On the Air

[libertango]

"We hope you've enjoyed your tour of the 1920s. Please keep your hands inside the cart at all times."

So, we're back on the air. The power went out at 0100 on Friday morning, and was restored approx. 1100, for a total of 34 hours.

KUOW is reporting that power is still out for about 460,000 customers of Puget Sound Energy alone. No other real reporting on the situation I can find, which means it seems it's only a concern if it's you without power. Bastards.

I say "1920s" rather than 19th Century mostly because we had a battery powered radio to listen to last night. We've had other adventures, like cooking by the fireplace embers. I've taken it from someone else, but the first day or two of a power blackout is the summer camp/honeymoon phase -- it's when it lasts longer that things get ugly.

This is probably the longest period I've been without power in my life, and the longest I've experienced since The Great Blackout of 1965 (which Wikipedia says people, "...were left without electricity for up to twelve hours." Ha. Pikers.).

The real limiting factor -- and wholly my own fault -- is that the Volvo had a nearly empty tank when things began, let alone since. Being out in the 'burbs, this has constrained our ability to move about.

I think that while it's been a peek into our past, it's also a glimpse into the post-peak-oil future -- the burbs got hit the hardest, and the city was able to recover far faster. In the long run, I think all the burbs on the eastern shore of Lake Washington are doomed, as such events will become more and more common. I don't expect another 13-year gap -- the Inauguration Day storm of 1993 -- before the next similar event. In fact, I think it's entirely in the cards it may happen again later this season.

So, time for some gas, D-cells, and a wind-up radio.

Comments

[drplokta]

If the storms become commoner, your infrastructure will be upgraded to cope. It's not the severity of the weather that causes problems, it's the unlikelihood -- hence an inch of snow can cause chaos in Houston and not even be noticed in Boston. In fact, it takes the same amount of snow to cause problems anywhere in the world, which is more snow than you usually get in the average winter.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

your infrastructure will be upgraded to cope.

Not if Washington voters have anything to say about it. Upgrading infrastructure costs money.

[n6tqs.livejournal.com]

If average conditions have changed, it's cheaper to upgrade infrastructure than it is to keep patching it. Undergrounding isn't a panacea for power, either. It's more vulnerable to flooding, and much harder to repair when it does break.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Undergrounding may not be a panacea, but there are lots of parts of Seattle that are sufficiently high off sea level that if they're flooding, we'll have bigger problems than just the supply of electricity. There's also the intermediate step of putting utility cables in above-ground, flexible service conduit.

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I agree that post-peak-oil futures are likely to have fewer suburbs/edge cities like where you live now.

But I also think that power outages are due to poor infrastructure maintenance and development. Many neighborhoods in the city were without power (West Seattle, Beacon Hill) for about as long as you were. And although we (in Fremont) weren't without power this time around, earlier this year we were.

I also agree that power outages are becoming more frequent, and taking longer to repair.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Re infrastructure -- I've never had as reliable a problem with power flickers as here in Redmond. Certainly Seattle's power grid, and that of the surrounding areas, would be a lot more secure if the locals would finally get it into their heads to BURY THE DAMN POWER LINES, ALREADY. Overhead powerlines are not just ugly, they're really vulnerable to both falling trees and blown down power poles, and also just stupid crap like crows nesting on the transformers., Getting them buried would do a lot to solidify the security of the grid. Oh, but that would require spending money. Ooops.

Radio is good ... most of the time

[bodandra.livejournal.com]

However, seeing that computers are required to get gasoline at most stations now ...