4 ms·

uhm, a hurricane hit.

by theultdev 2y ago

slater 2y ago
If only they'd had literal decades to build up hardened infrastructure. Alas, ..
- UberFly 2y ago
  Their population doubled in size over the last quarter century. Maybe that has something to do with it.
  - ironmagma 2y ago
    So what you're saying is they scaled too fast?
  - wiml 2y ago
    So half their infrastructure is less than 25 years old and it still wasn't built up to snuff?
    - gregw2 2y ago
      It doesn’t seem that’s the issue. 60% of lines are buried but it’s mostly the newer developments paid for by the land developers: https://houstonlanding.org/to-bury-or-not-to-bury-how-can-centerpoint-best-prepare-power-lines-for-major-storms/ https://houstonlanding.org/to-bury-or-not-to-bury-how-can-ce... That said, I’d expect to be able to see this effect on the outage maps and I don’t.
    - gregw2 2y ago
      True, but it doesn’t seem that’s the issue. 60% of lines are buried but it’s mostly the newer developments paid for by the land developers: https://houstonlanding.org/to-bury-or-not-to-bury-how-can-centerpoint-best-prepare-power-lines-for-major-storms/ https://houstonlanding.org/to-bury-or-not-to-bury-how-can-ce... That said, I’d expect to be able to see this effect on the outage maps and I don’t, at least from an eyeball perspective.
      - jen20 2y ago
        Anecdotally, plenty of areas with buried lines have outages still.
bigthymer 2y ago
Yes, but only a Cat 1.
- pennybanks 2y ago
  but the wind was crazy. rain only lasted but a few hours. but that wind was pretty intense. a lot more so then anything iv experienced
- sojournerc 2y ago
  Cat 1 is up to 90 mph wind. That's not nothing.
  - reaperman 2y ago
    We’d expect some power outage but when Category 1 hurricanes hit Florida, power is back on in 1-3 days. This knocked out 85% of Houston’s power and will take weeks for many customers to get A/C back on. Excess deaths are rising fast, and I know of many pets which have died already. Category 1 hurricanes aren’t supposed to cause this much damage. Most likely, Centerpoint skimped on tree maintenance, which led to excessively large damage.
- nunez 2y ago
  IN the city. With sustained high winds for hours. And Houston has LOTS of big trees next to power lines.
sho 2y ago
"Well a wave hit it!"
- nvader 2y ago
  Is that unusual?
  - weard_beard 2y ago
    oh yeah. At sea? Chance in a million!
lurking_swe 2y ago
sure. and a hurricane will probably hit every few years at this rate of global warming. You realize texas is right by the gulf of mexico, and the trend is stronger and stronger hurricanes every year? Next you’ll tell me we couldn’t foresee this… regularly trimming all trees around power lines, slowly moving toward underground power lines, etc is the way to go.
- theultdev 2y ago
  Hurricanes are not increasing in frequency. And is this your same advice for California? Everyone needs to bury their lines but it costs money. Cali every year has to have controlled blackouts because it's so bad at managing lines, no hurricanes needed.
  - lurking_swe 2y ago
    “not increasing in frequency” - is this a hoax then? https://climatemodeling.science.energy.gov/news/more-frequent-hurricanes-raise-risk-us-east-and-gulf-coasts https://climatemodeling.science.energy.gov/news/more-frequen... And yes California is another state with a poor grid. 100%. On the bright side i see some action being taken to improve things: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/california-puc-power-line-undergrounding-program/709846/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/california-puc-power-line-u...
    - theultdev 2y ago
      yes it is a hoax, NOAA tracks this and they haven't found any significant increase: https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes/ https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes/ > There is no strong evidence of century-scale increasing trends in U.S. landfalling hurricanes or major hurricanes. Similarly for Atlantic basin-wide hurricane frequency (after adjusting for changing observing capabilities over time), there is not strong evidence for an increase since the late 1800s in hurricanes, major hurricanes, or the proportion of hurricanes that reach major hurricane intensity.

uhm, a hurricane hit.

slater 2y ago

If only they'd had literal decades to build up hardened infrastructure. Alas, ..

UberFly 2y ago
Their population doubled in size over the last quarter century. Maybe that has something to do with it.
- ironmagma 2y ago
  So what you're saying is they scaled too fast?
- wiml 2y ago
  So half their infrastructure is less than 25 years old and it still wasn't built up to snuff?
  - gregw2 2y ago
    It doesn’t seem that’s the issue. 60% of lines are buried but it’s mostly the newer developments paid for by the land developers: https://houstonlanding.org/to-bury-or-not-to-bury-how-can-centerpoint-best-prepare-power-lines-for-major-storms/ https://houstonlanding.org/to-bury-or-not-to-bury-how-can-ce... That said, I’d expect to be able to see this effect on the outage maps and I don’t.
  - gregw2 2y ago
    True, but it doesn’t seem that’s the issue. 60% of lines are buried but it’s mostly the newer developments paid for by the land developers: https://houstonlanding.org/to-bury-or-not-to-bury-how-can-centerpoint-best-prepare-power-lines-for-major-storms/ https://houstonlanding.org/to-bury-or-not-to-bury-how-can-ce... That said, I’d expect to be able to see this effect on the outage maps and I don’t, at least from an eyeball perspective.
    - jen20 2y ago
      Anecdotally, plenty of areas with buried lines have outages still.

bigthymer 2y ago

Yes, but only a Cat 1.

pennybanks 2y ago
but the wind was crazy. rain only lasted but a few hours. but that wind was pretty intense. a lot more so then anything iv experienced
sojournerc 2y ago
Cat 1 is up to 90 mph wind. That's not nothing.
- reaperman 2y ago
  We’d expect some power outage but when Category 1 hurricanes hit Florida, power is back on in 1-3 days. This knocked out 85% of Houston’s power and will take weeks for many customers to get A/C back on. Excess deaths are rising fast, and I know of many pets which have died already. Category 1 hurricanes aren’t supposed to cause this much damage. Most likely, Centerpoint skimped on tree maintenance, which led to excessively large damage.
nunez 2y ago
IN the city. With sustained high winds for hours. And Houston has LOTS of big trees next to power lines.

sho 2y ago

"Well a wave hit it!"

nvader 2y ago
Is that unusual?
- weard_beard 2y ago
  oh yeah. At sea? Chance in a million!

lurking_swe 2y ago

sure. and a hurricane will probably hit every few years at this rate of global warming. You realize texas is right by the gulf of mexico, and the trend is stronger and stronger hurricanes every year? Next you’ll tell me we couldn’t foresee this… regularly trimming all trees around power lines, slowly moving toward underground power lines, etc is the way to go.

theultdev 2y ago
Hurricanes are not increasing in frequency. And is this your same advice for California? Everyone needs to bury their lines but it costs money. Cali every year has to have controlled blackouts because it's so bad at managing lines, no hurricanes needed.
- lurking_swe 2y ago
  “not increasing in frequency” - is this a hoax then? https://climatemodeling.science.energy.gov/news/more-frequent-hurricanes-raise-risk-us-east-and-gulf-coasts https://climatemodeling.science.energy.gov/news/more-frequen... And yes California is another state with a poor grid. 100%. On the bright side i see some action being taken to improve things: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/california-puc-power-line-undergrounding-program/709846/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/california-puc-power-line-u...
  - theultdev 2y ago
    yes it is a hoax, NOAA tracks this and they haven't found any significant increase: https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes/ https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes/ > There is no strong evidence of century-scale increasing trends in U.S. landfalling hurricanes or major hurricanes. Similarly for Atlantic basin-wide hurricane frequency (after adjusting for changing observing capabilities over time), there is not strong evidence for an increase since the late 1800s in hurricanes, major hurricanes, or the proportion of hurricanes that reach major hurricane intensity.