SEE SACRAMENTO STORM DAMAGE AND POWER OUTAGE, DAY ONE, FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2008.
After my husband and I cut down the tree from our roof, we tried to use our land-line phone but the back-up battery had gone dead. The phone for my FAX wasn't working, either and neither was my cell phone. The temperature inside our home was rapidly dropping. All our power lines and phone lines were ripped from the pole and lying in our yard. Fortunately, the tree trunk was holding them in place on the ground. But it meant we couldn't even call the utility companies to find out when our power would be restored.
DAY TWO, SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2008
Another Land Park home owner called earlier to say a tree had fallen in her yard. It crashed on top of her neighbor's new Lexus and took the power cables along with it. The sparks from the cable ignited, and the Lexus exploded into flames. Our damage was small in comparison.
Off to Home Depot to buy a battery-powered chain saw for cutting up the remaining tree trunk. To the left is a photo of my husband as he studied the trunk to figure out how best to start cutting it.<------------
Here is a photo of the cut-up tree, without its trunk.---------->
I sent my husband on a search for seasoned firewood and set about covering my fish tank and our two bird cages with every blanket and bedspread I could dig out of storage. By nightfall on Day Two, candles were burning brightly in our kitchen and family room. We enjoyed Chinese take-out and sipped wine by candlelight. My husband finally finished off the bottle of whiskey we brought back from Ireland five years ago. And my cell phone sprung back to life. But we still had wet clothes and rain jackets splattered with mud spread all over our laundry room. We went to bed at 7 PM. An hour later, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) woke us up by pounding on the front door. My heart jumped a little.
The dude from SMUD went into our back yard, looked at the downed power lines and said, "Oh, this will be easy to fix." He left. He never came back. My heart sank.
DAY THREE, SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 2008
By Day Three, the temperature inside our home had dropped to 47 degrees. Two of my fish had died, and the others looked very sad. I considered trying to drain and move the fish tank into the family room when my next-door neighbor dropped by to ask if we could use an extension cord. Wow. We could plug in the fish tank, put a space heater on the birds, make coffee! I was overjoyed. Another neighbor invited me over and offered a hot bath. Things were looking up.
Then the City of Sacramento street crew came by with its giant claw to scoop up all the tree branches and limbs.
AT&T came out and re-hung my FAX phone cable wire.
I held an open house that afternoon, overjoyed to be in a home with heat and lights. Found three possible buyers for my listing who all wanted to talk about making an offer. That made me hopeful that by the time I came home, the power would be back.
DAY FOUR, MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2008
By Day Four, I was losing hope that we would ever get our power back. My office -- which is not located in the Land Park homes neighborhood but nearby in midtown at 28th & J -- had been without power for three days. It was finally restored that morning.
So, I grabbed my trusty laptop and set off for the office to respond to email, update listings and relish a warm environment. When my associates heard what had happened they said, "Oh, but you look great. Look at your hair!" That made me laugh, because on my way to the office I stopped at the gas station. I spied a woman whom I originally mistook for a homeless person, primarily because she was wearing double layered clothing. But then I saw her climb into a newer SUV. That was no homeless person -- she was just another Land Park home owner without power!
When I came back home, a dude from Surewest was in my back yard reattaching the cable for Internet, TV and phone. Eureka. Of course, without power, I couldn't use those services. I decided to clean out the refrigerator and itemize every spoiled food item I had to toss in the trash. Then glory be to SMUD, they finally showed up at 9 PM last night. Took them 20 minutes to rehang the cable for our electric service.
My husband was pulling his car up to the front of our house when SMUD arrived. He was so excited to see them that he rolled down his window to call out to them. He forgot his window was down and didn't discover this until he left for work this morning. It rained again. His front seat was soaked. But we have power once again.
The way I see it, some good things have come out of this fiasco.
- Without the tree, we will probably qualify for solar panels.
- The refrigerator and freezer are now scrubbed clean as a whistle.
- The microwave digital buttons weren't operating before the power failure and have now been restored.
- I've always wanted a chain saw!
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