I wish you strength. We had a late autumn ice storm up here a few years back and it downed trees and power lines everywhere. We had no power for a week and we spent days with chainsaws clearing the driveway so we could get out. Add to that work, sick family members, pets...it is a trial.
There is something I have always wondered, and I am sure some smart person will tell me: why in the 21st Century do we not put our power lines underground? I know it will cost a fortune in labor and permissions, but are we not losing a fortune every time we get a hurricane or an ice storm? I’m sure there is a reason, but I still wonder why we still hang wires on poles and wait for them to get knocked down.
Florida has some underground electrical wires. Problem, however, is that Florida's water table is so high, that the wires have problems being underground.
I think the cost of labor and materials and sheer amount of construction work needed, are what prevents us from putting more electrical lines underground.
There have been efforts in San Diego to put power lines underground. In newly developed areas, they are routinely put underground, as new areas are developed. In established urban or suburban areas, only a handful have had their lines buried.
I heard cost estimates of tens of billions of dollars, and a time line of decades, in order to get all the power lines in San Diego underground. When you get into the billions of dollars, you are talking serious money, and the efforts to put power lines underground competes with other spending priorities.
Is there enough money, and especially manpower; do we have enough trained men to do that actual work, to get it done?? That’s the question.
We got a part of that miserable storm here in northern Connecticut, too - The Freak Snowstorm of October 2011. (Was it a named storm?)
We had no power for 8-12 days in this area. No working ATMs, no water, no heat. Witnessed long lines - and fist fights - at gas stations... price gougers hawking generators on street corners. Hubby said it was like "Mad Max" at times.
We were away from home when it hit and couldn't get back home. We were just out for the night in southern CT at an event we had paid for months before.
Took our lives in our hands just driving through the snowstorm from the place we were to the nearest hotel (we packed bags beforehand 'just in case'). NO plows on any roads... It was surreal.
4-5 massive trees fell across our driveway. We couldn't drive up the "lawn" as our front yard is all woods, a colonial stone wall, big rocks and underbrush. It took forever to find anyone who could help cut and move the trees. What a nightmare...
Amen! I know there are many places (ie new housing developments) that do bury their utilities, but I don't know either why it isn't more widespread, especially up here in snow and ice country.
We are in a deeply wooded area in northern CT, and one little tree branch that falls on a power line can cause an hours-long power outage. We had a short outage on Thursday, and a power outage that lasted 3 hours about two weeks ago. On clear nights with no breeze. It gets old.
Water table is too high in Florida and Louisiana and similar places. Many lines are underground in other parts of the country.