Rolling Blackouts In The Woodlands

[pineda]

The Woodlands Online home page

[dfinke]

So much for "Rolling" blackouts. Our power had been off for about two and a half days. It just came back on this morning. Has anyone else experienced this problem in The Woodlands?

[RedScare]

I just got off the phone with my brother. He was out for 3 hours yesterday. No outages today. He thinks it is done, but if the weather changes tomorrow, as predicted, it should be over by then.

He did not lose power during the storm.

Edited September 28, 2005 by RedScare

[pineda]

John Cooper School's still closed today along Flintridge.

Driving through Indian Springs the night before was eerie, no lights anywhere on the drive there, and then a few hours later, all the lights were on. It would have to be just maddening to go through this.

[bachanon]

we have had power continuously in grogan's mill (knock on wood). i had no idea that other parts of the woodlands were experiencing the roaming blackouts. friends at lake conroe have been without power since saturday morning. the change in weather will be a relief.

[pineda]

Indian Springs is still without power...

[KatieDidIt]

Indian Springs is still without power...

GGGGr. Just had one back here in Sterling Ridge. 4 hours. I JUST bought groceries and now they are spoiled. NOt to mention the chicken I was cooking when the power went out. We went up to Market Street and all the resturants were closed. Its going to kill them finacially.

Our friend is the Public Relations head for Centerpoint. They are helping HICKPOWER Entergy as best they can. Centerpoint isn't rolling power.

The kids had NO AIR CONDITIONING and limited water in school today (Deretchin Elem.). We of course didn't know til we picked them up. Its 102 outside and they kept school on? What's WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE??? If there is No AC tomorrow, we aren't doing school. CISD had their message machine on of course, the school lines on constant busy. They don't wanna talk.

I think the FOR SALE sign goes up tomorrow.

Edited September 29, 2005 by KatieDidIt

[pineda]

Katie-

I was at the Y today off Ashlane, near the new CWM Library.

Their building was very cool inside. People kept going up to the reception desk and asking why the Y had power but none of their homes did. The Y personnel told them that their building is powered by Centerpoint, not Entergy. Interesting, huh? A lot of people were just hanging out in the cool lobby area to get some respite from their homes. None of the shopping centers around Indian Springs had power either. I feel sorry for the people from Entergy, this is their second big power outage disaster in the Montgomery County (and several surrounding counties) in less than a year. Really inspires confidence in their abilities...

[RedScare]

My 82 year old dad and 79 year old mom lost power for two days. When I insisted on bringing them a genset and an air conditioner, my mom told me not to waste my money or my gas, that they toughed it out during Alicia for two weeks, so they could handle this.

Somehow, I think if my 80 year old parents can handle two days, kids ought to be able to handle a couple of hours. Maybe it's just me.

[pineda]

Red-

Eight hours in a hotbox without windows with over 500 young children is asking a lot there, don't you think?

[RedScare]

I guess you're right. I went to school for ELEVEN YEARS without air conditioning, and look what it did to me. I lived in a house SEVENTEEN years without air conditioning.

I guess I'm overreacting.

[pineda]

Wow, in Houston?

[KatieDidIt]

My 82 year old dad and 79 year old mom lost power for two days. When I insisted on bringing them a genset and an air conditioner, my mom told me not to waste my money or my gas, that they toughed it out during Alicia for two weeks, so they could handle this.

Somehow, I think if my 80 year old parents can handle two days, kids ought to be able to handle a couple of hours. Maybe it's just me.

Red. Our parents and grandparents went to schools that were constructed with high ceilings, WINDOWS and fans. I mean seriously.............

These kids have NO WINDOWS, 8 foot celings and no fans. AND THE WATER WASN"T WORKING. There is a huge difference. Sure, if they were in a 1950-60's schools, it wouldn't be a big deal. In a brand new SEALED school it is a health hazard. My son was cover from head to toe in sweat when he got in the car and snatched the water bottle out of my hand. He stood in front of the freezer for 5 minutes when we got home.

Pineda, It would help if Entergy had built some substations rather than just stringing miles and miles of more wire.

Katie-

I was at the Y today off Ashlane, near the new CWM Library.

Their building was very cool inside. People kept going up to the reception desk and asking why the Y had power but none of their homes did. The Y personnel told them that their building is powered by Centerpoint, not Entergy. Interesting, huh? A lot of people were just hanging out in the cool lobby area to get some respite from their homes. None of the shopping centers around Indian Springs had power either. I feel sorry for the people from Entergy, this is their second big power outage disaster in the Montgomery County (and several surrounding counties) in less than a year. Really inspires confidence in their abilities...

Pin, our sources say this will bankrupt Entergy. THANK GOD. Centerpoint will most likely purchase the lines and build some substations. The Y thing is interesting. 2978 is Centerpoint. I will call my friend again. I wanna get hooked up too!

Edited September 29, 2005 by KatieDidIt

[RedScare]

Katie, I agree that the schools that my parents and myself attended had air circulation, even if that air got a bit warm and humid in June and September (in the old days, we didn't go to school in August ). The impression I had from your post was that the kids only spent a few hours in the dark. Forgive me if my perception did not match reality.

As to Entergy's lack of substations, some or much of this problem may be related to Woodlands residents' objection to Entergy putting up transmission towers in the Woodlands. I tend to think it just happens that Entergy's grid was in the line of fire, but if the power company is denied the lines it needs, it may weave less redundancy in the system, making outages more frequent, and alternate routes of power harder to come by. Kind of like my piss poor cell phone service in the Heights being a direct result of Heights residents opposition to more cell towers.

[MidtownCoog]

Speking of school, my dad was telling me about when he had to take Summer School at San Jacinto High School (now HCC). San Jac was the main summer campus for HISD.

No a/c, and it was brutal.

[pineda]

when your dad had to take summer school there, did they ever open these windows all over the building?

[RedScare]

Here's the high school I went to....

And yeah, we opened every window in the place.

[pineda]

Red-

Where is that?

And that round thing on top, is it strictly ornamental or what?

[RedScare]

That is R. J. Reynolds High School, in Winston-Salem, NC. The rotunda is ornamental. If you'll look closely, the road is at the second floor level. The landing enters the second floor of the building. That landing was our smoking area (back in the 70s). It is named for the tobacco magnate, afterall.

Below, is the auditorium that the Reynolds family built for the school.

And the interior restoration.

The auditorium is air conditioned. The classrooms were not.

[pineda]

Beautiful auditorium!

[RedScare]

The whole campus is like that. I remember the first time we had assembly in that auditorium. Somewhat awe inspiring. The Juniors had to sit in the balcony. The seniors, of course, got to sit in the lower level. Seeing some of the older HISD schools reminds me of those days. I'm proud to see HISD renovating a lot of them. They are classics.

[KatieDidIt]

The whole campus is like that. I remember the first time we had assembly in that auditorium. Somewhat awe inspiring. The Juniors had to sit in the balcony. The seniors, of course, got to sit in the lower level. Seeing some of the older HISD schools reminds me of those days. I'm proud to see HISD renovating a lot of them. They are classics.

Ok Red, now it all makes since. I grew up in Chapel Hill and Burlington and YEAH, I could have gone without AC there too! Texas on the otherhand....no. I always laugh when I go back in the summers and my NC relatives are complaining how they are gonna pass out in 93 degrees.

[RedScare]

Ok Red, now it all makes since. I grew up in Chapel Hill and Burlington and YEAH, I could have gone without AC there too! Texas on the otherhand....no. I always laugh when I go back in the summers and my NC relatives are complaining how they are gonna pass out in 93 degrees.

Hey! Sometimes, it hit 94!

Seriously, some of the summers were pretty damned hot, when there's no AC. But, Houston and Texas win that battle hands down.

[kjb434]

Also, three days without power in the woodlands. I guess many of you never really went through huricane aftermath.

Many people will lose power in a huricane even if they felt little impacts from the weather system directly.

I had to go without power for 5 days during Andrew back in Louisiana and the nearby town was only 3 days. If you are in the middle of nowhere, you will be last on the list to get helped. They try to get the urban areas and employment centers up first.

The comments abour the tranmission towers from Red are also key too.

NIMBY many of times doesn't help utility services. Having more substations and transmission lines help. They only have the unattractiveness, the cancer crap from the transmission lines is hype only.

You would have to be within 3 feet of the actual line to get any radiation and then you will have to stay there for many hours to get any real dangerous side effects. It's fun what you learn when you have a physics masters student as a college apartment roommate.

[ConstructionManagerMAS]

Also, three days without power in the woodlands. I guess many of you never really went through huricane aftermath.

Many people will lose power in a huricane even if they felt little impacts from the weather system directly.

I had to go without power for 5 days during Andrew back in Louisiana and the nearby town was only 3 days. If you are in the middle of nowhere, you will be last on the list to get helped. They try to get the urban areas and employment centers up first.

The comments abour the tranmission towers from Red are also key too.

NIMBY many of times doesn't help utility services. Having more substations and transmission lines help. They only have the unattractiveness, the cancer crap from the transmission lines is hype only.

You would have to be within 3 feet of the actual line to get any radiation and then you will have to stay there for many hours to get any real dangerous side effects. It's fun what you learn when you have a physics masters student as a college apartment roommate.

[ConstructionManagerMAS]

Just some comments on the Woodlands/Entergy issue.

My understanding is that Entergy has no permanent interconnects into the main Texas power sharing grid (ERCOT?) because of Texas law. Since The Woodlands area is on the western edge (literally) of Entergy's service area, power is almost bound to be less reliable. There is only one Entergy generating station in this part of the state (in Grimes County I believe). The panhandle of Texas is also not on the ERCOT grid, from my understanding.

Several years ago, the NIMBY issue definitely came up in regard to new power transmission lines into The Woodlands. After a lot of talking, Entergy said they would try to put one particular transmission line underground to mollify The Woodlands. Guess what? That line never was built. Regardless of who you retain to do a construction estimate, it is always going to be less expensive to construct new transmission overhead rather than underground. Take a look on 1488 just west of 242. All of those lines coming from north of 1488 are distribution lines coming from a substation hidden somewhere in the trees. I guess Entergy put it there to avoid having to site one in The Woodlands proper.

CenterPoint is not what it used to be now that it is just the "wires" arm of Reliant. I used to coordinate a lot with the old HL&P, and it was great working with them. It was sort of an old fashioned utility company providing a service. After deregulation, working with CenterPoint during construction projects is a joke. It can now take months (i do mean months) to get services connected, and moving lines is even worse. Reliant is not making its good money off of CenterPoint, it is making it off of the deregulated power market.

I'm on a CenterPoint line just west of The Woodlands. During Rita, we didn't even have a power "blip" even though our power is not usually very reliable here.