derecho?

[SlowModem]

 Current est is July 7 to have them all back on.  

Same here.

I really feel for y'all!  Here's hoping they get it done sooner! 

[Mark / Ohio]

I was in the old part of town today for the first time.  They are in a bit of a valley where they normally do not get a lot of high winds at ground level.  It was bad, saw in one block to 100 plus year old 3-4' diameter trees uprooted right into the front of two story houses of the same age.  Next block had the remainder of a two foot tree still laying on the parked car that it had crushed.  Power out and some traffic lights still out in places.  Out of six of us at work three are still without power.  I got lucky with this only being out 26 hours.  All the people in the block across the street from me are still out.  Just saw some Osmose guys I think from NY walking around over there surveying the damage.  So maybe they will get back on yet tonight.

[smorris]

My family are all near Bellefontaine, Ohio, west of Columbus. The court house had a large panel blown off the side of it, and looked pretty dramatic. Now after inspecting it, they've found that the whole clock tower has shifted, and many of the huge 130 year old beams snapped, and is in danger of collapsing. They're going to dismantle the whole clock tower and rebuild it. Meanwhile, they have to move all the offices, hold court in different buildings, etc.

[Mark / Ohio]

Power still out to all the houses the full length of the block across the street from me.  Both of the co-owners where I work still without power.  Yesterday the bulk of the West side of town was still dark including traffic lights on the state highway through town.   Power company now says the damage exceeded that of the remnants of Ike a few years back.  I nor my parents can ever remember this much damage in the city.  Even the ice storm back in 2004 did not do this much damage.  At least with the ice storm it was mainly branches that came down rather then entire trees.

[ocala]

I sometimes wonder why the power companies don't route everything underground. Initially the cost would be higher but in the long run you don't have the situation that is occurring now. Not to mention they are losing money every day the power is out. I know that new construction is usually underground. I was speaking more about the local grid that is exposed.

[Mark / Ohio]

I think part of it might be the repair cost is higher as it still can sustain lightning damage underground.  But around here outside of the new subdivisions the wiring and many of the poles are older then I am. (45) Same goes for the other utilities.  Water and sewer department is spending a ton of money the last few years upgrading to meet the current regulations.

[chief-david]

July 4 Derecho from 1977.

MPS NWS

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/casepages/jul41977page.htm

[WeatherHost]

I think part of it might be the repair cost is higher as it still can sustain lightning damage underground.

There's also the issue of supply and demand.  Pole mounted transformers and line hardware are much easier and less expensive to get and install.  No digging required.  No issue of tree roots growing over or around them either. 

[kray1000]

Not to mention they are losing money every day the power is out.

I'm sure they'll find a way to tack on some kind of weather normalization adjustment, which our gas company did this spring after one of the warmest winters on record... or it will be applied toward yet another rate increase.

[SlowModem]

I saw on the news where WV is having a crisis.  There is no food and relief efforts are underway.  I hope folks get their power restored quickly.

I have often wondered about the underground thing, too.  I guess if it was cost effective, they'd put the lines underground.  I guess the calculate probabilities vs. cost.

[kray1000]

I saw on the news where WV is having a crisis.  There is no food and relief efforts are underway.  I hope folks get their power restored quickly.

I have often wondered about the underground thing, too.  I guess if it was cost effective, they'd put the lines underground.  I guess the calculate probabilities vs. cost.

It's good to know that we're so well-prepared in the event of an emergency.  Take out a few electrical plants and you could bring this country to a screeching halt.

[SlowModem]

It's good to know that we're so well-prepared in the event of an emergency.  Take out a few electrical plants and you could bring this country to a screeching halt.

After Katrina, and the gas stations around here started running out of gas, my wife made the statement that this country is just one truckload away from starvation.  That is an accurate assessment, I think.  People in general take things for granted.

I know there are extremeists with tv shows about preparing for the end of the world and stuff.  But it is prudent, IMO, to at least have a little tucked away for unexpected emergencies.  A family should be able to survive for at least a week with no utilities or supplies.

[ocala]

I think part of it might be the repair cost is higher as it still can sustain lightning damage underground.

There's also the issue of supply and demand.  Pole mounted transformers and line hardware are much easier and less expensive to get and install.  No digging required.  No issue of tree roots growing over or around them either. 

I asked my brother about underground lines. He was number 2  at the top for Central Vermont power co. He basically said what everyone has said.  That it's wasn't cost effective. They basically roll the dice and hope for the best.  Then I asked him about the damage from hurricane Irene last year where they had massive power outages. He said it still didn't cost as much as underground lines would have.

[ocala]

I saw on the news where WV is having a crisis.  There is no food and relief efforts are underway.  I hope folks get their power restored quickly.

I have often wondered about the underground thing, too.  I guess if it was cost effective, they'd put the lines underground.  I guess the calculate probabilities vs. cost.

It's good to know that we're so well-prepared in the event of an emergency.  Take out a few electrical plants and you could bring this country to a screeching halt.

I think the key word here is prepared.
There is a supermarket chain down here called Publix. They installed huge generators in all their stores. They are so big they can even put power out to the grid. After the hurricanes in 04 they lost all their perishable foods. I guess the loss was in the millions.
Also after the hurricanes in 04 the state of Florida made all the chain store gas stations get generators so there wouldn't be any down time after the storm passed.
I guess you have the weigh the risk reward factor. Down here with the hurricanes power outages are probably more common. Up north while this was a freak storm there was also the ice storm of a couple years ago that left many without power.

[WeatherHost]

They basically roll the dice and hope for the best.  Then I asked him about the damage from hurricane Irene last year where they had massive power outages. He said it still didn't cost as much as underground lines would have.

There would have been damage, but not as much.  Uprooted trees and road/bridge washouts would likely tear up underground lines.  Flooding could short out transformers.  Whatever damage there is would be expensive and time consuming to repair.

We've done the preparedness threads before.  In my eye, every private home should be able to last a minimum of 10 days on their own.

[chief-david]

After an ice storm three years ago-my dad bought a whole home generator.
Has used it a few times-but it could happen at any time.


He is on Rural electric board. Some lines have been buried but they were having issues with rodents and electricity current losses.
His county is replacing hundreds of miles lines and poles in the next few years because of the ice storms. Some of those lines go back  at least 50 years.
They are not going to bury any because of issues.

Happy 4th everyone.

[George Richardson]

At this time, 2:00PM EDT, there appears to be another Bow Echo moving North to South at the West Virginia/ Virginia border. Am I correct? I hope this isn't another Derecho!

George

[d_l]

NASA's take on the June 29 derecho: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/derecho.html

[George Richardson]

Anybody missin' farmtalk? I just checked power outages in WV from the derecho. Kanawha County, where I think farmtalk lives, still has 38,021 electric customers out of power. That's 6 days since the power went out. If any of you have been out of power for more than a day, you know how tough it is. Maybe if we all make a wish for his power, it will not be the last in WV to come on.

Here's to you farmtalk!

George

[SlowModem]

Yeah I've been wondering about him for a few days now.  Ironically, our power is off as im typing this on my phone.  The news reports there is a food crisis there too.  I hope they vet it fixed soon.

[SlowModem]

Vet = get

[Mark / Ohio]

The five houses across the street from me just came back on yesterday.   Still lot of people out in the area.

[Farmtalk]

Thanks for thinking about me Greg! We are on day 10 of the power outage; thankfully nobody around here was injured, but it was a vicious storm. I got a wind gust of 97.3 mph on my WS 1090 weather station! We have about 300 trees down on my property, but structurally everything is great except for somebodys shed down the road which got its metal roof torn up..The heat has been bad but its been ok here The whole state got hit hard, 53/55 counties had power outages and at its worst, more than 85% of the state was without power! I wish I could post some pics of the damage around here, but my usb is broke

Anybody missin' farmtalk? I just checked power outages in WV from the derecho. Kanawha County, where I think farmtalk lives, still has 38,021 electric customers out of power. That's 6 days since the power went out. If any of you have been out of power for more than a day, you know how tough it is. Maybe if we all make a wish for his power, it will not be the last in WV to come on.

Here's to you farmtalk!

George

Yeah its been a little tough but we're all doing ok, now on day 10, and i live in the more rural county to the east of kanawha county, Clay; the county was 100% without power until 2 days ago, and now it's down to about 55%...Hope I get power soon...Thanks for the shoutout George! But ACTUALLY, there is a legitimate contest in WV to cheer people up that the VERY LAST person that gets power in the whole state gets an inground swimming pool!!! I would rather have my power though 

I saw on the news where WV is having a crisis.  There is no food and relief efforts are underway.  I hope folks get their power restored quickly.

I have often wondered about the underground thing, too.  I guess if it was cost effective, they'd put the lines underground.  I guess the calculate probabilities vs. cost.

It HAS been quite a crisis, my friend waited 4 hours to get gasoline, there have been fights at the gas stations, no ice, so it's been a little crazy, but I'm a calm person so I always just let things work themselves out in times like this, and it's getting much better, we have gasoline now I think at last count, 89k customers in the state were without power, but that could have went up because we got more storms in the state last night

Hope to be on here soon back to a regular basis!!!

--Joseph--