Wind Storm

[Regs]

So anyone have any stories?

Power went out here at 11:30AM Saturday, right as I got home from dropping $300 @ Safeway

Just got power back here at 9:00PM ... thanks for keeping up BC Hydro... $10 says our rates go up as they 'learn their lesson' and implement $$$$ systems so their website stays up

A section of our fence in the backyard blew out, thankfully no trees fell

 

[Gurps]

We were out of power in North Burnaby from about 11 am Sat Morning to about 5 pm last night...

Funny enough we were having some lights installed at our house and right when the guy went to test them to see if they worked the power went out in the whole house.

I blamed him but he insisted no way a set of lights could blow out a whole house.
Turns out it the power went out pretty much at the exact same time he went to test it.

A full day in the house with two kids and no power....

 

[STD]

So anyone have any stories?

Power went out here at 11:30AM Saturday, right as I got home from dropping $300 @ Safeway

Just got power back here at 9:00PM ... thanks for keeping up BC Hydro... $10 says our rates go up as they 'learn their lesson' and implement $$$$ systems so their website stays up

A section of our fence in the backyard blew out, thankfully no trees fell

Lights flickered once. I didn't notice but the wife did.

 

[djones]

Still out here in Port Moody and probably won't come on till later tonight.

We had to call our U13 exhibition game off early at Port Moody Town Centre turf as trees were coming down around the field and stuff started flying off the ice rink roof and landing on the field while the game was going on. There were a few times we evacuated the covered benches on the far side of the field whenever a tree was coming down behind us.

Yesterday was crazy around the tri-city area with people losing their cool trying to get their caffeine fix and enduring long line-ups at Timmy's. Those poor Tim Horton employees earned their money as they just couldn't brew coffee quick enough for all those prince and princesses out there!

One things for sure... We are not ready for the big one, people!

 

[Regs]

Sister-in-law still doesn't have power in Fleetwood.

Just drove into Langley, there are plenty of trees down across powerlines in the backroads, what a mess.

 

[Regs]

Still out here in Port Moody and probably won't come on till later tonight.

We had to call our U13 exhibition game off early at Port Moody Town Centre turf as trees were coming down around the field and stuff started flying off the ice rink roof and landing on the field while the game was going on. There were a few times we evacuated the covered benches on the far side of the field whenever a tree was coming down behind us.

Yesterday was crazy around the tri-city area with people losing their cool trying to get their caffeine fix and enduring long line-ups at Timmy's. Those poor Tim Horton employees earned their money as they just couldn't brew coffee quick enough for all those prince and princesses out there!

One things for sure... We are not ready for the big one, people!

Not even close!

I went out a couple of times yesterday (to get coffee, wife brewed some on the BBQ... no thanks honey) and I lost count the number of times someone blew right through an intersection... safest place was probably the freeway.

 

[Reds-16]

It really bugs me how everyone is shitting all over Hydro....yes maybe their website is shyte, but i have quite a few friends that work for Hydro and their sub contractors and these guys are working 16 hour shifts trying to restore your precious power.

IMHO with the amount of damage from trees this is not as easy as flicking a fcuking switch they need to rebuild poles and string new wire in the dark and pouring rain.

Sorry for the Rant but those guys work their asses off to keep your beer cold!

 

[Regs]

Meow.

 

[bulljive]

Lost power from 11am saturday until 5am today in Cloverdale. Reds-16 Those guys are for one doing their job and two making absolutely "huge" money for OT. Do you think the workers are complaining as they roll in $80+/hr. People at Mcdonalds/Tim Hortons are the ones working their ass off for $11 an hour as lines backed up for over an hour.

 

[bandcamp]

Who lines up for Tim Horton's? That place is a joke.

 

[bulljive]

Who lines up for Tim Horton's? That place is a joke.

Not me but I did get a free Earls dinner for the family. Dinner ends and the bill arrives only to be told by the hostess that its cash only and if we don't have cash the meal is on Earls. Small victories.

 

[Regs]

A Better Bastard would have immediately posted the good deal here on TTP.

Cnut.

 

[Reds-16]

Lost power from 11am saturday until 5am today in Cloverdale. Reds-16 Those guys are for one doing their job and two making absolutely "huge" money for OT. Do you think the workers are complaining as they roll in $80+/hr. People at Mcdonalds/Tim Hortons are the ones working their ass off for $11 an hour as lines backed up for over an hour.

Ya your probably right. Pouring coffee is much harder than rebuilding high tension power lines in the pouring rain. ( super stressfull )

 

[bulljive]

No you're right pouring coffee isn't "hard" but my bet is they got treated like shite from all the stressed out people with out power and took home their same minimal wage. Hydro workers love this shite especially the subcontracted companies. Yes it's dangerous work but they get paid huge dollars and these storms are their bread and butter. They love it. It least every single guy I know that does it wasn't bitching or busting their ass. But yes pour out a little liquor for your buddies who got my power back after 2 days of telling me 8 different time-lines. Sorry but I expect them to be better prepared.

 

[Regs]

who got my power back after 2 days of telling me 8 different time-lines

This is the biggest thing for me. Don't throw out timelines for the sake of it. Believe it or not, it is worse than saying nothing at all.

Really, some people should lose their jobs @ BC Hydro over this.

 

[Dude]

Ya your probably right. Pouring coffee is much harder than rebuilding high tension power lines in the pouring rain. ( super stressfull )

Are you for real?

Difficult jobs are all relative. Most of the folks at a Tim Horton's, I would think, are not qualified or trained to rebuild high tension power lines. They are kids, or they are frequently new immigrants to the country working one of the only jobs they are qualified for. And when you are rebuilding power lines (in the rain), you don't have Joe Blow dickhead and all his friends breathing down your neck, insulting you, and quite probably dealing with a continuous pattern of the same all day long. All at the grand wage of about 10.25 / hour. Meanwhile, the line guys are pulling in a massive hourly wage. They are qualified, doing what they are trained to do, raking in massive coin while doing it, and loving life.

Get fcuked if you don't have respect for the shite job and how hard it is for a Tim Horton's worker in these circumstances. Give me the Hydro gig any day of the week over that...even if the wages were the same.

 

[Gurps]

This is the reason why people are upset...

http://www.theprovince.com/news/smyth+count+government+there+when+hits/11330655/story.html

Interesting that the audit three years ago stated Hydro was not even close to ready to handle major storms......

 

[Dude]

...and on the front of "do we have a right to be pissed"? Fcuk yes! Mother nature intervenes- we get that. But you do know we PAY for this service, right? We are actually customers, and poor communication like this is absolutely not acceptable in this day and age. BC Hydro is a massive Crown corporation that essentially has a monopoly on the power. Sure there are alternates, they just aren't as readily accessible. Getting "off the grid" is not realistic. Take a bit of time to go through their financials...there is no reason for anyone on this side of the dime to have empathy for BC Hydro in this miniature crisis. This is what they exist for. It is an asset rich crown corp that has us by the balls, that soaks us for cash. I do expect better when it comes to communicating.

And the link Gurps posted further spells out WHY this is infuriating.

Reds...still can't fathom how you come out on the side of a lineman making massive cake right now vs. a minimum wage coffee server. Two words: shock-ing.

 

[STD]

With my work I deal a lot and have spent a fair amount of time with line stringing crews all over US and Canada (mostly transmission not distribution) and I know most of them love storm work because it means they will be making big bucks. That said it is dangerous work and even though you shouldn't feel sorry for them you shouldn't take out your frustrations on the Linemen either. They just do the work. It is the boys at the top who make the decisions on what should and should not be spent and those decisions put us in the situations where we are not prepared.

 

[Dude]

I don't begrudge them or feel sorry for them. They are trained for this, and paid well for it. They don't make decisions, they follow orders.