[Oremem/Idamem] Fw: STORM LEAVES COAST POWERLESS

[John Jewkes- SMD OR/ID US ARMY MARS]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Phillip Barker" <BarkerP@co.curry.or.us>
To: "John E Jewkes-AAA0OR (E-mail)" <AAA0IDAAA0OR@LDSLIVING.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 16:41
Subject: STORM LEAVES COAST POWERLESS


> Hi John,
>
> Could you please post this to the OREMEM list?
>
> 73,
> Phil AAR0ME
>
> STORM LEAVES COAST POWERLESS
>
> Published: January 3, 2004
>
>
> The Pilot/Brian Bullock
>
> By BRIAN BULLOCK
>
> Pilot Staff Writer
>
> Mother Nature's first punch of 2004 packed a wallop Friday morning,
knocking
> out power to a large portion of the South Coast.
>
> Heavy snow and high winds knocked out power from Reedsport to the
California
> border. Coos Curry Electric Cooperative and Bonneville Power
Administration
> (BPA) scrambled Friday to reroute enough power to keep critical services
> operating in all South Coast cities.
>
> Trees heavily laden with snow fell into BPA transmission lines about 20
> miles west of Roseburg at approximately 1:30 a.m. Friday, knocking out
power
> throughout the South Coast. A small amount of power was rerouted and Coos
> Curry Electric managed to restore power for critical need circuits by 3:30
> a.m. and had some power restored by daylight. But getting power to other
> areas caused problems throughout the day.
>
> Those problems ranged from mild inconveniences such as no morning coffee,
to
> a number of non-injury traffic collisions on Highway 101 in Harbor because
> of dark traffic signal lights.
>
> Coos Curry Electric had a number of its own problems. A substation on
> Parkview Drive was down because of switching problems. Two main power
lines
> "literally burned up" when they were switched on, according to Don Jenson,
> Coos Curry Electric consumer services manager. There was also a report of
a
> smoking power pole near Cape Ferrelo Road.
>
> Initial estimates for restoring power began at five to six hours early
> Friday morning. Those were changed to two to three days by 3 p.m. They
were
> decreased to a matter of hours by Friday evening.
>
> Mike Hansen, a BPA spokesperson, said just getting to the trouble spot was
> the most difficult issue.
>
> "The trouble spot was identified by helicopter. It was estimated it would
> take a couple of hours to get to the fault and a couple of hours to fix
it,"
> Hansen explained.
>
> Hansen said initial reports from the repair crew was that it could take
> longer that the initial estimate. He said the crews had to cut their way
> into the trouble spot before repairs could begin.
>
> BPA expected to have power restored by 7 p.m. Friday night.
>
> The midday estimates of two to three days without power had most local
> agencies and Coos Curry personnel scrambling to handle calls and devise a
> plan to restore what power was available.
>
> Coos Curry Electric's Brookings District Manager Lauren Porsch said the
> system was both electronically, mechanically and physically prepared for
> such a problem.
>
> "Our system is basically a very robust system. It's designed for this type
> of weather and it can normally handle this kind of thing," Porsch said.
"We
> have an emergency preparedness plan for just this type of situation."
>
> Porsch said this was the first time his 18 years with the co-op that its
> emergency plan has been needed. He also said the initial outage was
handled
> electronically by a SCATTA system which reroutes power to areas that have
> experienced a blackout. But once heavy demand was placed back on a reduced
> power supply, the whole system shut down again.
>
> Coos Curry personnel worked to restore power to critical need areas and by
> sunrise had power restored to the Brookings Wastewater Treatment Plant,
city
> hall for police and fire departments, the medical centers on Fifth Street,
> the Coos Curry Electric offices, the Lower Harbor Road area for U.S. Coast
> Guard and Harbor Sanitary service.
>
> That left some businesses and residences with power, but most without.
>
> "We reconfigure our system to get critical clients on," explained Duffell
> Gray, projects manager for Coos Curry Electric. "Some people who live in
> those areas have power. Others don't. If you live along one of those
> circuits, you're lucky."
>
> Just before 8 a.m., Porsch said Bonneville informed Coos Curry Electric
that
> it needed to "shed load," which meant cutting the power it was allocating
> its users.
>
> The cooperative normally has two 115 kilovolt lines that supply power to
the
> South Coast. One is operational, the other is normally a back up. After
the
> trees hit the lines near Roseburg, the area was forced to use a fraction
of
> its normal load.
>
> Friday afternoon BPA shut down power to Pacific Power and Light, the power
> company in the Coos Bay-North Bend area, because it refused to reduce its
> load. Meanwhile, Coos Curry Electric worked to limit power usage in Port
> Orford and Gold Beach to incrementally increase load availability for
> Brookings.
>
> "You've got to work through these kinds of things together," Porsch said.
> "It's got to be a cooperative effort for the betterment of everybody."
>
> Coos Curry Electric Cooperative offices in Port Orford, Gold Beach and
> Brookings fielded calls and inquiries all day. Most residents just wanted
to
> know when power would be restored. Others were desperate to know what to
do
> about home medical needs.
>
> Most area officials said this emergency, like the massive outage last
summer
> on the Eastern Seaboard and Midwest, was another wake-up call for many
> citizens.
>
> "In light of what happened back east not long ago, it's really critical
that
> this be managed correctly or else it could turn into something very
> critical," Jensen said.
>
> Brookings Police reported few problems but lots of inquiries. Immediately
> following the outage a number of alarms in local businesses were reported.
>
> "We have just been buried with questions," said Lieutenant John Bishop.
> "It's unfortunate, but it just shows how unprepared people are. We live on
> the coast. Power outages are going to happen. People need to be prepared
for
> that."
>
> By dusk Friday, Porsch said Coos Curry was busy preparing for the
> possibility of having power restored that night.
>
> "We're preparing the Brookings system for the eventual energizing of that
> line they're saying they'll get back tonight," Porsch said.
>
> "We're hoping to get our system back on line so we don't get this whole
load
> of power at once and experience problems."
>
> In Northern California, snow once again closed Sections of Interstate 5
> Thursday. White-out conditions closed an approximately 90-mile portion of
> the road between Redding and Yreka. It was the third time this week the
road
> had to be closed.
>
> High winds also cut electricity to approximately 100,000 Pacific Gas and
> Electric customers in Northern California. Most of those customers were in
> the San Francisco Bay area. Other areas affected were around Redding and
> Sebastopol in Sonoma County.
>
> Phil Barker
> Curry County Computer Services
> Gold Beach, Oregon 97444
> 541.247.3370 Desk
> 541.253.7550 Cellphone
>