Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

How long is too long to go without power? For many of us in the U.S., we would consider an hour to be too long. My patience and this theory were both tested six years ago when the Midwest was hit with an ice storm that left our house without power for two days. The storm hit early on my daughter’s 11th birthday and while I anticipated a negative response from her, our lack of power protection didn’t actually dampen the festivities.

In our family, the tradition has always been that on your birthday, you get to pick out where we go for food and fun on the day of your birthday. At 11, she wanted nothing more than to see a movie and eat at her favorite restaurant. When the storm hit the night before, we wondered what it would bring. The next morning, we thought we were faring pretty well as we watched the news reports of everyone else without power. Just 10 minutes into the broadcast, our power failed.

For many in our area, the power failures were due to downed power lines. The water that dripped onto lines and trees throughout the night turned to ice. The resulting weight broke both lines and tree limbs that fell on lines, eliminating power access for homes throughout the region. In our case, the transformer affecting our side of the street only was damaged as we watched our neighbors keep their lights on.

In Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada recently, a power outage caused the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant to shut down for nearly 24 hours. The incident highlighted the need for power protection and a backup electricity source at the plant. The outage was reportedly caused by a downed power pole and power was restored the next afternoon. Customers were advised as to drinking water advisories, but the media wasn’t immediately informed about the power outage, something employees claim wasn’t necessary.

The plant representatives claimed that there was no need to notify the public as the city had access to ample water supply and no behavior changes were needed. The city also felt that since the repair was underway, there wasn’t cause for concern. The public may feel differently, however, as this was the third time the plant lost power this year and there are no backup generators or redundancy in place. For those who want to be sure they have access to water, a better plan and power protection may need to be implemented.

As for our power outage, the birthday girl enjoyed playing Uno (News - Alert) by candlelight with a fire roaring in the family room fireplace. When asked the next year for her 12th birthday what she wanted to do, a recap of that fun evening was requested. At least for the second time around, we could turn on a light when we needed to go into another room.