Cincy in the dark

In the coastal regions people are constantly being warned about hurricanes. Stock up food, keep flashlights, board up windows, evacuate. Cincinnati is quite a few miles from the coastline; one never thinks hurricane when they think Ohio. So a little wind rolls into town and 900,000 (half the population of the area) people lose power at some point on Sunday. 30+ inch trees are snapped inches from the ground. Come Monday 600,000 people still do not have power, the power company tells some people that their area will have power on Saturday.

So on Monday night I drive up through a powerless part of town to get to one of my factories. It is a very strange feeling almost as if a bomb had hit us. It is strange driving though an area that you know there are supposed to be buildings, traffic lights and people only to be greeted by silhouettes everywhere. As of Monday only 40 of the 140 Kroger stores were open. What is even more fascinating is that with 1/3 of the stores open they ask for corporate management (me) to go help in the store. I have not found the the right person to tell me why this would be. Of course there were long lines at all the restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations since so many of them were closed and many people did not have refrigeration or power to cook.

Since I live a block from a substation I only lost power 3 times for a total of about 90 seconds.