Letters: Improve storm communications
LIPA worker Neil Williams, of LIPA's Emergency Services, works along Northside Road in Yaphank to restore power that was lost due to superstorm Sandy, even though another storm is on the way. (Nov. 5, 2012) Credit: James Carbone
There has been much said about the lack of communication from LIPA and the lack of timely information. The LIPA website is virtually useless.
There is a website called gasbuddy.com, where ordinary folks enter locations of gasoline stations where they found gas, the length of the wait, the price, etc.
LIPA should have a similar site, where everyone can enter their address and whether or not they have power. They could note the location of any LIPA crews working to restore power. Then we could go on the Web or mobile device and see the information on a map.
This information would be as close to real time as you can get, and nobody at LIPA would have to enter it.
John P. Prete, Huntington Station
As I began my eighth day without power, I used a computer at work to check LIPA's outage map to see what progress was being made. To my surprise, I found that the map had been removed, leaving only a town-by-town summary of how many people in each area are out of power.
So the one piece of useful information that LIPA gave us was gone. After leaving me literally in the dark for eight days, the agency has now left me figuratively in the dark as well.
John Carlson, Smithtown
Editor's note: The map was up again as of yesterday afternoon.
