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ImAnAgent

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Oct 11, 2018
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Oh wow. Our power went off twice yesterday, but only for a few seconds each time. Just enough to make me have to reset the clocks on the oven, microwave, etc.

Wind blew out the pilot on the gas fireplace, but otherwise no issues.

If you need any assistance with anything let me know!
I'm just wondering if maybe you know the answer to this but would it be Xcel Energies responsibility to clear the branches around the power line? I know they'll repair the line but I have no idea about clearing other branches touching it.
 

SDColorado

macrumors 601
Nov 6, 2011
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Highlands Ranch, CO
I did find this info which may help. It would appear that if a tree falls onto an overhead powerline, that Xcel will take care of the issue at no charge.


Tree Branches
According to Xcel Energy, tree branches in contact with the overhead power lines between the pole and house are the responsibility of the homeowner. I suppose this is only fair; tree maintenance should be the responsibility of the homeowner; not the power company. Before trimming trees around overhead power lines, you should contact Xcel Energy to have your service temporarily disconnected.



The one exception is if a tree branch falls on to one of the overhead power lines. If this happens, it’s considered an immediate safety hazard. Xcel energy will take care of this issue at no charge to the owner.
 

ImAnAgent

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Oct 11, 2018
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I did find this info which may help. It would appear that if a tree falls onto an overhead powerline, that Xcel will take care of the issue at no charge.


Tree Branches
According to Xcel Energy, tree branches in contact with the overhead power lines between the pole and house are the responsibility of the homeowner. I suppose this is only fair; tree maintenance should be the responsibility of the homeowner; not the power company. Before trimming trees around overhead power lines, you should contact Xcel Energy to have your service temporarily disconnected.



The one exception is if a tree branch falls on to one of the overhead power lines. If this happens, it’s considered an immediate safety hazard. Xcel energy will take care of this issue at no charge to the owner.
Ok. I'm still waiting for them to show up here. No word on how long that will take. Hopefully they'll trim away the branches touching the line. I can clearly see the big branch that broke off but I'm not sure if all the other little branches touching the line are part of that branch.
 
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LizKat

macrumors 604
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I noticed that your avatar thing says you live in the Catskill Mountains (if that is true) and I live in Central New York...Utica, NY to be precise. You probably have heard of it. Anyway, we live in the snow belt and we get bombed all the damn time with storms and lake effect snow. I know the Catskills are downstate, southeast...so you do not get as much snow as we get up here in CNY. However, I know that when we get nor'easters, that part of New York, including NYC can get quite a bit of snow.

To everyone effected by this "Bomb Cyclone," I wish you all the best and pray you all stay safe!

:apple:


I second all good wishes to those in the path of that terrible storm. I can't even imagine what livestock producers are having to try to manage.

On the matter of living in the Catskills.. I'm in the northwestern Catskills and our weather's often enough similar to that of Utica. We do get lake effect snowfall when a strong band off Ontario shifts southward sometimes and and enhances what comes off the Finger Lakes in that situation.

It's enough to make me keep a deep pantry in winter because we have only 16 plows for about 40 county highways and the solution to that is... close the roads for "awhile". :rolleyes:
 

SDColorado

macrumors 601
Nov 6, 2011
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Highlands Ranch, CO
Ok. I'm still waiting for them to show up here. No word on how long that will take. Hopefully they'll trim away the branches touching the line. I can clearly see the big branch that broke off but I'm not sure if all the other little branches touching the line are part of that branch.

Hopefully they get you taken care of soon. Do you have heat? Temps will begin dropping again in a few hours :(
 

ImAnAgent

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Hopefully they get you taken care of soon. Do you have heat? Temps will begin dropping again in a few hours :(
No heat. I've been staying in one room in my basement with it's door closed. The room has actually stayed relatively warm and I have blankets too.

I would just leave for the rest of the night but my car is in the garage which I can't open without electricity. I bought groceries on Monday anticipating the worst would happen and I have food to eat that doesn't need to be cooked so I'm ok with that for about two more days if it goes that long.
 

SRLMJ23

macrumors 68020
Jul 11, 2008
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Central New York
I second all good wishes to those in the path of that terrible storm. I can't even imagine what livestock producers are having to try to manage.

On the matter of living in the Catskills.. I'm in the northwestern Catskills and our weather's often enough similar to that of Utica. We do get lake effect snowfall when a strong band off Ontario shifts southward sometimes and and enhances what comes off the Finger Lakes in that situation.

It's enough to make me keep a deep pantry in winter because we have only 16 plows for about 40 county highways and the solution to that is... close the roads for "awhile". :rolleyes:

Luckily, I am within easy walking distance to a grocery store if for some reason I was running out of food and the roads were closed, but I do not see that happening. I generally always have MORE than enough because I am single, so it is just for me.

I love visiting the Catskills in the Summer. Such a beautiful area. Do you ever head up to the Adirondack State Park, or somewhere like Old Forge, NY where you can do a lot of hiking and if you have a boat/jet ski/kayak you can go out on 1st Lake and make your way all the way to 4th Lake. Also, Old Forge is where the water theme park "Enchanted Forest Water Safari" is, haha. Used to be fun when I was kid, but no damn longer, that is for sure!

:apple:
 

SDColorado

macrumors 601
Nov 6, 2011
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Highlands Ranch, CO
No heat. I've been staying in one room in my basement with it's door closed. The room has actually stayed relatively warm and I have blankets too.

I would just leave for the rest of the night but my car is in the garage which I can't open without electricity. I bought groceries on Monday anticipating the worst would happen and I have food to eat that doesn't need to be cooked so I'm ok with that for about two more days if it goes that long.

I can't believe that they would leave you like that for so long, without at least giving you an ETA for a restoration of power. Keep us informed. Do you have some down comforters or down camping blankets or sleeping bags if it is going to be out awhile?

Edit: Doesn’t, your garage door have one of those power outage bypasses where you can pull the rope to disengage the drive mechanism and manually open it?
 
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SRLMJ23

macrumors 68020
Jul 11, 2008
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I can't believe that they would leave you like that for so long, without at least giving you an ETA for a restoration of power. Keep us informed. Do you have some down comforters or down camping blankets or sleeping bags if it is going to be out awhile?

Edit: Doesn’t, your garage door have one of those power outage bypasses where you can pull the rope to disengage the drive mechanism and manually open it?

Most garages these days have some sort of power outage bypass, whether it is like what you are talking about with the rope, or some now have backup batteries, and some with no power will literally just lift up. Worth a try if you want to get out and be nice and warm in your car! Anyway, God bless you and may he guide you through this challenging time!

:apple:
 
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ImAnAgent

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I can't believe that they would leave you like that for so long, without at least giving you an ETA for a restoration of power. Keep us informed. Do you have some down comforters or down camping blankets or sleeping bags if it is going to be out awhile?

Edit: Doesn’t, your garage door have one of those power outage bypasses where you can pull the rope to disengage the drive mechanism and manually open it?
It's an older house so there is only a backdoor or through the garage door. It's a one car garage so there are things stored in front of the garage door so I can't really get into it through the back door either.

The crew is supposed to be here at 7AM, less then an hour from now. Don't think I can take this much longer with the cold. It's 18 degrees outside now

My MBP has less then an hours use left.
 

SDColorado

macrumors 601
Nov 6, 2011
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It's an older house so there is only a backdoor or through the garage door. It's a one car garage so there are things stored in front of the garage door so I can't really get into it through the back door either.

The crew is supposed to be here at 7AM, less then an hour from now. Don't think I can take this much longer with the cold. It's 18 degrees outside now

My MBP has less then an hours use left.

Thankfully it will begin to warm up again within the next couple of hours, with a high today in the mid-40’s, but 18 is way to cold to be without heat. Hopefully they are there now or are on the way. Do you need a hot breakfast or coffee delivered while you wait?

My internet is down this AM and having to use cellular, but that’s definitely a person who has heat and electricity problem :)
 
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ImAnAgent

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One of the guys just told
Thankfully it will begin to warm up again within the next couple of hours, with a high today in the mid-40’s, but 18 is way to cold to be without heat. Hopefully they are there now or are on the way. Do you need a hot breakfast or coffee delivered while you wait?

My internet is down this AM and having to use cellular, but that’s definitely a person who has heat and electricity problem :)
one of the guys said they just have to run the new cable up to the poll which is in the far corner of my yard and then they are done. About a 30 minute job.

Thanks for the breakfast offer but as soon as they are done, I'm going to grab a hot breakfast myself and then I should have some hot water by the time I get back.
 

SDColorado

macrumors 601
Nov 6, 2011
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Highlands Ranch, CO
One of the guys just told

one of the guys said they just have to run the new cable up to the poll which is in the far corner of my yard and then they are done. About a 30 minute job.

Thanks for the breakfast offer but as soon as they are done, I'm going to grab a hot breakfast myself and then I should have some hot water by the time I get back.

Awesome! I am glad that they arrived on time. It is Xcel after all. I was afraid they would say 7 and leave you hanging in a cold basement until noon or so :)

Kudos to them for being on task and on schedule :)

Enjoy breakfast!
 
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SDColorado

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I have power now! He said they still have about 2,000 people without power still so they should be able to get to all of those today with all the crews they have out.

My furnace is running (luckily it's new) and I can feel the heat coming out of the vents. It's breakfast time!

Good news! Thanks for the update and glad your OK. 1 down and 1,999 or so to go :)

I think the Xcel technician may have been light on his estimate. Just had a pop-up alert saying that “About 25,500 customers were still without power Friday morning, about 48 hours after the recent “bomb cyclone” started to hit Colorado communities.”
 
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ImAnAgent

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Good news! Thanks for the update and glad your OK. 1 down and 1,999 or so to go :)

I think the Xcel technician may have been light on his estimate. Just had a pop-up alert saying that “About 25,500 customers were still without power Friday morning, about 48 hours after the recent “bomb cyclone” started to hit Colorado communities.”
Wow. I can't believe the total amount of people still waiting. Anyways, I had lots to do this morning that has been waiting to get done since Wednesday and I got it all done including a new set of tires on the car.

On twitter, one of the local weather guys posted one of their very early weather models for the 27th-28th of this month. It was showing a very similar pattern that was possibly going to take shape on that day. He mentioned if it did materialize, it would be two weeks from the bomb cyclone we had this week. He also said it was two weeks out so it's way too early to count on anything this early.
 

SDColorado

macrumors 601
Nov 6, 2011
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Highlands Ranch, CO
Wow. I can't believe the total amount of people still waiting. Anyways, I had lots to do this morning that has been waiting to get done since Wednesday and I got it all done including a new set of tires on the car.

On twitter, one of the local weather guys posted one of their very early weather models for the 27th-28th of this month. It was showing a very similar pattern that was possibly going to take shape on that day. He mentioned if it did materialize, it would be two weeks from the bomb cyclone we had this week. He also said it was two weeks out so it's way too early to count on anything this early.

Man, just keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have one of those Spring storms like 2003. That was hellish. Then we go into hail season. Last year that one storm had softball size hailstones. Weather is getting crazy :(

ucfgrad93 I am sure remembers this one in CO Springs and Fountain last year. Even the zoo, featured a bit in the video with the water feature had 8 people and 3 animals injured?

 
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ucfgrad93

macrumors Core
Aug 17, 2007
19,579
10,875
Colorado
I have power now! He said they still have about 2,000 people without power still so they should be able to get to all of those today with all the crews they have out.

My furnace is running (luckily it's new) and I can feel the heat coming out of the vents. It's breakfast time!

Glad to hear that your power is back on.
 
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ImAnAgent

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Man, just keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have one of those Spring storms like 2003. That was hellish. Then we go into hail season. Last year that one storm had softball size hailstones. Weather is getting crazy :(

ucfgrad93 I am sure remembers this one in CO Springs and Fountain last year. Even the zoo, featured a bit in the video with the water feature had 8 people and 3 animals injured?
Can't ever forget the blizzard of 2003. I was living near Bayaud and Washington back then and couldn't get into the building parking lot because someone else tried and got stuck. I ended up parking in the Kmart parking lot on Broadway and walking home that night.

The hailstorm two years ago in May got me at the house. My car was parked outside and got damaged. A month later, the car got totaled when someone rear ended me at a red light. Got the car paid for and got a much better one two weeks later so it all worked out.

I remember that zoo video and I felt sorry for all the animals stuck in the hailstorm. The video showed them just standing there as the hail stones hit them.

I'm still looking forward to summer even with the crazy storms we get then too. The next two months are are known for violent weather. I remember one day in April back in the 90s, it as 75 out. At 2PM there was tornado warnings and it hailed. At 5PM it was snowing and we got a foot of snow by morning. Typical colorado spring weather.

Don't know if you remember june of what I believe was 2002. That month was unusually cool and on June 17th I think it was, the temp was only in the 30s. They predicted snow for Morrison which is by Red Rocks but as anyone knows, weather here can change instantly and the storm came down here and we got less then an inch of snow.... in June.
 

SRLMJ23

macrumors 68020
Jul 11, 2008
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Central New York
Man, just keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have one of those Spring storms like 2003. That was hellish. Then we go into hail season. Last year that one storm had softball size hailstones. Weather is getting crazy :(

ucfgrad93 I am sure remembers this one in CO Springs and Fountain last year. Even the zoo, featured a bit in the video with the water feature had 8 people and 3 animals injured?


First off, I would be pissed if that was my Audi (had an Audi TT when I was younger, so Audi's have a special place in my heart) or any car I owned. Second, where I live (Central New York) we do not really get much hail, which is amazing because we get just about every other type of weather, haha. Sometimes in the summer if we get a big Thunderstorm we will get it, but rarely does it get big enough to damage a car, however, I do remember a time when just north of where I live had softball sized hail and caused a lot of damage, especially and obviously to automobiles and boats.

My question is this, and it might be stupid to you guys who have been through hail damage but I never have so I am curious. If your car gets damaged pretty bad by hail, but the insurance company does not total the car, do they pay to get the dents out, new glass (which I assume is covered under your glass coverage anyway), and a new paint job if necessary? Or, if your car gets damaged pretty bad, do the insurance companies generally always total the car, write you a check and then you are off to buy a used or new car? Like I said, just curious, but also hope I never have to deal with hail damage!

Also, what the hell happens to brand new cars sitting outside at the dealership, big discounts?!

Hope you guys have a pretty much non-existent "hail season" this year!

:apple:
 

ImAnAgent

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First off, I would be pissed if that was my Audi (had an Audi TT when I was younger, so Audi's have a special place in my heart) or any car I owned. Second, where I live (Central New York) we do not really get much hail, which is amazing because we get just about every other type of weather, haha. Sometimes in the summer if we get a big Thunderstorm we will get it, but rarely does it get big enough to damage a car, however, I do remember a time when just north of where I live had softball sized hail and caused a lot of damage, especially and obviously to automobiles and boats.

My question is this, and it might be stupid to you guys who have been through hail damage but I never have so I am curious. If your car gets damaged pretty bad by hail, but the insurance company does not total the car, do they pay to get the dents out, new glass (which I assume is covered under your glass coverage anyway), and a new paint job if necessary? Or, if your car gets damaged pretty bad, do the insurance companies generally always total the car, write you a check and then you are off to buy a used or new car? Like I said, just curious, but also hope I never have to deal with hail damage!

Also, what the hell happens to brand new cars sitting outside at the dealership, big discounts?!

Hope you guys have a pretty much non-existent "hail season" this year!

:apple:
I had a 1995 Camaro that got hail damage in 1998 when we had a bad hailstorm in October that year, The insurance company paid up for the damage. They issued me a check the same day that I brought it in to their inspection location. I was told the money was mine to do with as I wanted but if I didn't use it to repair the damage to the car, they would not cover further damage to those damaged areas in the future.

The insurance company will also figure in the value of the car against the total cost of the damage. If the damage is more then what the car is worth, they consider it a loss and issue a check for the value of the car.

Every summer the car dealerships have hail damage sales. I would never buy such a car and I bought my current car a month after we had the bad hailstorm I mentioned above and my car had no damage to it whatsoever.

I'm hoping for a mild season as well coming up but as SDColorado mentioned, I think our spring storm seasons are getting more violent.
 

LizKat

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2004
6,770
36,279
Catskill Mountains
File under: well that was short. Clocks sprang ahead for daylight saving time but the Spring season itself has apparently come and gone, having arrived only yesterday at 5:58pm and now to be buried under 6 to 10 inches of snow from tonight into tomorrow. I hear the song of that damn woodchuck but I am not listening. LA LA LA LA LA LA LA.

Spring Back to Winter.jpg


 

SDColorado

macrumors 601
Nov 6, 2011
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Highlands Ranch, CO
File under: well that was short. Clocks sprang ahead for daylight saving time but the Spring season itself has apparently come and gone, having arrived only yesterday at 5:58pm and now to be buried under 6 to 10 inches of snow from tonight into tomorrow. I hear the song of that damn woodchuck but I am not listening. LA LA LA LA LA LA LA.




Well Punxsutawney Phil is right in form then. CNN said Punxsutawney Phil predicts and early spring, but to not get excited because he is usually wrong. Wong again Phil. Wrong again. :)

That said, it has been 50's here with the exception of Tuesday (low 40's) and looks like it could reach 70 next Wednesday :)
 
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