Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Power outages more commonplace


Power outages, once commonplace during the 1970s, are becoming more frequent. Last week electricity demand increases saw outages across Britain with several power stations shutting down including Sizewell B nuclear power plant. In east London today an outage hit several hundred homes setting off alarms across the district. The reliance on electricity does not become apparent until such an outage. Not only do the lights go out, but also the TV, radio, computer and internet. Fridges and freezers also shut down creating potential hazards if the outage persists for any length of time. Hitting as it did shortly before 17:00 BST [16:00 GMT] there were many meals waiting to be cooked in ovens across parts of the London Borough of Havering. As to when the power will return can only be guessed. And this has been posted only with the availability of battery power and Vodafone’s mobile internet [what to do in a blackout]. There were several other power outages reported in the UK in the last 48 hours. In Southport, near Merseyside on the west coast, more than 2000 residents lost power [Southport News]. On Monday night thousands were left without electricity in the Watford area, north west of London, after thieves stole "vital components" from an electricity substation [Watford Observer]. And in the Derby area residents were hit by the fifth powercut in less than ten weeks [Derby Telegraph]. Power is often restored within 2 or 3 hours, but only after creating inconvenience and uncertainty for thousands.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Blackouts, Disasters, Hurricanes, Tornados, Wind Storms. We’ve all seen the after-effects, entire communities without power. I’ve read that on average 3.5 million people lose their power in the US each week! We just bought a generator from MainPowerConnect.com that now will ensure our family has the power needed when faced with these unexpected outages. With back-up power, our home now stays well lighted, secure, keeping our food cold and fresh and our air conditioning working. We also connected our sump pumps to the generator protecting us against flooding.