2:15pm : We still have electricity in Port St. Lucie. Christina just reported the power came back on in Boca Raton after being off for about 30 minutes. What’s going on? Here’s what I can gather from the various news outlets…
- CNN is reporting massive power outages with power reported out from Miami to Palm Beach County.
- Florida Today says 8 power plants are down, and that Florida Power & Light (FPL) has experienced massive transmission problems affecting more than 4 million customers.
- The Miami Herald states the service failures came during an unusually warm February day in South Florida, with temperatures reaching near-record highs.
What’s going on? Stay tuned …
2:25pm : CNN is now confirming that there are 8 power plants offline, but the failures have been contained. In Washington, officials at the Department of Homeland Security said there was no immediate concern that terrorism was behind the outage.
The Miami Herald states it is possible the following cities are without power at this time … Boca Raton, Brickell, Clearwater, Doral, Homestead, Key West, Lake Worth, Little Havana, Pinecrest, Pompano Beach, Miramar, North Tampa, West Kendall, Westchester, Weston.
2:30pm : The TCPalm is reporting that several cities throughout the Treasure Coast are reporting power outages that happened shortly after 1pm. A representative from FPL offered this comforting statement: “All I know now is that a big part of the state is without power.”
2:40pm: WPLG (Local 10) is reporting the last time this happened was 1985. Florida Power and Light in Fort Lauderdale confirmed that the transmission line failure was what caused the outage.
WFOR (CBS4) is stating a substation equipment failure may have tripped two FPL power generator units Tuesday afternoon, creating a domino effect in the South Florida power grid.
WFTV (Channel 9) says at Orlando International Airport, a combination of the power outage and weather stopped departures between about 1 and 2pm. The delay backed up about 30 flights. An official at the Miami International Airport says the facility is working on a generator backup but that no airline delays were reported.
02/27/08 10:00am Update … Here is a map of the areas that were affected yesterday. The red square indicates our approximate location.
This morning, CNN is reporting that authorities are investigating how a small fire and a switch failure at an electrical substation outside Miami triggered a power failure that affected over two million people. According to authorities, the grid should have isolated these two problems but did not. The result was cascading grid fluctuations that caused other power plants to shut down for safety reasons.
