The Great Texas Power Outage

[JohnH]

Last Tuesday (May 28) there was a tremendous storm that took out power in Texas. Among 4,007,426 customers in the local power distribution grid for the DFW area, ONCOR, about 690,000 customers lost power. I was without power from Tuesday morning until Thursday evening. On Wednesday I got dry ice and regular ice to try to preserve food in my refrigerator. Nonetheless I wound up throwing out about $60.00 of food, and I spent $50.00 for dry ice.
So I placed an order with Amazon for a dual fuel generator. I will keep two tanks of propane on hand for power outages as propane does not degrade unlike gasoline. At least I'll keep the refrigerator and the gas furnace, if necessary, running during power outages. I'm thinking about ice storms that can take out power for over a week.
I was fortunate to have a gas water heater and a gas stove. I was still able to cook on the range top using matches to light the burners.

John

[crfriend]

Ah, the joys of the 21'st Century in the Third World. Ain't life grand.

[JohnH]

Yes indeed. Europeans notice all the overhead power lines in the US and remark that they look like something in a third world.
And look at all the homeless people.
Also look at the rancorous politics, characteristic of a banana republic. Instead of assuring free and fair elections the ruling party attempts to incarcerate political rivals.

John

[moonshadow]

If there's one nice thing about camper life, it's that power outages are not really a big deal. We have one 3500 watt low noise generator that burns two gallons of fuel per day...

3500 watts is plenty to power the entire camper.

Granted, we are usually connected to shore power, but when the lights so occasionally go out, one simple five minute trek outside to plug our house into the generator and off we go!

And by the way, our last electric bill was $25.

IMHO, camper life is really the only way to go if you want affordable living in the PNW.

[JohnH]

Some people had to wait until today (June 8 ) to get power back from the power outage at 2024 May 28 in the morning. I got my power back on May 30 in the evening. If we had an ice storm it could be a very long time before power would be restored with all the overhead lines up to the houses, as electric utilities do restoration top down

John

[phathack]

Some people had to wait until today (June 8 ) to get power back from the power outage at 2024 May 28 in the morning. I got my power back on May 30 in the evening. If we had an ice storm it could be a very long time before power would be restored with all the overhead lines up to the houses, as electric utilities do restoration top down

John

My neighborhood has Under ground Utilities but the feed to the neighborhood is overhead like the rest of the USA.

[moonshadow]

Damn... two weeks with no power. Must have been quite a storm. I don't recall going that long without power since the blizzard of '93.

Even after the tornado hit our neighborhood in 2010 power was restored at the street within 3 days. (We didn't have it for a couple weeks because out meter mast got ripped off the house, but that wasn't a utility supply issue)

I have to say, a lot of people complain about APCO, but I'll give them credit, they run a pretty reliable grid.

So far so good with the local electric "PUDs" that provide power fir the PNW, I've not seen a substantial outage yet.

Ah, Texas and California, like two twin brothers fundamentally opposed to one another and yet have more in common with each other than they do with the other remaining continental states.

Texas and California... they love to march to their own beat, much like the skirt wearing man... but alas, with that sovereignty, also comes a double edged sword.

[JohnH]

According to Oncor, the local grid, the storm was the worst one in its history. The winds gusted up to 95 mph with 80 mph sustained winds. This was a non-hurricane straight wind event. Bear in mind the Dallas -Fort Worth area is quite a ways inland

One thing Texas does is the high speed limits. Two lane roads are typically posted at 70 or 75 mph. Rural divided highways are posted at 75 mph, and there are stretches of Interstate posted at 80 mph. There is even a toll road, Texas 130 (Pickle Parkway) posted at 85 mph, which is the highest in the Western Hemisphere. And in Dallas expressways are posted at 70 mph and toll lanes on those roads are posted at 75 mph. And if you have Texas plates they are regarded as suggestions. In the toll lanes drivers treat the 75 mph limits as minimums.

John

[Coder]

I got to drive one of those 80mph Texas roads and all I could think of was “watch out for deer”, but still it was kind of fun. Going to have to look that 85mph one when I’m down there again later this year.

[phathack]

I got to drive one of those 80mph Texas roads and all I could think of was “watch out for deer”, but still it was kind of fun. Going to have to look that 85mph one when I’m down there again later this year.

TX-130 is the bypass around Austin, Connects I-35 North of the Austin area to I-10 Just East of San Antonio. Speed limit us 85. It bypasses the urbanized Austin to San Antonio I-35 corridor. No where along that highway do you ever fell like you have left the city.

[moonshadow]

One thing Texas does is the high speed limits. Two lane roads are typically posted at 70 or 75 mph. Rural divided highways are posted at 75 mph, and there are stretches of Interstate posted at 80 mph. There is even a toll road, Texas 130 (Pickle Parkway) posted at 85 mph, which is the highest in the Western Hemisphere. And in Dallas expressways are posted at 70 mph and toll lanes on those roads are posted at 75 mph. And if you have Texas plates they are regarded as suggestions. In the toll lanes drivers treat the 75 mph limits as minimums.

I saw 80mph speed limits posted in South Dakota, unfortunately, towing a travel trailer with a half ton truck across country meant that we were having none of that.... we rolled across the state at about 55-60....

If there's one thing (and one thing ONLY) Washington has in common with Tennessee.... it's their VERY low speed limits. I've not seen a stretch of road exceed 70, and if the interstate takes you through the smallest of towns, they drop it to 60 at the drop of a hat. Contrast that to Virginia that will hold 70 from the Tennessee border clear up to Roanoke (140 miles)

I also notice the default county speed limit is 35 unless posted otherwise. It was the same in Tennessee, so I've already had a chance to get accustomed to it. Virginia is 55.

Oh... and red light cameras... holy cow does Washingtin have a few... they love them some red light cameras. Tennessee is also bad for those things, and unfortunately that cancer is metastasizing in VA too. Eat your heart out George Orwell...

I think of Washington would spend a little less on Orwellian traffic cameras and a little more in road paint, there'd be a lot less crashes. But you know... you can't write tickets for staying between the lines... but cameras pay dividends... They know what side their bread is buttered on.

[Kirbstone]

Does the 'Western Hemisphere' include Europe? Germany still has unlimited rural motorways (Autobahns) In the vicinity of cities they post restrictions.
Living there then, I drove a nice Audi which was very comfortable at 200Km/H cruise.(124 Mph) There were lots of cars out there being driven much faster and one needed to keep an eye out for these before changing lanes. A dot in the wing mirror would become a big Merc or similar travelling at, say 140MPH in seconds.
Motoring West on the Trans Canada between Toronto and Hamilton in a Ford Galaxy 500 sedan in 1967 which had a bench for three up front , column shift and no seat belts!, we noticed airplanes painted on the road at regular intervals. We were flagged down by a Cop on the first twin-headlamp motorbike I had ever seen. He stuck his head in the driver's window and said 'Ye gotta go an' see the Judge, boys'. Apparently that empty straight stretch of dual had a 60 limit and aerial surveillance! We played the Irish tourists card and he let us off with a caution. His grandpappy was Irish.

Here the National limit on motorways is 120Km/H (74 Mph) On my Swede-steed Cruise is in 5 Mph increments. 75 is really only about 72 and one gets overtaken frequently. 80 is probably just 77 and no-one will pull you for that. However, on the 'Average speed' controlled sections I set Cruise at 75 and have done with it.

Tom

[JohnH]

The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian—which crosses Greenwich, London, England—and east of the 180th meridian.[1][2] The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Wikipedia

So the Western Hemisphere does not include continental Europe.

John

[JohnH]

Texas did away with red light cameras about 2 years ago. And they keep speed limits through towns as high as possible to keep the average speed up. You will see some towns on surface highways with speed limits as high as 65 mph, with 40 mph being common.
Also, the default county road speed limit is 60 mph.

John