I have a question

[msbee]

about electricity during a hurricane.
You always see the transformers blowing right and left.
why don't the electricity companies shut down the grids when a storm is approaching?
Here , in the islands, the electricity companies always shut off the power well before the storm actually strikes.
They take no chances with fires,explosions, or damage to their equipment in the power plant.
Is there any reason why that is not done in the States?

[Aimless]

Aside from the fact there would be a major revolt if you attempted to take the ability to run air conditioning away from most Floridians.... some people require power for oxygen machines, diaysis machines ( PD), nebulizers, ventalators, etc.. Yes, much of that could be run by generators or those people could go to special needs centers - but the number of people who have those special needs is stagering - and the concept would be strongly resisted. (Not that it isn't a good idea - just not that feasible ). Also -many areas don't lose power and it is next to impossible to know for certain what areas would need to be shut down.

[KeyLargoDave]

Many reasons, I suppose.
Many hospitals and other facilities and businesses would be damaged by shutting down the power.
It would be a lot of work -- crews would have to go all over turning off hundreds of substations and connections possibly.
Generating plants might be far from the landfall point, they don't want to shut down an entire power plant to cut the power, too much trouble to restart?

Islands that have been served for years by generators are more used to it, I guess. I understand it wasn't so long ago when parts of the Bahamas and Caribbean regularly had electric service only part of each day. It's a very long time since it's been like that in the US.

All speculation. I 'spose the real question is, how much extra damage is really caused by the system being energized when a storm hits? Do all those transformers really "explode," or are we just seeing spectacular arcing that doesn't leave permanent damage?

[crazycajuncane]

That is a great question and I believe the top two posters said a handful.

You got to look at the big picture, not to mention not everyone will lose power. Hospitals want to run off electricity as long as they can. As much so does the people who stay home. No a/c, no refrigeration and cutting it off when the storm might go another way just wouldn't cut it.

It does make sense though, I wonder if it would be harder to find where the problem was if they shut off all the electricity. With it still on, they can pinpoint the area that the power went out. Just my humble opinion.

[David]

Yeah.. its better to have it until storm knocks it out, then turn it out and may not lose it.

[hurricane1020]

during charley they shut the electric out does anybody know why

[patsmsg]

I've always thought it would be a good idea to turn off power just before landfall. There are a lot of reasons, but I think the risk of electrocution and fire during and especially immediately after the storm passes could be greatly mitigated.

We would know before hand, and those requiring power for oxygen and other health reasons, while it would be an inconvenience, could choose to shelter at a hospital or shelter with generator power.

I don't mean to seem insensitive to those with a need. The reality is that if the power goes out because of the storm and is NOT turned off, they will still be without power. They should make alternate plans regardless for their personal health needs.

Emergency response teams and locals would all be safer immediately after the storm passes with the power off until the damage to infrastructure can be accurately assessed IMHO.

[bahamaswx]

Islands that have been served for years by generators are more used to it, I guess. I understand it wasn't so long ago when parts of the Bahamas and Caribbean regularly had electric service only part of each day.

Not sure what you're talking about.

[stormie]

They were going to shut down the power grids for Charley in parts of Tampa for the exact reasons you mentioned. There were reports of certain areas having power cut in anticipation of one or more of these storms (sorry can't recall specifically when & where, but barrier islands, I think).

There are special needs shelters, and those who require electricity to run life saving medical equipment are transported there far in advance of any potential storm. Otherwise, they could potentially lose power to devastating effects...not much point in NOT cutting power since who knows when they could lose it anyway.

The media seemed to do a good job explaining how necessary the power shut downs would be and minimizing any reports of people complaining about it.

[cycloneye]

Here in Puerto Rico the electric company shutted down all the power in all the island as strong tropical storm Jeanne 70 mph was getting into the island from the SE and the explanation was that they did it to save the plants and the 115,000 volt lines.But there is now a controversy about that and an investigation is underway to determine why they shut down the whole system even as Jeanne has not affected the whole island at the moment they did it around 11 AM on september 15th.Jeanne made landfall at Maunabo Puerto Rico around 12:30 PM after they shut down the power to all the island.

[TormentaPR]

The power authority here in Puerto Rico did just that when tropical storm Jeanne was making landfall last week, to avoid damage to the system. They had never shut down the power before, not even during hurricane Georges. This created a controversy, especially in the areas which were not affected by Jeanne and were left without power and water for days. I don't know whether that was the correct decision, when you think of persons on ventilators or other life support devices who do not have generators, but I must acknowledge that power was restored quickly, in my case, two days.

[Josephine96]

I actually wonder this too sometimes.. If they shut it off.. it may make for less outages.. My power company has 32,000 in the dark right now

[Brent]

Yeah.. its better to have it until storm knocks it out, then turn it out and may not lose it.

Yeah... During Ivan, we kept power(outside of a few surges) through the worst of the storm. We lost it for an hour after the rain had ended that evening and then had it out all day the next day because of a limb.

[stormie]

Oh! I should add that the reason shutting off the power in Tampa was planned until Charley turned was because of the potential devastating effects of a Cat 4 direct strike. In other words, the benefits outweighed the inconvenience and potential detrimental effects.

This was not considered in Tampa during Jeanne, from what I understand, due to the fact that the storm's potential damage would be much less (tropical storm/cat 1 vs. cat 4 direct strike).

[hurricane1020]

the day charley came was weird in cape coral the lights went out then 10 minutes later the wind got really bad thats why i think they shut the power off

[Lebowsky]

In my neighborhood, Feathersound, they generally shut it down before the storm hits.

I always lose power, but I always get it back real quick, which is a fair trade off.

[greeng13]

my parents in ne st pete (waterfront) usually have their power turned off by the electric co. prior to a storm but it seems to be only when a mand. evac. is ordered (probably another way to make you leave)

[stormie]

Yeah, I've heard that, too, greeng13.

[patsmsg]

Well, here's another sad case where they did not turn it off, and someone died as a result of electrocution from a downed line - this time as a result of Jeanne.

"In Miami, authorities said a man was electrocuted when he touched a downed power line."

This from a CNN arrticle today at http://www.cnn.com/2004/WEATHER/09/27/h ... index.html