Sandy, One Year Later: What We Learned

By Jack Tobias

When Hurricane Sandy struck one year ago, eastern Pennsylvania dealt with many emergency situations:

—Two women dying—one from hypothermia, the other from carbon monoxide poisoning.

—Power outages and closed schools, both for up to a week. PECO reported 585,000 Philadelphia-area customers without power on Monday night of the story; 175,000 homes in Montgomery County went without 

—Downed trees and blocked roads. (It was the same story throughout eastern Pennsylvania. The superstorm toppled about 40 trees on the grounds of the Pearl S. Buck House in Hilltown Township. "Hurricane Sandy was not nice up here," Janet Mintzer, president and CEO of Pearl S. Buck International, said at the time.)

Take a look back at the storm's aftermath in the Spring-Ford area.

On one day, according to a tweet by the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety, there were 4,017 calls to 911 between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. and 1,053 between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

So in eastern Pennsylvania, where Sandy's wrath was minor compared with the devastation at the Jersey shore and in parts of New York closest to the water, what did emergency officials take away from last year's superstorm?

"Partnerships" is how John Kalnynch, special operations team coordinator for Lehigh County Emergency Management, began his response. County officials, the Red Cross, an animal response team all needed to be  "on the same page," he said.

And thanks in part to lessons from the freak snowstorm of October 2011, multiple agencies were ready to open a joint shelter for the first time in the Lehigh Valley. Kalnynch said it was a "joint effort that really worked out well."

What lesson did you learn from Superstorm Sandy?
Tell us in the comments.

Kalnynch said people not having enough medication to see them through evacuations or days without power emerged as one of the biggest problems. With the computers of pharmacies and other health-care providers out of commission, prescription refills weren't readily available.

When preparing for a storm, everyone should have a grab-and-go bag filled with a change of clothes, important documents—and 72 hours of medications, Kalnynch said.

His experience is that people are "starting to catch on" when it comes to hunkering down in a home. But when evacuation is necessary, not everyone is ready. "Who knows when you'll come back," he said.

The National Hurricane Center, on its website, has tips for putting together a storm kit.

Everyone likely has a Sandy memory, whether it's sleeping in a winter coat because the heat was out all night, or standing in long lines at convenience stores for cups of jolting morning coffee or bags of ice to preserve food.

What's your Sandy memory? Tell us in the comments.

For Kalnynch, the memory literally hit home. While at work, his wife called to say the back of their Catasauqua house may have blown off.

"I was taking care of 200,000 people, I can't leave," he remembered telling her.

He told his wife to go to the other end of the house and that he would have someone check out the situation. Only some siding—not the back of the house— had blown off, and he credits borough firefighters with responding.

Sandy was the worst storm on record for PPL Electric Utilities, affecting more than 523,000 customers, said Greg Dudkin, president of PPL Electric Utilities. And, he noted, 85 percent of affected customers had their power restored within four days.

Dudkin said PPL is in the midst of an "unprecedented" investment plan—$3.8 billion in improvements over five years, including nearly $1 billion this year—to prevent outages and reduce their length. The measures include:

—Installing bigger, taller poles and thicker wires.

—Clearing trees along thousands of miles of power lines, because trees are a major cause of storm outages.

—Replacing aging lines, poles and substations.

—Adding automation and smart grid technology, and installing automated switches and other devices.

PPL spokesman Joe Nixon said the utility urges everyone to have a storm kit and to have a plan for what they would do in the event of an extended power outage.

That could involve providing for backup power (generator) or alternate living arrangements with a friend, neighbor or relative, Nixon said. To keep abreast of power restoration efforts, Nixon recommends customers sign up for PPL Alerts so they can get information via phone, text or email.

Nixon was one of many who worked unending hours in Sandy's aftermath while crews restored power. 

"What stands out is the dedication of our crews and support staff, along with the crews from 16 other states, who worked tirelessly in getting customers restored," he said. "What also stands out is the patience most of our customers showed, and the kindness they showed to our crews who were working so hard—many of them without power at their own houses while they were at work."