As I was frantically typing away to meet a 12 p.m. deadline, my computer screen went dark at 11 a.m. +/-. Power on, dropped. Power on, dropped. Typically indicates a National Grid issue (from history). 5,000+ electric customers went into the dark Monday morning which encompassed the entire Village of Wellsville, some of the towns of Wellsville and Andover and a bit of the Whiteville area. Thanks to a cell phone and Twitter, we were able to provide alerts (nobody else did). Wellsville police, fire, DPW and state police headed into Wellsville to assist with traffic control. Yup, not a big city...but have you ever watched the traffic flow at the Genesee Parkway at Madison...the six way stop...or even the traffic contest near Steuben Trust. (I was here first...no you weren't, I was...NO I was). The village of Wellsville had generators at almost every intersection pretty damn quick. Wellsville PD was on site (doing the awful job of directing traffic to an unforgiving crowd). Whoever you were, whatever the title...thanks.
Then came a scanner message...Utilities officials say power should be restored in 5-10 minutes...a message uttered by Wellsville DPW Director Bill Whitfield. "Yeah, okay," I thought. 9 minutes and 45 seconds later, the lights came on. Damn...
To everyone who assisted...standing in traffic, rushing around, remaining in constant communications...thanks.
Arm chair quarterbacking is...apparently..easy.
