4 ms·

If every <x> years a typhoon is going to come along and wipe out <y>% of your infrastructure putting the affected regions of the country back to square one yet

If every <x> years a typhoon is going to come along and wipe out <y>% of your infrastructure putting the affected regions of the country back to square one yet again, coming up with a workable solution to that should be a super high priority. This is correct. Yet Miami is hit by a hurricane every seven years on average, and they don't manage to move the power lines underground, instead preferring to hang the wire above ground again every time it's blown down, and charging the population for the privilege of having electric power. They also rebuilt New Orleans in areas where they shouldn't, and still cannot put proper sea defenses in where they ought to. But when Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, was hit in 1970 by the great 1970 cyclone, the incident that triggered Independence, they managed to put in concrete storm shelters. These things helped to save many lives in the subsequent years. Guys, anyone at home? Civil defense is a political problem, it seems.

mistermann 13y ago
I'd have to look at the cost comparison of overhead vs underground power lines, keeping in mind the presumably extreme levels of standards one would have to meet, but I would not be surprised at all if the decision was 100% based on right out in the open corruption. This is one of the problems we have over here that holds us back, and it is getting increasingly worse imho. Another problem for poor nations is the initial capital cost complicating the decision of building cheap and fragile vs expensive and resilient. Sometimes they simply don't have the money. Sometimes they do but the genuine uncertainty of another typhoon of this magnitude makes it too difficult to make the commitment. Other times they're perhaps not even thinking in this way at all.
bpodgursky 13y ago
My understanding was that since Florida is essentially at sea level the water table was high enough that it would not be safe or practical to put electrical wires underground. Could be wrong though.
- HarryHirsch 13y ago
  In Weston, FL, which was developed in the 1990 and really took off during the recent bubble the greater part of residential power lines are underground, and consequently they had little trouble after Wilma and Katrina. They are on the western edge of Miami-Palm Beach metro area, where the water table would be higher because of proximity to the Everglades. I don't think this is an engineering problem. This is a political issue - it would be too difficult to find the money for the conversion, even more so, since in the US taxes are locally raised and spent. Try finding sufficient funds to get the work done in, say, Opa-Locka, or try to raise funds in Palmetto Bay to pay for Homestead.
- ams6110 13y ago
  Also it may well be that above ground lines and the higher damage/maintenance costs are still cheaper than acquiring easements and all the other costs of installing underground utility infrastructure.
- VLM 13y ago
  "Florida is essentially at sea level" Sea level goes up in a hurricane, way up. And the only thing worse than freshwater flood for underground wires is saltwater. And if the ground mounted transformers are flooded and destroyed you're losing power. And once power is cut, the power co can't just flip a switch without burning down the whole city, because flood damage means 0.1% of houses will catch fire and the fire dept is already busy with their own issues not to mention trees in the road and such.
rcthompson 13y ago
Is it possible to reliably bury power lines in Florida? The ground is one big sea-level swamp.

mistermann 13y ago

I'd have to look at the cost comparison of overhead vs underground power lines, keeping in mind the presumably extreme levels of standards one would have to meet, but I would not be surprised at all if the decision was 100% based on right out in the open corruption. This is one of the problems we have over here that holds us back, and it is getting increasingly worse imho. Another problem for poor nations is the initial capital cost complicating the decision of building cheap and fragile vs expensive and resilient. Sometimes they simply don't have the money. Sometimes they do but the genuine uncertainty of another typhoon of this magnitude makes it too difficult to make the commitment. Other times they're perhaps not even thinking in this way at all.

bpodgursky 13y ago

My understanding was that since Florida is essentially at sea level the water table was high enough that it would not be safe or practical to put electrical wires underground. Could be wrong though.

HarryHirsch 13y ago
In Weston, FL, which was developed in the 1990 and really took off during the recent bubble the greater part of residential power lines are underground, and consequently they had little trouble after Wilma and Katrina. They are on the western edge of Miami-Palm Beach metro area, where the water table would be higher because of proximity to the Everglades. I don't think this is an engineering problem. This is a political issue - it would be too difficult to find the money for the conversion, even more so, since in the US taxes are locally raised and spent. Try finding sufficient funds to get the work done in, say, Opa-Locka, or try to raise funds in Palmetto Bay to pay for Homestead.
ams6110 13y ago
Also it may well be that above ground lines and the higher damage/maintenance costs are still cheaper than acquiring easements and all the other costs of installing underground utility infrastructure.
VLM 13y ago
"Florida is essentially at sea level" Sea level goes up in a hurricane, way up. And the only thing worse than freshwater flood for underground wires is saltwater. And if the ground mounted transformers are flooded and destroyed you're losing power. And once power is cut, the power co can't just flip a switch without burning down the whole city, because flood damage means 0.1% of houses will catch fire and the fire dept is already busy with their own issues not to mention trees in the road and such.

rcthompson 13y ago

Is it possible to reliably bury power lines in Florida? The ground is one big sea-level swamp.