Nor'easter - October 2011

[aephi alum]

I'm in Fairfield County, CT. I was very fortunate in that I only lost power for 36 hours.

On Saturday evening, my husband decided to start a fire in our wood-burning fireplace, as we had neither power nor heat. This is how we learned that we have some sort of blockage in the chimney - the smoke came back into the house, filling it and setting off the smoke alarm. The house still reeks of smoke.

On Sunday afternoon, when we still had no power, we spoke with my parents (who had power) and they invited us and our kitten to stay overnight with them. So we packed a couple of changes of clothes, our toiletries, the cat's feeding station, food, litterbox, and litter, and the cat himself (thank God for SUVs with fold-down rear seats!) and headed for my parents' house. (As it happened, our power was restored Sunday evening.) There was nothing like that first hot shower after a day and a half of no power, no heat, and no water (hot OR cold).

On Monday, we ordered a generator. LOL

I know people who are still without power, and all CL&P will tell anyone is basically "it could be a while".

BTW, ree-Xi (and everyone else who lost food), try filing a claim with your homeowner's or renter's insurance for the spoiled food. My parents lost power for a few days following Tropical Storm Irene, and they lost a lot of food as a result. Turns out their homeowner's policy covered them for $500 for spoiled food, less a $100 deductible. They got their $400 check pretty quickly too. It didn't totally cover what they'd lost, but it eased the pain somewhat.