Tag Archives: power outages

More than 170,000 without power after New England snowstorm

More than 170,000 homes and businesses were without power on Friday afternoon after a winter storm brought more than a foot of snow to parts of southern New England.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reported 99,439 customers were without power, while Eversource indicated 48,149 of its Connecticut customers were experiencing outages. National Grid said the lights were off for 22,585 of its customers in Rhode Island.

The outages came after a winter storm dumped double-digit snowfall totals in all three states, according to the National Weather Service. That included 13 inches near Stafford Springs, Connecticut, 12.5 inches near Worcester, Massachusetts, and a foot in Burrillville, Rhode Island.

The Weather Channel is calling the storm Winter Storm Lexi.

Selected cities in New York, New Hampshire and Maine had received more than 7 inches of snow as of 3 p.m. local time, according to the National Weather Service, and counties in Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts were still under winter storm warnings at 4:30.

In a statement, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy said he was receiving updates from local utility companies and “remained concerned” about the power outages. Temperatures were expected to dip into the teens and 20s overnight, according to the National Weather Service.

“They are working to restore power to those who have lost it and continue to deploy crews to alleviate the situation,” Malloy said in his statement, referring to the utility companies. “However, we urge patience – the situation may take time to resolve.”

The storm also disrupted travel in the region.

More than 200 flights to or from Boston Logan International Airport had been cancelled, according to flight monitoring website FlightAware.com, and another 213 were delayed. There were more than 300 cancellations and 300 delays at LaGuardia Airport, FlightAware reported.

The Connecticut State Police tweeted it had responded to 341 crashes and a portion of Interstate 84 was temporarily closed. It encouraged drivers to stay off the road if possible.

Blizzard pummels midwest, knocking out power and shutting down interstates

Parts of the midwest were bracing for blizzard conditions on Tuesday morning as a powerful winter storm continued east, knocking down power lines and shutting down major highways.

The National Weather Service issued winter storm or blizzard warnings in portions of nine states and wind advisories in several more as the storm brought more heavy snow to the nation.

Radar showed precipitation falling over Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota on Tuesday morning. The storm was expected to reach Wisconsin and northern Michigan this afternoon.

Blizzard warnings were issued in parts of Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.

The National Weather Service warned that those areas could receive between six to 15 inches of snow and wind gusts of up to 50 mph, which could reduce visibility and lead to road closures.

Notably, a roughly 300-mile stretch of Interstate 70 between Denver International Airport and Hays, Kansas, was closed, according to the Colorado and Kansas transportation departments. A 225-mile stretch of U.S. 36 that largely parallels the interstate highway was also closed down.

The Colorado Department of Transportation blamed the closures on “whiteout conditions.” The National Weather Service said one mountainous part of the state received 33 inches of snow.

The Weather Channel is referring to the storm as Winter Storm Kayla.

Portions of Colorado and Wyoming were under winter storm warnings, as were other parts of the five states in which blizzard warnings were issued. The storm wasn’t expected to bring snow to the south, though the National Weather Service issued wind advisories in parts of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and North Carolina because strong sustained winds were expected in those regions.

Some states should expect severe thunderstorms, the National Weather Service warned, and there was a possibility that tornadoes could touch down in Alabama, Mississippi and the Ohio River Valley later tonight. The service had yet to issue any thunderstorm or tornado watches.

Residents of all of the above states are encouraged to monitor their local forecasts.

The storm has already brought wind gusts of at least 70 mph to six states, according to the National Weather Service, including 90-mph-plus gusts in Texas, California and New Mexico.

About 143,000 people in Southern California were without power on Sunday, according to local utility companies Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, though those numbers were down to about 12,000 as of early Tuesday morning.

The National Weather Service reported that gusts reached 40 mph in Nebraska, and parts of the state received between seven and 12.5 inches of snow as of 8 a.m. Tuesday. More was expected.

The Omaha Public Power District said about 20,000 customers were without power, while the Lincoln Electric System said it was working to turn the lights back on for about 1,800 customers.

The Nebraska Department of Transportation said it closed a 112-mile stretch of Interstate 80 between Kearney and York, and several other state routes were impassible or fully covered.

Some parts of Kansas received 10 inches of snow as of Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service reported. Several state and U.S. highways in the state’s northwest corner were closed to traffic, the state Department of Transportation reported.

More than 130 flights to or from Denver International Airport were cancelled as of mid-day Tuesday, according to flight monitoring website FlightAware.com. The Colorado Department of Transportation said it also closed a 159-mile stretch of Interstate 76 and several state highways.

The storm also brought a foot or more of snow to several locations in Wyoming, according to the National Weather Service, including 24.3 inches near Driggs.

Totals weren’t yet available for Iowa, though the state Department of Transportation reported that a part of Interstate 29 was closed near Sioux City and many roads were fully covered.

U.S. braces for winter storm as thousands remain without power in California

Portions of 13 states were under winter storm warnings on Monday morning as a powerful storm that was already being blamed for thousands of power outages was set to move east.

More than 143,000 customers in southern California were without power on Sunday, local utility companies reported, after high winds toppled trees and knocked over power lines.

As of Monday morning, Southern California Edison reported about 40,000 customers were still in the dark (down from 80,000 earlier on Sunday) and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said it had turned the lights back on for 51,000 of its 63,000 affected customers.

Other parts of the country were bracing for the arrival of snow and high winds.

The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings in parts of Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, saying those areas could see between 8 and 13 inches of snow between tonight and Wednesday. The service called for wind gusts of up to 45 mph, which could blow snow and reduce visibility.

The broader winter storm warnings covered parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Residents in the warning areas should monitor local forecasts. The National Weather Service said some cities could receive 4 to 8 inches of snow, while higher elevations could see 1 to 2 feet.

The Weather Channel is referring to the impending storm as Winter Storm Kayla.

High wind warnings were issued for parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The service warned gusts of 70 to 75 mph were possible in some areas and could damage property.

Several areas already reported gusts far above those levels.

The National Weather Service said gusts reached 95 mph at San Augustin Pass near Las Cruces, New Mexico. In California, Malibu and Harrison Park saw gusts of 87 and 85 mph, respectively.

The wind gusts knocked down trees, in some cases blocking traffic.

The California Highway Patrol tweeted a downed tree temporarily blocked four lanes of the Ventura Freeway on Sunday. The agency also reported that snow shut down a stretch of Interstate 5 near Grapevine on early Monday morning, though the freeway later reopened.

The storm was complicating air travel, too.

According to flight monitoring website FlightAware.com, 508 flights to or from Denver International Airport had been cancelled as of 11:45 a.m. ET on Monday.

Some 225 miles southwest of the airport, the National Weather Service reported Colorado’s Kebler Pass was hit with 23 inches of snow between Saturday night and Monday morning. Snowfall totals reached 16 inches near California’s Mammoth Lakes, located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, while other parts of the state received more than two inches of rain.

Ukraine to review cyber defenses after airport targeted from Russia

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian authorities will review the defenses of government computer systems, including at airports and railway stations, after a cyber attack on Kiev’s main airport was launched from a server in Russia, officials told Reuters on Monday.

Malware similar to that which attacked three Ukrainian power firms in late December was detected last week in a computer in the IT network of Kiev’s main airport, Boryspil. The network includes the airport’s air traffic control.

Although there is no suggestion at this stage that Russia’s government was involved, the cyber attacks have come at a time of badly strained relations between Ukraine and Russia over a nearly two-year-long separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“In connection with the case in Boryspil, the ministry intends to initiate a review of anti-virus databases in the companies which are under the responsibility of the ministry,” said Irina Kustovska, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry, which oversees airports, railways and ports.

Ukraine’s state-run Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) issued a warning on Monday of the threat of more attacks.

“The control center of the server, where the attacks originate, is in Russia,” military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said by telephone, adding that the malware had been detected early in the airport’s system and no damage had been done.

A spokeswoman for the airport said Ukrainian authorities were investigating whether the malware was connected to a malicious software platform known as “BlackEnergy”, which has been linked to other recent cyber attacks on Ukraine. There are some signs that the attacks are linked, she said.

“Attention to all system administrators … We recommend a check of log-files and information traffic,” CERT-UA said in a statement.

In December three Ukrainian regional power firms experienced short-term blackouts as a result of malicious software in their networks. Experts have described the incident as the first known power outage caused by a cyber attack.

A U.S. cyber intelligence firm in January traced the attack back to a Moscow-backed group known as Sandworm.

The Dec. 23 outage at Western Ukraine’s Prykarpattyaoblenergo cut power to 80,000 customers for about six hours, according to a report from a U.S. energy industry security group.

Ukraine’s SBU state security service has blamed Russia, but the energy ministry said it would hold off on attribution until after it completes a formal probe.

(Editing by Matthias Williams and Gareth Jones)

Destructive Winter Storm Reaches New England

A powerful and deadly winter storm that brought heavy snow and widespread flooding to the United States continued to travel east on Tuesday morning, leaving more destruction in its path.

The National Weather Service issued winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings in parts of Pennsylvania, New York and New England as the storm was poised to finally exit the country. But the storm’s fury was still being felt across the nation, particularly in the Great Plains and Ohio and Mississippi valleys, where numerous flood warnings remained in effect.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said 438 river gauges across the nation were in flood stage on Tuesday morning, 53 of which were experiencing “major flooding.” Most of them were clustered in the central United States, though a few were in the southeast. In many locations, floodwaters had already reached or were threatening to surpass historic levels.

Fueled by 10 inches of rainfall in the vicinity, the Illinois River near Tahlequah, Oklahoma, reached an all-time high crest of 30.69 feet on Monday, more than 2.5 feet above the previous record that was set 65 years ago, the NOAA reported. The floodwaters had receded to about 21 feet there on Tuesday morning, though that was still more than three feet above the threshold for what is considered major flooding. The NOAA said parts of Texas, Arkansas and Missouri also saw 10 or more inches of rain, including a storm-high 12.25 inches near Union, Missouri. The storm also packed a powerful punch in Illinois, dumping 9.98 inches of rain near Roxana.

Rising waters prompted the mayor of St. Louis to declare a city emergency. Just south of the city in Arnold, the NOAA reported Meramec River was already experiencing major flooding, and was expected to surpass its all-time high level of 45.3 feet later this week. That water flows into the Mississippi River, and the NOAA projected that the further-south riverside communities of Chester, Illinois, and Cape Girardeau, Missouri, were also expected to tie or break local crest records.

That’s just a sampling of the storm’s flooding, and the 438 river gauges do not necessarily cover the lakes or other water bodies causing floods. In southern Missouri, for example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported that waters at Table Rock Lake rose approximately 17 feet between Monday and Tuesday, fueling a massive release of water into flood-prone Lake Taneycomo. The United States Geological Survey reported that waters at Ozark Beach Dam in Forsyth, some 20 miles away from Table Rock Lake, rose three feet between Monday and Tuesday.

The storm brought more than just flooding and heavy rains.

More than three inches of sleet fell in Iowa and Illinois, the NOAA reported. But an inch was enough to snarl traffic at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, one of the world’s busiest.

Flight monitoring website FlightAware.com reported that 1,366 flights to or from the airport were cancelled on Monday, more than half of the airport’s scheduled traffic. Another 303 flights involving Chicago Midway International Airport were also cancelled, according to FlightAware, and lingering effects of the storm caused an additional 236 cancellations at O’Hare on Tuesday.

According to NOAA data, no place came close to receiving the 41 inches of snow the storm dumped on Bonito Lake, located in a mountain range in New Mexico. But the storm did produce more than nine inches of snow in Oklahoma, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Texas.

The storm knocked out power to tens of thousands in Oklahoma, according to utility companies.

While the storm appears seems to have weakened considerably, it’s still packing a punch. According to the National Weather Service, parts of Maine could receive up to a foot of snow.

Hackers Access Power Grid, N.Y. Dam; Might Have Accessed Government Talks

Hackers gained access to the United States power grid, including detailed drawings that could have been used to cut power to millions of people, according to a new Associated Press report.

The report, published Monday, indicated that there have been roughly 12 times in the past 10 years when foreign hackers accessed the networks controlling lights across the United States.

That includes one instance where hackers, believed to be from Iran, had swiped passwords and detailed sketches of dozens of power plants, invaluable tools if one planned to cut off the power. Cybersecurity experts told the Associated Press the breach (which affected energy company Calpine, which operates 83 power plants) dates to at least August 2013 and could be ongoing.

The Associated Press reported that hackers accessed passwords that could have been used to access Calpine’s networks remotely, along with highly detailed drawings of 71 energy-related facilities across the country. That could allow skilled hackers to specifically target certain plants.

But targeting a plant and successfully shutting off the power are two different things.

The Associated Press report noted the power grid is designed to keep the lights on when utility lines or equipment fail. To cause a widespread blackout, a hacker would have to be exceptionally skilled, bypassing not only a company’s security measures but also creating specialized code that disrupts the interactions of the company’s equipment. Still, experts told the AP that it remains possible for a sufficiently skilled and motivated hacker to send a large swath of the country into blackout, and enough intrusions have occurred that a foreign hacker can likely “strike at will.”

The Associated Press report was published the same day the Wall Street Journal unveiled that Iranian hackers accessed the controls of a dam about 20 miles away from New York City in 2013.

In another breach, tech company Juniper Networks announced last Thursday that it discovered some “unauthorized code” in its software that could have allowed skilled hackers to improperly access some devices and decrypt secure communications. CNN reported the FBI is investigating the hack because it fears the code might have been used to spy on government correspondence.

Because government use of Juniper products is so widespread, one U.S. official told CNN the hack was like “stealing a master key to get into any government building.” CNN reported a foreign government is believed to be behind the hack, but it still is not clear who is responsible.

Juniper said it released a patch that corrects the issue. The company said it wasn’t aware of “any malicious exploitation” of the security loophole, but noted there likely wasn’t a way to reliably detect if a device had been compromised because hackers could have easily erased the evidence.

Nearly 725,000 Evacuated as Typhoon Slams Philippines

Nearly 725,000 people were evacuated from their homes as a powerful typhoon brought heavy rain and winds as high as 115 mph to the Philippines on Monday.

Typhoon Melor, known within the Philippines as Typhoon Nona, made landfall at 11 a.m. local time Monday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said.

The NDRRMC reported that 724,839 people had been evacuated ahead of the storm, with 589,235 of them in the Albany province that’s located near where the storm made landfall.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), which is monitoring the typhoon, reported the storm features 93 mph sustained winds and gusts of up to 115 mph. The weather service forecast “heavy to at times intense” rainfall within a 150-mile radius of the storm, and cautioned of the chance for flash floods and landslides.

For comparison’s sake, 93 mph sustained winds would make the storm a category 1 hurricane.

The storm is expected to weaken as it trends further west over the Sibuyan Sea, according to a PAGASA forecast, but meteorologists were expecting wind gusts could still reach 105 mph on Tuesday and 75 mph on Wednesday. The weather service warned the high winds could damage or destroy buildings in other provinces, as well as impact local banana, rice and corn crops.

The NDRRMC reported that the eastern and northern portions of the island of Samar, as well as the Sorsogon province lacked power because the typhoon brought down transmission lines. Additional outages were possible, PAGASA warned. The weather service also issued flood advisories throughout the central Philippines and warned of the chance for 10-foot storm surges.

The storm was also wreaking havoc on travel, as the NDRRMC reported that 42 flights were cancelled as a result of the typhoon, and some 6,800 would-be sea travelers were stranded because of abnormally rough sea conditions. A host of shipping channels were also disrupted.

Pacific Northwest Storms Claim Another Life, More Rain on the Way

The devastating rainstorms that have caused flooding, mudslides and power outages throughout the Pacific Northwest claimed another life on Wednesday, according to a published report.

The Oregonian reported an elderly woman drowned in Clatskanie, Oregon, when a man she was traveling with drove a car into high water. The man was able to escape, but the woman was not.

It was the second death caused by the storm, which also brought high winds to the region.

The Oregonian previously reported the storm sent a 30-inch diameter tree crashing into a house in Portland early Wednesday morning, pinning a 60-year-old woman in her bed. She was killed.

The National Weather Service reported that more than seven inches of rain fell in parts of Oregon and more than five inches of rain fell in parts of Washington between 4 p.m. local time Monday and 6 a.m. local time Thursday. Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency after landslides closed major highways, rain led to “widespread flooding of roadways, homes and property,” and high winds left thousands without power, he said in a statement.

The storm is the latest in a line of storms to pass through the Pacific Northwest dating back to the end of last month. Inslee said the state of emergency covers all storms since Nov. 30.

The National Weather Service issued storm warnings off the Washington and Oregon coasts, as forecasts called for additional storms to arrive Thursday and this weekend. The Weather Channel reported the new storms would bring additional rain and wind, as well as snow in higher elevations. That could spur further landslides or flooding, particularly in coastal areas.

The National Weather Service reported that Thursday morning’s rainfall pushed Seattle-Tacoma International Airport over six inches in the first 10 days of December, a new record. Previously, the fastest the airport reached six inches in the month was 14 days, set in 1946 and tied in 2010.

The arrival of more rain wasn’t good news for residents who were already experiencing flooding.

At least 17 river gauges in Washington and Oregon were still in flood stage Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service. “Major flooding” was reported in the Washington cities of Snohomish, located northeast of Seattle, and Potlatch, which is northwest of Olympia. Flood warnings remained in effect for parts of Washington, largely around the Puget Sound.

More than 21,000 Puget Sound Energy customers in Washington were without power Thursday morning, the company said. Portland General Electric also reported some scattered outages.

The storm led to dozens of road closures in both Washington and Oregon. Culprits included mudslides, sinkholes rockslides and flooding. Some of the repairs were expected to be lengthy.

In Portland, the rainfall caused the city’s sewer system to overflow into two local waterways on Monday morning. The city’s Bureau of Environmental Services continued to advise residents to avoid parts of the Willamette River on Thursday morning “because of increased bacteria.”

Thousands Without Power After Deadly Storm Pummels Oregon, Washington

About 30,000 people near Portland, Oregon, were reportedly without power Wednesday morning a deadly rainstorm caused widespread flooding and toppled some utility lines.

The Oregonian newspaper reported the number of outages as of 5 a.m. local time. That number was down to about 6,000 less than two hours later, according to Portland General Electric data.

The outages came after the latest in a line of rainstorms swept through the Pacific Northwest.

The National Weather Service reported that about 6 inches of rain fell on parts of Oregon between 3 p.m. local time on Monday and 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The agency reported wind gusts of up to 125 mph at Mount Hood and gusts of at least 60 mph in 12 other locations in Oregon, as well as six in Washington. Those winds reportedly contributed to at least one death.

Authorities told The Oregonian the storm sent a 30-inch-diameter tree crashing through a home early Wednesday morning, pinning a 60-year-old woman in her bed. The woman later died.

In Washington, Puget Sound Energy reported about 73,741 customers lacked power Wednesday morning. There were 329 separate outages reported around Seattle, Olympia and Tacoma.

Winds and power outages weren’t the only thing the storm brought.

The National Weather Service reported at least 36 river gauges in Oregon and Washington were at flood stage, and flood warnings remained in effect for northwest Oregon and southwest Washington. There were multiple media reports of flooded roadways, mudslides and sinkholes.

The Oregon Department of Transportation reported a mudslide closed a portion of U.S. Route 30 near a bridge in Portland and a sinkhole closed state Route 22 in Yamhill County, closer to the Pacific Ocean. The police department of Gresham, a Portland suburb, posted multiple photos on social media that showed a gaping sinkhole opened underneath a road there.

Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services said the heavy rainfalls caused sewage systems to overflow into the Willamette River and Columbia Slough on Monday morning. The bureau is continuing to ask the public to avoid the waters there “because of increased bacteria” presence.

The National Weather Service reported the storm also dropped some snow in higher elevations.

The Weather Channel reported that two more storms are expected to hit the Pacific Northwest. One was forecast to hit the region Wednesday night, while the other was expected this weekend.

The National Weather Service has issued storm and gale warnings off the Oregon and Washington coasts.

Heat Wave Sets Records in Germany; More Deaths in Egypt

The death toll in the Middle East heat wave continues to climb.

Egyptian officials say that 76 people are now confirmed dead because of the extreme heat which reached 116 degrees in some parts of the country.  State media said that 21 people died from heatstroke on Tuesday.

Over 1,200 people are hospitalized with heat related illnesses.

The heat outside is also causing the heat to rise in the arena of socio-political problems within the Middle Eastern nation.

“It is highlighting the huge gap that exists between classes in the region in general and specifically in countries that are not as rich as the Gulf countries. So in Egypt, for example, it is dividing the classes further,” Ziad Akl, a senior researcher at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told VOA.  He said that the rich remain inside with air conditioners while the poor have no choice but to use locations like public fountains.

In Iraq, the heat is causing people to short out electrical systems in attempts to keep cool.

“Last week most Iraqi areas were left without electricity for almost three days,” Suadad al-Salhy, a freelance journalist who covers Iraq for Middle East Eye said to VOA.

The heat wave is moving north from the Middle East into Europe causing electrical grid disruptions.

Poland’s national electric supplier cut power to factories for several hours Monday to try and keep the grid from total failure.  The heat combined with extended dry weather has reduced water levels to rivers that cool the nation’s power plants.

Wroclaw, Poland saw an all-time record high of 102 degrees.  The average high for that area is 72 degrees.

Germany tied its all time record high with a mark of 104.5 in Kitzingen.  It was the second time in a month the city had hit the 104.5 mark.

At least 19 cities in the Czech Republic have also tied or topped all-time heat records.