[Chron/CenterPoint] : Millions of residents face another dark night

I wondered about that myself...My ex's power went out about that time, well before the storm hit...Very ridiculous...IMHO, it's something else that caused that as lines aren't that fragile...My brother lives downtown and never lost power...I guess his section of downtown was just fine...

 

The power system in Houston is so fragile, I can see a no power in some areas after a heavy rain. I never see the same thing in Austin before. People like to plan the trees everywhere near the power line, but no one cares what would happen if the trees fall down over the line. What a mess!

 

Downtown and med center kept their lights the whole time. Thousands upon thousands of customers lost power in central houston before 10pm.

So you are suggesting it is too much to ask to build our infrastructure in a more robust way so that transformers can withstand 30-40 mph winds?

I'm a little more forgiving about losing power at the height of the storm ...but we lost power at like 8:30.

It seems plausible that we could build a stronger system than that.

Yea, but they did know 3 days in advance that it was gonna hit the region. Besides, storm is over by Saturday at noon. It takes till Wednesday to get everybody here?

The guys that are here working, are doing a good job. They've brought a lot of people online. But Texas and Centerpoint hopefully take a few lessons from this to make a few tweaks before next time around.

 

It is unacceptable to tell people to stay in Houston and then have them lose power (food spoilage) and water (unsanitary) for a significant period of time. More than 48 hours is significant. Fail.

 

It's also unacceptable for schools/employers to require classes/work with shortages of gas all over!

 

I didn't think about that. We were told to stay put to keep the roads clear for the Galveston folks.

Given the system we had, it isn't unreasonable to expect 2 week outages. My contention is why can't we build a better system?

 

money

 

All the hardware around the Houston area is supplied by CenterPoint, no matter who you buy from.

 

Downtown and the Med Center both have buried power lines - something that is basically impossible outside of areas with poured concrete going 100 feet down like downtown and the Med Center. There is just no way to avoid power lines getting blown down. In 30mph winds, branches on trees in my yard fall all the time. It's just luck that they don't hit my power lines.

My neighbor lost a limb from an old oak tree during a heavy rain with no wind. It took out the power to his entire house for 3 days because he had to get an electrician to re-attach the power to his house before Center Point could re-attach the line to the pole.

It isn't that transformers are exploding all by themselves or that poles are falling over. This happens all over the world. We are not unique.

Actually, they didn't. Three days out, the cone of uncertainty covered an area from southern Texas through western Louisiana. Within 48 hours, the section was still several hundred miles.

Yes, they knew basically this part of the gulf coast, but you don't book overtime until it is needed. If you own a business, you prepare for the possibility you may need people, but you don't tell them to show up for work until it's actually time to do it. It's pretty remarkable they got people from Canada, Chicago, New York, the northwest and other areas in 72 hours considering they all had to drive and many had to bring heavy equipment. It takes 2 days for a normal person to drive their car.

 

Look, there is and always will be room for improvement in everything we do. No one is against having a better system. Compare the evacuation process of Hurricane Rita to Ike. Much better organized and it actually worked. And you can bet that the city of Houston will look back at everything once it is all said and done and make improvements in areas that they see fit.

The point is there can always be a better system. No one can predict everything that is going to happen before it does and put in all the measures to prevent all the problems. So let's stop focusing on the negatives. We can sit here and b**** and moan at everything but it's just a waste of time. The city of Houston, Centerpoint, etc. will look at everything and it will be better the next time around (Hopefully there is never a next time)

 

Not only that, but the mobilization was limited by gas shortages, fallen trees, floodwaters, and constant stopping due to no traffic signals. No place to stay, because everything in Houston and surrounding counties are booked.

 

You can not expect power companies to be able to account for natural disasters, that is just not reasonable.

I would suggest buying a generator, so that when you have these things, you can at least supply your own power for a while.

DD

 

I would suggest converting that generator to natural gas and putting a 100 gallon tank in your yard.

Getting gas before/after a storm is a nightmare.

 

They should make it a city law for all gas stations and grocery stores to have one as backup.

You make a great suggestion for us, if we don't want to sit in a gas line for 3-4 hours to fill up some gas cans.

 

whats gas? and where can you get it from???

 

Entergy doesnt serve Houston. They serve places like Conroe, Woodlands, Huntsville, Beaumont, etc...they have their own power grid and they service their own lines. According to what I am seeing on the news they are much slower at getting power restored than Centerpoint. Maybe there is more damage in their area..

 

No power here. I'm hanging out at the SFA library to umm....."do some homework" .

 

I lost my power around 6 pm - I live by Reliant Stadium. I know of many others in West U that lost power around that time. It is hard to figure, because the winds were not that strong. Then the sky started lighting up like the 4th of July with the transformers blowing. This was all WELL BEFORE any hurricane force winds. I don't get it.

I haven't seen any power repair trucks in my neighborhood since the hurricane.

 

To answer the question of why the transformers blow so quickly, why so "fragile" or not "robust" enough...

Transformers are your best friend when they blow. It keeps the downed lines that comes from them from killing you/

Think of it as a huge fuse of sorts. Fuse blows, power is cut. They are actually designed to blow under certain strain and stress.

That is what they are really there for... to prevent power surges and save the end of the line (customers) form getting the full impact of a surge.


Years ago when the grid didn't have the same technology it does now, there were more fires and severe meltdowns that took even more time to fix.




The main issue the greater Houston area is suffering from now is not fragility of the system, it is, however, the sheer volume of the area affected by the winds that could cause similar results, anywhere, if they faced them. It's actually quite impressive how quickly things are moving, and even more impressive how many transformers did not trip, or blow in the first place.


Also, some power was shut off preemptively in order to protect the grid. Strategic locations were chosen to protect areas with hospitals and similar public interests.

 

Like my situation. We lost power up here in Nacogdoches when Galveston was starting to get the storm.