Irene pushes utilities to show off recovery skills

Hurricane Irene wasn’t as bad as predicted. When it hit most of the East Coast, it was a lower category hurricane, or even a tropical storm, than originally feared would smack into the beach communities aligned along the Atlantic.

But, since we still have most of our power strung into the sky, category 1 winds still do a ton of damage to the power infrastructure.

Eastern utilities have been working nonstop since Irene blew threw to get power back on to millions of Americans.

Dominion had a goal of restoring service to 75 percent of their customers today, Aug. 31st. As of 11 a.m., they’d flipped the switch for 77 percent (or more than 920,000 customers) in Virginia and North Carolina.

That took a lot of work at about 8,500 locations---and that’s just for Dominion.

FirstEnergy has turned the lights back on for 770,000 customers so far in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. About 150,000 customers are still in the dark: 130,000 with JCP&L in Jersey, 21,000 with Met-Ed and 2,000 with Penelec. (They have a great image gallery of hurricane work available for viewing at their website: www.firstenergycorp.com/newsroom/hurricane_image_gallery.html.)

But, while winds blew lines aloft and snapped poles, problems weren't reserved to just the delivery side of the power equation. Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant suffered damage from the hurricane, though repairs are nearly complete, according to Constellation Energy.

What often complicated the repair process is road damage in many places, especially flood-ravaged Vermont. But, the Associated Press is reporting that some roads have been opened to previously isolated communities, allowing emergency vehicles, like a convoy of power trucks, to move into the area. (The convoy is headed to Rochester right now.)

Given that we started this week with a bold CNN headline about millions without power, I am amazed at how quickly well trained crews and good response teams can move a disaster impacting millions to one impacting thousands in just a few days. Their work in the aftermath of the storm should be commended. That’s efficiency in action.