|
|
|
Uploaded: Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 4:03 PM
Palo Alto prepares for storms, potential outages
City organizes 24-hour control center as stormy weather is expected through Sunday
|
|
by Sue Dremann
Palo Alto Weekly Staff
The City of Palo Alto Utilities department has organized a 24-hour control center and stand-by crews to help residents weather the series of storms in the event of power outages, the department has announced. Even if outages occur on nights or weekends, the department is prepared to respond quickly, Communications Manager Debra Katz said.
The series of "pineapple express" storms heading across the Pacific Ocean are expected to dump considerable amounts of rain in the coming days, according to weather reports.
"Trucks, equipment and materials have been stocked and checked. In the event of a larger scale emergency, every utilities staff person knows we are 'on call,' and may need to come in to help out. We all hope that scenario never develops, but if it does, we're ready," Katz said.
The department also has several online sites to help residents:
Up-to-date information if there is a power outage, water or gas main break is available at www.cityofpaloalto.org/outageinfo.
Safety tips are available at www.cityofpaloalto.org/safeutility.
Additional links include:
Power outages: www.cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/filebank/documents/32147. A free "important contact info" magnet, which has emergency numbers, key numbers for services and website links, is available upon request by emailing christen.creed@cityofpaloalto.org (include name and mailing address) or by calling 650-329-2479.
Winter storm-prep tips: www.cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/filebank/documents/25598.
The city homepage at www.cityofpaloalto.org has a link to general emergency preparation, creek level monitoring, and Palo Alto Neighborhood (PAN) emergency-preparation pages.
Besides the inevitable squirrel or raccoon-chewed power line, there are some human-caused contributing factors to outages, Katz said.
The city also has a Right Tree Right Place program at www.cityofpaloalto.org/rtrp, which is operated year-round to provide incentives to relocate trees away from power lines. Tree branches falling onto or growing through power lines are a significant source of outages, Katz said.
"While we have a regular process for trimming trees, the best solution is not to have tall tree species planted under power lines to begin with," she noted.
Mylar balloons are also a human-caused source of outages.
"When a Mylar balloon meets a power line, you can kiss your electric service goodbye," Katz said. It is important for people to use the weights that come with these balloons, tie them securely to strollers or only use them indoors, she said.
But the biggest problem with the coming storms is not outages, but flooding, Katz warned.
"The folks in our Public Works department are monitoring the creeks very carefully. The worst of this series of storms is expected to hit Sunday, and that's when the concerns regarding flooding will be greatest.
"On the bright side, this is the first storm of the season and so the ground is not saturated and can absorb a lot of water before it gets into the creeks. Also, creeks can appear to be rising because the tide is coming in, but then they recede with the tide, so our folks take all the factors into account when deciding if things are getting 'critical' or not," she said.
The city has posted information on where to get sandbags and other critical storm-related information at www.cityofpaloalto.org/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=2105&TargetID=268.
The city online creek-monitor also includes real-time video of San Francisquito Creek and updates on other local waterways and can be viewed at www.cityofpaloalto.org/gov/depts/pwd/creek_monitor/default.asp.Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
|
|
| Comments
|
Posted by Cur Mudgeon, a resident of the Greenmeadow neighborhood, on Nov 29, 2012 at 1:36 pm Ha. No sandbags out at the airport as of a few days ago--definitely AFTER the November 15 posted date. Will check East Meadow . . .
|
|
Posted by TotheCity, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Nov 29, 2012 at 1:53 pm How hard to program a self-refresh function for the "online creek-monitor" page?
|
|
Posted by senor blogger, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Nov 29, 2012 at 2:24 pm PLEASE, DO NOT DIRECT PEOPLE TO USE THEIR COMPUTER FOR INFO DURING A POWER OUTAGE.
IF THERE IS NO POWER, THERE IS NO ROUTER, THUS NO COMPUTER.
GET REAL
|
|
Posted by herstory buff, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Nov 29, 2012 at 3:48 pm I have not seen the city workers clean out the storm drains in at least two years. After the 1998 floods, the city said they would never let the storm drains go unattended again. Yesterday, there were floods on Alma, floods on Oregon, floods in the parking lot of T and C and elsewhere. This after just one rain, not even a bad one at that.
This is an El Nino year, according to some meteorologists. Let us not have a repeat of 1998!
|
|
Posted by Debra Katz, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Nov 29, 2012 at 6:40 pm A quick note re the comment above regarding computers not being available during a power outage. We emphasize our outage website because many people have smartphones and can access the info that way (in fact, we have a new mobile app---check that out now at www.cityofpaloalto.org/cpaumobileapps)
Also, many times people have computers at work or other places outside the area of an outage.
Debra Katz, Utilities Communications Manager
debra.katz@cityofpaloalto.org
|
|
Posted by not techie, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Nov 29, 2012 at 6:45 pm I believe that if you have a power surge on your wifi, it will work for several hours after an outage. When the power went out on Thanksgiving we were awoken by the constant beeping of our power surge and we still had internet on our laptops.
|
|
Posted by bru, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Nov 29, 2012 at 11:45 pm
bru is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online Good point about there being no internet when there's no power.
Palo Alto needs to get wireless infrastructure like Mtn. View that can be used in case of situations like this. This could really be important if people can report really quickly to a central location about there lines are down or water is rushing.
I hear we have fiber all over the city or at least is some places ... why can't those be split off to service WAP wireless access points throughout the city where each address is throttled down to some bare minimum so it can only be used for basic or emergency access?
|
|
Posted by low tech, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on Nov 30, 2012 at 8:33 am Can we please emphasize all of us - residents, businesses, garden contractors, school district, the city, city contracters cleaning up all the leaves blocking the gutters. Thanks. The water really blocks up in the gutters in some places we see.
|
|
|
| |
Best Website
First Place
2009-2012
|
Send this story
Print this story
