Ummm…. What Was That? Part 2
Having just recovered from the shock waves of the earthquake the weekend before, Ocracokers were startled by yet another big BOOM! in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Actually, it was more of a BOOM-boom! followed by a blackout on 1/3 of the island.
Saturday night brought gale force winds with gusts estimated at 50 mph. It was windy some – and cold, too. About 1:30am, insomniacs, Valentine's Day revelers, and procrastinating reporters were awake to experience the power outage. For 2/3 of the island, it was short and sweet, but for the other 1/3 it took maybe three hours (maybe more – I was asleep by then) to come back on.
What happened? The boom-boom and power outage was caused when a big power pole holding up three huge transformers came down behind the Anchorage Inn. It fell in the back of the motel, where it did some damage to outbuildings and the exterior of the Inn, but didn't hurt anyone. It did cut off the northwest circuit, one of three circuits that serve the village.
The Tideland crew (Bobby O'Neal, Joe Smith, and Matt DeVan) went out in that bitter cold wind, cut down the lines that fed the power pole, and cleared everything out of the way. Once it was cleared up, they could cut the power back onto the northwest circuit and restore power. (O the wonderful clink and hum of the heat coming back on!)
After a few hours' sleep the Tideland guys (Bobby, Joe, Matt, and another, Justin Boor) were back at it – in ten straight hours on Sunday they completely replaced the old pole with a new one. The broken pole was apparently rotten under the ground and just fell down on the job. Hooray for the Tideland crew! What would we do without you?
Ocracoke is no stranger to power outages. We had another just last week in first two minutes of the Dolphins' home basketball game against Manteo. The Lady Dolphins had played, the Senior Night festivities had occurred, and the boys were just starting their game when the lights went out all the way from Ocracoke to Oregon Inlet. That outage was caused by a blown fuse at Pea Island, which itself was likely cause by a build up of salt on the line – it happens when we have high winds without rain to wash the salt away.
The hardcore Dolphin basketball fans hung around in the dark gym and multi-purpose room (the concession stand was hopping!) to wait for light. Someone heard that restoring power would take 45 minutes, others heard three hours. The most amusing rumor traveling at the speed of light in the dark gym was that the game would go on eventually, it had to go on, because Manteo couldn't leave because the ferries weren't running because they couldn't load cars on and off the ferry because they need electricity to raise and lower the car ramps at the docks. Huh?
Having never heard that fun fact before, I was skeptical. It's my nature. So I called the Hatteras ferry docks and asked if they were shut down because the ramps need electricity and the power's out and so they can't load cars and the nice NCDOT worker said, in the gentle voice of someone talking to a complete idiot, "Ma'am, we have an emergency generator for the ramps. The ferries will keep running." So – now we know.
One part of the rumor was right: Manteo stayed and played after the lights came back on.
Helpful hint from Tideland: All consumers are reminded to shut large household breakers off whenever they lose power. Once power has been restored for 15 to 20 minutes consumers can begin to cut breakers back on. The longer power is off the more important it becomes to shut household breakers off to avoid overloading transformers and other distribution power equipment when power is first restored.
