The good news is the wind rating has been downgraded to category 2.
Hey, I can answer this one!
Ready for this? Cost.
Buried power transmission lines have a MUCH lower expected lifetime of operation, like nearly half as long. So power companies aren’t exactly keen to pay for what equates to double the cost of service, eating into profit and cost planning. In many neighborhoods and townships, some of that cost can be taken on by them instead of the power company as a draw to residents and to reduce issues from damaging wind storms. Note in this article, they are pushing back on power companies RE:costs and how much protection it can provide.
It gets to be a bigger issue with high power transmission, since no cost there is usually absorbed by anyone but the power company. And those too can be susceptible during storms. So just because your neighborhood might be okay, that doesn’t mean the runs going to your local power distribution point are okay, too.
This is where I personally have my fingers crossed that it is wrong. My parents live in Beaufort, on the water, at the tip of the red arrow. They aren’t there, but their neighbors are. 12’ of storm surge will inundate their house. Luckily, a small island, called Carrot Island, shields them from the water coming right in the inlet. Most should get diverted up the Newport and North rivers.
Here’s the current view from their hammock (which is 10’ from their porch):
The boat is strapped down in the driveway, but the neighbors left theirs on the dock, so hopefully it doesn’t end up in my parents’ house.
Sorry to hear that, I’m hoping for the best for your folks, Clay. I was messaging a person I know down near Charleston yesterday that manages five properties there. She is not expecting things to go well. :(
Came across this tracker on the weather channel. Shows its progression since it started forming.
IIRC, there’s also some calculus of likelihood of wind damage for above ground lines vs likelihood of, e.g. flooding, which is more damaging to underground lines.
I’m sure there is. Power companies are the penultimate planners if you think of it. They plan costs for long term, estimated repair costs, emergency costs, etc. Prior to this storm there are probably hundreds if not thousands of additional contracted linesmen that will be available post-storm, pulled from all around. It’s amazing how organized they are for things like this.
I work for a fiber company and so receive the daily weather utilities weather report which gives super detailed projections along with anticipated/potential utility impacts. When major weather events occur with widespread impacts anticipated, there are often three callls the day leading up to the event to help folks prepare and coordinate and make sure everyone has the latest info and then they Day after there are multiple calls to track recovery efforts. Once a given utility has their own issues under control they will generally offer to redirect their resources to assist other utilities.
In New England, ice crush and damage from melting snow are issues that need to be weighed when doing a cost benefit analysis on buried vs aerial.
I thought this tool was fascinating to watch, for those of us not in the path.
I use Ventusky.
Typhoon Mangkhut looks not only bigger but it looks like it dropped, and now I am worried again.
Am I the only one that tried to drag the hurricane off?
Jeez … Ice crush? That’s uh … that’s a lot of ice!
At one time we had one of our North Dakota sites running off a generator during a storm. The generator was about a hundred yards from the main building, power was run via pole to pole aerial. An employee trying to clear the parking lot of snow wasn’t able to see where the parking lot ended and clipped one of the poles. So the best laid backup plan was hosed by a tractor.
Now everything we do is underground. And, of course, we’ve had runs clipped due to backhoes as well.
There really is no fault tolerant solution. :(
It’s coming! This live ocean cam is situated on a former coast guard observation tower on the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina.
I suggest turning the sound off.
I’m hoping in 3-4 hours that I might hear a peep from her. When she last checked in, she said it might cause a problem with her flying out but not hit her actual island. It kind of looks to me like it went south a bit since then.
Check out the FlowX weather app for Android. it’s lightweight, basically just a single weather map, and easy to use.
She’s basically a hydromancer. And, yeah… that is pretty tremendous.