Lycus,
re: Were their priorities to line their pockets at the expense of doing routine preventative maintenance? TIA.
Many years ago, I was a distribution engineer for a large electric utility on the east coast. Early one April (happened to be Easter that year), we had a freak ice storm much like what St. Louis experienced this year.
Customers were without power for weeks. My peers and I worked almost non-stop, only taking off for a few hours every two days to grab some shuteye. I've never worked so hard in my life.
There was nothing the utility could have done to prepare or lessen the impact of that storm ahead of time. Trees and power poles were snapping like toothpicks under the weight of the ice. Standing in wooded areas, it sounded like cannons firing.
We all worked hard to get power restored to all areas, but it took time. It takes time to pull the poles and reset new ones, then restring the conductor. One pole at a time.
We pulled in contractors from all over the east. It still took weeks.
Just a comment from someone who has been there, done that.
