Queens Survival Guide

Blackout

The Real Trick In A Blackout Could Be Getting Home

Councilman Jim Gennaro directs traffic outside his office during the 2003 blackout. Photo by Ira Cohen

By Liz Goff

If you’re a native New Yorker, you know all about blackouts – those irritating, sweaty, no-subway-service power outages that wreak havoc with even the most patient of people.

The problem with blackouts in New York City is, no one ever really tells you what’s going on, or when you can expect the lights to come back on.

On a sweltering City afternoon in August 2003 – just as bleary-eyed New Yorkers were piling into rush hour subway cars, the lights went out.

The term “straphangers” took on a whole new meaning that evening, as anxious subway riders waited for authorities to tell them if the power outage was a normal “blip” in service – or if there was a walk on the tracks in their futures.

What Can I Expect?

The major blackouts to hit New York in the last few decades have all come about as different reasons. Some have been because of local demand while the most recent had noting to do with New York, but wiped out power for more than a quarter of the country.

What Can I Do?

If you are on the subway, stay as calm and as quiet as you can, so that you can hear information or instructions provided by MTA personnel. Do not leave the train unless you are instructed to do so. The safest place is usually in the subway car. If authorities expect the power to remain off, emergency personnel will arrive to guide you out.

If you decide to walk home to Queens from Manhattan, be sure you are ready to “go the distance.”

Never accept a ride from a stranger, regardless of how hot it is, or how tired you are. If you find that you can’t make it all the way home, call a friend or family member to see if they can arrange to meet up with you. If they can’t, tell a police officer or firefighter that you need help or a safe place to stay.

You should also call friends or family to let them know you are walking and the route you are taking. Call a few times along the way to advise them of your progress – and arrange for someone to meet you when you are in your own neighborhood.

If you are in your office when the lights go out, check with your supervisor to determine if the company has emergency plans in place for you and other employees to spend the night. Ask your supervisor and other employees to determine if they have alternate transportation, and if they can help you to get home.

If you are stuck in an elevator during a blackout, call 911 on your cell phone. Call friends or relatives to let them know you are trapped and that you need immediate help. If the phone system in the elevator is not working, try to determine if the subway car came to a halt between floors, on a floor, or within a reasonable distance from a floor.

If the car stopped on a floor, try to pry the doors apart to determine if it is save to exit the car. If it is clearly safe to exit, try to pry the doors apart enough to get out. If you are not sure where the car has stopped, bang on the door, scream for assistance. Shout until someone responds.

If you are driving during a blackout, stop. If you were behind the wheel when the lights went out, take the quickest route to your destination and stay there until power is restored, officials said.

Do not waste gas when driving during a blackout. Remember, gas pumps at service stations will not be working during power outages, so you must keep an eye on your gas gauge.

Anthrax In The Mail

Between September and October 2001, terrorists sent a string of letter through the mail containing a strain of Anthrax, an acute infectious disease usually found in animals. During that span, five people died and an additional 22 were infected. There have been a few scares since then, but not any other major outbreaks, though it’s good to know how to identify and handle packages that could contain the disease.

According to the National Centers for Disease Control, people should careful of letters that misspell common words, possess threatening language, are postmarked from a city other than indicated on the return address or have excessive postage.

The telltale sign of an Anthrax-tainted letter is a powdery substance coming through or placed on the outside of the parcel. An infected item could also have oil stains, discoloration and an odor.

If a letter or package exhibits several of these signs, do not open it.

Alert others around you of the situation and isolate the area. Immediately wash your hands and take a full shower at the first appropriate time.

If at work, inform your supervisor. If at home, contact the local authorities and the post office, which will coordinate efforts with the FBI if necessary.

Make a list of anyone who was in the room with the package and anyone who may have come in contact with it. Give the list to the authorities.

If you begin to feel flu-like symptoms, develop a hacking, dry cough, or notice any sores on your body, go to a hospital or doctor immediately and tell them what happened. Anthrax cannot be passed from one person to another, making it unnecessary to quarantine a potentially infected individual.

Freefall

What to do when the bottom falls out

The bottom of an elevator shaft

By Andrew Moesel

If you’re in an elevator that begins to fall, the bad news is you’re going to get hurt, probably very badly; but the good news is you probably won’t die.

Elevator fatalities are extremely rare. Most accidents actually involve hydraulic elevators, where a large rod pushes the box from below, instead of a cable operated ones. Although the hydraulic ones are more likely to fail, due to corrosion, they usually can’t go higher than 70 feet, so the fall won’t be that far.

But if you do find yourself in a freefall, there are a few things you can do to lessen the blow. Experts say to lie face down on the floor (as crazy as this may sound) and cover your head with your hands. This position will spread out the impact and protect your vital organs from debris when the elevator splinters apart. (We told you it was going to hurt.)

Don’t think about jumping just before the elevator hits the ground. Even though this feat would be nearly impossibly, a pesky thing called physics makes it an ineffective strategy anyway. If you’re falling at a rate of 40 feet a second, let’s say, and you somehow manage to jump up at a rate of 5 feet a second, the law of relativity states you’re still going downward at 35 feet a second, still enough to smash your bones.

Lastly, if you’re a spiritual person, praying might not be a bad idea.

In The Dark

What Do You Do When The Lights Go Out?

If the Con Ed facility in Astoria or other generators shut down, people should be prepared to spend some time without electricity. Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen

By Carol Conslato

At Con Edison, safety is the No. 1 priority, not only for the company’s dedicated workforce, but also for its 3.1 million customers. The company places safety at the forefront of everything it does.

Since ConEd has been ranked the most reliable electric utility in the country, chances are that customers may never or would rarely experience a power outage. In the unlikely event that such a thing should happen, first you should know that power outages happen for a number of reasons.

Weather, such as wind, heavy snow, and thick ice on trees or tree limbs, can cause trees to topple on our wires and cause an outage. Lightning also can strike our equipment or trees near it. There are even times when animals contact our system in a way that causes outages.

Should the power fail, have a battery-powered flashlight and radio available. Use candles only in an emergency. Make sure an adult supervises any candle-lighting, and never leave candles unattended around children.

If the power goes out, disconnect or turn off appliances that would otherwise turn on automatically when service is restored. These include furnaces, air conditioners, electric water heaters, refrigerators, freezers, and water pumps.

If several appliances start up at once, the electric circuits may overload. Also, appliances may begin operating when you are away or asleep. Leave a single lamp or radio turned on to alert you that power has been restored. Then turn on or reconnect appliances one at a time.

If an ice storm, blizzard, or other major storm strikes in winter, your home will remain warm for a time even if power is disrupted. Your home will stay warmer if it is well insulated, if it has storm windows, and if it is free of drafts. If you have a fireplace, burning wood or logs made of newspapers will help. Do not let children tend a fire without adult supervision.

After a major storm, utilities often tackle outages in order of severity. First, they make every effort to make dangerous areas as safe as possible. They take downed wires out of service and concentrate on damage assessment by sending crews to patrol and by getting input from police officers, firefighters and customers.

When securing a home generator, please know that any permanently installed emergency generator must be installed by a qualified electrician and inspected by your electric utility company. Never operate a portable generator indoors.

To learn more about how to handle a blackout - or for other power-related tips - go to the Con Edison Web site at www.coned.com, which is full of vital safety tips on this issue, as well as other valuable information.

You may also call Con Edison at 800-75-CONED (800-752-6633) 24 hours a day.

Carol Conslato is the Queens Director of Public Affairs for ConEdison.

Total System Failure

These servers and all other computers could be rendered useless in a polarity shift

Change In Polarity, Other Reasons Could Kills Computers

By Jeff Feinman

Throughout this Survival Guide, we have been concentrating on disasters that would bring massive amounts of damage to our borough, but possibly one of the most devastating changes that city residents would have to face would total system failure. With our heavy reliance on heat and electricity, possibly no other such hazard would have more of an effect.

Who can forget the blackout that New York experienced in August of 2003 where nearly $1 billion in goods went to spoil? How should residents prepare for a prolonged power outage? Initial steps recommended by the New York City Office of Emergency Management include insulating the house in the absence of heat and gas, and having battery-operated radios and flashlights available.

Storage and Immediate Aid

The first problem you may face is how to salvage food. OEM tips for emergency food storage include keeping food in the driest and coolest spot in your home, wrapping bread in plastic bags or keep them in tightly closed containers, and storing one gallon of water for each person per day.

American Red Cross officials recommend having an emergency storage of gasoline on hand, but it is best to eliminate unnecessary travel because gas stations would not be working without electricity.

New York State Emergency Management Office spokesman Don Maurer’s biggest concern in a system failure is how to aid people who couldn’t help themselves. “How are people in need supposed to stay alive?” Maurer asked. “It’s not popular to do, but you have to sit down and figure out what to do in these types of situations.” The OEM says that elderly folks should store 7-14 days worth of medication in the event of a power outage.

Computer Failure

There is concern over massive computer breakdown, which could cause serious problems in today’s business world. Carnegie Mellon’s Computer Science Senior Manager Roy Maxion emphasizes our reliance on computers in today’s world.

“The consequences of computer failure can be enormous, including loss of data integrity or confidentiality, loss of life, or loss of revenue that can exceed tens of thousands of dollars an hour,” said Maxion.

The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants says it’s a good idea to purchase an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) which serves as a competent back up source of power.

Shifts in Earth’s Polarity

Many scientists believe that the Earth’s polarity may shift in the very near future, which may have great consequences. They say that poles have shifted throughout Earth’s history and one particular shift resulted in the last Ice Age, according to www.crystalinks.com. The site defines a pole shift as “a cataclysmic inversion of the planet’s axis of rotation of up to 180 degrees. It is a sudden slippage of the planet’s solid crust around the molten core.”

A reversal could have such consequences as the destruction of power grids, harm to satellites, widening of atmospheric ozone holes, and confusion of birds, fish and migratory animals that rely on the magnetic field as a navigation aid.

According to Glenn Elert, contributor for the “Physics Hypertextbook,” other changes would include breakdowns in radio communications and alterations in climate.

After all, if all of our computers and electricity production relies on magnetic power, and the Earth’s entire magnetic field were to change at once, we could probably kiss our computers goodbye. So long 21st Century, hello Stone Age.

Indian Point
Nuclear Catastrophe Could Occur Less Than 30 Miles Away

Indian Point’s emergency notification plan does not include Queens.

By Liz Goff

According to the last census, 20 million people live within a 50-mile radius of the Indian Point nuclear reactor, located in Westchester County. Indian Point is located just 24 miles from western Queens.

The Indian Point Power Plant was activated in 1974 with one reactor. A second reactor was activated four years later.

The plant generates more than 2,000 megawatts of electricity on a daily basis – enough to supply power to about two million homes. Indian Point supplies 20 to 40 percent of electricity to the New York City area.

What To Expect

Electricity is created when a turbine at the plant spins. The turbine is powered by steam that is created when nuclear fuel heats a water chamber. Exposed fuel heats up, water-covered fuel transfers its heat to the water.

In Chernobyl in 1986 the fuel core was left exposed, where it overheated, ruptured, mixed with the steam and caused an explosion that blew off the top of the reactor, started a fire of the granite interior of the reactor and spread contamination in a massive cloud. The fire was put out with more than 5,000 tons of sand and concrete flown in, and a sarcophagus was constructed around the reactor to keep radiation inside. That outer layer is currently deteriorating.

The cloud created by Chernobyl drifted all over the world before it dissipated.

The Official Response

Naturally, the official response is that the sort of thing that happened 19 years ago in Chernobyl could not possibly happen at Indian Point, though officials refused to comment on the failure of sirens to function during two scheduled siren tests over the past two months.

Would radiation from a leak, rupture or explosion at Indian Point travel in all directions? No, says a spokesman for Entergy, the company that runs Indian Point. Radiation would be released in a narrow plume, the size and shape of which would be determined by wind and other weather conditions.

So how would people in Queens be advised of a leak or other emergency condition at the Indian Point Power Plant?

The answer to that question is simple. We would not.

Officials at Community Board 1 in Queens have, for years, been battling federal regulators and state officials to develop an emergency plan for Indian Point that includes New York City – and Queens.

In January 2003, the Community Board passed a resolution urging Gov. George Pataki to include New York City in any emergency evacuation plan developed for the Indian Point Power Plant. The board was not alone.

Some 30 local governments of municipalities surrounding Indian Point passed similar resolutions – many calling for the shutdown of Indian Point. Numerous independent watchdog groups have also petitioned Pataki for a shutdown of the plant.

What Can I Do?

If there were to be an accident at the plant, and if a plume of radioactive material were to head straight for Queens, Entergy suggests that you wash produce you purchase at local stores before eating or cooking it, and remove outer leaves from leafy vegetables.

Since there is no official plan for how to respond to a nuclear accident at Indian Point, it is simply recommended that you stay tuned to media reports for updates.

Power Surge
Too Much Power Can Be A Problem

Older transformers cooled by PCBs can be found in Queens.

By Brian M. Rafferty

When can a small power surge turn into a big disaster? When PCBs are involved.

PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls) are organic compounds that are very stable and do not degrade easily, making them excellent insulators.

They were commercially produced and used for a variety of applications, including conductors for capacitors and transformers.

PCBs were mostly marketed for their electrical insulating properties. They were used inside electric transformers to keep the machines cool.

But occasionally a problem would occur.

In 1991, in the Village of New Paltz, a car crashed into a utility pole about a mile off from the SUNY campus just a few days after Christmas. The college, which was practically deserted for winter break, got hit by an electric surge as a result of the crash, and transformers inside buildings – including three dorms – exploded.

Firefighters arriving at the scene were able to contain the blazes, but the damage was done. The PCBs lying in the old transformers leaked out, spreading their contamination throughout the buildings.

Though the buildings have been “cleaned” and reopened – some after several years – doubts about safety continue to linger.

PCB production has been illegal since 1976, but transformers that contain the hazardous materials still exist in old apartment buildings in New York City as well as in other older structures.

It is advised that anyone who comes into contact with the smoke of an electrical fire seek medical attention immediately to have a doctor assess the possibility of exposure to these deadly compounds.