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The freezing conditions will end for Texas soon, but they’re set to move into the Northeast this weekend.

A woman waits for paramedics in the back of a Lyft Ride vehicle on February 01, 2023 in Austin, Texas. A winter storm is sweeping across portions of Texas, causing massive power outages and disruptions of highways and roads.

Central Texas has been frozen since earlier this week after an Arctic front rolled into the Southern U.S. Parts of central, west, and north Texas and nearby states Arkansas and Tennessee were under ice storm warnings, per the National Weather Service Prediction Center. The freezing temperatures and sleet should end by this weekend.

“The prolonged and damaging ice storm that has impacted a large region from Texas to Tennessee is forecast to finally come to an end today as a final surge of moisture slides eastward,” the NWS said. “Highs will return into the 40s and 50s by Friday, likely eliminating any icy concerns.”

“FINALLY beginning to see some clearing on radar. Road conditions will slowly improve as we climb into the mid 30s today. Slick spots will persist overnight but widespread improvement is expected tomorrow. Allow for extra travel time today. It’s still slushy!” the Fort Worth National Weather Service account tweeted Thursday.

More than 405,000 customers out of 13 million are without power, according to Poweroutage.us.

Several days of icy conditions had canceled over 2,000 flights across several states as of Wednesday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal reported. Driving was dangerous throughout Texas this week. The storm has been blamed for 10 traffic accident deaths across three states, the Associated Press reported. The sleet and freezing rain also created ice layers on trees, causing the branches to snap off.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

German Disaster Official Recommends Stockpiling ‘Several Crates’ Of Water, Canned Food

November 21, 2022

German Disaster Official Recommends Stockpiling ‘Several Crates’ Of Water, Canned Food

The head of Germany’s Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief (BBK), Ralph Tiesler, has warned citizens to prepare for short-term power outages, particularly in January and February, and to stock up on rations in advance.

“We have to assume that there will be blackouts this winter. By that, I mean a regional and temporary interruption in the power supply. The cause will not only be energy shortages, but also the targeted, temporary shutdown of the networks by the operators, with the aim of protecting the networks and not endangering the overall supply,” Tiesler told the news outlet Welt am Sonntag, adding that local authorities in several German municipalities are preparing for the possibility of blackouts, and have developed ‘precise plans’ that include procuring emergency generators to support the system.

That said, some municipalities are not prepared – and despite German gas storage facilities being near capacity, experts don’t think the stockpile will be enough to last the country through the winter due to a lack of new supply from Russia.

“We expect short-term blackouts rather than long-lasting, large-scale blackouts. But good preparation is important for that, too,” Tiesler added.

What to do? Stock up…

“Primarily water, several crates, and canned food. That would be enough for ten days. That’s what my agency recommends… Our message is: prepare in the first place. Be prepared for possible crises, don’t assume that everything will be readily available all the time,” Tiesler stated, adding that residents should also purchase battery-powered radios and candles.

Germany’s energy woes stem from a drop in gas supplies from Russia, after an ill-advised scheme to shut off their nuclear power plants. The flow of gas was cut off much earlier than expected over Ukraine-related sanctions, as well as explosions in September which rendered the Nord Stream 1 pipeline inoperable.

Power Blackout Risks Loom For Quarter Of All Americans

November 18, 2022

Power Blackout Risks Loom For Quarter Of All Americans

The US heating season has officially begun, and new warnings show that a quarter of all Americans could experience energy emergencies this winter if temperatures fall below average due to tight fossil fuel supplies.

Power grids from the Great Lakes to Louisiana, New England, Carolinas, and all of Texas are the most at risk for power supply shortfalls during high-demand periods, according to Bloomberg, citing a new report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), a regulatory body that manages grid stability.

NERC said a cold snap for an extended period could spark grid strain due to soaring power demand from households and businesses. This would cause supplies of natural gas, coal, and backup diesel generators to draw down more quickly and possibly experience shortages.

“The trend is we see more areas at risk, we see more retirements of critical generation, fuel challenges and we are doing everything we can.

“These challenges don’t kind of appear out of nowhere,” John Moura, NERC’s director of reliability assessment, said during a media briefing.

For instance, the demand for diesel is rising, but East Coast supplies are at record lows for this time of year. Shortage of fuel used to power the economy, from heating to trucking, has about 25 days left of supplies in storage. Any supply disruption could leave power generation plants with supply gaps this winter.

Jim Matheson, chief executive officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, told Bloomberg that electricity demand is set to outpace “available supply during peak winter conditions, consumers face an inconceivable but real threat of rolling blackouts.”

Matheson warned: “It doesn’t have to be this way. But absent a shift in state and federal energy policy, this is a reality we will face for years to come.”

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Zambia state power firm says nation in countrywide blackout

November 8, 2021

Zambia state power firm says nation in countrywide blackout

LUSAKA, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Zambia was experiencing a nationwide power blackout on Saturday after an unidentified problem, the state utility said, adding that it was working to restore electricity supply.

“We have lost power countrywide resulting from a fault, which is yet to be determined. The company is restarting the main sources of electricity to create stability on the system,” state-owned Zesco spokesman John Kunda said.

Kunda said the power supply was likely to be restored in six to eight hours.

Copper-rich Zambia suffered another major power outage affecting most parts of the country last month after a problem at an important hydropower station. read more

Nationwide Blackout Hits Syria After Gas Pipeline Bombed

September 18, 2021

Nationwide Blackout Hits Syria After Gas Pipeline Bombed

A blackout has reportedly plunged all of Syria into darkness Friday into Saturday, with Syria’s state-run SANA announcing the nationwide power outage is due to an attack on a gas site and pipeline in southern Damascus.

Into the overnight hours, electricity reportedly returned to much of the capital of Damascus, while the Minister of Electricity Ghassan al-Zamil vowed to restore the rest of the country’s power in a matter of “hours” as technicians are on the scene.

*Illustrative image: gas pipeline bombing from earlier in the war, Reuters file.*

It was part of Hezbollah’s promise to get Iranian fuel into Lebanon amid the country’s energy crisis, which has seen its own severe blackouts hit major cities and towns over much of the past month.

There’s also the possibility of an attack on Syria’s infrastructure by remnant anti-Assad insurgent groups, also as there’s again in recent weeks been renewed fierce fighting centered on the southern Syria city of Deraa.

According to a popular Syria blogger and commentator, “Sources in southern Damascus reported hearing an explosion seconds before the blackout. All of this happened as the second batch of tankers carrying Iranian fuel was crossing into Lebanon.”

Speculating on the question of a possible external sabotage operation that caused the blackout, given the deeply suspicious timing, geopolitical commentator and Syria watcher Aaron Maté said, “Just as it helps Hezbollah bring desperately needed fuel into Lebanon, Syria suffers a sabotage attack that leads to complete blackout.”

“This is on top of the regular power shortages caused primarily by US sanctions & the 10-year dirty war,” Maté added.

Beirut Goes Dark As Economic Tailspin Sees Dire Fuel & Electricity Shortages

August 14, 2021

Beirut Goes Dark As Economic Tailspin Sees Dire Fuel & Electricity Shortages

Starting Wednesday night Lebanon’s Central Bank announced that fuel subsidies have been halted, already at a moment where there’s been scarcity of both gas and electricity. Fuel prices are expected to at least quadruple, leading to a national scramble for fuel, exacerbating rolling blackouts akin to what’s become the tragic “norm” of recent years in neighboring war-torn Syrian.

International reports are underscoring that the enduring economic crisis beginning in 2019 which sparked a year of mass protests and a currency crisis, and subsequent failed attempts to stave off total collapse amid a drastic “shock” change in government, are now coming to a head, sending already impoverished areas of the country of nearly seven million spiraling into steadily worsened conditions.

Regional director of humanitarian aid NGO Crisis Group, Heiko Wimmen, was cited in CNN as saying “This is obviously going to ripple through the whole economy.” He emphasized that seemingly overnight basic staples that support daily life have now become a “luxury”.

“For a large part of the population, electricity will become a luxury. Driving your car will become a luxury, too. Transportation will become a luxury,” Wimmen added.

The cutting of subsidies was expected, but still a “shock” nonetheless. Like everything else in Lebanon energy has been severely mismanaged, after already the government suspended lines of credit to fuel importers.

So the sudden liberalization of fuel prices meant whole villages, towns, and parts of cities were plunged into darkness overnight as not even generators could keep the lights on:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

California Grid Strained As Power Shortfalls Loom

July 10, 2021

California Grid Strained As Power Shortfalls Loom

Amid another heat wave across the Western half of the US, California issued a stage-2 power-grid emergency alert Friday and urged customers to conserve power as temperatures surpassed 100 degrees, according to The Sacramento Bee.

The state’s grid operator, California Independent System Operator (ISO), issued the alert on Friday, which is one step away from rolling blackouts.

Readers may recall, as early as Tuesday, we outlined how “scorching temperatures return to the West, persisting through mid-week, and reappear this weekend.” By Friday, we gave the full breakdown of the second heat wave and its impact for the next several days, affecting upwards of 28 million people from California to Washington State.

Excessive heat warnings have already been posted for California, Nevada, western Arizona, and western Utah. Watches have also been posted for interior portions of Oregon and southern Idaho.

By late Friday, ISO discontinued the emergency, but with multiple 100-degree-plus days forecasted for Saturday and Sunday for Californians, the power grid operator may have to reissue grid alerts.

Large swaths of the West could experience temperatures 20 or more degrees above average. Below is a temperature anomalies forecast showing the heat dome could last through mid-next week

For those who are curious what “stage 2” means, power consumption is exceptionally high in the state, and the grid has become “reserve deficient,” allowing grid operators to resupply the grid with generators. If supply doesn’t meet demand, the next stage would be rolling blackouts to prevent the grid from collapse. The alert was the first in 2021 and was last declared in August 2020.

Making matters worse is a wildfire raging in southern Oregon and may threaten transmission lines bringing power into California.

The wildfire prompted California Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue an emergency proclamation to free up additional energy supplies.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why Isn’t the US Preparing for EMP War Like the Rest of the World?

July 4, 2021

Why Isn’t the US Preparing for EMP War Like the Rest of the World?

You’re likely already familiar with the 2009 EMP Commission Report. It was this report that raised the issue of EMP-preparedness for the American public. It’s notorious stating that just one year after an EMP attack, 90% of the American population would be dead, caused alarm throughout multiple sectors of society.

Books began to be written on the subject. Sales of Tedd Koppel’s Lights Out, Forstchen’s One Second After, and Crawford’s Lights Out quickly reached blockbuster levels. And while I believe that these books (and that report) brought the issue of an electromagnetic pulse to light for Americans, I don’t believe it showed Americans just how real of a threat it is.

To truly understand just how very real of a risk this is, I believe all we have to do is look at the battle plans of some of the nations that hate America most.

Let’s start with Russia

**Non-Contact Warfare was the name of Russian General Vladimir Slipchenko’s military textbook. Within this text, he explains how EMPs are the greatest revolution in military affairs in history. According to Slipchenko, the possession of an EMP renders an enemy’s armies, navies, and air forces completely obsolete, and it’s hard to argue with him there.

If you can’t get your missile defense systems online, if your tanks won’t run, if your planes have all just fallen out of the sky, you’re kind of screwed, aren’t you?

The flagship journal of the Russian General Staff, Military Thought, further echoes this concept. An article within the journal titled “Weak Points of the US Concept of Network-Centric Warfare” specifically points out the use of an EMP as a possible means of defeating the US.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Triple-Digit Heat Dome Bakes Pacific Northwest, Triggers First Blackout

June 29, 2021

Triple-Digit Heat Dome Bakes Pacific Northwest, Triggers First Blackout

The Pacific Northwest is experiencing a multi-day heat wave that we said last week would be “historic.” The unrelenting triple-digit temperatures shattered records across the region and have stressed out power grids where rolling blackouts have been reported.

Bloomberg reports Avista Corporation, which supplies electricity to 340,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers, triggered its first rolling blackout across its grid after it became overloaded Monday evening. Rotating outages first hit 9,300 customers late Monday and could expand as temperatures remain well above average through July 4.

Avista was the first major utility to report rolling blackouts in the Northwest region, and with positive temperature anomalies to linger through the week, it may not be the last.

Avista has never “experienced this kind of demand on our system and this kind of impact to our system,” Heather Rosentrater, senior vice president of energy delivery at the utility company, told reporters during a press conference Monday. She called the weather event “very unprecedented.”

As we noted last Friday, “a “historic” heat wave was set to transform the Pacific Northwest into a furnace this weekend. It has the potential to shatter long-standing temperature records.” And that is precisely what it did.

Major metros, such as Portland and Seattle, broke record highs by huge margins as positive temperature anomalies reached between 30 to 40 degrees.

Portland hit 116 degrees by Monday afternoon, the highest temperature in more than eight decades of record-keeping. It was the third day of triple-digit temps.

Seattle recorded 108 degrees Monday afternoon, easily surpassing its previous 103-degree record from 2009. Positive temperature anomalies for the city yesterday were 34 degrees, usually temps average around 74 degrees.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

PG&E Warns Of More Blackouts As California Wildfire Season Begins

June 12, 2021

PG&E Warns Of More Blackouts As California Wildfire Season Begins

It has been an arid spring in California, and that’s causing alarm with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. executives who have said this week they will need more frequent power cuts to customers in Northern California to prevent wildfires.

PG&E’s chief risk officer Sumeet Singh told WSJ that California’s dry weather conditions could result in more rolling blackouts this year than last year. The company has trimmed trees away from powerlines and inspected the grid as the wildfire season began earlier this month.

June is typically the month the wildfire season in California begins. The state is already battling an extreme drought, and the first heat wave of the season hit last week. The risks of another heat wave are increasing for next week.

The hottest and most fire-prone months are nearing as a second heat wave of the season could arrive as early as next week.

How the season turns out may depend on the immediate climate in the state. Extreme heat and drought are several factors that may produce dry fuels and eventually spark fires.

“The fuel moisture levels … are about a month or two months ahead of schedule,” Strenfel told Sacramento Bee. “They’re at a state where they’re typically this dry in mid-July, and we’re seeing them in June. We’re a month ahead of schedule, if not two months, in terms of fire danger.”

Singh told WSJ, “the big, big variable that’s unpredictable here is the wind. But in all the forecasts that we’ve done, we do not see ourselves getting back to the same kind of [power shut-off] events like we saw in 2019.”

Already, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared 41 of the state’s 58 counties are in a drought, with much of the state in an “extreme drought” and portions in an “exceptional drought.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Blackouts, firestorms, and energy use

June 8, 2021

Blackouts, firestorms, and energy use

Preface. Blackouts are more and more likely in the future from fires, hurricanes, natural gas shortages and more. Below is an account from a friend who had to evacuate due to a wildfire.

Blackouts in the news:

2021. Texas Was Seconds Away From Going Dark for Months.

***

This is a letter from someone I know about his experiences when PG&E cut his power off (and 2.5 million others).

Last Saturday around 2 pm we received notice that our area was under an evacuation warning owing to the huge Kincade fire that erupted on Wednesday evening (which we watched in terror and awe from our front porch). At 6:30 pm the order became mandatory. In the end, nearly 200,000 people, or about a third of the population of Sonoma County, were evacuated.

This was our first experience having to plan and prepare to leave on a moment’s notice. We found refuge with a friend in San Francisco, where we stayed until the order was downgraded to a warning on the following Tuesday. The experience highlighted a number of lessons for us.

First and foremost, do not ever evacuate without taking your dog’s favorite toy with you. This oversight necessitated a trip to a pet store to find the item in question. Having a dog certainly helped us keep focused and calmer, although I know she sensed that we were quite out of sorts for days.

Second, we discovered that fuel disappears quickly. We went out 15 minutes after the initial warning was issued, and the closest gasoline station already had 7 of 8 pumps taped closed. The second station had fuel, but long lines coming in from each direction. Of course, once the power went off, there was no fuel to be had at all.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Preparedness Author Michael Mabee Warns of Grid Threats: “It is not enough to be the only prepared family”

April 1, 2019

Preparedness Author Michael Mabee Warns of Grid Threats: “It is not enough to be the only prepared family”

In the U.S. we are literally on life support, plugged into the electric grid. If somebody unplugs us, everything necessary to sustain life stops: food, water, fuel, transportation, medical care, communications, financial – everything.

The grid is vulnerable to numerous threats. The U.S. Senate said that in a long-term nation-wide blackout, millions of citizens could die. After a few weeks, we would die in droves from waterborne diseases, starvation, and societal collapse. What if the grid went down for longer than a few weeks?

Why isn’t anything being done about this threat?

We have known this for over two decades from numerous federal reports and hearings, but nothing has been done about it. Why?

“The grid is self-regulated,” author Michael Mabee explained. “The only federal agency with the authority to act, FERC, is run by industry insiders.”

For the past 15 years, commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have been cut from the same bolt of cloth. All but two were lawyers. Most go on to high power positions in law firms representing the utility industry. Some actually go to the utility industry itself. FERC is a stepping stone to a lucrative future position in the industry or representing the industry.

FERC Commissioners don’t want to upset the industry by requiring it to protect the grid from cyber attacks, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), geomagnetic disturbances (GMD), physical attacks and untrimmed foliage. The industry fights efforts to harden the grid. FERC Commissioners do not want to antagonize an industry dangling lucrative positions following their FERC terms.

The federal government has no plan for a long-term power outage. FEMA recently admitted this:

“Current planning does not include any contingencies for very long term or extremely widespread power outages.” –FEMA National Preparedness Symposium May, 2018

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Trump Plans Executive Order To Study Risks Of EMP Attack

March 26, 2019

Trump Plans Executive Order To Study Risks Of EMP Attack

In what would be a major about-face for the federal government, President Trump is reportedly preparing to sign an executive order to study the risks of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the US.

Despite the fact that a growing number of scientists and national security experts see an EMP attack on the US electricity grid as one of the greatest terror threats facing the country, the DoD decided in late 2017 to defund a Congressional committee that had been studying the EMP threat since 2001. The DoD terminated funding for the Commission to Assess the Threat to the US from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack in September 2017, just as the threat from North Korea – considered a rogue state that could pull off an EMP attack with one of its nukes – was reaching a fever pitch.

✔

NEWS: Trump is preparing to sign an executive order meant to help deal with potential electromagnetic pulse events.

Some lawmakers and scientists have long worried that a rogue nation with the technological know-how might attack the U.S. electric grid with an EMP.

Experts determined that a successful attack doesn’t even require a Super-EMP weapon. What’s worse, the Commission concluded that even a primitive weapon could successfully render our infrastructure obsolete. BBG reported that the fear that a ‘rogue nation’ could shut down the US electricity grid with a well-placed EMP helped inspire the president’s order.

Several declassified 2017 reports from the Commission that were released earlier this year also revealed that Russia, China and several other nations had been developing powerful high-altitude nuclear bombs intended to produce super-electromagnetic pulse (EMP) waves capable of knocking out critical electronic infrastructure.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Government Agency Warning: Space Storms Could Cause Mass BLACKOUTS

November 21, 2018

Government Agency Warning: Space Storms Could Cause Mass BLACKOUTS

The Met Office has told United Kingdom ministers that space storms could cause massive blackouts and destroy computers. According to the government agency’s study, a space storm could bring down the internet and all communications.

According to The Sunday Times, a new report is claiming that huge solar flares can generate such intense magnetic fields over Earth which in a flash could burn out delicate electronics and even set them on fire. The report, co-authored with scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and Cambridge University said the UK should construct an early warning system because of their risk.

Great Britain is at a major risk of being crippled by huge electrical disturbances caused by solar storms in space unless a satellite network is built that can detect them coming. (And if you guessed the taxpayers are going to foot the bill, you’d be correct.)

“We find that for a one-in-100-year event, with no space weather forecasting capability, the gross domestic product loss to the United Kingdom could be as high as £15.9bn,” The Met Office study said. “With existing satellites nearing the end of their life, forecasting capability will decrease in coming years, so if no further investment takes place, critical infrastructure will become more vulnerable to space weather.”

It’s not like solar storms of this magnitude have never occurred either. According to Fox News, In 1859 a giant solar flare doubled the sun’s brightness for a few minutes, followed by a surge in magnetism that caused powerful electrical currents in telegraph wires across Europe igniting widespread fires. Another such solar event in 1989 struck Quebec in Canada and burned out power cables led to a blackout. Researchers fear another such event would burn out high-voltage cables and substations across the United Kingdom.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Solar Storms Present Danger Of BLACKOUTS For Major East Coast Cities

June 26, 2018

Solar Storms Present Danger Of BLACKOUTS For Major East Coast Cities

The largest solar storm in recent history struck in 1859 and the auroras could be seen across the globe. But a solar storm of that magnitude today would cause devastating blackouts in major cities on the East Coast of the United States.

An upcoming report from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) warns that a region of the Eastern Seaboard will be particularly vulnerable to devastating blackouts in the event of a solar storm thanks to the rocks beneath the surface. It’s widely believed that the type of geomagnetic storm capable of wiping out the grid happens once every century, but a worst-case scenario might result in widespread blackouts that could last for months, the Space Weather Prediction Center told Bloomberg.

According to Bloomberg, the soon-to-be-released report found a 300-million-year-old rock beneath the surface of the Eastern Seaboard could amplify the next big solar storm from Washington D.C. all the way to Maine. The makeup of this rock wouldn’t allow the solar energy to go through it and would instead ricochet it back up to the surface, doubling the impacts in this region, the report also said.

But that isn’t the only problem facing those who live on the East Coast. According to USGS research geophysicist and study lead author Jeffrey Love, the Eastern Seaboard is at risk for blackouts not only due to its abundance of insulating rocks but also due to the region’s proximity to the North Pole, where intense solar activity is most likely to strike.

“It’s an active problem that a lot of people are trying to solve and understand,” Space Weather Prediction Center scientist Christopher Balch told Bloomberg, according to The Weather Channel.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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