[njbchbum]

Originally Posted by Shimpy

Why gas rationing? Is it because of limited gas supplies or lack of power for stations to pump it? One year in S.Florida they had plenty of gas but the stations had no power to pump it. Since then, I believe, laws were passed to make sure stations had emergency power supplies. We are very lucky here in TV that our power lines are underground and we have no worry about storm surge.
I'd hate to imagine what the results would have been if this was a cat 4 or 5 hurricane instead of only a minimal cat 1.

shimpy - rationing because lines for gas are MILES long, not just blocks; many stations not equipped with back-up power source for pumps; and refineries and ports also knocked out of service. odd/even system has worked well in nj for a week. there are those folks, too, who are hoarding because of need for gas for generators and who fer letting tank get below half.

nj tried to legislate as fl did with requiring emergency back-up power - never went anywhere - pols caved to the special interests of industry groups.

sandy was not just a cat 1 hurricane - it was a cat one wrapped within a nor'easter complicated by storm fronts that blasted in from the west! a triple header of unknown proportions.

check out some of the jersey shore sandy videos on youtube. communities in ny and nj are looking at being razed to the ground and in need of total infrastructure redevelopment! this disaster is 2nd only to katrina so far. many homes cannot benefit from fema because they are not primary residences. fema reimbursing towns for 90% of storm related expenses - towns will hafta come up with 1 mil for every 10 mil of costs.

btw - saw a news photo today where a crew from fp&l was standing next to their truck and a snowman they built after the snow storm the other night! and the crews from alabama were seeing snow for their first time ever!