Tag Archives: Power Outage

Storm hits Florida with torrential downpour and 74mph winds knocking out power for 120,000

Palm-Beach-flooding

Important Takeaways:

  • ‘Hurricane equivalent’ winds and torrential rains leave more than 120,000 without power in Florida as more than 7million are under flood watch
  • Nearly 120,000 homes in Florida are without power after ‘hurricane’ level winds and torrential rain hit the state overnight.
  • Thousands of people have woken up in the dark across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach amid hurricane-force winds, with over 7 million people under flood watch.
  • The National Weather Service has called the wind speeds recorded in some of these areas ‘hurricane equivalent’, as they topped 74mph.
  • In an advisory, they said: ‘Damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines. Widespread power outages are expected.’
  • Forecasters have said that rainfall today will likely reach five to eight inches across Miami and the Fort Lauderdale areas of South Florida, with some areas being hit with 12 inches, according to Fox Weather.
  • Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had to declare a state of emergency as storms caused mass flooding, after they dumped two feet of rain in a matter of hours.

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Extreme Winter Weather puts millions at risk of power outages and it’s not just a North East problem

Winter-Power-Outage

Important Takeaways:

  • Nation at risk of winter blackouts as power grid remains under strain
  • A sweeping portion of the country that extends from Texas to the Canadian border is not adequately equipped for tough winter conditions, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation warned in a forecast released Wednesday. The report is a sobering assessment of a power grid that continues to fray and suffer from underinvestment, despite promises by politicians and regulators to shore it up following deadly blackouts in recent years
  • “Much of North America is at an elevated risk of insufficient energy supplies this winter and is highly exposed to risks of energy emergencies in extreme winter conditions,” the regulator, known as NERC, wrote in a statement that accompanied the report.
  • A major concern is the potential for disruptions in natural gas generation, as power plants and the infrastructure that delivers fuel to them are destabilized by the strain of extreme cold. It is the pattern that played out last year during Winter Storm Elliott, which resulted in cascading outages throughout the eastern United States just before Christmas.
  • The regional grid that serves 15 states from Arkansas to Wyoming will be operating with significantly lower backup energy reserves than last year as a result of some power plants coming off line and demand for electricity in the region increasing. NERC warned that while the region has the resources it needs to make it through a normal winter, extreme cold weather could “result in shortfalls that can trigger energy emergencies.”
  • The rapid addition of renewable energy onto the grid presents its own challenges, the report warns, which could inflame debate about the extent to which the energy transition disrupts reliability. NERC officials noted, for example, that the installation of large volumes of new solar power in Texas will do little to help the state through the winter, as demand tends to peak after sundown. But NERC’s findings make clear that problems with fossil fuel generation bear a large share of responsibility for the wobbly state of the nation’s electricity system.

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New storm for California with additional flooding expected

Luke 21:25 ““And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,

Important Takeaways:

  • As Atmospheric River Exits, a New Storm Threatens California
  • Wet, miserable weather continued across huge swaths of California on Sunday as an atmospheric river that caused major flooding flowed eastward, while a new storm threatened another onslaught of rain, snow and gusting winds as soon as Monday.
  • The National Weather Service said the next system could exacerbate severe flooding that overwhelmed the area in recent days, prompting a levee failure and widespread evacuations Saturday in farming communities near the state’s central coast.
  • Monday’s incoming rain and snow is expected to extend from central California to Oregon and northern Nevada. Wind gusts of up to 50 mph (80 kph) are expected in some places and could damage power lines and snap tree branches.
  • Over the past two days, more than 20 inches (50 centimeters) of snow fell at a measuring station in the Sierra Nevada, and more is expected. The snowpack is now nearly twice the average, and the highest in about four decades, according to UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab.
  • Gavin Newsom has declared emergencies in 34 counties in recent weeks
  • President Joe Biden spoke with Newsom on Saturday to pledge federal support for California’s emergency response
  • Weather-related power outages affected more than 17,000 customers in Monterey

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As Power gets turned back on in NC a report of possible sabotage at a hydro plant in SC comes about

  • FBI on South Carolina probe of possible sabotage at electric plant
  • The FBI is investigating gunfire near a South Carolina power plant that occurred just as electricity for tens of thousands in North Carolina was restored
  • We are aware of reports of gunfire near the Wateree Hydro Station in Ridgeway, South Carolina,” a Duke Energy spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Fox News Digital. “No individuals were harmed. There are no outages reported. There is no known property damage at this time.”
  • “We are working closely with the FBI on this issue,” the statement added.
  • Multiple sources told CBS News that an individual pulled up in a truck outside the power plant in Kershaw County around 5:30 p.m. before opening fire. The person used what appeared to be a long gun before speeding away

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Power Outage Update in Moore County North Carolina

Important Takeaways:

  • Moore County: Updates on power outages, resources, investigation
  • Duke Energy’s outage map shows that about 34,000 customers are still without power in Moore County as of 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
  • In total, about 72% of the more than 47,000 Duke Energy customers served in the county remain without power Wednesday.
  • Duke Energy said Tuesday afternoon that the company “anticipates having nearly all customers restored by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.”
  • Officials say the investigation into the attack is ongoing, with local, state and federal authorities “working around the clock.” No arrests have been made, and no suspects have been named yet.

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North Caroline substation attacked with gun fire, thousands lose power – State of Emergency declared

North Carolina Shooting Power Outage
  • Mass power outage in North Carolina caused by gunfire, repairs could take days
  • The power outages left at least 40,000 customers without electricity and rendered wastewater pumps out of order across the area. Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said Sunday that someone had “opened fire on the substation, the same thing at the other one.”
  • He said investigators were still working to determine a motive, but he said that the person or persons responsible “knew exactly what they were doing” and that the attack was “targeted.”
  • “It wasn’t random,” Fields said. The incident is being investigated as a criminal act, but Fields could not say Sunday if it rises to the level of domestic terrorism.
  • A state of emergency was in effect Sunday night, and a shelter has opened at the Moore County Sports Complex.

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Storm in Minnesota leaves 75,000 without power

Revelation 16:9 “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Minnesota storms knock out power to 75,000 customers
  • Severe storms knocked out power to as many as 75,000 customers across Minnesota where power poles were toppled and winds gusted as high as 81 mph in the state’s southern region.
  • The largest power outages were west of the Twin Cities and by Wednesday morning service had been restored to about half of those who lost power, according to Xcel Energy.
  • Winds Tuesday night gusted as high as 81 mph near Hector in Renville County in southern Minnesota.

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Power Outages and Triple Digit Temps across the Midwest

Revelation 16:9 “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Triple-digit temps scorch the Midwest, smash a host of records
  • Parts of Chicago reached triple digits for the first time in nearly a decade as extreme heat gripped the midwestern U.S.
  • Chicago Midway Airport reached an AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature of 104 degrees
  • Louis was one of the cities under an excessive heat warning as temperatures hit 99
  • In Ohio, more than 20,000 households and businesses were without power Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.US, after severe storms ripped through the area
  • In Franklin County, Ohio, home of Columbus, the AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature reached 108 degrees
  • Power outages were also high in West Virginia Tuesday after Monday night’s storms. Cooling centers were opened in Winfield, West Virginia, just west of Charleston.
  • A new record high temperature was set in Nashville Tuesday when the mercury reached 97 degrees
  • Macon, Georgia, topped out at 104 F

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Aftermath of 7.3 has Millions Facing Power Outage and Cold Temperatures

Luke 21:11” There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

Important Takeaways:

  • Earthquake damage, colder weather has millions facing power blackouts in Japan
  • The Tokyo Power Company Holdings, or Tepco, and Japan’s industry ministry said between 2 and 3 million homes could be affected by a power outage because some plants have been offline since the 7.3-magnitude quake on March 16
  • The quake shook Japan, killed at least four people and injured more than 100.

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Ida loses punch, levees hold, but Louisiana expects more rain and flooding

By Devika Krishna Kumar

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) -Ida lost some of its punch over southwestern Mississippi on Monday after making landfall in Louisiana as one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the region, but it could still trigger heavy flooding, the National Hurricane Center said.

Ida, the first major hurricane to strike the United States this year, made landfall around noon on Sunday as a Category 4 storm over Port Fourchon, a hub of the Gulf’s offshore oil industry, packing sustained winds of up to 150 miles per hour (240 km per hour).

Although weakened to a tropical storm, heavy downpours could bring life-threatening flooding, the NHC said.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator Deanne Criswell said the full impact of the storm would become clear later in the day.

“We’re hearing about widespread structural damage,” Criswell said in an interview with CNN. “I don’t think there could have been a worse path for this storm. It’s going to have some significant impacts.”

Federal levees installed to reduce the risk of flooding appeared to have held, according to preliminary reports.

“Daylight will bring horrific images as the damage is assessed. More than 20,000 linemen will work to restore the deeply damaged power lines,” Shauna Sanford, communications director for Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards wrote in a tweet.

“The good news: no federal levee failed or was overtopped.”

Kevin Lepine, president of Plaquemines Parish, home to 23,000 residents and one of Louisiana’s southern most communities, said he had had little sleep overnight as he braced for first light and the chance to go and assess the damage.

“We’re worried about the levees down the road,” he said.

On Sunday night, the sheriff’s office in Ascension Parish reported the first known U.S. fatality from the storm, a 60-year-old man killed by a tree falling on his home near Baton Rouge, the state capital.

President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in the state, ordering federal assistance to bolster recovery efforts in more than two dozen storm-stricken parishes.

Ida crashed ashore as Louisiana was already reeling from a resurgence of COVID-19 infections that has strained the state’s healthcare system, with an estimated 2,450 COVID-19 patients hospitalized statewide, many in intensive care units.

Its arrival came 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina, one of the most catastrophic and deadly U.S. storms on record, struck the Gulf Coast, and about a year after the last Category 4 hurricane, Laura, battered Louisiana.

A loss of generator power at the Thibodaux Regional Health System hospital in Lafourche Parish, southwest of New Orleans, forced medical workers to manually assist respirator patients with breathing while they were moved to another floor, the state Health Department confirmed to Reuters.

Within 12 hours of landfall, Ida had plowed a destructive path that submerged much of the state’s coastline under several feet of surf, with flash flooding reported by the National Hurricane Center across southeastern Louisiana.

Nearly all offshore Gulf oil production was suspended in advance of the storm, and major ports along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts were closed to shipping.

WIDESPREAD OUTAGES

Power was knocked out Sunday night to the entire New Orleans metropolitan area following the failure of all eight transmission lines that deliver electricity to the city, the utility company Entergy Louisiana reported.

One transmission tower collapsed into the Mississippi River, the Jefferson Parish Emergency Management Department said.

More than 1 million Louisiana homes and businesses in all were without electricity early on Monday, as well as some 120,000 in Mississippi, according to the tracking site Poweroutage.US.

Residents of the most vulnerable coastal areas were ordered to evacuate days ahead of the storm. Those riding out the storm in their homes in New Orleans braced for the toughest test yet of major upgrades to a levee system constructed following devastating floods in 2005 from Katrina, a hurricane that claimed some 1,800 lives.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the newly reinforced New Orleans levees were expected to hold, though they said they said the flood walls could be overtopped in some places.

Hundreds of miles of new levees were built around New Orleans after flooding from Katrina inundated much of the low-lying city, especially historically Black neighborhoods.

Inundation from Ida’s storm surge – high surf driven by the hurricane’s winds – was reported to be exceeding predicted levels of 6 feet (1.8 m) along parts of the coast. Videos posted on social media showed storm surge flooding had transformed sections of Highway 90 along the Louisiana and Mississippi coast into a choppy river.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New Orleans; Additional reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault and Jonathan Allen in New York, Erwin Seba in Houston, Rich McKay in Atlanta, Laura Sanicola, Linda So and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington, Liz Hampton in Denver, and Arpan Varghese, Kanishka Singh, Bhargav Acharya and Nakul Iyer in Bengaluru; Writing by Steve Gorman and Maria Caspani; Editing by Richard Pullin and Nick Macfie)