posted by Mike Madison at 9:01 AM /
My alarm didn't go off this morning, so I woke up an hour late -- as did my son, who would have been late to school. But Mt. Lebanon High School is closed today. Why? A "major power outage." What's the source? There's no information on the high school website, and no news on the municipality website.
The Post-Gazette reports: "Duquesne Light is reporting that a "power surge'' caused the outage, and crews were working in underground vaults to discover the problem and fix it."
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07291/826446-100.stm
Is this part of the curse of living in a town where the infrastructure (sewer, water, gas, electrical) is simply old? Or is it something else entirely?
Updated at 6:20 p.m.: The municipality of Mt. Lebanon declined to add a comment to the blog, but the municipality's website now reports:
Link: http://mtlebanon.org/CivicAlerts.asp?AID=56
The Post-Gazette's report (link above) has likewise been corrected to eliminate the reference to a "surge."
The Post-Gazette reports: "Duquesne Light is reporting that a "power surge'' caused the outage, and crews were working in underground vaults to discover the problem and fix it."
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07291/826446-100.stm
Is this part of the curse of living in a town where the infrastructure (sewer, water, gas, electrical) is simply old? Or is it something else entirely?
Updated at 6:20 p.m.: The municipality of Mt. Lebanon declined to add a comment to the blog, but the municipality's website now reports:
A crack in an underground electrical cable that occurred at about 11:40 Wednesday night resulted in a power outage in and around Mt. Lebanon High School. Classes were cancelled Thursday as a result. Mt. Lebanon Fire Department determined that there was no danger to the high school building. Power has been restored to all areas of the community except the high school. Duquesne Light crews currently are working to replace the faulty cable and to proactively replace two other cables that supply electricity to the high school. Power is expected to be restored by 5 p.m. this evening and school is expected to reopen on schedule tomorrow.
Link: http://mtlebanon.org/CivicAlerts.asp?AID=56
The Post-Gazette's report (link above) has likewise been corrected to eliminate the reference to a "surge."
Labels: in the dark
7 Comments:
Our power was wavering last night, but never went "out" enough to reset alarm clocks.
After living in Mt. Lebo for year, I've seen enough water breaks and power outages to vote for "simply old."
Related note. I live on a dead end street that extends from a well-maintained, well known street in Mt. Lebo. My in-laws live a few blocks from me also in Mt. Lebo and also a dead-end street.
It is night and day in terms of attention that they get, and we do NOT get. They did not lose power, yet I did. Their street gets regularly plowed in winter, mine..not so much. A recent paving project had my street paved....except for the last 200 yards....and 2 doors up from me, yet, I was inconvenienced nonetheless for 2 1/2 months while they took their sweet time taking care of it, and with poor communication of when different phases would and would not be taking place. In laws, however, seem to be given a vote to have sidewalks put into their block or not. Finally, last night I could see a street behind and a street over from mine had power. It's funny how these things all seem to occur on my street.
Well, J.P., the first (and only) thought that comes to mind is:
MOVE
Have you not seen how many homes are for sale these days in Mt. Lebanon?
I think the old infrastructure must be part of the problem. It seems like I've had more power outages in the year since we've moved to Pittsburgh than I had the whole 8 years I lived in Austin. Just about every time there's a thunderstorm I have to reset all my clocks. Is that normal? Central Texas gets lots of severe thunderstorms, plus the occasional tornado, and is the flash flood capital of the US, but somehow the power stays on most of the time.
Until this posting, I thought that the difference had to do with above-ground vs. underground power lines. In Austin all our lines were underground. But obviously even underground lines aren't immune from failure around here.
What I've heard is that this was a crack in an old electrical cable (a major electrical cable), and that this sort of thing is both unexceptional and unpredictable. It would be nice to have insight on that proposition from someone not affiliated with Duquesne Light or with the municipality.
Well, in my experience it certainly seems unexceptional. ;-)
I wonder how hard they've really tried to predict it. Data mining has come a long way in predicting "unpredictable" things.
There was a water main break in Virginia Manor today, so I don't think the location, size, cost or current assessment of your home can guaranty you immunity from an aging infrastructure
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