Posted on 08/31/2021 7:28:10 AM PDT by blam
More than a million customers across Lousiana are without power on Tuesday morning. Some reports indicate it could take weeks for the lights to come back on as thousands of miles of transmission lines were damaged after Hurricane Ida rolled through on Sunday.
The Category 4 hurricane raises fresh questions about how well New Orleans and other coastal areas across Lousiana are prepared for natural disasters. As of 0630 ET, PowerOutage.US reports a little more than one million customers are without power across the state’s coastal plain.
Energy provider Entergy Corp has been surveying the damage since Monday and has found 207 transmission lines spanning more than 2,000 miles have been knocked out by the storm, according to WSJ.
Rod West, Entergy’s group president of utility operations, said drones, helicopters, and land-based vehicles are surveying the damage and estimate it could take at least three weeks to restore power.
The crumpled Entergy transmission tower by River Road in Bridge City. Local volunteer firemen said it collapsed iver a two-hour period Sunday night as #HurricaneIda battered the area. /1 @NOLAnews #nola #energytwitter pic.twitter.com/IqBXVtvjuZ
— Anthony McAuley (@AnthonyMcAuley2) August 30, 2021
“The hard part is that the geography is a rather wide swath,” West said. “That three weeks is not going to apply to everybody the same way.” He added some transmission towers need to be replaced entirely due to “significant wind” damage.
West said the damage to the transmission system is more severe than Hurricane Katrina because Ida made landfall at 150 mph.
Besides transmission lines, some of Entergy’s powerplants have sustained damage. West said the damage at some plants would not hinder energy production. One of their nuclear power plants 25 miles west of New Orleans on the Mississippi River was shuttered ahead of the storm.
West said they’d rebuilt their transmission system over the years to withstand speeds of 150 miles an hour. Still, it appears some of those high-voltage cables that carry electricity from power plants to substations that connect to lower-voltage distribution lines, were no match for Ida.
It could take weeks for Entergy and other power companies to restore energy in the state.
Customers have been panic searching Generac generators and generators since the hurricane made landfall.
Searches for “generator”
Searches for “generac”
There’s potential for power to be out for a few weeks. We noted communication systems are offline in New Orleans. What are the chances this could spiral into a humanitarian crisis?
16 Years After Katrina, Hurricane Ida Leaves Trail Of Devastation Across Louisiana>
Hey Green New Dealers, how well do you think a wind or solar farm would hold up in a Cat 4 hurricane ?
Biden: this means we need another infrastructure bill.
Imagine, a cat 4 hurricane that lands in the USA and causes no damage at all.
Gee, I wonder if they’ll require any out-of-state workers coming to help repair the hurricane damage to be vaccinated. Sadly, not sarcasm.
OH NO! How will they charge their cars?
Don’t these Democrats care?
People are without power!
Where is Biden?
IBEW from Philly and the suburbs are en route.
One emergency generator can run gas pumps for fueling several cars in a fraction of the time.
Brig on the big OT gouge.
Brig = bring, but you knew that
Double time 24/7.
It’s pretty sweet making $92 per hour while sleeping.
The utility companies get to write it all off as emergency spending.
Hey Green New Dealers, how well do you think a wind or solar farm would hold up in a Cat 4 hurricane ?
They might think, with 100 plus mph winds, that the wind turbines would be generating more electricity than ever.
Yep.
And not a dime of that so-called “infrastructure” money will ever be spent on actual infrastructure.
Yup, good thing we have gazillion dollars ready to go for “infrastructure”!
I don't know about a solar farm. But my panels are locked down in so many places that they probably keep the metal roof more secure than without the panels. Not saying it makes them impervious to hurricanes (or in my neck of the woods, tornados). Just saying they probably move the needle some in the good direction.
And by the way, when the grid power goes out I have backup power from my solar panels and batteries. The last time the power went out I was able to operate just fine with some trimmed down use (kinda like running on a backup generator and not having enough power for all the normal luxuries, but I get to choose them without having to run cables around and cranking up a generator). Once the weather clears and the sun comes out, I operate on a full use, even if the grid's still down. That's because on most days my solar system generates more power than I use or can store for the future.
It will be used to reward Democrat supporters.
Fairfax Teachers Win $32.7 Million Bonus for ‘Extraordinary’ Work During Pandemic
Boss, Don’t know when I’ll be able to get back to work. There’s no power to charge my car.
‘I understand. You can work from home for the time being.’
D’oh!
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