Recovery
Everyone in my little town now has electricity again. Two of my neighbors had lines torn loose up on the poles, so they had to wait. A lot of equipment will fail now, as the restoration of power has a tendency to come as a surge, which often damages air conditioners and refrigerators.
I finished taking down the last two large trees that were damaged, a live oak and a camphor tree, but I need to look for broken limbs and small trees that were bent over by the wind. There was a lot of “salt burn”, trees and bushes damaged by the salt water carried in the winds coming off the Gulf. This may kill other trees, but I think the problem may have been reduced this time by the rains that we have had since the hurricane.
Gasoline is still hard to locate, and it may be a while before you can take it for granted. Many people have seen the oil platform that was “listing” in the Gulf, but it was being moved and was not a producing oil rig. The problem is the down time at the Gulf Coast refinery for TS Cindy and then Dennis, complicated by the barges being hauled inland to protect them. The tank farms are below normal capacity and the truck transport has been disrupted. The price has jumped $.20/gallon due to the storms and the demand of the Summer season.
In those stores that have reopened, the hours have been reduced and the shelves haven’t been re-stocked, so some items are in short supply. There have been price increases, but they probably don’t reach the “gouging” level. Many of the increases have been accomplished by not running any sales, and selling things for the “manufacturer’s suggested retail price”.
