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30. December 2008 by admin.
TORONTO _ Despite setbacks from another wind storm Monday night, crews were making progress restoring power 48 hours after damaging winds raked the province, Ontario´s largest utility said Tuesday.
As of late Tuesday afternoon, the number of Hydro One customers without power had been cut to 58,000, down from a height of 235,000 on Sunday.
The reduction came even though another 24,000 customers saw their service interrupted from the second wind storm to hit the province in two days on Monday night.
The 1,300 utility workers from Hydro One and 23 local utilities from across the province working to repair downed lines represented an effort not seen for some time in Ontario, said Hydro One spokeswoman Daniele Gauvin.
“We have the same size workforce out that we did for the 1998 ice storm,” Gauvin said.
Crews were redeployed Tuesday from other areas of the province to assist efforts in the hardest hit regions, including Bancroft, Bracebridge, Huntsville and Parry Sound.
“Our 10 helicopters are focused in the Bancroft areas, as well as Bracebridge and Huntsville,” said Gauvin.
Gauvin said she expected most customers to have their power restored by sometime Wednesday.
However, the utility warned some people in more remote locations, such as those on islands, could remain without lights until Thursday or Friday.
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28. December 2008 by admin.
Severe wind damage left an estimated 230,000 Ontarians — including many in this region — without electricity Sunday.
“This is one of the worst storms we’ve had in many years,” said Hydro One spokeswoman Danielle Gauvin.
“In Eastern Ontario there were none this morning and there are now more than 30,000,” she said just before 5 p.m.
That included more than 20,000 customers in the greater Belleville and Bancroft areas, Gauvin said.
She said reports of customers in the dark jumped from 180,000 at 1 p.m. to 230,000 by 4 p.m.
“We’re hoping those numbers will come down dramatically once our main lines (are restored),” said Gauvin.
Crews have had difficulty reaching some damaged lines because of downed trees and even road closures, she said.
Gauvin added it was hoped large groups of customers would have power restored through Sunday evening as feeder lines, some serving thousands of customers, were brought back online.
However, she said, repairs could continue for several days.
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28. December 2008 by admin.
Hydro One outage update
Hydro One spokesperson Danielle Gauvin says in total, 90 thousand people across Ontario don’t have electricity.
She says wind gusts of up to 90 kilometres per hour are to blame.
Gauvin says it’s difficult for crews to begin restoration work while the winds are still high.
She says once winds die down, they’ll be able to get to work and have a better idea of when power will be restored.
Gauvin says line crews are on the ground, and with the severity of the situation, extra crews from other parts of the province could be brought in to help.
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27. December 2008 by admin.
Shanghai, December 26 (Gasgoo.com) Cummins Power Generation Inc, a division of Cummins Inc, has recently started construction of a diesel generator sets plant in Wuhan, the capital city of Central China’s Hubei province.
With a total investment of $19 million, this new plant with 12,000 square meters of construction area will have an annual capacity of 6,000 diesel generator sets and 30,000 G-Drive engines when it starts operation in July 2009.
The facility is expected to generate annual sales revenue of $170 million by 2013. Diesel generators and related products will be made here both for domestic supply and export.
The Wuhan city is already home to a regional Cummins service center and a $10 million Cummins Fuel Systems plant that opened in April this year.
Cummins Power Generation is a worldwide provider of electrical generators and power generation systems, components and services in standby power, distributed power generation, as well as auxiliary power in mobile applications to meet the needs of a diversified customer base.
Its products include diesel and alternative-fueled electrical generator sets from 2.5 to 2,700 kW, alternators from 0.6 KVA to 30,000 KVA, transfer switches from 40 amps to 3,000 amps, paralleling switchgear and generator set controls.
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27. December 2008 by admin.
The lights on the tree went dark for some residents Christmas morning as strong winds caused power outages throughout the state.
More than 15,000 were left without power at the peak of the problem.
Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. began dispatching line crews at 3 a.m. as calls of outages started coming in from across the region. The problems were caused by high winds knocking limbs and trees onto electric utility lines.
The company reported that approximately 1,700 customers were without power in much of its service area at some point Thursday. There were 1,373 homes and businesses left without power in Penobscot County, 244 in Hancock County, 67 in Washington County and 59 in Piscataquis County.
By 4:56 p.m. Bangor Hydro said that 70 customers were without power in Hancock County, 122 in Piscataquis County, 12 in Penobscot County and four in Washington County.
Some customers in Millinocket, Milo and Enfield could remain without power until this morning.
Most remaining outages are in remote areas, which are harder to reach, Bangor Hydro said.
Earlier Thursday, Bangor Hydro said a broken utility pole had to be replaced in Ellsworth, causing an outage of about two hours for 150 customers.
“We know customers want to enjoy Christmas without power outages,” said Bangor Hydro spokeswoman Susan Faloon. “We also want to get our crews home safe and sound to their families to enjoy the holiday, so they’ll work as quickly and safely as possible.”
Central Maine Power Co. reported that as many as 14,000 customers across its service area were without power at one point Christmas morning. By midday, 3,500 were still without power, including 1,500 in the Brunswick area, 400 in Farmington and 47 in Skowhegan.
“The crews are out there working and we’re making good headway,” a line supervisor said Thursday afternoon. “It covered every one of our service areas. Nobody was spared this time.”
Both companies indicated that crews would continue to work on the problem until power is restored to all of their customers.
There were no significant problems caused by the wind in Aroostook County, although brief power outages took place in Houlton and Caribou.
In Caribou, two road signs were tilted sideways when wind gusted through the area and a piece of siding on the Caribou Police Department became slightly dislodged. No injuries were reported.
Wind gusts of 50 mph diminished during the afternoon, easing the threat of additional outages.
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27. December 2008 by admin.
HONOLULU, Dec 26 (Reuters) - The island of Oahu, including the resort where President-elect Barack Obama is vacationing, was hit by a power blackout on Friday, possibly caused by a lightning strike, authorities said.
Eyewitnesses said it appeared Obama’s holiday compound was also knocked out and workers were hurrying to set up an emergency generator.
An electricity company spokesman said the entire 600 square mile (1553 sq km) island, which is home to around 900,000 people, was affected.
Traffic was snarled on major Honolulu roads.
Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann told KSSK radio station it would be at least 12 hours before power was restored.
A state transportation official told local radio planes were still landing at the Honolulu International Airport but takeoffs were suspended.
Residents said this was the largest power outage since an earthquake caused a major blackout in October 2006.
A civil defense official said it was possible a lightning strike on a transformer had caused the outage. A strong thunderstorm moved over the island just before the power failure.
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23. December 2008 by admin.
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Dec. 23 (UPI) — A fierce winter storm that hit Canada’s Maritime provinces this weekend had more than 25,000 customers without electricity Tuesday, utility officials said.
Various reports indicated Nova Scotia was hardest hit by the storm that blew in Sunday with Category 2 hurricane-force winds of more than 100 mph along the south and east coasts, the Canwest News Service reported.
The provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland were also affected with power outages, closed highways and bitterly cold temperatures, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
The Chronicle-Herald newspaper in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said more than 100,000 customers lost electricity Sunday through Monday and said more than 100 repair crews were out working on downed poles and lines.
The CBC said virtually all of Canada was feeling the effects of winter, which officially began Sunday. The normally balmy Pacific coast communities of British Columbia has been experiencing sub-freezing temperatures and snow, the prairie provinces are in their second week of Arctic temperatures, as the southern cities of Toronto and Montreal were also digging out from weekend snowstorms Tuesday.
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23. December 2008 by admin.
Three Rivers Ambulance Authority has issued a warning to residents using generators to heat their homes or businesses.
“We have had a large number of runs involving carbon monoxide poisoning,” said Jim Berger, public information officer for TRAA. Generators should be used only outside, he said, noting some people have said they used the generators in their garage for fear they would be stolen if left outside. “They might want to chain them to a tree,” Berger suggested.
St. Joseph Hospital has been especially hard-hit with patients affected by CO poisoning, treating 25 people since Friday. In a typical year, the hospital might treat up to 10 CO poisoning cases, said Jernice Watson, director of the hospital’s emergency department.
St. Joe has a hyperbaric chamber used to treat the most serious cases, but the majority of CO patients treated there and the seven treated at Lutheran Hospital over the weekend did not require use of the chamber, said Geoff Thomas, spokesman for the hospitals, which are part of Lutheran Health Network.
Parkview Hospital on Randallia Drive has treated about a dozen cases of CO poisoning in December, with the majority of cases occurring since Friday, spokesman John Perlich said.
When someone uses a generator in the garage, especially with the door closed, “if the furnace is in the garage, the CO will go right into the furnace and right in through the vents,” Berger said.
Other creative means of heating homes in recent days have caused serious problems, he said.
“We have also had a couple of runs with people bringing propane gas grills inside their homes for heat, and this has caused a build-up of CO in homes,” Berger said.
Several people treated at St. Joe were sickened after burning coal in their homes in an attempt to warm them, Thomas said.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless and toxic gas. Because it is impossible to see, taste or smell the toxic fumes, CO can kill before the person is aware it is in the home, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
At lower levels of exposure, CO causes mild flu-like symptoms such as headache, dizziness, nausea and fatigue, so people may take over-the-counter medicines and go to bed, which could be fatal. The effects of CO exposure can vary greatly from person to person depending on age, overall health and the concentration and length of exposure.
Each year in America, carbon monoxide poisoning claims about 480 lives and sends another 15,200 people to hospital emergency rooms for treatment, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
Every home or apartment with a gas furnace, water heater or stove should have a CO detector, but Berger said some people who may normally heat with electricity or hot water may not have the detectors and may not realize CO is released by generators.
Weather is also sending more people to hospital emergency rooms for ice-related falls, over-exposure to below-freezing temperatures or because they needed medications delivered by electrically run equipment.
Over the weekend at Lutheran Hospital, “the ER had double the visits it normally has,” Thomas said.
Parkview Hospital did not have specific numbers for recent ER visits, but Perlich said, “Parkview’s emergency department did see an increase in weather-related patient needs over the weekend.”
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15. December 2008 by admin.
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Power cut to almost 18,000 customers in Ontario; weather likely cause
TORONTO - Hydro One crews are trying to restore power to more than 18,000 customers in the Huntsville region and north through Sudbury and North Bay.
The utility says about 2,800 outages hit the Huntsville area beginning Sunday night, affecting mainly rural customers across the region.
About 1,000 homes, businesses and cottages may have service restored by early afternoon, but the rest may be out until late in the day.
Hydro One says another 9,700 customers are affected near Sudbury and another 5,200 are without electricity near North Bay.
Restoration times for those regions are set for throughout the afternoon.
Poor weather is believed responsible for most of the outages.
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15. December 2008 by admin.
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The ice is beginning to melt across most of the northeastern United States, but blackouts are expected to continue for the next couple of days.
The New York Times is reporting that as many as 650,000 people were still without power on Sunday in upstate New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
As many as 200,000 people were without power in New Hampshire, Sunday, which was the state hardest hit by the storm. President George W. Bush declared a federal state of emergency for New Hampshire and for fourteen counties in Massachusetts.
New Hampshire Governor John Lynch asked residents to be prepared to go a few more days without power.
“Given the extensive damage, utilities are reporting that most citizens will not see their power restored for several days,” Lynch said.
Local governments and community organizations throughout the northeast have opened emergency shelters for residents without electricity or heat.
The ice storm began on Thursday evening and lasted through the night on Saturday.
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