Alec Cameron said the following to MIKE ROSS on the subject of
Power Factor in DC cc (30 Jan 98  18:43:38)
 AC> On (27 Jan 98) MIKE ROSS wrote to Alec Cameron...
 MR> It is utter devastation in the power grid. Miles and miles of downed
 MR> lines.
 AC> Once a tower [or wood pole] falls, the adjacent one is overloaded:
 AC> loss of tension on one side, excess tension on the other side. A kind
 AC> of domino effect. So the neighbour falls, then the next and so on. Most
 AC> towers are designed for suspension duty, the strain towers [those fat
 AC> ones, broad at base] tend to be placed at route "corners" ie where the
 AC> route turns. The strain tower is proportioned to resist the overturning
 AC> force that results from broken conductors.
 AC> All towers COULD be built as strain structures but the visual impact
 AC> would raise objection.
It wasn't just the pylons that were destroyed. Utility poles were broken
about 3 ft off the ground the whole length of a road. The breaks were as
clean as if it were mere toothpicks. Numerous trees were fallen onto
the power lines. About 90% of the bigger trees have lost their crowns.
This means they are very likely to die. It all looks just like a war
zone only without the shooting.
Now many people are starting to discover that the ice accumulation on
their roofs is creating structural problems. A department store chain
closed all their stores after a roof in one had collapsed overnight. A
number of schools were evacuated after cracks started to appear in their
cement roofs. Work places also were evacuated after suspended ceilings
suddenly started buckling badly. Then people tend to be adventurous when
hearing this sort of news. A doctor was killed falling off the roof of
his home while clearing the ice and snow. Needless to say it is still a
very dangerous situation.
The power is mostly back now, except for some 50,000 homes, but the
system is still very delicate and being held together by shoestrings.
... Ice Storm of the Century refugee.
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30
---------------