Electric Grid in South Florida Severely Damaged by Wilma

[Wacahootaman]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12996082.htm

ELECTRICITY

FPL substations `severely damaged'

Many customers may have to wait up to two weeks to get power back, FPL officials said.

BY JOHN DORSCHNER

jdorschner@herald.com

Hurricane Wilma did massive damage to Florida Power & Light's electricity supply system, knocking out 240 substations and trashing the major transmission lines that deliver electricity to customers.

That makes Wilma a far more destructive hurricane than Katrina. In that storm, FPL blamed trees falling on residential power lines for most of the damage and promised power back to 90 percent of South Florida homes within five days.

This time, because of the damage to its substations and transmission lines, Florida Power & Light executives said it may take up to two weeks for more than half of its three million powerless customers to get electricity back.

It could be three weeks for 95 percent to get power, said FPL President Armando Olivera, and four weeks for all customers to be restored.

For reasons that are still unclear, Wilma knocked out 240 substations, each of which serves 10,000 to 30,000 customers, as well as high-power transmission lines and poles.

''We experienced very severe damage to our infrastructure,'' said FPL Vice President Geisha Williams.

The worst destruction occurred in Broward and southern Palm Beach counties, Williams said. At one point, all the substations in Broward were knocked out, essentially darkening the entire county.

This was a far worse infrastructure hit than FPL experienced last year during Charley, Frances and Jeanne, or this year during Katrina, Olivera said.

One reason was the broad swath of the hurricane, with strong winds spread across 180 miles, the FPL executives said.

Another reason was was that Wilma reached Category 2 or Category 3 strength in some parts of the utility's territory, considerably stronger than Katrina's Category 1 winds.

Williams reported that surveyors frequently reported they ''have seen poles snapped in two,'' something rarely reported during Katrina.

Flying debris appeared to be the reason for many of the knocked-out substations, but Olivera said that didn't explain all the damage to the substations, which are combinations of lines and equipment, much of which is exposed to the elements.

''Frankly, it's not 100 percent clear to us why those facilities took a lot of damage,'' Olivera said. ``That's going to take weeks, months to figure out why.''

The large transmission lines carry high-voltage power from the company's generators, which suffered little damage, to substations, which lower the voltage and distribute the power to neighborhood lines to bring to houses.

Williams said 40 substations already have been brought back to power, but each substation must undergo an arduous restart process, in which every element and circuit is checked before the unit is brought back on line.

Then every feeder leading from the substation must be checked, and after that workers must examine the transformer that reduces voltage once again and distributes power to homes.

Olivera said the utility was being cautious in promises for restoration. ''These estimates are based on a really incomplete assessment,'' he said, because less than 24 hours had passed since Hurricane Wilma cleared the area. Helicopter crews were still examining the major transmission lines on Tuesday afternoon.

County-by-county estimates could be available today, officials said. Neighborhood forecasts might come later in the week.

FPL said it had about 6,000 workers in the field and was bringing in another 3,000 before Sunday from states around the country.

Officials said they expected all hospitals to have power back by the end of Tuesday, as well as Port Everglades, the crucial entrance point for much of the region's gasoline for cars. Miami International Airport was powered up by mid-afternoon.

At 8 p.m., about 412,700 of the 3.2 million customers statewide who had lost power had been restored, FPL said. In Broward, 856,300 homes remained dark; 6,500 had been restored. In Miami-Dade, 870,400 remained without power; 86,100 had their electricity restored.



R E L A T E D L I N K S
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• FEMA to offer money to victims
• Taps down to trickle and unsafe for many
• Fine print may cut payout
• Gas plentiful, but most pumps still out of order
• Supply and demand: Ice never looked so good
• Boat Show: Docked and damaged
• Late storm sobers Florida tourists
• Signs of flood greet many on return to Keys
• Storm wreaks havoc on farms in Florida
• S. Florida hospitals contending with shortages
• Damage to shipping limited if ports open soon
• Passenger ships dodge hurricane and change itineraries
• For some migrants, everything is lost
• No classes now could shorten vacations later
• Storm wreaks havoc on farms in Florida
• Media struggled on-air as storm blew through
• Death toll climbs to 7 across the state
• Chaos rules at traffic stops
• Broward courthouse to be shut through next week
• No flights of fancy: Airports are limping back toward normalcy
• Garbage pickup -- he's the cleanup king
• After floods, saltwater a concern in Cuba
• Curfews help halt incidents of looting
• 15 dead, a dozen missing from Tropical Storm Alpha
• Hurricane center accurately predicted Wilma's path
• Courthouses to remain closed through next week in Broward
• SW Broward: Roughed up and `lucky'
• Battered hospitals struggling, filling up
• Mobile homes hit hard by storm
• Game delayed; rink damaged
• Electric lights become a powerful attraction
• Dade notebook | Hurricane Wilma gave an unexpected blow to parts of South
• Historic building, Collier's first county seat, badly damaged
• For city firefighters, the calm came AFTER the storm
• Thirsty residents wait in line for water, ice
• List of Winn-Dixie, Publix and Home Depots that are open
• Firefighters battle blaze, winds
• Disaster draws new neighbors together
• Hurricane Wilma in photos
• Submit your Wilma photos
• Recovering after the storm
• What's open/closed, city services
• All the weather maps
• Hurricane preparation guide
• More on Storm.Herald.com
• Webcams
• Satellite map
• 5-day forecast map
• Tracking map
• View of Miami from webcams
• Report downed power lines
• Local airports unsure of opening
• FPL: Up to '4 weeks' to fix power
• Storm surge isolates islands
• `This is total. A disaster. I lost everything.'
• Cancún in ruins; looters strike
• President Bush declares state disaster area, opens up aid
• Warnings couldn't stop damage
• Broward blown out
• Storm blasts Brickell area
• Hospitals function on emergency power
• The answers homeowners need to know
• Marinas, houseboats destroyed
• South Dade farmers: `The wind got us this time'
• Where to call if you have a damage claim
• Comcast cable assesses damage, seeks to restore service
• After the storm | Advice for staying safe and caring for your home
• President declares disaster area
• Summary of Dade, Broward damage
• Blind Eye | Miami Herald investigative report on problems with hurricane forecasting
• How to purify water

[inotherwords]

I can't imagine being without power for that long. And some of these people were without it for a week after Katrina.

What a mess for a storm of this intensity. This is a wake-up call for sure.

[Zadok]

Hey there fellow Floridians

West Palm Beach here! Right off Palm Beach Lakes Exit --

Just an amazing storm all away around! The back winds were as strong if not stronger than front! Definately more gusts!

The wife and I rode it out on the top floor of our condo! Wow, we glued to our picture window like it was a big screen TV! What a view! During the back wind we became a bit more concerned (roof sounded like it was coming off) and withdrew into our safe room! What an experience, BUT will NOT do this again!!! (Palm Beach County was forcast to have only a Cat 1, But got a Cat3!?!)

Our entire complex had no structual damage but lots of large trees down, screening blown out on patios, and vinyl sidings removed, and fences are all down!!!

Good News is we do have power this morning (something short of a miracle -- but we are in a heavy retail/business area so guess they got this section up and runing quickly)

Hope everyone has a great day!!!!


Zadok