Donaldson. It’s estimated that Sandy will cost New York $42 billion.
With parts of New York City (NYC) left devastated in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, local driver/operator and lineman apprentice Andy Donaldson was called in to help.
Donaldson, who works for Kamloops business Plowe Power Systems, was told on a Friday evening to “pack for a month” and that a group of 13 workers with 12 trucks would be leaving the next morning for NYC. The mission—to safely restore power to people’s homes in NYC.
The group made the gruelling five day journey from Kamloops to the East Coast by sharing the driving and putting in 16-hour days behind the wheel. When they arrived in NYC, Donaldson described the scenes as shocking with “trees down everywhere” and “smashed up power lines.”
Donaldson spent days working in the Rockaways, in Queens, and said that many homes had severe post flooding issues and no power.
“(We saw) boats laying in houses, cars everywhere that had been under sea water and people feeling like their whole lives had been torn apart,” he says. “We met families with small children heating their homes with gas stoves and ovens.”
In an atmosphere like that, Donaldson’s crew was high profile.
“(We) couldn’t walk down a street (wearing) high visibility orange clothing and not have every person come out and question when their power was going to come on,” Donaldson continues.
Despite the dangerous conditions the workers put in 16-hour days for two weeks to restore power house by house and street by street. And, the people of NYC showed their appreciation in many different ways.
“People were pumped we’d come from British Columbia. (We were) invited for lunches and dinners, (they gave us) beer and (started) neighbourhood chants.”
Eventually Donaldson received the call to return home, but said his group did Canadians proud.
“People loved us and we went beyond our trouble call list to help people get remotely closer to normal life. The overall experience has been amazing. But to be real, my time in the hard hit areas was what really made me feel that we were making a difference.”
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