Massive Power Outage Hits Southwest US - Post Updates Here

Here's the info about Baja California, from El Universal, Mexican newspaper. It's actually not a story, but it's asking readers to talk about what happened to them, so if you can read Spanish, enjoy:

Fuiste victima del apagon en Baja California? (Were you a victim of the "Big Turn-off" in Baja California?)

**Apagon literally means "Big Turn-off" but, yes, Black out in normal English, I couldn't resist cause it's always been a funny word to me.

EDIT: I found this comment interesting:

Durante el apagon un mercado a nivel nacional que tiene planta de luz estuvo abierto y la verdad, el apagon tenia apenas uno 20 minutos que habia empezado y la gente ya estaba arrasando con velas y hielo, empezaban los pleitos por alcanzar paquetes. En la gasolineras habia autos que parecia que estaban cargando gasolina y se amontonaban los carros originando peleas y congestionamiento para salir. Habian pasado solo 20 minutos..... eso es una muestra de que no estamos preparados para desastres y que el caos y las crisis llegan muy pronto, ocasionando mayor problema que lo que realmente es.

Translation:

During the black out, a supermarket that had back-up energy was open and truthfully, the blackout had only been going on for 20 minutes and people were already wiping out the candles and ice. Fights were already breaking out over getting at packages. At the gas stations, there were cars, it seemed, that were carrying gasoline and the cars were piling up, causing fights and congestion. Only 20 minutes had gone by...this is an example of how we are not prepared for disasters and that chaos and crises arrive very quickly, creating a greater problem than what it really is.

Have an as of yet unexplained power outage up in Maine right now too.

Only a few towns close by.....not mine, but the next town over........interesting.

i'm stationed on one of the ships currently in san diego, i was on watch when it happened, they only thing i noticed other than the power being out was this.

A. It was instant and the whole base lost it at once.
B. there was a little smoke on the other side of a hill east of here. probably from a blown transformer.

other than that, nothing, the power went out over a large area, but i can tell you that if it was a terrorist attack, we woulda been put on alert... we weren't.

Originally posted by Alchemst7
You would think Home Depot would be selling generators like crazy but with the power out, every store closed down. WIthout power they can't operate the cash register and none of the credit card machines work.

What is tragic is that no one was independant thinking enough to use a generator to power the cash register.

I'm old enough to remember how to fill out a credit card reciept. by hand I could have walked them through it.

The above poster is right about being unprepared but what is more disturbing is that the people under 30 are conditioned to follow instructions and not think their way out of a problem. If the instructions were not included could you figure out how to put together the toys on christmas eve? Fix a toaster, microwave (when they were able to be repaired) If you couldn't find a specific tool how many of us here know how to weld or make a substitute? I hang with machinists and blacksmiths so not a problem

The problem is we have been so over regulated by the nanny state that what people used to do in their garages is now regulated as either business or a terrorist plot.
If people are afraid to tinker in their garages where is the next ford motor or apple computer going to come from?

Saw where the feds are going to investigate the cause of the failure and I am so glad. I wish I could help them myself. Whole thing makes me want to bang some heads together.

I cannot believe that so many americans, when fed "It was human error, one person did it" are like "Oh, ok, we should fire him"

What did people do, take a simple pill? Oh, ok?
That's acceptable then? Maybe that is why it happens when it is not supposed to even be able to.

Originally posted by VforVendettea
[What is tragic is that no one was independant thinking enough to use a generator to power the cash register.

edit on 9-9-2011 by VforVendettea because: (no reason given)

That was my first thought too.

Has anyone seen a report
on how much power has
been restored at this time?
We are having geomagnetic
storms this weekend, hope
that doesn't affect the satellites
and grids.

reply to post by Taupin Desciple


Detroit Michigan was totally unrelated.
The power grid in midtown Detroit is very fragile. It goes out at least once or twice a year for few hours to a couple of days.
Residents losing patience with aging system's problems

We had a microburst with 67 mph winds out here in Nevada


Nellis reports this: www.nellis.af.mil...

I just had a thought of one possibility-

What if....
TPTB are aware of all kinds of break downs or difficulties coming in the near future, or highly probable,
They don't want to cause total panic by being totally transparent about it,
But they would like the public to be as prepared as possible when it happens.

The best way to do that would be to cause things like this to happen to raise peoples awareness and get them more prepared!

Many people will now get a generator, and other things they would need. If they have a few more blackouts they will become less sensitized to it, ready and keep their heads on better with each time. They would become more independant and able to cope with breakdowns of various sorts.

This is just one idea thrown out there- I won't stand by it as true. I also have no idea what the "big event" in this hypothesis could be- pick your favorite from the many theories out there!
Just a thought.

Originally posted by Bluesma
I just had a thought of one possibility-

What if....
TPTB are aware of all kinds of break downs or difficulties coming in the near future, or highly probable,
They don't want to cause total panic by being totally transparent about it,
But they would like the public to be as prepared as possible when it happens.

The best way to do that would be to cause things like this to happen to raise peoples awareness and get them more prepared!

Many people will now get a generator, and other things they would need. If they have a few more blackouts they will become less sensitized to it, ready and keep their heads on better with each time. They would become more independant and able to cope with breakdowns of various sorts.

This is just one idea thrown out there- I won't stand by it as true. I also have no idea what the "big event" in this hypothesis could be- pick your favorite from the many theories out there!
Just a thought.

Well, in all honesty, I absolutely love the theory you've come up with relating to this subject. However, there is one huge problem. You theory relies on the government actually CARING about it's people. Unfortunately, that's where it ends. It is becoming exponentially more obvious on an annual basis, that the government doesn't have a shred of sympathy for it's general public. We're simply here to aid their long-term agendas, as much as they try to make it appear that they actually care. It's a sad, sad world we live in. Therefore, it's great advice to just enjoy what you can while you can, while informing others to do the same.

Cheers,
Strype

Originally posted by VforVendettea

Originally posted by Alchemst7
You would think Home Depot would be selling generators like crazy but with the power out, every store closed down. WIthout power they can't operate the cash register and none of the credit card machines work.

What is tragic is that no one was independant thinking enough to use a generator to power the cash register.

I'm old enough to remember how to fill out a credit card reciept. by hand I could have walked them through it.

The above poster is right about being unprepared but what is more disturbing is that the people under 30 are conditioned to follow instructions and not think their way out of a problem. If the instructions were not included could you figure out how to put together the toys on christmas eve? Fix a toaster, microwave (when they were able to be repaired) If you couldn't find a specific tool how many of us here know how to weld or make a substitute? I hang with machinists and blacksmiths so not a problem

The problem is we have been so over regulated by the nanny state that what people used to do in their garages is now regulated as either business or a terrorist plot.
If people are afraid to tinker in their garages where is the next ford motor or apple computer going to come from?

edit on 9-9-2011 by VforVendettea because: (no reason given)

I am quoting you just in case what you said disappears on to past page and I think more people should read what you said.
You are absolutely right in what you have said,every word of it, bravo sir/lady.
star for you.

Rainbows
Jane

No, I agree with Bluesma - I have all along. I think it's a possibility.
I think the govt DOES care about the grid - there's been report after report after report of grid accessments and the grid always does horrid.

Think about it - the govt runs on the grid TOO. The banks do. It wouldn't be in the govts. best interest for society to totally break down overnight!

You can go to the dept of energy website and see - you know, but I don't think they can really DO that all that much - unless they can find some regulation problems and then fine them - and sorta force them into upgrading - there's no profit to them in upgrading - but the theat of fines cutting into profit might help - of course then it gets passed to the consumer - so maybe we need to have the nationalize it argument.

Now, I didn't say that we SHOULD do that, but maybe we need to start talking about it. You've got NASA, DOE and Civil Engineer groups ALL saying it needs to be done - but the companies don't want to do it, there's no competition to force them to do it, and there's no political pressure from the people.

So yeah, we better get prepared.

slatest.slate.com...

Now they are telling a different story than I heard last night.
Last night it was a MACHINE replacement - a faulty monitor that had been reading flaky.

The problem, which started as the worker was trying to replace a faulty transmission line,

NOW it is a transmission line.

Something's rotten if you ask me.

Look THIS guy - he heard the same thing I did last night - www.timesrecordnews.com...

So what was it? If they KNOW?

Originally posted by Strype


Well, in all honesty, I absolutely love the theory you've come up with relating to this subject. However, there is one huge problem. You theory relies on the government actually CARING about it's people. Unfortunately, that's where it ends. It is becoming exponentially more obvious on an annual basis, that the government doesn't have a shred of sympathy for it's general public. We're simply here to aid their long-term agendas, as much as they try to make it appear that they actually care. It's a sad, sad world we live in. Therefore, it's great advice to just enjoy what you can while you can, while informing others to do the same.

Cheers,
Strype

I don't think so. I mean, no, I do not think they have some sort of sentimental care about the people (there may be some idealist individuals that do, I don't know, but I doubt there are many!).

But pragmatically, we are their resource. A farmer may not have any sentimental feelings towards it's livestock, it might not even treat them that well, but would still see a major die off of them as a catestrophy to avoid at all costs!
They get their power from us. If we all start dying off or going mad, then they lose their power.
It doesn't take any sentimental altruism for them to see the logistics of that!

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


That's Father Judge being carry out in your pix !!!!!

IT GOT ME! D**N.

I live in the upper MidWest (I like to say, "out by Ioway") (I never like to pinpoint on here, where I live precisely) and I just finished sitting here without power. It was a calm night (not a 'dark and stormy'...) cool/mild humid somewhat and a breezeless cool -clear- morning (the sun is fully blooming now) so therefore
NO REASON for all the power to go out. I called the (non emergeny #) of the Fire Department, and they said it was widespread, but he didn't know why it happened.
Just now, I turned my computer on to type this, so, God only knows when it will decide to go down again.
Guys, I had let things go. I let my cellphone be uncharged, I ran out of drinking water that I purchase (our tap water feels looks smells not fit for consumption) I just took for granted, that I could snap into action today.

Hello, I'm new here , a bit intimidated about posting. I've been an obsessive lurker for a short while.

I just wanted to share something that crossed my mind about the Outages.

Ok , They (government,or whoever is in charge) knew a flare was happening and when it would affect us, but maybe not exactly where , just a generalized area. Best thing to do, shut down a large part of the grid in that general area. They also know that these CME's can or seem to cause EQ's. Another possibly good reason to shut it down in case of a Large EQ and tsunami. Lo and behold there's a considerable EQ in Vancouver.
Close call but no cigar.Crisis over. They were off but were close enough to a general area to know there could be problems.

Just something that occurred to me. Any thoughts or corrections are more than welcomed with due respect.
Ty!