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*****2024 Hurricane Season*****

809,027 Views | 6443 Replies | Last: 14 days ago by tk for tu juan
cajunaggie08
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Not a bad idea and my employer has offices there. Maybe I can request a transfer.
Stat Monitor Repairman
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Seems like Centerpoint is taking a lot of heat over the sight of trucks assembled at a staging area.

This seems consistent with every hurricane response or logistics operation we've ever seen.

Machinery and personnel are staged. Work orders are issued and resources dispatched.

Problem we got here is people are so use to just in time inventory, same day Amazon Prime delivery, Uber eats dispatched to their doorstep at the click of a button to solve whatever problem they got.

People have been lulled into thinking the world moves that fast when it doesn't.
sts7049
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maybe that house 1/4 block over feels differently about the priorities.
Tex117
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swimmerbabe11 said:

Tex117 said:

JCA1 said:

I'm hesitant to even say this out loud, but if we get another hurricane this year, it's going to be a Rita situation all over again, only this time the woodlands, conroe, etc. will try to evacuate too. Gonna be a disaster of epic proportions.
As always, the general rule (for non-costal communities) remains the same. Stay for a Cat 1 or Cat 2. More than likely get out of town for a Cat 3 (but can look at exact path), Cat 4 and Cat 5, get on out of dodge.




I was in Fort Worth getting my baby niece baptized on Sunday. My family could not understand why the Houston part of the family was hurricane tracking so we could make sure to get back in Houston in time for the storm. I'm glad we did though. I had a window break in my office that would have destroyed a very nice computer set up had I not heard the window shatter and gotten everything moved and the window covered (somewhat).

I haven't evacuated one yet. IMO, getting stuck on a highway in a storm is much scarier than sheltering in place with or with out power.
This right here. Very "gulf coast" of you.

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Ag_07
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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

Seems like Centerpoint is taking a lot of heat over the sight of trucks assembled at a staging area.

This seems consistent with every hurricane response or logistics operation we've ever seen.

Machinery and personnel are staged. Work orders are issued and resources dispatched.

Problem we got here is people are so use to just in time inventory, same day Amazon Prime delivery, Uber eats dispatched to their doorstep at the click of a button to solve whatever problem they got.

People have been lulled into thinking the world moves that fast when it doesn't.

This is my whole issue.

Honestly...Is 3-5 days really that outrageous after a hurricane blows through the 3rd largest metro area in the country?
sts7049
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it is because people are largely selfish and expect instant gratification
TXTransplant
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sts7049 said:

maybe that house 1/4 block over feels differently about the priorities.


What does that have to do with anything? I'm sure anyone who gets their power restored before someone else feels grateful/lucky

But my neighborhood has been through this too many times…we all feel terrible when one house or business gets power back and others that are sometimes as close is across the street have to wait hours or days longer. No one wishes that for their neighbor.
Guitarsoup
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cajunaggie08 said:

cone said:



Three days without power

I'm sorry this is single ply soft
On its own it would be soft. But since we've had at least 3 separate weather related multi-day power outages since 2021, its enough to make people question what the hell are we even doing here. I've lived in the Houston area for nearly 40 years and prior to the freeze the only major multi-day power outage event I can recall is Hurricane Ike. Losing power from a direct hit from a hurricane makes sense so this event in a bubble is frustrating but thats just life on the gulf. But having 3 events less than 4 years just blows balls


We're staying until kids are done with school. Zero chance we are dealing with hcad after that and paying the ridiculous property tax rates in retirement.
CDUB98
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Electrician wants $1500 to fix my weather head and reconnect the wires to the meter box. They can get it done today.

This sound reasonable in this environment?
justnobody79
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TXTransplant said:

sts7049 said:

maybe that house 1/4 block over feels differently about the priorities.


What does that have to do with anything? I'm sure anyone who gets their power restored before someone else feels grateful/lucky

But my neighborhood has been through this too many times…we all feel terrible when one house or business gets power back and others that are sometimes as close is across the street have to wait hours or days longer. No one wishes that for their neighbor.
If you are really bored you can drive and walk around plot the way the power lines run through your neighborhood. I discovered that I am an offshoot from the mainline into my neighborhood of 8 houses, On the other side of the split it goes to the rest of the neighborhood of something like 40 other houses. Then amongst that 40 are several other offshoots including those across the street. Then on the backside of our neighborhood the 40-50 houses get their power from a completely different direction. All that is to say there are going to be winners and there are going to be losers as far as when people get power turned back on.
Frok
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CDUB98 said:

Electrician wants $1500 to fix my weather head and reconnect the wires to the meter box. They can get it done today.

This sound reasonable in this environment?


Only way you ever know is to get multiple quotes.
lb sand
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You're need to change your username once you leave Houston if you want to continue posting privileges on the time board!
sushi94
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CDUB98 said:

Electrician wants $1500 to fix my weather head and reconnect the wires to the meter box. They can get it done today.

This sound reasonable in this environment?
FYI I paid $300 Tuesday - Had to replace the cover,clamp and the tie-down to the house and splice wires - there was no power on the lines to the house FYI.

Cruz Electric - I called him blind using yelp - I believe he's in Katy and drove to GO to handle my job.
lb sand
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Yes
MelvinUdall
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Breggy Popup said:

MelvinUdall said:

Breggy Popup said:

State should mandate no trees within 100 yards of electrical infrastructure and give providers 1 year to clean it all up. Then heavy fines if an outage is caused by a tree falling. If a tree is on private property and the property owner refuses to let it be removed, the property owner receives a fine if the tree falls and causes damage.

I have seen so many poles, transformers and lines down this week from downed trees it is nuts. So easily preventable.




F*** freedom and private property rights…you must have been one of those people that was all for forcing everyone to get the Covid shot. What booster number are you on? GTFO.


Pure blood and about as anti-government as you can get.

That said, there are really two choices. Remove anything that the wind can blow over onto lines/poles or bury everything. Well, there is a third choice. Accept that any major weather event will most likely cause severe disruption.

I expected some debate on my spitball idea post last night while finally enjoying a few cold beers in the AC of my truck. I didn't expect so much direct hate lol.


Everything you posted is as anti-freedom as you get and is contradiction to private property rights…I don't want any government fining me for not taking down trees that are 100 yards away from a power line.

Eta - what you are suggesting is no different than the government forcing everyone to get the shot, "for the betterment of society".
Ag13
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Ag_07 said:

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

Seems like Centerpoint is taking a lot of heat over the sight of trucks assembled at a staging area.

This seems consistent with every hurricane response or logistics operation we've ever seen.

Machinery and personnel are staged. Work orders are issued and resources dispatched.

Problem we got here is people are so use to just in time inventory, same day Amazon Prime delivery, Uber eats dispatched to their doorstep at the click of a button to solve whatever problem they got.

People have been lulled into thinking the world moves that fast when it doesn't.

This is my whole issue.

Honestly...Is 3-5 days really that outrageous after a hurricane blows through the 3rd largest metro area in the country?


I think people are generally outraged by the lack of communication. The hurricane destroyed lots of infrastructure, but it did not destroy centerpoint's ability to provide eta's and maintain an accurate outage map. If people had an estimate for zip codes/neighborhoods people could actually plan a little better.

The inability to communicate accurate updates makes centerpoint look outrageously incompetent. Yes power being down for a few days is expected after a hurricane. But how long is anyone's guess. I left town Tuesday and currently have no idea when I will be able to return. Hoping before the weekend, but I have no ability to plan it out right now. Very hard with young kids, dog, etc. to just go somewhere indefinitely to escape + try to work remotely by the way.
CDUB98
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Thanks for the thoughts, y'all.

I've asked if they can come down any and I'm waiting for a response. Hopefully they understand why I would ask.

Sounds like I should just suck it up though.
Cynic
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Ag_07 said:

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

Seems like Centerpoint is taking a lot of heat over the sight of trucks assembled at a staging area.

This seems consistent with every hurricane response or logistics operation we've ever seen.

Machinery and personnel are staged. Work orders are issued and resources dispatched.

Problem we got here is people are so use to just in time inventory, same day Amazon Prime delivery, Uber eats dispatched to their doorstep at the click of a button to solve whatever problem they got.

People have been lulled into thinking the world moves that fast when it doesn't.

This is my whole issue.

Honestly...Is 3-5 days really that outrageous after a hurricane blows through the 3rd largest metro area in the country?


People get their power back on and now they are all nice to CP again.

CP makes a ridiculous amount of money by monopolizing the system. I want innovation, improvements, and preventative measures so these experiences don't happen every time a large thunderstorm rolls through. I want Houston to handle a Cat 1 with a little more ease than it just did.

CDUB98
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Got them to come down $250. I'll call that a win considering the circumstances.
TXTransplant
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justnobody79 said:

TXTransplant said:

sts7049 said:

maybe that house 1/4 block over feels differently about the priorities.


What does that have to do with anything? I'm sure anyone who gets their power restored before someone else feels grateful/lucky

But my neighborhood has been through this too many times…we all feel terrible when one house or business gets power back and others that are sometimes as close is across the street have to wait hours or days longer. No one wishes that for their neighbor.
If you are really bored you can drive and walk around plot the way the power lines run through your neighborhood. I discovered that I am an offshoot from the mainline into my neighborhood of 8 houses, On the other side of the split it goes to the rest of the neighborhood of something like 40 other houses. Then amongst that 40 are several other offshoots including those across the street. Then on the backside of our neighborhood the 40-50 houses get their power from a completely different direction. All that is to say there are going to be winners and there are going to be losers as far as when people get power turned back on.


I've actually done this. My power was out for 46 hours last June, 15 hours last September, and now I'm at 75 hours.

Every time the outage is caused by something a little different. Once it was a substation miles away, another time it was just the specific circuit going to a few houses (including mine). I'm assuming my outage now is because of the down lines, but that doesn't mean there isn't damage elsewhere.

I 'm pretty sure there is even a split in my cul de sac of about 80 homes. Because one of those outages, only affected the houses literally on my street (about 22 homes).

Somehow I stayed on during the May storm, but a restaurant that typically always loses power when I do (and vice versa) lost power for I think 4 days from that storm. But there have been other outages where we have both been out and been restored at the same time.

I've had problems with electricity reliability since I moved to this house in 2013. It improved for a few years, but since about Oct 2022, it's been absolutely terrible. I have not been impressed with how CP handles minor outages, so I certainly have a lot of skepticism regarding this one. Based on my experience, it's fair to ask questions (don't expect any answers, though).
Sazerac
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$1500 to $250?
I'd be pissed he tried to screw you first
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BudFox7
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Furlock Bones said:

This is why I say that everything is getting worse. "Well it will be massively expensive to fix everything and no one is going to pay for that." This is the attitude that leads to doing nothing that makes the situation continually get worse.


What's the solution? Govt creates a tax (that will never go away) and creates new laws or regs that require CenterPoint to do something, and pays them our tax money to do it?
aggiemike02
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Did they reconnect you to the CP lines or leave them cut?
Nanomachines son
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Caliber said:

I agree Centerpoint has issues for sure, but more people need to look at the expected results from a Cat 1 hurricane based on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.



This was a direct hit of an intensifying hurricane on a major city. We received extensive damage to power lines and poles...

I'd argue that a big part of the issue is too much information for most people. During IKE you didn't have this kind of info coming at you. More information does not solve the problem most of the time because it just gives people more things to attack. People sitting on forums seeing others get their power back is just pissing them off further.




One thing people need to realize is that rapidly strengthening storms pack a much bigger punch than stable or weakening storms. Beryl may be reclassified as a cat 2 after the season and it was blowing up right before landfall. This was not a typical Hurricane in this regard and saying it was just a cat 1 is not a good idea.

Cat 1/2s that are rapidly intensifying often have worse impacts than weakening cat 3 storms because of how the winds mix down to the ground from flight level.

The NHC really needs to start recognizing these aspects of the storms because it gives people a misconception about what is going on.
sushi94
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Spice and connected. But CP lines are still dead FYI.
CDUB98
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Quote:

I want innovation, improvements, and preventative measures so these experiences don't happen every time a large thunderstorm rolls through. I want Houston to handle a Cat 1 with a little more ease than it just did.
Unless someone here is an idiot, we all want that, but how much are YOU willing to pay for all of that per Kwh?

How much are you willing to impose on other people for that?

There is no free lunch. Everything costs money, and I'll be a lot of you would be surprised just how much money
Zobel
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The issue is that it's largely a manual process. Centerpoint tech at my work site said they literally drive down the lines noting what needs to be done. If you're doing it manually, reporting on those efforts adds time because the same guy that could be walking down lines is reporting too.

I imagine they could use some kind of ticketing or work order system to improve - if they're not doing it already - but a system like that is not necessarily a slam dunk at generating estimates for power on. They have work to do at multiple levels (high / med / low voltage and different circuits) that I would guess doesn't correspond to getting power back on directly.

The other thing he said which I thought was interesting was they intentionally shut off a lot of major circuits when the wind got bad to try to avoid further damage from shorts and live wires. I'd never heard that before.
Dill-Ag13
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Sazerac said:

$1500 to $250?
I'd be pissed he tried to screw you first
$1500 to $1250, came down $250
JDUB08AG
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Sazerac said:

$1500 to $250?
I'd be pissed he tried to screw you first
He got it for $1,250
CDUB98
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Sazerac said:

$1500 to $250?
I'd be pissed he tried to screw you first
No, down $250 to $1250.
Ag13
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BudFox7 said:

Furlock Bones said:

This is why I say that everything is getting worse. "Well it will be massively expensive to fix everything and no one is going to pay for that." This is the attitude that leads to doing nothing that makes the situation continually get worse.


What's the solution? Govt creates a tax (that will never go away) and creates new laws or regs that require CenterPoint to do something, and pays them our tax money to do it?


I don't know the solution but I do know taxpayers are on the hook for close to $200 billion for aid to Ukraine. I'm a simple minded person but it sure seems like a fraction of that could be better spent hardening the electrical infrastructure in Texas to be able to survive storms and freezes. Then the tax payers would actually see a direct benefit from government spending and it would help tamp down inflation associated with rate increases that come from having to constantly "fix" things when they break (and of course passing on costs to the customers).
jbanda
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But what if this?

Dedicated crews rolling around doing assessments BEFORE major storms.
Crew sees tree that will take out power line if a storm blows it down.
Crew reports it company.
CP notifies land owner and offers to help mitigate.
Mitigation happens or if landowner says no, the no is documented so we know who to blame when it actually comes down.
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