Yaatri

It makes little difference to those without power whether it was intentional or directly caused by the hurricane.

Canarsie

I just spoke to DLroads by telephone. He lives in lower Manhattan.

He still has no electricity. He has to travel north of 25 Street to have working cellular telephone service, and he can only do that by taxi cab or walking, as there is no bus or subway service.

He told me that he was tired of eating pasta that he brought back from Italy, as delicious as it was — but many places, including delicatessens, are still currently closed.

He is currently uptown at the moment, as he started to get “cabin fever” and was getting antsy...

Yaatri

It has been pretty much a none-vent for me. It brought a bonus of my son coming home from the university as classes had been cancelled. I hope the Government does a better job to help those who are suffering than was the case with Katrina.

Canarsie

I agree.

I went to the gulf coast area of Mississippi just after Katrina struck in 2005 and witnessed the devastation first-hand. I also rolled up my sleeves and assisted with the cleanup...

Yaatri

^ Where were you? I had told my wife when I left the night before that I was leaving the apartment. She knew I wasn't there, but my children didn't know until she told them as the apartment building was shown on TV. They had not been able to contact me as even the cell phone service was disrupted.

ShopAround

I'm in the same situation. Stuck it out from the power outage Monday night around 8:30 (I live 14 blocks from the power station that exploded) until sundown last night, when I decided that I'd spent enough time alone and incommunicado in the dark - same as DLRoads, no cell service where I live. Decamped to stay with a friend uptown. There are two distinctly different Manhattans now, my dark 'hood vs. midtown and up, where life seems normal. I'm grateful to have friends offering to take me in, but I'd be a lot happier to be in my own home with the power back on, which won't happen for days.

Canarsie

I was in Pass Christian and Long Beach, although I did venture into Gulfport and Biloxi. It was not easy with all of the power lines down, and traffic was not allowed in many places, including United States Highway 90 along the beach.

I took plenty of photographs and videos.Is there anything I can do for you?

ShopAround

That's very, very kind of you to offer, but unless you can get the power back on in lower Manhattan, probably not. But it really helps to know friends care.

DLroads

Well, Thursday afternoon and still no ConEd 'juice'. Current forecast is that below 25th street will get electricity maybe on Friday night... it starts taking a toll on the body, especially the lack of heat. We were thinking of going to hotel above the 'light' zone, but the cheapest room we found (and not even confirmable) was 430 a night plus tax. It's all jammed full. So, we will have to seat through the "bloody" ConEd show... I am now in one of the buildings that has private generator running some services, but still no cell phone reception below 25th street. AT&T, if you read it, your service is a piece of junk. I can't believe verzion can provide minimal reception downtown, and you can't. Don't send me apology emails. Send me a refund for this month's payment. You did not earn it. One day, fine. Two days, fine. Four days?! not fine.

We were sad to eat alot of our Pasta from Italy. Yes, it is kind of romantic and nice to eat in front of the candles, slowly cooked on gas pasta for a while. But, you do want to save it for warmer conditions as well. Last night we walked to little Korea to have dinner. So, at least it counted as an exercise. But, it takes a toll to walk back to the 'dark side' of town. Our offices did open partially this morning, but given the conditions (that is, no way to arrive to the office), I am working for any wifi point I can find :-)

DLroads

Be strong! we shall overcome the ConEd trash...

PhillyPhlyer40

Kipper....thanks....want a grouchy 14 yr old and rambunctious 2yr old for a few days????


So a few updates.

Power back early!!!! We got it back-to find out that our sewer pump (the lovely fact of no city water/sewer) is toast due to lightning taking out the tree next to the tank! And a call from the power company that my road has "temporary fixes that will need to be worked on daily for a few days" and that "power will be cut from 7am-5pm". Also, "the possibility that the power may remain off during extended hours".

On top of this-spent a few hours helping a friend at her house in pa. She hasn't heard from her husband since Monday at 10 pm a he was "riding the storm out in long beach island". Hope is he just doesn't have cell service or a way out to civilization.

We gave up. Spent 15k points an went to the local courtyard today and swam, watched tv and had LOOOOOOOONG hot showers!

Best wishes to many without.

As a tip-I78 exit 66 has plenty of gas and TONS of NJ plated cars filling up.

alcathiax

Sorry to hear of your problem. Unofficially, I can tell you that we are working on getting temporary services in the form of truck-based transmitters. Also, there is a roaming agreement with T-Mobile right now that allows unlimited roaming on their networks for AT&T customers.

(Note: I work for AT&T, but nothing I say is considered to be official or representative of my company. For that, we have spokespeople.)

kipper

Send them my way. I do caution that they will probably be given espresso and a free puppy before being returned to you.

They'll also be spoiled rotten by the time they come back to you.

kipper

Have AT&T customers been made aware of the roaming agreement?

You want to go where?

My point had been that I had thought that since it was turned off intentionally, it would be easier to restore. Sadly, that has not turned out to be the case.