[CBXMan]

Bought me a new Honda Black Max.....some may have heard of this one...
2 Wheels, lots of power, runs strong....electric Start.....great.
Here's a picture, it was a life saver during this ice storm. No power or water for two days, no power for 4 1/2 days....power back Saturday at 2:00 PM....I was having Internet withdrawal.....
All is good now....thanks to all those Utility workers braving the cold and ice...I wouldn't want their job, even in the best weather....they are doing great !!:superman1::superman1:
We had crews from Georgia and Alabama come up to help out....wish there was a way to thank them in person, I will if I see them on the road.....:bow::bow::bow:

Thanks Guys and Gals......:thumbup:

We got hit a lot harder over in the Western part. I bought the same generator yesterday at Sams Club so I would have a backup to the Troy Built one that I'm using now. Wed. morning we had no water, no cable, no electric, not a store or gas station open within miles and a low forecast or 15* Wed. night. If I get the power back on in 2 weeks, I'll feel lucky. I think a lot of people will be with no power for a month. The phone lines are working and with the generator I got back on line with Netzero.

Here's my new front yard:

 

[CBXMan]

My wife's a fire fighter and most of the guys at the station had been there for 48 hours, so it was very important to get her to work Wed. morning. It took us over an hour to go ten miles in the pitch dark while it was snowing. On the way back home I took a few pictures of the obstacle course we had to go through to get there.

 

[CBXMan]

Ok... maybe someone can enlighten me on this subject. It's something I've wondered about for a long time in re ice storms like this, hurricanes, etc.

I understand that, when these things happen to our current grid... people want their power back on ASAP, and that long-term planning is on the back burner.

BUT.... why don't municipalities REQUIRE that all of these power, telephone, & cable lines be run UNDERGROUND??? At the very least, they could require it for all new developments (neighborhoods) being built.

I know there's a cost issue involved... and I would imagine an 'ease of maintenence' issue too.

But in nearly every type of natural disaster we have... the one thing common to all of them is the loss of power (and thus, the loss of water, communications, etc.). Hurricanes & other high-wind storms are always blowing power lines over. Ice storms do what we see here. Same thing with flooding, as houses break away and slam into power poles.

I know it'd be expensive to place them all underground at first... but it seems the benefit would far outweigh that down the line.

Now, I know that I'm not the smartest guy on the planet, and I can't be the first to think of this... so what am I missing?

:shrug:

A friend at the power company told me that if it was all underground the wires would all have to be heavily insulated and the power lost to heat build up would be too great. The wires stay a lot cooler hung out in the air. Makes sense, because if it would save them all this trouble to just bury them, then they would.