Blizzard Nemo Shuts Down Mail Service to 6 New England States and More

We are now seeing what Blizzard Nemo has wrought:  havoc, with power out to hundreds of thousands,  including the Plymouth nuclear power plant, which was shut down, travel on roads in Massachusetts still banned by the governor, except for emergency vehicles and news services, businesses and schools closed (from UMass to MIT and more).

And, mail is suspended for all 6 New England states today.

Special thanks to all the emergency crews and the crews who are trying to get our roads to be passable again as well as to the electric power crews who are working on restoring electricity.

Amazingly, the UMass Amherst men's basketball game is still to take place but the time has been moved from 2PM to 7PM. The game is being nationally televised by ESPN2 but you might have to snowshoe there (I am very tempted to hike to support the players and their great coach, Derek Kellogg,  who lives close to us).

From the UMass Amherst homepage on Saturday, February 9, 2013:

ALERT: The University of Massachusetts Amherst campus is closed until 12 noon today, Saturday, Feb. 9 (and closed yesterday at noon).

BUS SERVICE: There will be no bus service today, Saturday, Feb. 9.

UHS: Walk-in clinic is open for usual weekend hours of 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

TRAVEL BAN: Due to the snowstorm, Massachusetts is currently under a state of emergency and use of all non-essential vehicles is banned. As a result, anyone with tickets for the men's basketball game vs. Saint Joseph's in the Mullins Center on Saturday cannot drive to the game. If the driving ban is lifted before the 7 p.m. game, conditions may still remain hazardous and snow-removal efforts will be slowed by substantial traffic. Tickets for this game may be exchanged for a future contest.


The winds are still howling and we took the photos below of the periphery of our home this morning.

The photo below was taken of our backyard on Thursday, just as the dire forecasts for nemo were reaching a crescendo. What a difference the blizzard has made. It has brought most economic and other activities to a standstill. And with over 5,000 flights cancelled since Thursday the disruptions are major.

 

So Good to See that Colleges Will Resume Classes Tomorrow Post Hurricane Sandy

What a relief that the majority of colleges and universities in the mid-Atlantic states,  in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, that lost power due to Hurricane Sandy,  and cancelled classes last  week,  have had their electric power restored and have completed their cleanup operations so that classes will be resuming tomorrow.

My daughter has returned to her college and was "rescued" by relatives who live in New Jersey but who have, yet, to have power restored to their homes and .have been sharing a generator,  which they purchased at a Home Depot two days after they lost power. Their neighbors have been cooking on grills and having potluck suppers together and making the most of candlelight.

Now, the temperatures are dropping, so I hope that the electric power gets restored to the hundreds of thousands still without power, and have suffered immensely for six days and nights since the outages, coupled with devastated infrastructure from roads to distribution centers,  have  resulted in gas shortages with our relatives having to drive daily to Pennsylvania to fuel up a pickup truck and to obtain fuel for the generator.

Now, to add more pain and misery to the affected areas, there is a nor'easter forecast to arrive in the middle of this coming week as is being reported on weather.com

I would like to thank all our friends and colleagues as well as relatives who reached out to us during this time -- even from as far as Europe!

As for all those left homeless because of Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath from the flooding to the fires, know that you are in our prayers and we hope that the donations will help you to rebuild and to recover.

A Year of Freaky Storms and Lengthy Power Outages

When we could not reach our relatives in northern Virgina following the storm, known as a derecho, we suspected that they, as had millions of others, had lost power this past week.

After 3 days of being unable to reach them, we heard that the power was finally restored in one of their homes, where they all then congregated. It may be a week before power is restored to all homes in the DC area and even the federal government wisely is asking many workers to work from their homes, if feasible.  Can you imagine the commute when the traffic lights are not working, not to mention trying to be productive in sweltering offices?

Is it worse to be without electric power for days on end, in a heatwave, or as we experienced in the Northeast of the US,  last October, in freezing temps, due to a freaky Halloween snowstorm?! My students and I will never forget being without electric power for days.

How the community manages (and what was mismanaged) during our freaky snowstorm, along with the impacts of Hurricane Irene and the once in 500 years flood, and the rare tornadoes that hit and devastated parts of our area on June 1, 2011,  led to lots of discussions in my new course, Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare, that I taught this past semester. Having guest speakers from the Red Cross, the National Guard, as well as the UMass Amherst emergency preparedness department speak in my class, captivated the students.

From disaster communications, to burying electric power lines, which I wrote about last Fall, and now a columnist, David Frum, is reinforcing the importance of this on CNN.com (although I would prefer that more trees would then be planted rather than using the AC), to identifying appropriate shelters, and emergency supplies, along with the right evacuation plans, there is a lot that needs to be done, for emergency preparedness and disaster relief.

The number of disasters is growing, as well as the people affected by disasters, which we are seeing now happening in the mid-Atlantic states, as well as out west with the fires. And, yes, we have relatives in Colorado Springs as well, which, fortunately, have not had their homes destroyed but living under such uncertainty is terrifying.

My last book with Dr. Patrick Qang, was Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World.

I think that it is tine to write another one.

We hope that all those who have to endure such unspeakable discomfort and pain, will soon be out of their misery.

Universities Closed on Halloween Because of the Snowstorm

This is just in -- UMass Amherst will be closed tomorrow, Monday, October 31, 2011, which is Halloween,and my husband's university, the University of Hartford will also be closed tomorrow.

For a list of other college and university closings click here.

Numerous school systems (elementary and high school) are also closed tomorrow due to the snowstorm that has resulted in massive power outages in the Northeast (over 3 million without power).

Today, as I wrote earlier on this blog, we spent much of the day in the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, since it had power and we could catch up on some work with the Internet and heat working.

Plus, we went out with one of my doctoral students to have dinner at the Berkshire Commons at UMass Amherst, since our home still has no power, and were treated to a delicious feast. It was nice to see so many students plus even some faculty with their children getting dinner.

Let's hope that the power gets restored before too long, although our Governor, Deval Patrick, does not sound very optimistic.