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westplains1865 t1_j1hizu3 wrote

Reply to comment by Redman5012 in Factbox: About 1.2 million without power in United States from winter storms by Smithy2232

My wife and I are retiring to Maine next year. Any idea why so many out? Are there more above ground wires due to the rocky soil, more remote wires, or was it the state just got hit harder?

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Mountain-rescues t1_j1ht5ek wrote

I'm in rural Alaska but I"lll take a shot (I have relatives in northern Maine). Maine, like us, has huge rural swaths. Like no joke rural. These are probably the areas with outages due to the sheer amount of trees falling on the lines, aging infrastructure and winds from the ocean. If your moving there and buying a home if it doesn't have a toyostove, a wood stove or a full house generator it I'd call it a deal breaker and keep looking

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in-game_sext t1_j1isv0d wrote

Everytime I see above-ground wires strewn between fucking wooden posts sticking out of the ground, I'm reminded how poor our infrastructure is in the US. We need to have started investing in buried line decades ago. Edison himself would recognize the technology and that should concern us all.

My rural county got cut off for two weeks about three winters ago. It was traced back to the fact that power for over 150,000 people could be traced to one. fucking. line. coming over a hill and a blown-over tree took it. Ridiculous.

Instead of proper upgrades that utility company (PG&E here in California) chooses to pay out stock dividends to investors. Their negligence has resulted in death and destruction in the form of everything from fire their equipment has started to leveling entire blocks of cities like the infamous San Bruno gas line explosion. We need to get our priorities straight and stop giving these companies a pass.

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LiftYesPlease t1_j1j3tg4 wrote

A book was written not long ago about this. California Burning. Catherine Blunt. Absolute greed led to the campfires and the unreliable infrastructure of California utilities.

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TrukThunders t1_j1hvrpg wrote

Mainer here. While we do get frequent outages during bad weather, the amount from yesterday's storm is a little unusual. The winds we got were more severe than what we usually get so there's a lot of downed trees out there which is the primary cause of outages in the state. Most of our power lines are above ground, I'd imagine that it has to do with how rural the state is making buried lines impractical.

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TheEngineer09 t1_j1hs9w4 wrote

Not an expert, but a front ripped through last night that was pretty brutal. I'm in NH, happened to be driving when it happened. I left my house and things were calm, then things were very not calm, car being blown around, branches coming down everywhere. By the time I got downtown the power was out almost everywhere. Like supermarkets with full parking lots just 100% dark inside. It wasn't like outages in used to where you'll see pockets without power, this was most of the town. Driving home was nuts, just so many trees down everywhere. Almost couldn't get home because 2 out of 3 routes were blocked by big trees and power lines in the road.

We've had some wild weather in the last couple years that I would have thought had cleared all the at risk trees, but I guess not.

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Goronmon t1_j1hvofr wrote

Aside from the crazy winds, the storm surge was pretty staggering. Some places along the coast had multiple feet of flooding.

We don't even live on the coast but have a tidal river that goes through town and it flooded the entire park that sits next to it.

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Can_Of_Worms t1_j1injpa wrote

In my time living in Maine the power just goes out more than anywhere else I’ve been. Not sure why.

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baxterstate t1_j1m3gy2 wrote

I live in Maine. We have a lot of trees. I noticed the power company cutting back the trees and branches two years ago and asked them out of curiosity, why haven’t they been doing it for the past 5 years. I was told every county is on a rotating schedule; they don’t have the manpower to cut in every area, every year. Seems to me it would be better in the long run to hire a full staff and act preemptively rather than have to import workers from far away at huge overtime wages. Meanwhile, I advise you to get an emergency generator.

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westplains1865 t1_j1m8vd8 wrote

Thanks, I appreciate the response. Would you also recommend a wood or wood pelet stove? They seem to be popular and I've been trying to lean about them. I'm coming from Illinois and will miss the cheap and readily available natural gas.

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baxterstate t1_j1muvc5 wrote

Wood pellet stoves still need electricity. Wood stoves don’t. However, pellet stoves are more efficient. Get an emergency generator first, professionally installed with a transfer switch so you don’t electrocute a lineman trying to restore power. Then check out various heating methods. If you plan to rent the house or have guests while you’re not there, I wouldn’t get a wood stove.

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