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The Storm After the Storm: Post-Sandy Relief Effort Met with Delays, Frustration

Hurricane+Sandy+left+long-lasting+effects.+Power+outages+and+tree+damage+presented+challenges+in+the+wake+of+the+storm.++
Ben Reiser
Hurricane Sandy left long-lasting effects. Power outages and tree damage presented challenges in the wake of the storm.

Driving through Sandy-stricken Westport quickly became a game of dodge-the-destruction. Torn trees and cracked limbs weakened the wires between telephone poles to a near-breaking point—and some even past that.

The storm after the storm had begun, and thus the month-long cleanup was under way.

“Based on customers calling in, power is connected but wires are still on the ground,” said AT&T employee Joe Bufford two weeks after the storm hit. “We’ll probably be working on them up until Thanksgiving.”

Despite this long process, the utility companies have done just about all they can do, said Bufford.

The first day of the recovery was to evaluate the most devastated areas. This time, Bufford said, they were New Canaan,Greenwich and Stamford.

“There were trees on cars, trees missing houses by inches,” Bufford said “Every driveway had a wire hanging three feet above the ground.”

These wires would fall under the category of hazardous lines according to Bufford’s order of priority, which he refers to as a “line of urgency.”

Fixing the hazardous lines is the first priority—live power lines either on the ground or obstructing paths. The next highest priority is fixing out-of-service lines that work but are damaged.

“On a daily basis, I’ve probably had to deal with five or six lines down,” Bufford said. “There were a lot of technicians who worked much, much later than they should have.”

And nonetheless, to Westport residents, this work went relatively unnoticed.

With little contact to the outside world, families gathered around tables peppered with lit candles and scattered Scrabble pieces to listen to Fire Inspector Nate Gibbons. Gibbons was hailed as a town hero, as his broadcasts over Staples’ WWPT paralleled FDR’s comforting fireside chats.

“He delivered the updates with a mixture of straight talk and folksy charm, suggesting we practice our high school French with the electrical crews fromQuebec, or if we don’t know how to use a fireplace, don’t start now,”Westport resident Lisa Seidenberg said in a comment on WestportNow.

Others sought comfort insideLong Lots Elementary school, which was open 24 hours toWestportresidents and pets for the duration and aftermath of Sandy. Margaret Pinheiro from the Department of Human Services predicted early on that the shelter would be open for much longer than it had been for Irene, providing cots and Chartwells food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

“I can’t speak highly enough of how courteous and helpful the Department of Human Services, the town, and the Red Cross has been. I’m highly impressed with all that they have provided us with,”Westport resident Carole Petray said.

Meanwhile, the 86 percent of Westporters without any electricity chronicled the creeping percentage of power restoration. To many, including First Selectman Gordon Joseloff, it was a waiting game.  

“The response was unacceptably slow,” Joseloff said in a Nov. 6 Code Red alert.

 Much of the town was frustrated with the CL&P seeming lack of communication. 

“After hurricane Irene and the last year’s October snow storm you would have thought that coordination between the different agencies would have improved not gotten worse,” Westport Joe Witz said in a WestportNow comment.

“CL&P has blown through several estimates…[There is] not one sign that CL&P even exists out here. The responses that they give on their hotline are now laughable,” Westporter Bruce Fields responded.

However, safety came first to the men and women handling the restorations. This, according to Bufford, was something cable clients had trouble understanding.

“Some people don’t understand what we do,” Bufford said. “They’re only concerned about being out of service, but not concerned with our safety getting them back into service.”

While no co-worker who Bufford knew of was seriously injured from power lines or other storm hazards, maintaining their own safety is still paramount.

“If power is down or dead, it could still go live at any time. Before a job last week, I asked one customer, and they said they had no power,” Bufford said. “It wasn’t until after I had gone up on the roof, bumping into wires and doing what I’m doing, that I get down and a neighbor tells me they got power back yesterday.”

While he faced his own share of dangers, Bufford believes the overall efforts were planned as well as they could have been, as Hurricane Sandy struck stronger than last year’s Irene. Nonetheless, according to him, 96 to 97 percent ofConnecticuthad power back earlier than they did after last year’s storm.

“The last storm wasn’t this way. This time, instead of everybody waiting for the storm to hit, we were ahead of the game,” Bufford said. “It hit differently, too. Last time just trees and poles were down. This time there was flooding to handle.”

And he highlights one virtue that he says will alleviate the stresses of the surrounding damage.

“People need to have patience,” Bufford said. “When a storm like this hits, it’s good to see patience in a community.”

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Ryder Chasin, Web Managing Editor

A varsity athlete, student ambassador, Hollywood veteran, and President of the National Honor Society, Ryder Chasin is more than an exemplary student at Staples. In fact, it’s his avid engagement with the Staples community that makes him such a skilled journalist.

Chasin knows Staples students are busy and thus not prone to scroll through lengthy articles. This is why he intends to turn the web into a multi-media experience.

At a five-week journalism program at Northwestern University, Chasin studied how to use polls, video, and social media. He believes these techniques are the best way to grab and hold a reader’s attention. Through integrating interactive elements, Chasin strives to “bring new life to the paper,” and effectively carry Inklings into the 21st century.

When he is not managing the web, Chasin can be found writing profiles or front-page stories for the print issues of Inklings. Chasin has been a part of Inklings for 3 ½ years, and he looks forward to making his last the best one yet.

Rachel Guetta, Editor-In-Chief
Ben Reiser, Managing Editor

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    EzraApr 12, 2013 at 11:59 pm

    janet mclain – This is my one & only grlndchiad by my one & only daughter! They are such a ray of sunshine I love them dearly! They have the most awesome beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. My husband has brown eyes , I have hazel but both of her grandpa’s have blue eyes! I love what genetics have handed out for my family!!!!! Why couldn’t I have had the beautiful blue eyes too? My sister also has blue eyes!

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