Residents Cope Through Day Five Without Power [With Video]

At 1:45 this afternoon Pam White showed up at the city’s public works depot looking for food.

Out of power for five days, White arrived early for the city’s distribution of free MREs, or Meals Ready to Eat, at the request of her husband, a former military man who heard about the MREs and remembered them from his service days.

“He said ‘We need to get some of those, they’re really good!’ ” White said.  “He’s going to be cooking for me for a change.”

The MRE distribution started today and will continue daily, from 2-6 p.m., “until the food or the need runs out,” said Lisa Pippa, director of the city’s health and human services department.

For someone who hasn’t had heat, running water or lights since Saturday, White admits she’s growing weary of the power outage resulting from the weekend snowstorm.  But she’s also trying to maintain a sense of humor about it all.

“I’m a Connecticut Yankee. I’m a pioneer. It’s an inconvenience, but what can you do?”

White and her husband are among some 20,000 in this city who are still without power tonight and who showed up at either one of the city’s two remaining city shelters for food and water, a hot shower or to recharge laptops and cell phones.

Across town at Lincoln Middle School, Robert Hedlund, of Center Street, was hoping to get a hot shower. Developmentally disabled, he was getting help from Charlotte and Charles Gibson of Wolcott, who have traveled here daily since the storm struck to take Hedlund out of his cold, dark apartment.

“We’ve just been trying to make sure that he gets outside and that he stays warm. He likes to be outside,” Charlotte Gibson said.

For Nancy Charest, who lost power during Tropical Storm Irene and is out of power again, the situation is beyond unbearable.

“I think I’m just in survival mode now,” said Charest, who works at the Cumberland Farms gas station and convenience store on Broad Street. The store has no power, but is staying open to sell whatever is on its shelves, but can only accept cash.

Customers, Charest said, are mostly looking for the things the store can’t provide until the power is back on, including gas, coffee and the ATM machine.

But Charest said she’s grateful to at least be at work. “Losing even one paycheck could make or break me,” she said.

She said she’s also lucky that she has a gas stove at home and can still cook. She’s been using the stove to partially heat her apartment as well.

One of the things she misses most in the outage, she said, is eggs.

“I just want a good, fried egg. But you can’t buy eggs anywhere.”

Across the street at the Shell gas station Danny Paol, an employee, was standing outside the station’s darkened convenience store. Although the store’s door was propped open, Paol said it won’t be back in business until the power returns. Employees, however, are staying at the business 24 hours a day, he added, to discourage vandalism or break-ins, similar to what has occurred at other businesses in Meriden during the outage. 

“I’m just doing watchman duty, waiting for the power to come back on,” Paol said.

The MRE and water distribution at the public works garage started today after city officials received 4,200 of the packaged, freeze-dried meals and 9,600 bottles of water from the state. City officials aren’t sure how many people would need the food and water, but will give out eight meals and a case of water to every family of four.  City residents must show identification to receive them.

As the outages here grind on many residents are feeling increased stress and desperation, Pippa said.

“It’s stressful because people just don’t know what to expect. It’s that uncertainty. What we’re trying to do is tap into every resource available to help them. And when people call in to talk to us we’re not telling them ‘You have the wrong department.’ We put them through to the right department.”