At the time I was living in the projects in New Britain off of Slater Road as a single mother with 2 small children.
In fact my baby boy was not quite a year old yet, my daughter was chatterbox happy toddler.
I thought I was ready for the storm since the apartment was a ranch style brick with a basement & I had flashlights, candles & my freezer & fridge was full of food.

I didn’t know then what I didn’t know at the time; had a good start but wasn’t truly prepared.
The electric when I was a child living on a farm in NY would go out frequently during storms but it never stayed out for longer than a day or two so I Thought I was all set.

I was not prepared for a week of no power which is what ended up being the case.
I did well on my own with the children but after the 4th day of no power I was concerned about my freezer full of meats going bad so we hopped a cab (my car was not working) loaded with the meats & went over to a friend’s apartment on the other side of town that had power restored & stayed another 3 or so days waiting to hear the power was restored in the projects so we could return home.

Fireplace insert with fire going

Fast forward to Hurricane Irene, Winter Storm Alfred & Hurricane Sandy in recent years…
As a family we’re much better prepared for extended power outages;
but the state as a general whole with all of it’s technological advances available does not seem to be.

Alternate power methods are not being promoted properly
Solar Leases are being promoted but the promotion of being Energy Independent Is NOT
Better to have our government buildings not just having solar power feeding into the grid but to have battery backup It’s nice that any excess power that is added to the grid can help lower to amount needed to be generated at the power plants but it is more important to have batteries storing the power that is generated first.

So far none of the companies that are being promoted even have the batteries as part of their plans & their leases are just to divert the organization that the electric bill is being paid to.
When the grid goes down the homeowner is still without power. When questioned about this the solar leasing companies have said that the state rebates will not be allowed if a person tries to go off-grid with solar panels & batteries.
This is something that needs to be corrected.
Our homeowners should be given rebates & encouraged to get off grid due to the aging nature of our infrastructure & population needs.
Our public buildings & the water companies also should be on solar power with battery backup with the gas powered generators being the supplement to them.
If the power production companies are allowed to continue to use “Loss of Income” as an excuse to Raise Their Rates then it is time for them to tighten their belts & look at how they are doing business….
but that is for another post

Do you remember Hurricane Gloria?
What are your memories & how did you fare compared to recent storms?