Power Outage Montogomery County

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just do 2 hours late? Power has been restored, so just have the staff check that is school is functional.
I can't take off work today and have 2 elementary school kids.

Because you have no idea what you are talking about.

The power tower that he crashed into was a point in the power grid for the eastern seaboard including the northeast and the midatlantic. They diverted power from the tower to other towers. It took several hours to ground the tower and surrounding area to ensure that power was dispersed before they could begin rescue. The rescue was performed, but they still have to disentangle the plane from the cables, then the power company will be repairing the tower. Once done, they will have a likely additional power outage to restore the tower into the grid. The current grid diverted around this tower is not long-term sustainable.

When they cut power to restore the grid, it is unknown how long that outage will be. It is also unknown when it will happen, but likely sometime today. The uncertainty of if/when power will go out again and for how long means that the schools cannot plan around such a potential outage. They don't want to have kids in school when there is no power or HVAC. They don't want to have kids in school when phone lines may go down and they can't call for emergency or for parents to come and pick up their children. They don't want kids in school when they may not have power to provide meals for the children (or that food taken out and partially cooked is ruined and has to be discarded. They don't want kids on school buses when whole areas may lose power and traffic lights.

I'm sorry you're so inconvenienced, but the safety of your children is far more important than any work you have. And the schools cannot guarantee children's safety in large numbers with the number of unknowns about the power restoration process.

But by this logic, shouldn't other services be shut down too? So people don't get stranded in elevators, etc. in case the power goes out again? It seems like there should be a targeted shutdown of schools and businesses in the affected area, but let them open in areas that were unaffected.

I mean, whatever, it's one day, but when central office decided to give themselves a vacation too this has a ripple effect on daycares, etc. that follow the MCPS admin office closures.

Your argument makes no sense. No it is not comparable to adults in an elevator that can just take the stairs....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t this the same airfield where that plane crashed into a house a few years back and killed a mother and her kid?

These planes should be banned!

The airpark should be closed permanently.

A couple we know recently decided to buy a home near the airpark. They agree it needs to be shut down permanently, because of the airplane noise .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just do 2 hours late? Power has been restored, so just have the staff check that is school is functional.
I can't take off work today and have 2 elementary school kids.

Because you have no idea what you are talking about.

The power tower that he crashed into was a point in the power grid for the eastern seaboard including the northeast and the midatlantic. They diverted power from the tower to other towers. It took several hours to ground the tower and surrounding area to ensure that power was dispersed before they could begin rescue. The rescue was performed, but they still have to disentangle the plane from the cables, then the power company will be repairing the tower. Once done, they will have a likely additional power outage to restore the tower into the grid. The current grid diverted around this tower is not long-term sustainable.

When they cut power to restore the grid, it is unknown how long that outage will be. It is also unknown when it will happen, but likely sometime today. The uncertainty of if/when power will go out again and for how long means that the schools cannot plan around such a potential outage. They don't want to have kids in school when there is no power or HVAC. They don't want to have kids in school when phone lines may go down and they can't call for emergency or for parents to come and pick up their children. They don't want kids in school when they may not have power to provide meals for the children (or that food taken out and partially cooked is ruined and has to be discarded. They don't want kids on school buses when whole areas may lose power and traffic lights.

I'm sorry you're so inconvenienced, but the safety of your children is far more important than any work you have. And the schools cannot guarantee children's safety in large numbers with the number of unknowns about the power restoration process.

But by this logic, shouldn't other services be shut down too? So people don't get stranded in elevators, etc. in case the power goes out again? It seems like there should be a targeted shutdown of schools and businesses in the affected area, but let them open in areas that were unaffected.

I mean, whatever, it's one day, but when central office decided to give themselves a vacation too this has a ripple effect on daycares, etc. that follow the MCPS admin office closures.

Your argument makes no sense. No it is not comparable to adults in an elevator that can just take the stairs....

NP. The scenario involves adults already in elevators when power goes out. Unless you’re recommending people just take the stairs all day today, which is basically what pp was suggesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t this the same airfield where that plane crashed into a house a few years back and killed a mother and her kid?

These planes should be banned!

The airpark should be closed permanently.

A couple we know recently decided to buy a home near the airpark. They agree it needs to be shut down permanently, because of the airplane noise .

I agree the airpark needs to be closed due to the area being a poor area for small aircraft to be flying around, but the above argument is a terrible argument.

People who bought a home at a discount because it was close to an airpark, want the airpark closed so that their home value will go up when it is no longer an active airpark. That's just a self-serving and egocentric argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just do 2 hours late? Power has been restored, so just have the staff check that is school is functional.
I can't take off work today and have 2 elementary school kids.

Because you have no idea what you are talking about.

The power tower that he crashed into was a point in the power grid for the eastern seaboard including the northeast and the midatlantic. They diverted power from the tower to other towers. It took several hours to ground the tower and surrounding area to ensure that power was dispersed before they could begin rescue. The rescue was performed, but they still have to disentangle the plane from the cables, then the power company will be repairing the tower. Once done, they will have a likely additional power outage to restore the tower into the grid. The current grid diverted around this tower is not long-term sustainable.

When they cut power to restore the grid, it is unknown how long that outage will be. It is also unknown when it will happen, but likely sometime today. The uncertainty of if/when power will go out again and for how long means that the schools cannot plan around such a potential outage. They don't want to have kids in school when there is no power or HVAC. They don't want to have kids in school when phone lines may go down and they can't call for emergency or for parents to come and pick up their children. They don't want kids in school when they may not have power to provide meals for the children (or that food taken out and partially cooked is ruined and has to be discarded. They don't want kids on school buses when whole areas may lose power and traffic lights.

I'm sorry you're so inconvenienced, but the safety of your children is far more important than any work you have. And the schools cannot guarantee children's safety in large numbers with the number of unknowns about the power restoration process.

But by this logic, shouldn't other services be shut down too? So people don't get stranded in elevators, etc. in case the power goes out again? It seems like there should be a targeted shutdown of schools and businesses in the affected area, but let them open in areas that were unaffected.

I mean, whatever, it's one day, but when central office decided to give themselves a vacation too this has a ripple effect on daycares, etc. that follow the MCPS admin office closures.

Your argument makes no sense. No it is not comparable to adults in an elevator that can just take the stairs....

NP. The scenario involves adults already in elevators when power goes out. Unless you’re recommending people just take the stairs all day today, which is basically what pp was suggesting.

The comparison is outlandish. Of course buildings have generators and the like. The problem was much bigger than that, obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just do 2 hours late? Power has been restored, so just have the staff check that is school is functional.
I can't take off work today and have 2 elementary school kids.

Because you have no idea what you are talking about.

The power tower that he crashed into was a point in the power grid for the eastern seaboard including the northeast and the midatlantic. They diverted power from the tower to other towers. It took several hours to ground the tower and surrounding area to ensure that power was dispersed before they could begin rescue. The rescue was performed, but they still have to disentangle the plane from the cables, then the power company will be repairing the tower. Once done, they will have a likely additional power outage to restore the tower into the grid. The current grid diverted around this tower is not long-term sustainable.

When they cut power to restore the grid, it is unknown how long that outage will be. It is also unknown when it will happen, but likely sometime today. The uncertainty of if/when power will go out again and for how long means that the schools cannot plan around such a potential outage. They don't want to have kids in school when there is no power or HVAC. They don't want to have kids in school when phone lines may go down and they can't call for emergency or for parents to come and pick up their children. They don't want kids in school when they may not have power to provide meals for the children (or that food taken out and partially cooked is ruined and has to be discarded. They don't want kids on school buses when whole areas may lose power and traffic lights.

I'm sorry you're so inconvenienced, but the safety of your children is far more important than any work you have. And the schools cannot guarantee children's safety in large numbers with the number of unknowns about the power restoration process.

But by this logic, shouldn't other services be shut down too? So people don't get stranded in elevators, etc. in case the power goes out again? It seems like there should be a targeted shutdown of schools and businesses in the affected area, but let them open in areas that were unaffected.

I mean, whatever, it's one day, but when central office decided to give themselves a vacation too this has a ripple effect on daycares, etc. that follow the MCPS admin office closures.

Your argument makes no sense. No it is not comparable to adults in an elevator that can just take the stairs....

NP. The scenario involves adults already in elevators when power goes out. Unless you’re recommending people just take the stairs all day today, which is basically what pp was suggesting.

That argument is a poor one. If/when the power company is planning on shutting down the power for a switchover to restore the grid to it's designed configuration, they aren't just going to flip the switch at a moment's notice. They are going to publicize an outage time and get it to all the media stations, social media and will alert millions of people about it. There will be notices, business will be able to put signs up not to use the elevators after a certain time and make plans. The amount of time it takes for a small business or building to alert customers and residents about the power outage is a matter of minutes. Coordinating getting students that are in a school back home takes hours. How long does it take when a school makes an emergency shutdown notice to when the students are all out of the building? They have to initiate the call tree to parents, they have to get staff to organize the kids, they have to call the bus contractor and make arrangements and the bus contractors have a schedule of which schools and routes to handle at which times. And they need to alert the drivers of the time changes and if there are any schedule accommodations that need to be made.

You are trying to equate the difference between a small and big organizational change and it doesn't just scale easily because the complexity factor is exponentially bigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope the stupid man is fined heavily for his consequential leisure choices.

How do you know that he was flying for leisure? If there is a commercial airplane crash, do you feel sorry for those traveling for business, but have no sympathy for those flying on that day for pleasure? "Anyone flying to Cancun for spring break deserves it."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The airpark was rural when it was built. It no longer is. After this and the crash that killed the Gemmell family a few years ago, I think it's reasonable to have a conversation about whether continuing to host an airpark in that location, with amateur pilots and no ATC routinely overflying houses and infrastructure on the landing path, is a good idea. Obviously we don't know what happened here but 88% of plane crashes overall are due to pilot error so it's not out of line to assume the pilot may have screwed up here and not seen something, particularly in this weather. Hopefully this power outage hasn't killed anyone through losing home medical equipment or traffic lights not working, or hospital operations in the blackout zone being disrupted.

This. The air park needs to go. There’s way too much development around it as this incident clearly demonstrates. Do you think our Moco leaders will actually do it though?

Same argument was made about closing Reagan National airport after the 1980 Air Florida crash.

[Anonymous]

So when are they shutting down the power to do a switchover?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just do 2 hours late? Power has been restored, so just have the staff check that is school is functional.
I can't take off work today and have 2 elementary school kids.

Because you have no idea what you are talking about.

The power tower that he crashed into was a point in the power grid for the eastern seaboard including the northeast and the midatlantic. They diverted power from the tower to other towers. It took several hours to ground the tower and surrounding area to ensure that power was dispersed before they could begin rescue. The rescue was performed, but they still have to disentangle the plane from the cables, then the power company will be repairing the tower. Once done, they will have a likely additional power outage to restore the tower into the grid. The current grid diverted around this tower is not long-term sustainable.

When they cut power to restore the grid, it is unknown how long that outage will be. It is also unknown when it will happen, but likely sometime today. The uncertainty of if/when power will go out again and for how long means that the schools cannot plan around such a potential outage. They don't want to have kids in school when there is no power or HVAC. They don't want to have kids in school when phone lines may go down and they can't call for emergency or for parents to come and pick up their children. They don't want kids in school when they may not have power to provide meals for the children (or that food taken out and partially cooked is ruined and has to be discarded. They don't want kids on school buses when whole areas may lose power and traffic lights.

I'm sorry you're so inconvenienced, but the safety of your children is far more important than any work you have. And the schools cannot guarantee children's safety in large numbers with the number of unknowns about the power restoration process.

But by this logic, shouldn't other services be shut down too? So people don't get stranded in elevators, etc. in case the power goes out again? It seems like there should be a targeted shutdown of schools and businesses in the affected area, but let them open in areas that were unaffected.

I mean, whatever, it's one day, but when central office decided to give themselves a vacation too this has a ripple effect on daycares, etc. that follow the MCPS admin office closures.

Your argument makes no sense. No it is not comparable to adults in an elevator that can just take the stairs....

Public buildings need to be accessible to people with disabilities, so you cannot assume that all adults can "just take the stairs."

I don't really care about MoCo schools though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t this the same airfield where that plane crashed into a house a few years back and killed a mother and her kid?

These planes should be banned!

The airpark should be closed permanently.

A couple we know recently decided to buy a home near the airpark. They agree it needs to be shut down permanently, because of the airplane noise .

Exactly what did they think happens at the air park?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just do 2 hours late? Power has been restored, so just have the staff check that is school is functional.
I can't take off work today and have 2 elementary school kids.

Because you have no idea what you are talking about.

The power tower that he crashed into was a point in the power grid for the eastern seaboard including the northeast and the midatlantic. They diverted power from the tower to other towers. It took several hours to ground the tower and surrounding area to ensure that power was dispersed before they could begin rescue. The rescue was performed, but they still have to disentangle the plane from the cables, then the power company will be repairing the tower. Once done, they will have a likely additional power outage to restore the tower into the grid. The current grid diverted around this tower is not long-term sustainable.

When they cut power to restore the grid, it is unknown how long that outage will be. It is also unknown when it will happen, but likely sometime today. The uncertainty of if/when power will go out again and for how long means that the schools cannot plan around such a potential outage. They don't want to have kids in school when there is no power or HVAC. They don't want to have kids in school when phone lines may go down and they can't call for emergency or for parents to come and pick up their children. They don't want kids in school when they may not have power to provide meals for the children (or that food taken out and partially cooked is ruined and has to be discarded. They don't want kids on school buses when whole areas may lose power and traffic lights.

I'm sorry you're so inconvenienced, but the safety of your children is far more important than any work you have. And the schools cannot guarantee children's safety in large numbers with the number of unknowns about the power restoration process.

But by this logic, shouldn't other services be shut down too? So people don't get stranded in elevators, etc. in case the power goes out again? It seems like there should be a targeted shutdown of schools and businesses in the affected area, but let them open in areas that were unaffected.

I mean, whatever, it's one day, but when central office decided to give themselves a vacation too this has a ripple effect on daycares, etc. that follow the MCPS admin office closures.

Your argument makes no sense. No it is not comparable to adults in an elevator that can just take the stairs....

Public buildings need to be accessible to people with disabilities, so you cannot assume that all adults can "just take the stairs."

I don't really care about MoCo schools though.

I do think the point went right over your head though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t this the same airfield where that plane crashed into a house a few years back and killed a mother and her kid?

These planes should be banned!

The airpark should be closed permanently.

A couple we know recently decided to buy a home near the airpark. They agree it needs to be shut down permanently, because of the airplane noise .

I agree the airpark needs to be closed due to the area being a poor area for small aircraft to be flying around, but the above argument is a terrible argument.

People who bought a home at a discount because it was close to an airpark, want the airpark closed so that their home value will go up when it is no longer an active airpark. That's just a self-serving and egocentric argument.

So what?

The same argument has been effective.

This argument has been effectively used to shut down racetracks, gun ranges, farms, and other nuisances, adjacent to places I might want to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just do 2 hours late? Power has been restored, so just have the staff check that is school is functional.
I can't take off work today and have 2 elementary school kids.

Because you have no idea what you are talking about.

The power tower that he crashed into was a point in the power grid for the eastern seaboard including the northeast and the midatlantic. They diverted power from the tower to other towers. It took several hours to ground the tower and surrounding area to ensure that power was dispersed before they could begin rescue. The rescue was performed, but they still have to disentangle the plane from the cables, then the power company will be repairing the tower. Once done, they will have a likely additional power outage to restore the tower into the grid. The current grid diverted around this tower is not long-term sustainable.

When they cut power to restore the grid, it is unknown how long that outage will be. It is also unknown when it will happen, but likely sometime today. The uncertainty of if/when power will go out again and for how long means that the schools cannot plan around such a potential outage. They don't want to have kids in school when there is no power or HVAC. They don't want to have kids in school when phone lines may go down and they can't call for emergency or for parents to come and pick up their children. They don't want kids in school when they may not have power to provide meals for the children (or that food taken out and partially cooked is ruined and has to be discarded. They don't want kids on school buses when whole areas may lose power and traffic lights.

I'm sorry you're so inconvenienced, but the safety of your children is far more important than any work you have. And the schools cannot guarantee children's safety in large numbers with the number of unknowns about the power restoration process.

But by this logic, shouldn't other services be shut down too? So people don't get stranded in elevators, etc. in case the power goes out again? It seems like there should be a targeted shutdown of schools and businesses in the affected area, but let them open in areas that were unaffected.

I mean, whatever, it's one day, but when central office decided to give themselves a vacation too this has a ripple effect on daycares, etc. that follow the MCPS admin office closures.

Your argument makes no sense. No it is not comparable to adults in an elevator that can just take the stairs....

Public buildings need to be accessible to people with disabilities, so you cannot assume that all adults can "just take the stairs."

I don't really care about MoCo schools though.

Every single MCPS school has children with disabilities who use the elevators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just do 2 hours late? Power has been restored, so just have the staff check that is school is functional.
I can't take off work today and have 2 elementary school kids.

Because you have no idea what you are talking about.

The power tower that he crashed into was a point in the power grid for the eastern seaboard including the northeast and the midatlantic. They diverted power from the tower to other towers. It took several hours to ground the tower and surrounding area to ensure that power was dispersed before they could begin rescue. The rescue was performed, but they still have to disentangle the plane from the cables, then the power company will be repairing the tower. Once done, they will have a likely additional power outage to restore the tower into the grid. The current grid diverted around this tower is not long-term sustainable.

When they cut power to restore the grid, it is unknown how long that outage will be. It is also unknown when it will happen, but likely sometime today. The uncertainty of if/when power will go out again and for how long means that the schools cannot plan around such a potential outage. They don't want to have kids in school when there is no power or HVAC. They don't want to have kids in school when phone lines may go down and they can't call for emergency or for parents to come and pick up their children. They don't want kids in school when they may not have power to provide meals for the children (or that food taken out and partially cooked is ruined and has to be discarded. They don't want kids on school buses when whole areas may lose power and traffic lights.

I'm sorry you're so inconvenienced, but the safety of your children is far more important than any work you have. And the schools cannot guarantee children's safety in large numbers with the number of unknowns about the power restoration process.

But by this logic, shouldn't other services be shut down too? So people don't get stranded in elevators, etc. in case the power goes out again? It seems like there should be a targeted shutdown of schools and businesses in the affected area, but let them open in areas that were unaffected.

I mean, whatever, it's one day, but when central office decided to give themselves a vacation too this has a ripple effect on daycares, etc. that follow the MCPS admin office closures.

Your argument makes no sense. No it is not comparable to adults in an elevator that can just take the stairs....

NP. The scenario involves adults already in elevators when power goes out. Unless you’re recommending people just take the stairs all day today, which is basically what pp was suggesting.

That argument is a poor one. If/when the power company is planning on shutting down the power for a switchover to restore the grid to it's designed configuration, they aren't just going to flip the switch at a moment's notice. They are going to publicize an outage time and get it to all the media stations, social media and will alert millions of people about it. There will be notices, business will be able to put signs up not to use the elevators after a certain time and make plans. The amount of time it takes for a small business or building to alert customers and residents about the power outage is a matter of minutes. Coordinating getting students that are in a school back home takes hours. How long does it take when a school makes an emergency shutdown notice to when the students are all out of the building? They have to initiate the call tree to parents, they have to get staff to organize the kids, they have to call the bus contractor and make arrangements and the bus contractors have a schedule of which schools and routes to handle at which times. And they need to alert the drivers of the time changes and if there are any schedule accommodations that need to be made.

You are trying to equate the difference between a small and big organizational change and it doesn't just scale easily because the complexity factor is exponentially bigger.

DP, but I think this is a bit more complicated than you let on. Who would ensure than a planned outage would be communicated effectively to the affected area? WHat about disabled people who cannot easily use the stairs? How would it affect traffic lights? I think it's good that they were able to avoid this.

But anyway, I guess I'm not understanding why ALL the schools needed to be closed today, unless it has something to do with the bus depot or a service that would affect the entire district. MCPS has certainly closed individual schools for outages before. Unless there was some indication that Pepco was going to be cutting the power county-wide, which who knows, maybe there was.