Metro Jacksonville

Jacksonville by Neighborhood => Downtown => Topic started by: joshuataylor on April 23, 2014, 11:10:43 AM

Title: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: joshuataylor on April 23, 2014, 11:10:43 AM

http://m.news4jax.com/news/transformer-fire-leaves-businesses-without-power/25618000

Way to go, JEA!
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: simms3 on April 23, 2014, 11:23:23 AM
It happens everywhere.
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: duvaldude08 on April 23, 2014, 11:59:33 AM
Quote from: joshuataylor on April 23, 2014, 11:10:43 AM

http://m.news4jax.com/news/transformer-fire-leaves-businesses-without-power/25618000

Way to go, JEA!

Guess you would hate to live in Ny huh?
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: fsquid on April 23, 2014, 12:02:47 PM
the audacity of that transformer to blow.
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: acme54321 on April 23, 2014, 12:38:48 PM
It's unfathomable how they could be so imcompetent
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: Elwood on April 23, 2014, 04:44:45 PM
Wow. Really? I'm sure this must be some covert operation by JEA to destroy the urban core, chase out all business entities, and infuriate it's customer base. (where's that sarcasm font...). Accidents happen.
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: David on April 23, 2014, 05:41:33 PM
At Haskell I noticed a flicker shortly before the power went completely out. Which is rare for this part of town, the grid's pretty solid since there's so many larger companies on it.

Riverside avenue is slowly coming back online. Haskell has power now. This outage hurt us pretty bad, brought the entire company to a halt nationwide and in Mexico. Surprised we don't have a back up generator. Supposedly they've only suffered power losses just a handful of times in the past 30 years in that location.
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: simms3 on April 23, 2014, 05:50:22 PM
^^^Have to say that it's shocking that Haskell Building doesn't have a generator - at minimum for EMS and life safety systems/elevators, etc.  With the amount of storms that roll through combined with above ground electric lines and large old trees that can fall or drop branches, you would think businesses that can afford a generator would have a generator.  Doesn't mean a power stop won't cut off computers before the generator kicks in, but a day without power?  Yikes...crippling  :o

When I lived in Atlanta I watched an intense storm roll through - amazing site (I lived in a 40 floor building at the time and had a great view about midway up).  Some tower cranes set up for a new high rise swung quickly in the direction the wind was blowing (more like howling), and a minute later a transformer right in front of me blew...all the lights in Midtown/Downtown in all of the highrises shut off.  It was SO eery and actually frightening...but most of the towers flickered back on as generators kicked in backup systems.
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: Steve on April 23, 2014, 06:48:00 PM
I will say....Riverside Ave was a zoo going home today. On the other hand, one of the many positives of living in the urban core is many alternative routes and no "one way in" communities. Park St was essentially clear in Brooklyn.
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: Charles Hunter on April 23, 2014, 06:52:39 PM
At about 5:45, JSO was operating the signal at Park and Forest.
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: Steve on April 23, 2014, 06:57:00 PM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on April 23, 2014, 06:52:39 PM
At about 5:45, JSO was operating the signal at Park and Forest.

And poorly, might I add.
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: mtraininjax on April 24, 2014, 12:22:06 AM
Half of downtown? Sure glad the other half, including the Jail and Maxwell house had power! lol!
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: BridgeTroll on April 24, 2014, 07:03:29 AM
Sounds like some disaster recovery plans will be reviewed and updated starting today...lol
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: David on April 24, 2014, 10:02:36 AM
Haha yes indeed BT. We are in the process of moving our disaster recovery data center from Denver to Atlanta but it hasn't been completed yet.  My coworker in Atlanta summed up their day yesterday with this statement:

"We were dead in the water. Not even internet access. All the old-guard engineers pulled out pens and paper for the young designers to use. They looked confused."

The last they lost power was during the Great Jacksonville blackout of '02. So I doubt they'll spring for a full scale back up generator.





Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: BridgeTroll on April 24, 2014, 10:18:54 AM
Quote from: David on April 24, 2014, 10:02:36 AM
Haha yes indeed BT. We are in the process of moving our disaster recovery data center from Denver to Atlanta but it hasn't been completed yet.  My coworker in Atlanta summed up their day yesterday with this statement:

"We were dead in the water. Not even internet access. All the old-guard engineers pulled out pens and paper for the young designers to use. They looked confused."

The last they lost power was during the Great Jacksonville blackout of '02. So I doubt they'll spring for a full scale back up generator.







If you remember waaayyy back a few years when the old Southside generation plant (now gone) had a fire that blacked/browned most of Jax for almost 24 hours... That was when I got my DR act together.  The small entity I work for would NOT be dead for the day any longer under that scenario...
Title: Re: Half of Downtown Without Power!
Post by: David on April 24, 2014, 10:32:33 AM
Quote from: BridgeTroll on April 24, 2014, 10:18:54 AM
If you remember waaayyy back a few years when the old Southside generation plant (now gone) had a fire that blacked/browned most of Jax for almost 24 hours... That was when I got my DR act together.  The small entity I work for would NOT be dead for the day any longer under that scenario...

I'm not at the infrastructure level otherwise I'd push for one myself.

Our UPS systems held up for a while. They gave us enough time to shutdown the servers and network gear systematically, but with an outage lasting that long I don't think there's any amount of battery backup that can power an entire data center for that length of time. 

You need to have an onsite back up generator, simple as that. I'm curious how the other companies fared during this outage.