Ike power out... anyone think there is a problem?

[gmarblestone]

Does anyone else think that there was something VERY wrong that a Category 2 Hurricane took out 93% of power in Houston? I just can't imagine that in a city this size and wealth that we don't have the proper protection from something that threatens us every year. I am glad that the city and Centerpoint are patting themselves on the back on the great job they are doing, but would we even be in this mess if correct measures were put into place protecting us from catastrophic electrical failure? In the software industry i think this is known as "Write Yourself a Minivan". Do a terrible job but get paid to fix it later! Yes, i did expect some power outages, but not 93%. Katy and sugarland are almost back up. Why is Houston lagging behind? Why are the parts of the city that pay most of the taxes being fixed last (ill get in trouble for this one, haha)?

Okay, Rip me a new one...

G

[Mike G]

It was a Cat 2 that acted like a Cat 4+ in many ways, it was also one of the biggest in size hurricanes in a long time. If you follow the track it was still a Cat 1 a long long ways inland. In short, no .. I'm completely unsurprised how much damage it left in its wake.

[gmarblestone]

Anyone without power still want to comment? haha....

[Mike G]

I'm still without power, so whats your point? I'm at my office (which is finally open today) downtown.

[gmarblestone]

Why do you think katy and Sugarland are coming back online so much faster than Houston. Do you think having a monopoly on the Power provider in houston is a bad/good thing? I was just looking for more of a discussion. That's all.

G

[Hogleg 44]

From what I saw on the weather before the storm hit, and what impressed my about this one, was the size of it. Diameter.
The winds were not as strong in mph as many other hurricanes, but the wide spread of the storm mush have meant that the strong winds, though not as fast, may have lasted much longer than a more compact hurricane would have lasted, and thus did more damage by their longevity.
I have not heard any mention of this on the tv, but it just seems kind of logical.

I was in Galveston in 1961 after a hurricane hit that year, and tornado's did more damage to buildings than the hurricane. The hurricane mostly created water damage that year.

[Sonny]

No power here, but I ain't complaining about it! Just look at the news, other families are in far worse situations.

[kenw]

Originally Posted by gmarblestone

Why do you think katy and Sugarland are coming back online so much faster than Houston. Do you think having a monopoly on the Power provider in houston is a bad/good thing? I was just looking for more of a discussion. That's all.

G

less damage since they were farther from the center (less wind) and newer infrastructure (more buried utilities). Sugar Land and Katy, being former rice/sugar cane fields, also have a LOT less trees, trees cause much of the damage.

and they're much, much, much smaller.....

[gmarblestone]

Originally Posted by kenw

less damage since they were farther from the center (less wind) and newer infrastructure (more buried utilities). Sugar Land and Katy, being former rice/sugar cane fields, also have a LOT less trees, trees cause much of the damage.

and they're much, much, much smaller.....

Well i will dissect this line by line.
-Farther from center, okay maybe.
-Less trees should NOT be an issue. Centerpoint should be protecting their lines, OUR lines, by trimming anything close. They do in fact have this service. They told me they were coming by to trim near my house but left a branch that actually engulfed a power line. It is still standing but this WILL be reported by me once this is over. Mediocre service and now 93% failure might go hand in hand.
- Your last point has ENRAGED me, haha. Smaller? What happened to power in numbers? Why would Centerpoint focus on smaller areas. The promised to focus on the greater numbers not the opposite. Houston needs to have their OWN power company that focuses on US NOT on the people who fled Houston for greener pastures. Let them worry about themselves !

I'm not taking anything too seriously. Like sonny said. I am pretty fortunate too, but still annoyed!

People without power should at least get a discount for a year on service based on days without power. How about that? Lets make sugarland pay for us for a while!


G

[DeannaD]

I HAVE power (as of Monday) and I'm still mad. My family in Louisiana suffers frequent outages after hurricanes (my parents were out 4 days with Gustav). I'd always blamed that on typical Louisiana gov't issues and their propensity to run all their electricity above ground. I would have never DREAMED that it could happen here. I thought Houston (and surrounding areas) had much smarter engineers and I KNOW we have a lot more tax money. Yet, my Houston friends (and a few in Sugar Land) are still without power on day 6!!! Unbelievable to me. I'm shocked and VERY disappointed.

Of COURSE the people in Galveston and coastal areas have it much worse, but you make a conscious decision about WHERE you choose live. With that decision come inherent risk. If you choose to live in a coastal area, you know that this kind of disaster is a likely risk. AND I think if you decide to live in the 4th largest city you should be afforded some protection by city planners and an infrastructure that can survive heavy winds!!!

Just my .02. I know they're working as hard as they can NOW... but hopefully some kind of post-crisis examination will avoid this kind of debacle in the future. I DO wish everyone the best of luck and if you live in Sugar Land and need somewhere to come and do laundry or something.. please PM me.

Deanna

[CobyPhoto]

I don't think it is that odd at all. I lost power for several days, but I had a generator and was able to run just about anything in the house...a computer wasn't one of them.

The reason so many of the people without power haven't gotten it back on yet, is because Houston is SO big. Anytime this happens, individuals have to walk that de-energized circuit to insure it is safe to turn back on before they do it. Can you image how much time that takes?

My older brother is still without power as well. Why? There are so many trees down on their line, and the access to those trees is so blocked with other downed trees, it is too time intensive for them to undertake at this time as it would only energize about 4 houses...they moved on to other damamge that would be less time intensive and energize many more clients.

Just look around you at the number of power lines in your neighborhood and supplying your neighborhood and you will begin to understand the reason it took out so many people's power.

CJ

[DeannaD]

Right, but I wouldn't have to look around at the power lines if they were safely buried underground!!!

[kenw]

Originally Posted by gmarblestone

Well i will dissect this line by line.
-Farther from center, okay maybe.
-Less trees should NOT be an issue. Centerpoint should be protecting their lines, OUR lines, by trimming anything close. They do in fact have this service. They told me they were coming by to trim near my house but left a branch that actually engulfed a power line. It is still standing but this WILL be reported by me once this is over. Mediocre service and now 93% failure might go hand in hand.
- Your last point has ENRAGED me, haha. Smaller? What happened to power in numbers? Why would Centerpoint focus on smaller areas. The promised to focus on the greater numbers not the opposite. Houston needs to have their OWN power company that focuses on US NOT on the people who fled Houston for greener pastures. Let them worry about themselves !

I'm not taking anything too seriously. Like sonny said. I am pretty fortunate too, but still annoyed!

People without power should at least get a discount for a year on service based on days without power. How about that? Lets make sugarland pay for us for a while!


G

Grant, i realize you are upset but if you cut down just ANY tree that could fall across the lines, you would take out most trees in N Harris county. Our pines are 60'-80' tall. I have seen many just lean over and take out several lines. The trees weren't anywhere near the lines, 80' is a rather long ways away. And they can't trim trees that are 80' away from their right of way/easement. Broken limbs fly even farther.

Houston is NOT a single power line serving 4 million people. The priorities are that the simpler fixes that get more people online is higher; conversely the harder the fix and the fewer folks it fixes are lower priorities, regardless of whether you are in River Oaks or Cut-n-Shoot.

You WILL get a discount. You don't pay for electricity you don't use.

[kenw]

Originally Posted by DeannaD

Right, but I wouldn't have to look around at the power lines if they were safely buried underground!!!

and that is common in some areas. In fact, it was a feature that sold me on our present house (albeit a minor one). The newer parts of our same subdivision have above ground power lines. They went down within an hour of us and came back up at about the same time as ours. Meaning that, in this case above or below made no difference.

Of course, being buried within the subdivision doesn't mean the lines aren't in the air somewhere between you and the power plant. High-power lines are rarely buried, when those go, it doesn't matter if the lines around you are buried or not.


changing the subject a smidge:

Yesterday while returning from work I passed long convoys of work trucks along the Beltway, some from Columbia (?) and tons from Kansas City (KCP&L). They appeared to be heading to a recon point at Sam Houston Racepark. Many folks waved to them as they passed, they often waved back.

they didn't appear to be enjoying Houston rush hour traffic, tho.....

[jeffkohn]

Centerpoint has a massive job before them, I'm not sure how they could do it much better. They started contingency planning before the hurricane was even forecast to hit Houston, making the arrangements to bring in the man-power and supplies need for repairs. But a hurricane of this size (area covered, not intensity) has never hit such a densely populated area before, we're talking in the neighborhood of 6 million people.

Cutting down every tree that could potentially fall on a line is neither practical nor desirable. Even if Centerpoint wanted to do so, they don't have the right-of-way to do it and property owners would never go for it. Underground utilities are the way to go obviously, but much of the infrastructure in Houston pre-dates that and you can't just go back and replace it all.

So as frustrating as it is for those still without power (and I realize I'm very lucky to have power back, especially since much of my part of town is still without it), I'm not really sure what they could have done differently.