Tropical Storm Irene Still Packs a Mean Punch

Irene may not have been a hurricane anymore when she hit us, but she still knocked over a great big oak tree in our front yard with a giant gust of wind. Our next door neighbors were outside grilling in the front yard when they heard it start coming down toward them. They ran to the back of the house, and tree crashed down a couple of feet where they had been standing moments before.

Luckily, the tree missed hitting any people, houses, or vehicles (even though our neighbor's car was parked directly underneath where it hit). It took out our utility lines and the neighbor's fence on the other side of their yard. It also completely blocked their driveway, so Peter spent the day helping them clear out enough of it to allow cars in and out.

So we had no power (or hot water) for 5 days. We had no internet or phones for 6 days. We had potentially live power lines in our yard inches away from where the kids get in and out of the car. I showered at a local gym and Peter took cold showers here. This is what we learned:

1. The food in our fridge all went bad. I took some over to Laura, but I should have taken more, or hooked up a generator to keep things running.

2. It would have been so nice to have had a generator hooked up to our boiler- then we could have had hot water and heat (which we didn't need because it was summer, but it definitely would have been necessary if this had happened in the winter).

3. It's nice to have a burner or camp stove on hand to cook food and warm up water.

4. If a tree rips out your power lines, have someone check inside the meter socket before they restore power to the neighborhood. Cautionary tale:

Our house almost burned down (again) because the tree yanked the power lines running to our house right off their posts (think of the inside of your meter box as a car battery- there are posts and the power lines come in and brackets connect the lines to the posts). The two contacts of the live wires were touching inside the meter socket (hidden from inspection) when the power came back on, causing the contacts to explode and fuse and the power line insulation to catch on fire (3 foot flames).

The power company was already gone, but luckily our neighbor noticed it and called 911. So I came home to all manner of emergency vehicles at my house putting out the fire- not a fun surprise. And to make matter worse, since it was inside our box, NStar won't willingly foot the 1k+ electrician bill for them to come fix the damage. End rant.