Wednesday, August 8, 2012
In the latest City of Manassas Utility Connection newsletter, the city lauds its strategic plan for keeping electricity on during the derecho.
While thousands of residents were without electricity, air conditioning and in some cases, running water for up to a week during the aftermath derecho in July, City of Manassas residents were without power for one day. In the most recent Utility Connection Newsletter for August, Tarek Aly, P.E., Deputy Director of Electric for the City of Manassas highlighted what portions of the strategic plan helped keep residents with power. The city has "a tree trimming program that maintains overhead lines on a three-year cycle." The next third of the city scheduled for tree trimming (November 2012 to April 2013) is the bulk of the Weems Community. "An outage management plan that identifies the City’s resources in an emergency and is practiced …
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Manassas identified as hardest hit area for storm, 911 system failures.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking public comment into the 911 system failures during the June 29 derecho storm. The impact of the storm was particularly severe in Manassas, Manassas Park and Prince William and Fairfax counties, where an estimated 2.3 million people in Northern Virginia lost access to 911 services for up to four days following the late-June derecho. Local government officials indicated to FCC that public safety answering points, which process calls to 911 facilities, failed, as did traditional, broadband and wireless backup systems, according to a public notice issued by the FCC. The FCC joined forces with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) immediately after the storm hit to launch an …
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Sometimes old school technology, or none at all, is the most effective way to deal with emergency situations
The old expression “hanging by the telephone” might confuse anyone under 30 these days. They have no idea what it was like before the advent of cell phones, and for those under 40, they may not remember a time without call-waiting or even answering machines. You had to wait at home for important phone calls. Fast forward to today: You find yourself in a wireless dead zone or your battery dies. Desperation sets in. How will I call home? How can I connect with those I am supposed to have a business meeting? Enter old school technology Do you know that an address book also refers to a small book that has room for alphabetical listing of your friends, family and business contacts with their numbers, addresses and other information? Even if you…
Friday, July 13, 2012
Moran, Connolly, Wolf want the FCC to reconsider a regulation concerning backup power that the commission proposed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Northern Virginia's three congressmen called on the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to take action that will prevent future outages to the region's 911 systems. In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, U.S. Reps. Jim Moran, Gerry Connolly and Frank Wolf asked that the commission dust off a post-Hurricane Katrina regulation that would have required all telecommunications companies to provide at least eight hours of backup power for all cell phone towers. The regulation was subsequently struck down on a technicality related to how the commission handled public comments, according to a news release. “In the event of an emergency situation, whether it be a natural disaster or man-made threat, the public needs confidence …
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Both whole-house and portable generator sales are spiking after the major storm on June 30 left residents without power for a week.
More homeowners are considering purchasing whole-house generators — another after-effect of the derecho that swept through Northern Virginia at the end of June, leaving hundreds of thousands without power for days. Benfield Electric in Manassas has fielded an “amazing number” of calls in the past week both from homeowners who have generators in need of maintenance and from homeowners who want generators installed as quickly as possible. In some ways, generators are like cars, according to Benfield Electric’s David Delorge. They need maintenance—including oil changes, spark plugs and cleaning—and most generators automatically turn on once a month as an automatic check to ensure things are running properly. Too frequently, when a generator …
Monday, July 9, 2012
Post-Derecho the telecommunications company is continuing to restore service to all customers in Northern Virginia.
A possible tornado in Fredericksburg, a derecho and other severe weather have thrown service out of commission for many Verizon customers. Since June 29, Verizon has been experiencing service outages due to the freak weather occurances and has been assessing and repairing damage. "After Verizon technicians worked extended shifts throughout the weekend, the company’s service levels are nearly back to normal in most of the Washington metropolitan area," said a prepared statement from the company. "Company technicians now are focusing on service restoral for several hundred customers in areas technicians could not previously reach due to downed power lines." The possible tornado in Fredericksburg downed approximately 20 power poles. "As of …
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Despite last night's thunderstorm, the outage numbers are still decreasing steadily.
Update, 2:15 p.m. The number of Dominion Virginia Power customers without power in Northern Virginia is now down to 6,723, as of 2:04 p.m. In Prince William County, the number of Dominion outages is down to 589. Update, July 5, 7:15 a.m.: Despite last night's thunderstorm, the number of Dominion Virginia Power customers without power in Northern Virginia is still decreasing steadily. As of 7:08 a.m., 9458 customers still don't have power. In Prince William County, however, the number jumped from in the low hundreds to 3229 customers without power. Dominion initially estimated that they would restore power Tuesday night to 80 to 85 percent of customers by who lost it during Friday's derecho, and to 90 to 95 percent of customers by …
The Derecho of 2012 has given us insight into our relationship with technology.
A snapshot of summer 2012 so far: Tyson's Corner is filled with laptopped exiles basking in air conditioning, power outlets and WiFi. People drive around tree-riddled neighbhorhoods getting a dose of cool air and charging their phones before discovering that open gas stations are a little more far flung then expected. Friends with power and internet access become ports in the storm. I was one of the lucky ones, our power flickered but it returned. Our FiOS phones and local TV channels went out and cell phone signal was down to a single bar of non-3G coverage. It was strange to have great internet signal while no phone service. I was very thankful and cognizant that others had suffered damage to their house, lost power and were suffering in…
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Only a couple hundred are still without power in Prince William County.
Update, 2:50 p.m. As of 2:39 p.m., 23,975 Dominion Virginia Power customers are still without power and air conditioning in Northern Virginia. In Prince William County, only 183 customers are still without power. Update, 10:45 a.m.: Dominion has posted today's crew work locations for Prince William County and Northern Virginia. In Prince William County, only 239 customers are still without power. Update, July 4, 7:05 a.m.: As of 7:01 a.m., 39,502 Dominion Virginia Power customers are still without power and air conditioning in Northern Virginia. "Work locations to be published later today. Expect to see a lot of activity in your area as we consolidate into more damage areas," Dominion tweeted. In Prince William County, only 246 …
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Most people should have power by Thursday or earlier.
Update, 10:00 p.m.: As of 10:02 p.m., 54,329 Dominion Virginia Customers are still without power and air conditioning in Northern Virginia. "We are starting to see outages due to storms in NoVA in areas that were recently restored. Pls call 866-366-4357 to report," Dominion tweeted. "We are working around the clock, just waiting out lightning for obvious reasons." In Prince William County, only 371 customers are still without power. Update, 12:45 p.m.: As of 12:42 p.m., 77,861 Dominion Virginia Customers are still without power and air conditioning in Northern Virginia. "Periodically, crews may need to de-energize a line in order to restore service in other areas. Report any new outage to 866-366-4357!" Dominion tweeted. In Prince …
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