Of the 127 sewage lift stations in Ft. Myers, only 12 are working, and those are on generator power. They'd cleaned the system out right before the hurricane, so right now it's storing everything like a big septic tank. A giant, humongous septic tank.
They've prioritized restoring the power to the lift stations. Good idea.
They got my mom's phone semi-working today, even though the phone box is laying on the ground in the backyard with the wires underneath a neighbor's fallen tree. They ran wires right to it and will worry about getting all the wires back up on the phone poles later. Yay, Southern Bell.
She says she is acutely traumatized and that all the old people like her will soon start dropping like flies. Did I ever mention my mother is a tad on the dramatic side? She said this storm was worse than the Labor Day Hurricane in the Keys, (Mom! That one killed hundreds of those WWI veterans working on the railroad!) and that it was worse than the Lake Okeechobee Hurricane. (Mom! That one killed 2,000 people!) "Well," she said, "there are visible victims and invisible victims." I finally got her to acknowledge that these other storms racked up a whole lot more "visible victims".
As for my brother's much longed-for ice:
The most critical relief — water, ice and food — did not begin to reach the worst-hit areas until Sunday, delayed by lack of communication with local officials, problems finding accessible places to put it, and traffic jams on I-75. A police escort finally had to be arranged.
Complaints about the scarcity of those supplies were "anecdotal" and isolated, Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings said Monday morning.
And here's someone who needs to be removed from office:
The governor's office said that though for a time it was unable to reach Charlotte County Elections Supervisor Judy Anderson, she was not missing and sent word she is safe.
"She is taking care of family," said state spokeswoman Alia Faraj.
Uh-huh. She's an officer of the County and is required to report for work the same as anybody else. She's one of the big dogs, earning big bucks: don't let her shirk her duties. Now she decides to go back home and be the little woman? To paraphrase Kenny Rogers: "You picked a fine time to leave work, Lucille."
On a happier note. Here's a guy to be grateful for. This is lineman Keith Allen, from Lawrenceville, Georgia, with Pike Electric Inc. Thank you, Keith, and all those other linemen for coming down to help. Y'all are some good men:
There isn't many nice things I can say about my exhusband, but this. He was a lineman, and those guys work their asses off in cases like this. And right about now in the time line is when it get's so hard. People don't realize they are working 18-20hr shifts. Then they grab a bite to eat and a couple hours sleep and right back at it. It's grueling and dangerous. He and his crew were "taken to task" once after a very severe ice storm, because they were sitting in a cafe at midnight grabbing a bite to eat and a hot cup of coffee. People are miserable and scared and tired, and just don't realize they are working as hard and as fast as they can.
Posted by: Tammi at August 17, 2004 08:25 AMIs mom one of those southern belles prone to the vapours?
Posted by: Paul at August 17, 2004 09:30 PMShe's a clydsdale. She just has a bad case of the victims.
Posted by: Donnah at August 18, 2004 06:20 AMYes, Tammi, I'm understanding how hard these guys work.
Posted by: Donnah at August 18, 2004 06:23 AM