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Hurricane Irma
- Thread starter JohnD
- Start date
bclane
Well-Known Member
Wow that is a blast from the past. I remember that billboard!
Hurricane Irma ripped all the new advertisements off this billboard, revealing an ad for the "new" Stitch's Great Escape attraction underneath.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I know they are working hard, and that a lot of people have been restored.I am not an electrical expert.
However, What I do know is that gas stations should all have power.. and that no one should go two weeks or more again. That was the entire point of FPL spending billions after Wilma. What else was the reasoning for the expenditure?
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
Hurricane Irma ripped all the new advertisements off this billboard, revealing an ad for the "new" Stitch's Great Escape attraction underneath.
Well... It's kind of true.
They have been reopening the thing as a candy trail some nights.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Here @DisAl , this is why people are expecting shorter restoration periods this time. Hopefully the "weeks" is absolutely worst case and it won't actually happen.
Ken KayeContact ReporterSun Sentinel
It's been 10 years since Hurricane Wilma clobbered Florida, the last hurricane to do so.
Yet its legacy lingers. The pain it inflicted led to dramatic improvements, including a stronger electrical grid, more reliable phone lines, more durable traffic signal poles, backup generators at gas stations and grocery stores, and more accurate tropical forecasts.
"Wilma prompted a lot of good ideas," said Mary Hudak, spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FPL has spent more than $2 billion in Florida to strengthen 572 main power lines to critical facilities, including hospitals, police and fire departments and 911 centers.
The utility also has trimmed vegetation — the leading cause of power outages — from 120,000 miles of power lines and inspected 1.2 million poles to ensure they can withstand winds up to 150 mph.
About 2,000 high-volume intersections were upgraded with more durable traffic signal poles, and the state has scores of backup generators available to make sure they keep operating after a storm.
More than 120 gas stations and about 250 grocery stores in South Florida now are equipped with backup generators, and some cities purchased backup generators to keep water plants running.
Ken KayeContact ReporterSun Sentinel
It's been 10 years since Hurricane Wilma clobbered Florida, the last hurricane to do so.
Yet its legacy lingers. The pain it inflicted led to dramatic improvements, including a stronger electrical grid, more reliable phone lines, more durable traffic signal poles, backup generators at gas stations and grocery stores, and more accurate tropical forecasts.
"Wilma prompted a lot of good ideas," said Mary Hudak, spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FPL has spent more than $2 billion in Florida to strengthen 572 main power lines to critical facilities, including hospitals, police and fire departments and 911 centers.
The utility also has trimmed vegetation — the leading cause of power outages — from 120,000 miles of power lines and inspected 1.2 million poles to ensure they can withstand winds up to 150 mph.
About 2,000 high-volume intersections were upgraded with more durable traffic signal poles, and the state has scores of backup generators available to make sure they keep operating after a storm.
More than 120 gas stations and about 250 grocery stores in South Florida now are equipped with backup generators, and some cities purchased backup generators to keep water plants running.
DisAl
Well-Known Member
This really isn't the best venue for this discussion, but it does not matter how much you spend, or how much you prepare, a major hurricane is still going to do major damage which takes TIME to get repaired. As for gas stations, WHY DON"T THEY HAVE BACKUP GENERATORS OF THEIR OWN so they can continue to supply fuel as long as they have it? At least when I was working the highest priority was hospitals, then law enforcement, fire stations, etc. Then it was a matter of getting the most people on you could with the resources you had to work with, both manpower and material.
GhostHost1000
Premium Member
Hurricane Irma ripped all the new advertisements off this billboard, revealing an ad for the "new" Stitch's Great Escape attraction underneath.
wow so this hurricane was worse than we thought
21stamps
Well-Known Member
It wasn't a major hurricane in that area. Hence the frustration.
( side note for clarification- "major hurricane" is Cat 3 or above, not saying that southeast Florida didn't get clobbered by the storm over the weekend, but they didn't have Cat 3 winds)
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bclane
Well-Known Member
This probably is a really dumb question, but is the reason they don't bury all the power lines in storm prone areas because it it is harder to work on them, or is it primarily due to the installation cost? I would assume they have less issues when buried, but it is harder to get to them...but I really have no idea what I'm talking about. We have buried lines in our subdivision but right outside there are wires on poles. I assume the developer opted to bury the lines inside the subdivision and paid for it. Anyway, thanks in advance.
danlb_2000
Premium Member
Yes, it's much more expensive to bury them and when there are problems it costs more and takes more time to fix them. Putting them underground will protect them from wind and falling trees, but it also makes them susceptible to water damage.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I'd guess 9/10 would probably want the underground lines.. for many reasons...even making it worth the cost.
I was in WDW the first week of September, which is supposed to be one of the slowest weeks of the year and Pandora was always crowded and FoP always had a 2+ hour wait. During one mid-morning, they started to extend the queue into the land with roped-off switchbacks. That's a queue that someone said was designed to hold 4 hours worth of queuing (it's more like 3 unless you cram people in).
Occasionally, NRJ would be slightly less than an hour.
And the rest of the parks weren't 'empty'. Lots of people all the time.
draybook
Well-Known Member
And in a state with a high water table, I'd imagine it's more difficult to bury stuff. I may be wrong but just a thought.
/edit It is a high water table in Florida, right?
bclane
Well-Known Member
I didn't even think about water damage. I can see that being a huge concern in certain areas especially down south and in other low lying areas. I remember as a kid, our house was in Kendall near Dadeland mall and if you dug a hole a couple feet down it would fill up with water after a few minutes. It would just start seeping in.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
People have been fighting for years for FPL to bury their lines. It makes a huge difference. SoFla is prone to hurricanes. Most newer communities have underground lines, other ones have petitioned FPL to convert the existing ones.
bclane
Well-Known Member
Whatever the correct term is, you don't have to dig down very far in certain areas before you reach water that is for sure.
I think most areas here in Germany have underground power lines. Losing power is such a rare occurrence that people are in big shock when it happens. I remember when I was a kid there were power lines on poles and now and then we would lose power for a couple of hours in thunderstorms. I can't even tell you when I last lost power, it must be over 10 years ago. And while we don't get hurricanes, a typical winter storm blowing in from the North Atlantic brings plenty of damage with it, too. So, from personal experience I would say that the other issues burying brings with it are far outweighed by the increase in reliability! And considering Germany was able to pay for it, there ought to be no reason that the US could not afford it. I am no talking about remote rural areas, but densely populated metropolitan areas.
danlb_2000
Premium Member
Estimates I have seen in a few articles are anywhere from 4 to 14 times the cost for initial construction and then every you have to do with the line later, repairs, upgrades, expansions costs more which would all lead to a considerable increase in your utility bill.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
For sure, but many SoFloridians are fine with that increase because it means they aren't without power for days or weeks at a time.
Nj4mwc
Well-Known Member
They closed. I worked at wawa for 4 years in the late 90s and the corporate stance was always we don't close for nothing. I was 16 and walked through white blizzard conditions to go into work. Basically made coffee for cops and snowplow drivers for like 6 hours. I'm surprised they closed for this