move them in. So many were living in tents. Now you can buy a whole fleet of FEMA trailers new that never got to the people. So sad.

I only was on the outer tip of Katrina but I so understand how totally devasting the storm damage can be. I was only w/o power for 7 days then but did have access to a generator.

God Bless all those still in need!

crews from Washington state's Snohomish County went to help, too. Yes, their own families were concerned but proud. How thoughtful of you to post such nice acknowledgements.

During our last ice storm the trucks carrying the linemen were a welcome sight. I made coffee and canned soup which my dh carried out to them. He thanked them and told them how much we appreciated them and to feel free to knock our door for more coffee as they were working in our area. Several of our neighbors did the same thing. We had been out of electric for 2 weeks and only using the generator to run the refrigerator and lights in the evening.

I can't imagine anyone turning help away, but then again people do strange things when they are stressed. Prayers are continuing for the victims of Sandy.

Just to let others know, Canada has also sent Hydro One crews to help. They left from Ontario & Quebec to help their brother electrical workers get power back up & running for those unfortunate to still be without power. OMG what a storm !! Southern Ontario also got remnants of Sandy but not nearly as bad as those in New York & New Jersey. We are all praying that you folks have the strength to get thru this & hopefully things will get back to some semblance of "normal" soon. May God Bless those affected by this terrible storm & to the "first responders".

amen to all the posts.this is a sad time for all up the east coast. i am glad to see them get the help they need..and families that lost loved ones i pray for them..

AndiR - thanks for posting the snopes link. I had read the headline here in NJ earlier in the week and was appalled! I'm glad to see it was a misunderstanding and that the issue is resolved. I had read originally that the crews went on to NY to help there. I also, agree that all the utility companies here should be grateful for any and all help that is being sent this way. I know as an 'end user' I was eternally grateful to all those workers from far and wide to have my power back after 5 days. Frankly, I suspected it would be much longer than that before we had power back. We were very fortunate that we had a generator and we also have natural gas services so our inconvenience was truly minor. DH and I were out the other night. The utility companies are being staged in the parking lot of one of the malls near to us. Couldn't believe the number of transformers, portapotties and trucks there. I'm sure it's not nearly enough yet and there are other staging areas throughout the state and region as well. We just keep praying that everyone gets their much-needed power restored as quickly as possible. It's chilly here now. Keeping fingers crossed that the storm expected later this week doesn't do too much more damage.

Thanks, NJ Quilter, for the Snopes link. That really clarifies the situation. Prayers to this country and especially those in NY/NJ.

I'm sure Florida sent crews as so many crews from as far away as Canada came and helped us when it was needed in 2004! It was such a joy to see them come!

Thanks UBE Quilting for bringing this up. I lived in Miami when Andrew hit and I remember the linemen from New Orleans were still there many months later. While these guys were put up in a very good hotel, I don't think that is the case of the "short timers", just a normal hotel and allowance for meals, none of the comforts of home, including family. And we never realize the strain it is on the families of these workers. So a big thanks to a lot of folks!

I heard about that too. You would think that with all the people despirately needing help they would put aside such pettiness and welcome any help they could get. I'm referring to the unions not the ones that came to help.

Thank you so much. My oldest son is a lineman. He's been many different places since he started working 4 yrs. ago. I am very proud of him. Glad you have power now.

I was going into a local 7-11 and saw a BGE man walking out. I called out to him and thanked him for restoring our electricity so quickly. Don't think he expected a thank you from the look on his face. When I receive good service I try to say thank you and tell managers. They always appreciate my comments.

Glad to hear your safe and think to thank all those workers from afar. There are only so many of them and so many miles of destruction it takes time to rebuild an electrical system. I went thru Charley in Fl. a small storm compared to Sandy and we didn't get power for 2 wks and it took a few yrs to rebuild it takes a long time. I'm glad to hear someone be grateful and I'm not one of those workers or married to one just someone who feels the same as you. Bless you. Sue

I know that 11 crew and 7 trucks were sent out from LV this morning from Nellis AFB. Glad they can help.

I have seen many of the trucks from all over, and some of the guys are sleeping in their trucks. Some of the guys are doing 16 hour shifts to keep things running. One cable guy was in his truck for a 16 hour shift to fill the generator every three hours to keep our cable running.. We felt good to bring him coffee, hot chocolate, and baked cookies..

Wisconsin Public Service sent several trucks and linemen to the East Coast to help out. They expect to be gone two to three weeks. We take electricity for granted until it is down. Take care and God bless.

My husband has been out there since day one working 16 hour days. There is so much frustration with how long this is taking to get everyone back to power. My frustration is not seeing my husband for 9 days! I will give him your kind words - thanks for remembering our linemen!

As we were driving home from Charlotte Friday afternoon, we were just south of the North Carolina border, when we saw a caravan of about 25 power trucks from South Carolina heading up there. Then further south we saw about 5 stragglers who I guess didn't make the caravan in time. We were pleased our power company, Duke Power, was sending trucks up there to help, as we remember in December, 2005, when we had a very bad ice storm and had over 3 million homes w/o power, we had trucks from all over the country coming our way to help out.

We were so thankful when Hurricane Ike hit the Houston area for all the help we were sent. A friend of mine would ride around with a big cooler in her car with ice and cold water and soft drinks. When she could, she would pull over and offer them to the workers. What a wonderful way to say thank you and they were all appreciative. Hopefully we will not go through this again for a LONG time but if we do, I will definitely fill a cooler for my car also!

Oh, she also offered them to police officers who were out doing traffic duty also.

Thanks to everyone for leaving home to help out others- linemen, rescue workers, animal shelter volunteers, too.

I to am glad that there are those who thank our linemen for their long hard hours. My brother has been in Pa since before the storm hit, and today he moved to NJ. He will probably be there several more weeks. We often forget that all these guys sacrifice, but their families put in just as much sacrifice dealing with all their problems on the home front while the linemen are gone doing what they do best. I saslute you all.

So glad you are safe and have your power back on. I live in central Alabama and was on the interstate going south back toward my house a couple of days after the storms hit up there. It was dark and there wasn't an abundance of traffic but I saw a solid line of something coming toward me heading north so I kept watching until they got closer to see why it appeared they must be traveling together. There were almost 20 power trucks heading north from Alabama Power. It just did my heart good to see them. I've also seen crews from up north coming into Alabama after the bad tornadoes went through here. Those crews do give up a lot to help those in need and we're thankful for them also. Hope this last round of storms doesn't bring any problems your way.

Yes, a million thanks to those guys doing such difficult and dangerous work!