Turn on the lights

I just received the following email from the Town of Chapel Hill at 12:07pm:

April 16, 2007

Send your feedback and questions about Chapel Hill eNews to Catherine Lazorko, Town Information Officer, 919/969-5055 or tio@townofchapelhill.org

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Spring Storm Report #3

Town of Chapel Hill public safety and public works crews continue to respond to numerous intersections where traffic lights are not operating due to power outages
caused by today's spring storm.

No accidents have been reported, and motorists are advised to exercise caution.

Crews are preparing about 20 portable generators to provide power at priority intersections. In the meantime, drivers should treat all intersections where lights are
out as four-way stops. This is required by law for safety.

An updated list of locations where traffic signals are not operating:

- Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at Hillsborough Street

- Estes Drive at Franklin Street

- Elliott Drive at Franklin Street

- Eastgate at Franklin Street

- Elliott Drive at 15-501

- Eastgate at 15-501

- Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at Estes Drive

- Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at Piney Mountain Drive

- Franklin at Boundary streets

- Raleigh Road at Country Club Road

- Cameron Avenue at Country Club Road

- Eastowne at 15-501

- Manning Drive at 15-501

- Columbia Street at 54 (westbound ramp)

- Fordham Boulevard at Old Mason Farm

- Franklin Street at Merritt Mill Road

- Franklin at Graham streets

- Franklin Street at Mallette Street

- Cameron Avenue at Ransom Street

- Cameron Avenue at Columbia Street

- Cameron Avenue at Pittsboro Street

- South Columbia Street at Manning Drive

- South Columbia Street at Mason Farm Road

- South Columbia Street at 54 Bridge

- South Columbia Street at Mount Carmel Church Road

- 15-501 South at Main Street

- 15-501 at Arlen Park Drive

Fire personnel have responded to numerous small transformer fires. Public Works crews are busy removing fallen trees and limbs from roads.

If you come upon a utility line that has fallen or is compromised by tree limbs, do not touch the line or the tree! Keep all children and pets out of the area and
call 911. All lines should be considered live until checked out by the utility. Please don't attempt to cut limbs that are near utility lines. Electricity is
extremely dangerous, use the utmost caution.

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A couple small trees have come down in my neighborhood. We had more than a dozen mini-outages earlier this morning - and I heard at least 2 transformers blow in the last few hours. As far as the lights, Brian's list looks pretty accurate.

TCH Public Works has shifted to 24-hour - half of the landscape crew has been sent home and told to come back at 9 pm tonight.

Durham has also been affected...the lights and power were out along Highway 55 near 54 and the power is out in downtown Durham according to my wife who works there.

Some Durham County employees (like me) got the day off because our building is without power. It's kind of hard to work in a dark building with no windows.

I was uptown a little bit ago. Ken's Quickie Mart was giving away icecream bars lest they melt.

April 16, 2007

Send your feedback and questions about Chapel Hill eNews to Catherine Lazorko, Town Information Officer, 919/969-5055 or tio@townofchapelhill.org

________________________________________

Spring Storm Report #4

For the end-of-day commute, motorists are advised that troublesome traffic spots persist throughout Chapel Hill as the power outage continues.

Fallen trees have brought down power lines at two locations along East Franklin Street -- at Stroud Hill near Meadowbrook and Elizabeth and at Park Place. Motorists are advised of lane closures or traffic detours in these locations.

There are at least five locations where trees have fallen and downed lines including Rolling Road, Park Place at Country Club, Brookview and Kenmore, Stroud Hill and East Franklin, and South Boundary Lane. More trees are reported fallen at: Seawell School Road, South Lakeshore, Sonoma Way, Mallette and Colony Court, Lake Ellen, Buttons Road, Tenny Circle, Piney Mountain (two locations), and Rollingwood at South Lakeshore.

Town of Chapel Hill public safety and public works crews have responded to numerous intersections where traffic lights are not operating. Crews installed numerous portable generators to provide power at priority intersections. Drivers should treat all intersections where lights are out as four-way stops. This is required by law for safety.

Due to the continued power outage, government meetings have been rescheduled. The Chapel Hill Town Council public hearing has been rescheduled to 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, in the Council Chamber of Town Hall, and the Planning Board meeting has been rescheduled to 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 18, in the first floor conference room of Town Hall. Citizens who need to contact Town Hall should use the following telephone number: (919) 968-2700.

Duke Energy customers should contact 1-800-POWERON if they have an outage in the service area and for Spanish speaking customers they may call - 1-800-943-6914 for assistance as well. Outage information is available at: http://www.duke-energy.com/north-carolina/outages.asp

An updated list of traffic signals that are not operating:

- Elliott Drive at Franklin Street
- Eastgate at 15-501
- Franklin at Boundary streets
- Raleigh Road at Country Club Road
- Cameron Avenue at Country Club Road
- Eastowne at 15-501
- Columbia Street at 54 (westbound ramp)
- Fordham Boulevard at Old Mason Farm
- Franklin Street at Merritt Mill Road
- Franklin at Graham streets
- Franklin Street at Mallette Street
- Cameron Avenue at Ransom Street
- Cameron Avenue at Pittsboro Street
- South Columbia Street at Manning Drive
- South Columbia Street at Mason Farm Road
- South Columbia Street at 54 Bridge
- South Columbia Street at Mount Carmel Church Road
- 15-501 South at Main Street
- 15-501 at Arlen Park Drive

Safety Information about Downed Power Lines:

Don't assume a downed line is safe. All wires may have
electricity flowing through them, and they could be dangerous even if they aren't sparking or humming. Stay at least 10 feet away if the ground is dry and
much further away if the ground is damp.

A "live" wire can conduct electricity, as can tree limbs,
brooms, plastic or metal shovels and other items.

Don't try to push or remove a power line with a tree limb or something else. Wet or dry, electricity could travel through tree limbs and other objects because electricity is always looking for the fastest way to the ground. And it could be enough electricity to kill. Because most people can't tell the difference between phone lines and
electrical lines, treat the downed line as a power line.

If a power line lands on your vehicle, despite the urge to exit your vehicle, stay inside. This is because metal will conduct electrical current. Use your mobile phone to call for help or ask passers-by to get help.

If you see someone who is in direct or indirect contact with a downed power line, do not try to touch the person.
Efforts to pull an electric shock victim away could make you a second victim. Instead, call 911 immediately.
Even minor shocks can cause life-threatening conditions hours later, so it is important to seek medical attention.

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A friend just forwarded me this update from Duke Energy. I will also post the accompanying map shortly.

This note is from Ken Kernodle.

First let me say thanks for your patience, your help and understanding of today's outage situation. Wind conditions earlier this morning and continuing throughout the day have generated numerous outages in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County. With the continuing high winds, our restoration efforts have been and continue to be hampered. We anticipate wind conditions dying down after dark tonight to the 10-15 mph range which should help in our restoration efforts.

Forecast tomorrow calls for wind conditions to be 10-20 mph. This is an improvement over today and we anticipate making major progress in our restoration efforts.

Update: First let me say that Duke Energy serves approximately 44,000 customers in Orange County. Currently we have approximately 8,300 customers without power. We will work diligently until every customer has been restored. However, this appears to be a multi-day event until we get the last customer back on.

Between now and nightfall we are working to restore all major circuits that are out. We may or may not be successful. We will maintain an emergency group throughout the night to assist where necessary. Our crews will be starting restoration efforts at 6am tomorrow morning. We will open the Chapel Hill Operation Center as a satellite location for incoming crews tomorrow.

Following we have attempted to provide you a map with the major outages in the county/city. We hope this will be helpful as you talk with your constituents. Brenda and I will be available after 7am to address any questions or concerns you may have. We anticipate having ETOR's (estimated times of restoration) available for those remaining off by noon tomorrow.

Here's Duke's map, I will also add it above: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubyji/462045213/

I know that after Hurricane Fran and the ice storm of 2002 that the obvious question arose about underground power lines vs. above-ground. Does anyone know of any actual analysis of the costs & benefits? It seems like everytime something like this happens, vast sums of money are spent to get things back to normal. Not to mention the more difficult to quantify costs incurred by individuals & businesses who dealt with the effects.

And beyond that - those power lines & poles are ugly.

Incidents like these also make home power systems look better, even small auxiliary systems on homes.

Another thing to ponder...yes it might be expensive to put all the lines underground...but how much does it cost the area when businesses, schools, etc get shut down for days at a time? Loss of food that needs refrigeration? Sales taxe revenue lost? Perhaps we should consider providing State funds for burying the lines. I know that Duke Power is a private company, but ultimately the consumer is going to pay one way or another. At least if it's tax money, instead of rate hikes, the greater burden falls more on those better able to bear it.

Before the hugely rich utilities get subsidized for such a project, we should know how much money they would save by avoiding expensive disaster repairs.

Regarding the costs of relocating existing powerlines to underground locations: the Chapel Hill Streetscape Master Plan Review Committee looked into this when it was examining various options for Rosemary Street. It is extremely expensive. Not only do you have to dig up streets and/or adjoining properties but you also have to lay conduit that is sufficiently large to accomodate future growth needs going forward many years. Then there is the cost of re-connecting the various businesses/homeowners from the underground lines.

The idea that the state might contribute to such an undertaking is attractive - but fanciful, given that we've resorted to taxing the poor (i.e, NC Lottery) to fund our educational system.

They're almost finished putting a new pole and transformer up just South of the Horace Williams house on Franklin. Lights still out on Rosemary/Henderson, etc.

The library is a crowded place today. My neighborhood is still dark.

Tuesday around 3.