2024 Hurricane Season thread of DOOM

[Foosters 18,285]

The nerve of that place to be serving food in a lit room while thousands languish without power. Gotta get our priorities straight, people.

[Bevo 13,900]

1 hour ago, BearSchlong said:

As a younger fella, I once went for a run while staying at my sister’s house in Del Webb’s master planned community Summerlin, in the suburbs of Las Vegas, and one of the first things I noticed while jogging around the neighborhood was the neatness and efficiency of the underground utility infrastructure. Nevada desert? Bury everything, especially in brand new new raceways and conduit designed and built in parallel with new roads. Easy peasy. Which is what Summerlin has in common with The Woodlands.

I’m not an engineer but I can imagine the maintenance shitshow that buried infrastructure would cause in Houston. I foresee thousands of backhoes laying half submerged in a stew of busted up concrete and gumbo mud. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong.

After Harvey, Spectrum had to replace 100% of their ground and underground plant. And just ask AT&T how well buried copper holds up, remember when you would see airgas canisters laying on the ground where moisture had seeped into 100 pair cables. There are places in SW LA where centurylink has just abandoned everything.

There's a fault line that runs through The Woodlands. I don't know what kind of problems that would cause with buried cables.

[Da Fino 2,820]

1 hour ago, wildcat09 said:

Who wants to bet CP fired everyone in charge of figuring out what repairs to prioritize and instructing crews where to go and replaced them with ChatGPT?

That was the first thing I thought of when they posted that they are using AI to figure out the fastest way to assign trucks. What a fuckup. 

[Captainant 28,564]

23 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

Prime example how the lack of communication (or flat out lying) has exacerbated this fucked up situation. 

 

Whitmire has been a disappointment through this disaster. He's not leading - he's reacting. And he fucking yells into every goddamn mic he's in front of and it sounds like he's talking through a drive-thru order box

[royiv 9,797]

57 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

 

Those bitcoin miners need emergency power.

[PTINS 3,524]

1 hour ago, BearSchlong said:

As a younger fella, I once went for a run while staying at my sister’s house in Del Webb’s master planned community Summerlin, in the suburbs of Las Vegas, and one of the first things I noticed while jogging around the neighborhood was the neatness and efficiency of the underground utility infrastructure. Nevada desert? Bury everything, especially in brand new new raceways and conduit designed and built in parallel with new roads. Easy peasy. Which is what Summerlin has in common with The Woodlands.

I’m not an engineer but I can imagine the maintenance shitshow that buried infrastructure would cause in Houston. I foresee thousands of backhoes laying half submerged in a stew of busted up concrete and gumbo mud. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong.

After Harvey, Spectrum had to replace 100% of their ground and underground plant. And just ask AT&T how well buried copper holds up, remember when you would see airgas canisters laying on the ground where moisture had seeped into 100 pair cables. There are places in SW LA where centurylink has just abandoned everything.

I lived in Katy (Cinco Ranch) for 17 years. This area had buried utilities, and I think the longest power outage we had in that time may have been 4-8 hours due to an exploded transformer in the neighborhood. 

We live in Driftwood and had fallen limbs 8 feet deep across the yard during the ice/freeze. Fortunately we have buried utilities in Driftwood, and at most have lost power for maybe ~ 4 hours at the worst. Now Spectrum is another story. They have a monopoly/franchise in the development.

The Centerpoint cluster fuck is hard to comprehend. I lived in Houston (Alief, Houston, Sugar Land & Katy) 4 times for most of my professional life and never had to deal with the shit that seems to happen every 3 or 4 years now. Had to deal w/ frozen pipes, but I don't recall ever losing power for more than 10 hours at a time. I always thought the uncoupling and deregulation of the power generation/transmission functions was a bad idea. Market forces drive innovation and efficiency, but some things should not be left to chance. 

Wishing you guys some good fortune.

[fattyflattie 4,640]

6 minutes ago, PTINS said:

I lived in Katy (Cinco Ranch) for 17 years. This area had buried utilities, and I think the longest power outage we had in that time may have been 4-8 hours due to an exploded transformer in the neighborhood. 

We live in Driftwood and had fallen limbs 8 feet deep across the yard during the ice/freeze. Fortunately we have buried utilities in Driftwood, and at most have lost power for maybe ~ 4 hours at the worst. Now Spectrum is another story. They have a monopoly/franchise in the development.

The Centerpoint cluster fuck is hard to comprehend. I lived in Houston (Alief, Houston, Sugar Land & Katy) 4 times for most of my professional life and never had to deal with the shit that seems to happen every 3 or 4 years now. Had to deal w/ frozen pipes, but I don't recall ever losing power for more than 10 hours at a time. I always thought the uncoupling and deregulation of the power generation/transmission functions was a bad idea. Market forces drive innovation and efficiency, but some things should not be left to chance. 

Wishing you guys some good fortune.

I’ve lost power 2x in 11 years here, one for 11 hrs to the minute (freezepocalyse, last day) and about 8-9 hours for this event. By the time I got the gensets from storage barn back to the house we had power again.  Feel bad for those that get affected regularly, even though having huge trees might be worth it 

[Okie State 3,889]

We never lost power once in ten years at our old house. Even through the freeze. Since moving to this neighborhood we have lost it multiple times with this being the longest so far. It also does weird surges from time to time for no apparent reason. I would attribute it to this being a much older neighborhood, but two houses down and the entire other half of our neighborhood never loses power. There's obviously something wrong with our grid specifically and they just put bandaids on it to keep it going until the next time the wind blows. It's some bullshit to be sitting in the dark and looking out your window at houses completely unaffected.

Edited July 11 by Okie State

[YGIFS 19,458]

2 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Did anyone check the driveways of the Centerpoint BOD?

"Where the fuck is my generator truck?"

-Uh, a couple of Lineman took it to get it washed sir?

"Took it to get it washed?"  

[TOR 6,131]

I bet you're still getting a Centerpoint bill if you are in the fictional 'restored' areas, even if you are living off a generator.  

 

[Captainant 28,564]

2 minutes ago, TOR said:

I bet you're still getting a Centerpoint bill if you are in the fictional 'restored' areas, even if you are living off a generator.  

 

The real kicker is when centerpoint requests and receives a rate increase from the PUC in order to cover """repairs and hardening""" again. While paying out big fat dividends to shareholders, mind you. 

[TOR 6,131]

10 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

It’s a science project, not a habitable temperature.

You can live at 120f, in a tank, and you have sand fleas, and you poop in an MRE bag. Trust me.  Humans are damn near indestructible.  

[TOR 6,131]

9 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

Houston going to Houston ….

 

This is awesome.  GET OFF MY LAWN.

[Brisketexan 106,921]

The real kicker is when centerpoint requests and receives a rate increase from the PUC in order to cover """repairs and hardening""" again. While paying out big fat dividends to shareholders, mind you. 

Ahh…so you DO understand how it works.

[crimsonlonghorn 2,313]

My wife looked out the window yesterday and saw a Centerpoint truck out by our gate by the highway about 150 yards away and two guys walking down the driveway, presumably looking at the wires and the poles onto our property.

She ran out there to try to talk to them and get some information. They saw her coming and turned around and got back in the truck and drove off before she could get there.

i know, csb, but for reason hearing that really pissed me off. I guess we should just be glad they were there at all.

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,736]

4 hours ago, crimsonlonghorn said:

My wife looked out the window yesterday and saw a Centerpoint truck out by our gate by the highway about 150 yards away and two guys walking down the driveway, presumably looking at the wires and the poles onto our property.

She ran out there to try to talk to them and get some information. They saw her coming and turned around and got back in the truck and drove off before she could get there.

i know, csb, but for reason hearing that really pissed me off. I guess we should just be glad they were there at all.

 

Guarantee those guys are told to not make promises that they can’t personally deliver.

and as much pressure as the citizens and politicians are putting on centerpoint, I guarantee they’re getting more pressure from the power generation companies and electricity providers. Having Houston down is economically killing all of them. That is why politicians are now getting involved. 

[TOR 6,131]

Don't hate on the guys in the trucks, even if they are lazy turds.  CP is rotten from the middle, not the skin.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,456]

7 hours ago, TOR said:

You can live at 120f, in a tank, and you have sand fleas, and you poop in an MRE bag. Trust me.  Humans are damn near indestructible.  

Until you turn off our electricity. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19,456]

9 hours ago, TonyTexas said:

Prime example how the lack of communication (or flat out lying) has exacerbated this fucked up situation. 

 

Recall that mother fucker. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19,456]

8 hours ago, Bevo said:

There's a fault line that runs through The Woodlands. I don't know what kind of problems that would cause with buried cables.

We have buried lines here in The Woodlands. 

[Nivek 17,415]

Don't hate on the guys in the trucks, even if they are lazy turds.  CP is rotten from the middle, not the skin.

Fish rots from the head.

[Evil Bill Obrien 3,510]

1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Recall that mother fucker. 

Kinda glad that dumb boomer Whitmire had the nerve to talk down on the Astros for playing a game, can't think of a quicker way for everyone in the city to turn against him.

[Js1 87,190]

2 minutes ago, Evil Bill Obrien said:

Kinda glad that dumb boomer Whitmire had the nerve to talk down on the Astros for playing a game, can't think of a quicker way for everyone in the city to turn against him.

Praised Dallas or cited Bud Adams as his personal hero, maybe. Or came out as a Cowboys/Titans/Bills fan 

Edited July 11 by Js1

[Fudge Nuggets 19,456]

2 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Praised Dallas or cited Bud Adams as his personal hero, maybe. Or came out as a Cowboys/Titans/Bills/Rangers fan 

added for completeness.

[TOR 6,131]

3 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Praised Dallas or cited Bud Adams as his personal hero, maybe. Or came out as a Cowboys/Titans/Bills fan 

As a Cowboys fan, I can only say this- The Comeback.

[crimsonlonghorn 2,313]

2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Guarantee those guys are told to not make promises that they can’t personally deliver.

and as much pressure as the citizens and politicians are putting on centerpoint, I guarantee they’re getting more pressure from the power generation companies and electricity providers. Having Houston down is economically killing all of them. That is why politicians are now getting involved. 

Oh, I’m sure.

But just a little bit of information like, “There are several poles and transformed down around the corner that we are still working on.” would go a long way. 

[Captainant 28,564]

Found this in /r/Houston:

https://old.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/1e0kqp5/tiktok_linemen_are_stalled_because_centerpoint_is/

Apparently in the comments there's a ton of linemen in town from out of state commenting and confirming they are sitting and waiting in parking lots, awaiting orders from Centerpoint on where to go, and some are being asked to wait while Centerpoint negotiates their pay rates.

edit: found a local news link on it too

https://www.khou.com/article/news/investigations/power-repair-trucks-parking-lots/285-6a0f110f-3c74-416d-87f2-2f1fd75d2328

Quote

KHOU 11 Investigates: "Viewers are saying, 'I see all these trucks but wonder why are they in this parking lot and not out in the field?'"

Carroll: "It's a fair question -- totally empathize with customers thinking that and wondering that. What I will tell you is that safety is at the forefront of everything that we do."

Carroll said external crews must undergo safety briefings and other logistical preparations and that can take time.

KHOU 11 Investigates: "Should it take four, five hours to get these guys moving and doing the work they were hired to do?"

Carroll: "It’s not something that happens in every case and, you know, we don’t know the exact circumstances of what may have happened, so I don’t want to speak to that as though it’s the norm."

 

Edited July 11 by Captainant

[CycleTex87 3,041]

The logistical effort to organize and effectively manage 5000 (or whatever) crews coming from all over country to get out to work on individual projects is immense.  Seems like they should have a playbook for that and maybe have war-gamed that situation ahead of time.  But what do I know. 
 

[Js1 87,190]

5 minutes ago, CycleTex87 said:

The logistical effort to organize and effectively manage 5000 (or whatever) crews coming from all over country to get out to work on individual projects is immense.  Seems like they should have a playbook for that and maybe have war-gamed that situation ahead of time.  But what do I know. 
 

How could they be ready? It’s not like Houston is prone to tropical weather!

[NeverMarryAStripper 22,307]

If only they could have done a dry run shortly before hurricane season started

[TOR 6,131]

1 minute ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

If only they could have done a dry run shortly before hurricane season started

They did a Wet Run in '17 with Harvey.  

[wildcat09 29,591]

23 minutes ago, CycleTex87 said:

The logistical effort to organize and effectively manage 5000 (or whatever) crews coming from all over country to get out to work on individual projects is immense.  Seems like they should have a playbook for that and maybe have war-gamed that situation ahead of time.  But what do I know. 
 

I'm sure plugging a map of Houston into chatGPT can handle it just fine. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19,456]

22 minutes ago, CycleTex87 said:

The logistical effort to organize and effectively manage 5000 (or whatever) crews coming from all over country to get out to work on individual projects is immense.  Seems like they should have a playbook for that and maybe have war-gamed that situation ahead of time.  But what do I know. 
 

They should ask Entergy how it’s done. Not that Entergy is all that great, but they kick the shit out of Centerpoint. 

[TOR 6,131]

They think it will be pitchforks and torches.  

[Newdoc 3,511]

24 minutes ago, CycleTex87 said:

The logistical effort to organize and effectively manage 5000 (or whatever) crews coming from all over country to get out to work on individual projects is immense.

Seems like they could have held them in place until they know where to put them. 
 

And I guess the Astros should have had Altuve on a bucket truck resetting transformers instead of running around in the dirt. Or maybe plug a giant extension cord from Minute Maid to the Woodlands. Your mayor has a lack of critical thinking skills. Scary.

[Evil Bill Obrien 3,510]

1 minute ago, TOR said:

They think it will be pitchforks and torches.  

It should be, but it probably won't come to that. Legislature and PUC will have some dog and pony show "investigation" into Centerpoint where a lot of politicians get their angry soundbites in scolding them for not being prepared but in the end, they aint gonna do anything to truly hold them accountable or make things better for the future...

[Murfdogg21 4,563]

When they paired Waze with ChatGPT to run the electrical grid, SkyNet was born. 

[UT_OB1 2,266]

Our internet through ATT used to go out every time it rained because of how it was buried. I have to deal with the shit from the decision 30 years ago to bury the pipes at our plant. We’ve gotten most of them overhead in racks now, but it was awful before we got it converted. 

[TOR 6,131]

3 minutes ago, Murfdogg21 said:

When they paired Waze with ChatGPT to run the electrical grid, SkyNet was born. 

 

[The Ace of Aces 5,377]

52 minutes ago, CycleTex87 said:

The logistical effort to organize and effectively manage 5000 (or whatever) crews coming from all over country to get out to work on individual projects is immense.  Seems like they should have a playbook for that and maybe have war-gamed that situation ahead of time.  But what do I know. 
 

From what I understand, during the freezecalypse PPL, NY Electric and Gas, Eversource, etc. (they're all in an emergency conglomerate here) offered their emergency planning joint agreements but Texas gonna Texas 

Edited July 11 by The Ace of Aces

[Texas St. Armadillos 1,388]

Energy Capital of the World my ass.

[TOR 6,131]

3 minutes ago, Texas St. Armadillos said:

Energy Capital of the World my ass.

Snowpacalypse was the wake up call.  Got the fuck out.

[elfenix 34,753]

3 minutes ago, TOR said:

Snowpacalypse was the wake up call.  Got the fuck out.

Being transfered to a private prison in Mississippi isn't the flex you think it is

[TOR 6,131]

3 minutes ago, elfenix said:

Being transfered to a private prison in Mississippi isn't the flex you think it is

The food is really good.

wait wut...

[crash_davis 23,470]

2 hours ago, CycleTex87 said:

The logistical effort to organize and effectively manage 5000 (or whatever) crews coming from all over country to get out to work on individual projects is immense.  Seems like they should have a playbook for that and maybe have war-gamed that situation ahead of time.  But what do I know. 
 

Emergency Response Plans - how the fuck does a utility/private energy company in Houston not have this shit figured out. Houston has had many experiences for lessons learned on how to react to disasters. That CP seems to be still shooting from the hip is comical.

[Foosters 18,285]

1 hour ago, Texas St. Armadillos said:

Energy Capital of the World my ass.

I think they call it that bc everyone has to have a generator to live there. extra energy for everyone!

[Gatorubet 30,726]

1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

They should ask Entergy how it’s done. Not that Entergy is all that great, but they kick the shit out of Centerpoint. 

As an Entergy customer, I find that more than frightening.

[TOR 6,131]

Just now, Foosters said:

I think they call it that bc everyone has to have a generator to live there. extra energy for everyone!

Edmonton seems more like the 'Energy Capital' these days.  Calgary/Edmonton/NWT.  

Them Canadian girls are hot too, I tell you what.

[t_eight 157]

https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/centerpoint-energy-texas-17791714.php

Dave left earlier this year, but to show you what a shit show they were running.....

 

Lesar's $37.8 million take-home surpassed the average pay of As You Sow's 100 most overpaid CEOs by nearly $700,000, or about 366 times the median CenterPoint worker's salary, according to an As You Sow press release.   CenterPoint Energy's Lesar even managed to beat out the leaders of corporate giants like the Coca-Cola Company, Nike, Walt Disney and Walmart on the list of most overpaid CEOs.  

 

 

[elfenix 34,753]

I remember when 40x the average worker's pay was considered excessive