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Six Days in the Dark
On Tuesday, April 29th, 2025, a major storm system rolled through the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania region and beyond, leaving widespread damage—and six powerless days for my family. I did a lot to prepare for emergencies, but this week has shown me where the holes were in my planning.
When I finally returned from the basement, a tree in the backyard lay on the edge of my yard, saying, “Be happy I didn’t get you.” Out front, the utility pole had shattered and dropped—power lines draped across our Nissan Sentra and Chrysler Pacifica, both cars pinned, the street blocked going down our hill. With no sun for the solar panels, the Jackery’s charge was barely hanging on, so I drove a rented pickup ($600 I hadn’t planned to spend) to Lowe’s after seeing a post online that they had received an emergency overnight drop shipment of generators. If you’re from the Pittsburgh region, it felt like sitting on the Parkway West (I-376) Inbound at 6:30 AM during rush hour in the middle of a major highway construction project and no detours… it took about 30 minutes to go from the back of the store to the front to be able to check out.
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