So what's up? I noticed power off about 1:50 a.m. and saw it come on a couple of times followed by some odd flashing of light in the sky like an arc welder. That is never good.

Power is down for most of the town, and appears like it will be that way all day. I'm one of the lucky ones, on part of the grid that's still up, although it was down for several hours through the night. Most of the businesses in town are powerless. All school has been cancelled, many businesses are closed.

Just an fyi for you who don't live here (otherwise you would already know this obviously)


[This message has been edited by Rick Kuchynka (edited 10/5/2005).]

hey thanks, if we were to wait to read it in the star, it would around thanksgiving!

Rick: A conservative still has power while so many others are without? Sounds like a conspiracy to me.

Been having some power issues here in Billings too. One of our offices has power, while our other building (on the same block) doesn't. Heard a few transformers explode overnight, but I only lost power twice for a couple seconds each time.

I've had power since 6:30 a.m. The Star is powerless so Steve came home to work on photos in case they got power and could run an abbreviated paper. I have custody of some family members who are powerless. And I have tree branches all over the yard. And a snow woman and snow horse, since those family members included an ambitious six-year-old.

Amorette

I was going to make that same joke earlier, Richard, but then when the call from Rove came down this morning instructing that the Star was to remain offline, I decided it hit too close to home and was too risky to mention.

Overnight, you could literally see flashes through our windows like lightning as transformers blew all over town. I've never seen anything like it. I'm guessing it was the combination of wet snow, with trees that still had most of their leaves. I don't ever remember it snowing this early in the fall.

[This message has been edited by Rick Kuchynka (edited 10/5/2005).]

You're right, Richard. It sure has to be Bush's fault. He is bound to be responsible for the white global warming we have around here.

So . . . back to electricty and not conspiracy (did I spell that right?) Are we waiting for power lines to be repaired or tranformers? Transformers sound like a lot longer down time and I understand things aren't moving much between here and Glendive.

Glendive, Forsyth, and parts of Billings are without power too. Unfortunatly the First National Pawn here in Miles got power, so we are here, but we're one of the VERY few. Albertsons is running, but I think they're on generators because they have no heat, and a lot of their coolers have been emptied. The chicken, however, was nice and hot. Wendey's has power, so they're swamped. I haven't heard anything else. Good luck, all.

Hmmmm...what is the common denominator behind all these power outages?

Answer: MDU.

Idiot

If you had seen the trees this morning, Gunnar, I don't think you would blame it on the utility.

Not that MDU is reliable or anything, but in this case I don't know what could have prevented downed lines.

[This message has been edited by Rick Kuchynka (edited 10/5/2005).]

I have tree limbs all over my yard. Plus the fireworks of exploding transformers early this morning was quite spectacular. The Star plans to print today's paper first thing in the morning and deliver two papers tomorrow night.

Amorette

Bart: T-H-A-T. Yes you spelled the word correctly.

I certainly don't blame MDU for downed lines, Rick. Its the reports of transformers exploding that leads me to question MDU. You may recall a couple of years ago when hot summer weather stained their ability to provide power to MC. Bottom line, MDU has been keeping Miles City's electrical distribution system patched together with some rather ancient equipment by industry standards for many years now to keep their costs down. I'm curious on how that impacts how quickly power is restored, as compared to another town of the same size as MC with relatively new equipment, like, say, some new development outside of Denver.

Gunnar:

As an MDU shareholder, I am offended by your post.

Like I said, I'm not defending MDU's reliability. We have far more outages here under MDU in Miles City in 6 months than I ever saw during the 3 years I lived in Billings (under MPC/Northwestern)

Blame it on Bush. He created this snow storm that ravaged MC. Where the heck is FEMA with my my relief. I lost three trees and I need my card. It is all Bush's fault not MDU's. Although, Bush is probably the majority stock holder.

I don't think Eastern Montana folk are used to dealing with tree issues. This would just be another day in the life of someone in western WA. Trees were always falling on power lines, transformers were always exploding and we were regularly without power often for a couple of days. Difference out there was that we were always prepared with alternative heat, camp stoves, oil lamps, a good book and if you were far enough out on the grid you might have a generator. I did think the panic around Miles City was pretty curious and I think MDU was no doubt up to their eyeballs and doing the best they could. I just wonder how many generators were sold? Flashbacks to Y2K?