One wire, one small fault, 36,000 people stuck

A perfect example from Manchester today as to why people need EDC' kit and BOBs, One single faulty wire brought the entire city centre of Manchester to a halt. Anyone who puts their entire safety in the hands of the erstablishment is a fool, we should always have a back up plan to fall back on.

Phones out, lights out, rail signals out, electric trains out, elivators out, cash points out, mobile phones out, shops and offices plunged into darkness. traffic lights out.
NR

Power Cut Cripples Manchester
Tuesday, January 13 01:37 pm

Power has been restored to thousands of homes and offices in Manchester after a massive blackout crippled the city centre.Power Cut Cripples Manchester Shops and offices were affected shortly before 11am.

Alarm bells triggered by the power cut rang, as banks and offices shut their doors to bewildered customers.

The Arndale shopping centre was affected by the cut, which also knocked out phonelines.

A United Utilities spokeswoman said: "We had a major failure around 10.40am from an overhead power line that feeds central Manchester, Bury, Prestwich and Salford."

The fault originated in an overhead power line, the spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for the Greater Manchester Passengers Transport Executive (GMPTE) said tram services had been stopped in their tracks.

Network Rail said trains were unable to travel in or out of the city's Victoria station for 20 minutes, as signalling was affected by the power cut.

Steve Cox, United Utilities electricity response manager, said: "We apologise to everyone affected by this fault.

"At this stage our priority has been to get power back on as quickly as possible.

"When we have completed repairs we will investigate what caused the fault."


[edit on 13-1-2009 by Northern Raider]

Is it not amazing that in this day and age, one little fault can cause so much mayhem, and yet appropriate backup is not n place.

Spose we will have saved some MW of electricity in the meantime.

Oh well.

Northern Raider, posts like these (mostly from you, thank you) have served only to raise my awareness of what I need to be doing and possible situations to prepare for.

While I find it absolutely incredible that one wire could cause so much mayhem, I find an increasing peace of mind knowing that I could (now) easily deal with a situation like this.

Some experts have suggested in the paast that if terrorists attacked as few as 9 specific points on the national grid they could plunge over 2/3 of the Uk into darkness, thank christ they kept the details to themselves but they did say it was a few certain sub stations and distribution points. And apparently its not just a matter of fixing what is broke and turning the power back on, it seems it has to be done in stages and certain specific locations and could take a couple of weeks to get back up to full use.

Even in normal times I try to keep enough fuel to run my BOV for at least a month, have enough bottled gas to heat and light my homes for a month as well, I keep a minimum of three months food in the house, its only taking insurance to the next level.

[edit on 13-1-2009 by Northern Raider]

This is the line that struck me. No matter what is in your EDC or BOB, chance may also dictate how you are able to handle a crisis. No matter what the issue.

The people riding mass transit not only believed fully that the electricy wouldnt go down, but had placed their safety and security in the system.

We should all learn something from this. Depend on yourself, be it a train, a plane, elevator, or even an overpass, there are places you simply shouldnt be should an emergency situation occur. These types of things have been added to our lives for speed, simplicity, and convienance. Take the harder road, take care of yourself and you will find when bad things happen, you are in a better place than most.

One must remember that in most applications if a power outages stops a tram, tube ,elivator or train the doors dont open, and in many cases previously recorded in London, New York and Moscow its pretty damn dark and hot with temperatures rapidly rising in stuck tube trains. Thats why the city travelling survivalist should always have a small prybar like the Stanley 55 series pry bar and a good flashlight so you can find your way out if help is not forthcoming. I also keep a sping loaded centre punch for breaking tube/ train/ bus windows if I got stranded.

Let the sheeple get stranded, let the unprepared get trapped, because the wise survivalist will only get slightly inconvenienced.

[edit on 13-1-2009 by Northern Raider]

I can't understand how one wire fault will cause that. To my knowledge a power grid has more than one feed line, in case one fails

Well if you know what your doing they do. For instance elevators, I used to be a night porter in a big hotel, I had to know how the lifts operated, there is a manual release... you needed a tool but if you could lay your hands on a screwdriver or a pen knife you would manage it. And if needed I could of gone right up to the mechanism and released a hand brake to lower the lift to any floor or the ground (and if the lift was empty... or if say a single small child was in there it would most likely go up cos of the counter weight) and in the very unlikely event that the lift and passengers weighed exactly the same as the counterweight there was a handle you could use to hand crank it.

The really difficult one would be the tube train - to be honest unless there was another reason (fire for instance) I would stay put... Cosy up to the girls! - cos I really don't wanna be stumbling around in the dark when the tracks suddenly become live again!

The national grid is running nearly at capacity most of the time, what can happen some times is if one line fals during a time of high demand, the surge to the rest of the system overwhelms it and it trips out to protect itself. Both the US/ Canada and UK systems are geting quite old, are grossly overstretched and very vulnerable. Black outs and brown outs ARE going to increase in frequency in the coming years as our populations continue to rise, our demand for power climbs as well, and the infrastructure gets even more aged and decrepit.

I see. I was always told Holland's grid was connected to neighboring countries, including the UK, so they could rely on eachother if something goes wrong.

Great idea, but as you mentioned, not very helpfull if most if it is outdated and grossly overstretched.
Have to say i did not know that.

reply to post by Northern Raider

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I doubt the citizens of any country will be allowed to carry a spring loaded center punch on any public transport vehicle.



I guess I will suffer if the systems fail and I am in an urban area. I refuse to carry a backpack full of survival items wherever I go.

I have one in my car. I was asked about it once by the police and i explained and he was cool with it.

Wrong, I carry one with a pen clip on it, it sits in my jacket pocket next to my pen clip fitted scribe, I also have one in my EDC bag, the police dont think smartly dressed gentlemen are car thieves, plus its not in the slightest bit illegal to carry one.

Most days Britain relies on France to top up its peak time power supplies via a cable across the english channel, think what would happen if a boats anchor snagged it and broke it.

reply to post by earthman4

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This is one thing I have always had with me, even before I started trying to be prepared for anything (I'm afraid of getting stuck in my car in an accident or other emergency). They are perfectly legal in the US and most Central American countries.

I've heard similar stats for the US. 2 looming "silent" crises we're facing is the aging power grid and water supply infrastructure. I was shocked to learn what a fragile state both are in.



I've been learning hard on my family in recent times. They think I'm nuts for trying to stock up. So far I've gotten them to agree to extra food under the guise of "stocking up while it's on sale" (I purposely do all the grocery shopping). I'm still trying to get them to agree to the fuel, but I haven't yet hit on the right tactic.

If you are afraid of carying a center punch then consider a perfectly legal Res- Q- Me tool which is a seatbelt cutter and glass breaker on a key fob, designed for safety concious motorists to use. Item number LH2 on www.hiennie.com

Keep up the good work, you are doing all the right things for the right reasons, sometimes our loved ones simply do not see the big picture.