Power Outages in central Florida... Disney affected??

[dbhpsu]

Millions without power across Florida

Gary Taylor and Kristen Reed | Sentinel Staff Writers
2:13 PM EST, February 26, 2008


Florida, including the Orlando area, was experiencing widespread power outages today, with the state's largest electric company saying it has not determined a cause.

There are reports of outages in Orange, Lake, Seminole and Volusia counties. CNN says as many 4 million customers are without power across the state. The outages began shortly after 1 p.m.

A Florida Power & Light spokeswoman told The Miami Herald that the company is investigating the cause. FPL did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press. Volusia officials say the power from Miami to Jacksonville.

In Volusia, law enforcement officials are reporting widespread power outages in Volusia County.

Motorists are reporting traffic signals out at intersections from Ormond Beach in northeast Volusia to Deltona and DeBary in the southwest part of the county, Sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said.

About 7,000 customers of Kissimmee Utility Authority lost power for about 20 minutes today. Spokesman Chris Gent said the system, sensing a blackout, shut itself down to protect the equipment and then went back online. All KUA customers now have power.

[ibrowse17]

I saw this a little while ago on another site, but what I read made it sound like the affected areas were much further south than Disney. This sounds much different. I hope they all get power back soon, and no one is stuck on a monorail...:thumbsup:

[AuntDJ]

This brings up an interesting question...

Does Disney have generator? If no, what happens if a ride is stuck for a long period of time? Is there any rides that could get stuck and have difficulty getting the guests off?

[Von-Drake]

I would imagine that some parts of Peter Pan would proved difficult to unload guests from the ships.

[Jeff G]

WDW has it's own power company, Reedy Creek Energy Service, which supplies all of it's power. This makes WDW independent of Florida Power & Light. A safe guess would be that the outages affecting FP&L are not affecting WDW.

We stayed at WDW during a hurricane a few years back. While there we were able to talk to many locals who migrated to WDW because it generally doesn't loose it's power since it controls its own ability to produce and that the power lines are all buried under ground.

[browneyedgirl12]

I live in Lee County and my school had a power outage in 6th period and lasted untill the end of the day. But my house didn't loose power thank goodness !!

[GrumpyFan]

WDW has it's own power company, Reedy Creek Energy Service, which supplies all of it's power. This makes WDW independent of Florida Power & Light. A safe guess would be that the outages affecting FP&L are not affecting WDW.


I don't think this is entirely true. I think WDW has their own service/maintenance company, but they don't generate power, they only sevice the lines on-property. I think I read somewhere that Disney buys most of their power from Progress Energy and the rest from Tampa Electric.

I believe they also have a couple of large generators used for backup purposes, but not large enough to support the whole property. I'm guessing though, they have local (park & hotel level) emergency power for special situations. Also, they have documented emergency procedures and routines for evacing a ride that fails due to power outage.

[DisneyDudet]

My mother called about 10 min ago from Miami. She and my father are down there for my dad's business. Their power flickered, but came back on in their hotel, but other parts of Miami/Ft. Lauderdale are completely without. They are hearing that the entire city of Tampa is without power. She called to ask me if Disney was affected! I came on here as soon as I got home. I wasn't even gone an hour!

I guess we'll see from any guests there or any CMs. I'll be looking out for more information.

[bleukarma]

They are hearing that the entire city of Tampa is without power.

I'm not. Both my work and my house are fine.

I seem to be getting conflicting information from all over the place on who is affected.

Regarding WDW, I am a title examiner and when I worked in the commercial department I remember getting orders for Progress Energy within Reedy Creek. I would get happy thinking I am examining WDW property! :mickey: So I do believe Progress Energy owns some of the power grids within WDW. Whether they are being affected by the power outage, I don't know.

[DisneyDudet]

I'm not. Both my work and my house are fine.



Well that is good! I'm listening to CNN, and they say that within an hour, most if not all people should have power.

[Ed]

Widespread power outages reported across Florida
As many as 3 million persons are without power, the state says
By Dan Tracy and Kristen Reed of the Sentinel Staff, With The Associated Press

3:38 PM EST, February 26, 2008

Florida's largest electric company shut down a nuclear reactor south of Miami for safety reasons today, causing sporadic power outages covering large portions of Central Florida and the state that could last until 6 p.m.

More than 3 million people are affected, the state says.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that the two Florida Power & Light nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point power plant 30 miles south of Miami automatically shut down. Two other power plants farther north, the Crystal River reactor and St. Lucie twin reactors, in the state continued to operate, although officials at those two facilities noticed the grid disturbance.

The outage was caused by a transmission substation that failed, said Todd Brown, a spokesman with the state Public Service Commission, which regulates investor-owned utilities in Florida. The substation was fed with electricity generated by the nuclear-powered Turkey Point plant owned by Florida Power & Light.

Once the substation stopped working, the two nuclear units at Turkey Point automatically shut down, Brown said. "If there is anything good to come of this, it is that the system worked the way it was supposed to," Brown said.

The two Turkey Point units, opened in 1972 and 1973, generate 1,400 megawatts of electricy, enough power to supply the annual needs of more thnan 450,000 houses. The units are on Biscayne Bay, 24 miles south of Miami, just east of Homestead.

"There are no safety concerns. The reactors shut down as designed," said Kenneth Clark, a spokesman at the NRC regional office in Atlanta in a telephone interview.

He said both reactors continued to have offsite electric power. He said two coal-burning power plants at Turkey Point also shut down.

FPL in several media interviews estimated that power should be up statewide within 10 hours. The company did not return repeated calls from The Associated Press or speak to a reporter in the lobby of its Juno Beach headquarters. As many as 800,000 customers are without power today as Florida is experiencing widespread power outages.

There are reports of outages in Orange, Lake, Seminole, Volusia and Brevard counties, as well as both coasts from Miami to Jacksonville and Naples to Tampa Bay.

The power outage in South Florida rippled across Florida as a brownout, or drop in power flowing through the grid that connects all utilities.

The State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee has activated to a Level 2, partial activation, in response to the current power outage in the state. Currently there are approximately 3 million persons without power, state officials said.

Locally, schools, businesses and intersections are without power this afternoon.

Orlando Utility Commission spokesman Sheridan Becht said OUC's generating system automatically began at 1:09 p.m. to shut down 13 circuits at 11 substations across the metro area.

That left 11,438 customers, mostly residential, without power for between two and 20 minutes, Becht said. The utility has about 250,000 customers.

In Orange County, several schools are still without power. They include Silver Star Center, Lake Sybelia Elementary, Riverside Elementary, Dommerich Elementary, Zellwood Elementary, Aloma Elementary, Boone High, Jones High, Maitland Middle, Lake Weston Elementary and Wekiva High.

Power could be restored there shortly, officials said.

Earlier, West Creek Elementary, Hunter's Creek Middle, East Lake Elementary and Apopka High lost power briefly. No evacuations were reported.

Schools spokeswoman Kathy Marsh said students are evacuated during power outages when it has the potential to adversely affect the health, safety or welfare of individuals and groups within the learning environment. That did not occur in today's situation.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office reported nearly 20 incidents of traffic signal problems on busy roads in Deltona, DeBary DeLand, Holly Hill, Ormond Beach, South Daytona and Daytona Beach.

Seminole County sheriff's officials said several traffic lights are out across the county, including areas in Sanford, Casselberry and Lake Mary.

Motorists are reminded to exercise patience and caution on the roads and to treat all intersections with nonworking traffic lights as four-way stops.

About 7,600 customers of Kissimmee Utility Authority lost power for about 20 minutes earlier this afternoon. Spokesman Chris Gent said the system, sensing a blackout, shut itself down to protect the equipment and then went back online. The largest generating unit at the utility's Cane Island Power Park tripped offline and remains offline at this time.

Two Osceola County schools -- Boggy Creek Elementary and Parkway Middle -- also lost power for about 20 to 30 minutes.

In Palm Bay, a number of traffic signals are out with most in the southeast area.

Early reports also say the areas of Miami, Doral, Westchester and Pembroke Pines are without power, as is the Port of Miami. The outages began shortly after 1 p.m..

Miami-Dade Police Department spokesman Nelda Fonticiella tells WSVN-TV that they are working with Florida Power & Light to assess the situation. It is unclear how many people are affected.

An FPL spokeswoman told The Miami Herald the company is investigating the problem. Earlier, CNN reported as many as 4 million customers lost power, but FPL said in a news release that from 600,000 to 800,000 customers experienced blackouts.

In Dade County, students were being held at schools for safety reasons due to large numbers of traffic signals being out due to power failures, said Quintin Taylor, media relations specialist for Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Students were only being released to the care of a parent or guardian, he said. All school transportation was suspended due to the non-functional traffic lights, he said

Kathleen Bergen, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said control towers at South Florida's airports are operating on engine-driven generators. She said the emergency generators kick on "automatically when commercial power fails, regardless of the cause."

Major hospitals in Broward were also relatively unaffected by the outage, thanks to back-up generators, officials said.

"We just had a momentary blip," said Kathy Capstack, spokeswoman for Broward General Medical Center, in Fort Lauderdale.

Sarah Marmion, a spokeswoman for FPL, said initial reports indicated the problem is confined to South Florida, "but it could be a wider area."

There was no estimate on when power will be back on or how many customers are being affected.

"It's statewide, going all the way up to Daytona," said Bill Huff, Miramar's Chief of Emergency Medical Services, speaking from the Broward Emergency Operations Center.

-- Gary Taylor of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel

~~~~~~~~~~~

My wife is a CM; she is presently at work and I have not heard from her whether they are afected or not. I doubt they are affected much; that kind of news would be all over the local media.

As for Florida Power & Light, the standing rumor hereabouts is that their logo, FPL, actually stands for Frequent Power Losses.

[GrumpyFan]

The news said it was a "glitch" in Florida Power & Light's transmission system and triggered a shutdown at the other plants.

The same kind of thing happened in the Northeast a few years ago. Somebody's gonna have some 'splainin' to do.

[Ed]

To make matters worse, now the entire Central Florida area is under a Tornado Watch, possibly lasting until about 2am Wednesday.

Welcome to the Sunshine State.

Bring your own flashlights.

[DisneyDudet]

To make matters worse, now the entire Central Florida area is under a Tornado Watch, possibly lasting until about 2am Wednesday.

Welcome to the Sunshine State.

Bring your own flashlights.

Where my parents hotel was located, they were under a Tornado Warning d/t wall clouds and spotted funnel clouds!!

[Ed]

Got an e-mail from DW... her WDW office area did have an outage, but their generator kicked right in. She hasn't heard any reports from the parks.

[Ian]

The same kind of thing happened in the Northeast a few years ago. Somebody's gonna have some 'splainin' to do.Ironically enough, when that outage happened I was on vacation from the Northeast in Florida when that outage happened.

For this outage, I'm in the Northeast and not in Florida. ;)

[MauiMouse]

Headline News just reported that the parks never lost power, but some of the resort did loose power for a "short period of time".

[baby minnie's mommy]

We lost power for maybe 20-30 minutes.

Regarding WDW's power supply - I was under the impression the big Mickey ears by the interstate was Disney's power plant. Can someone specifically explain that to me?
I love seeing the "Ears" driving up from the south - it means were almost at Disney! We taught DD that too! One time she tried so hard to stay awake, fearing she'd miss it, till we told her we would wake her up to see it. She fell right to sleep. :D

[Jasper]

There has always been conflicting information about how much, if any, power WDW actually produces for itself. The one thing I do know that we were told when I was down there several years ago doing a Disney seminar is that they do have generator backup for all "critical" functions. When asked to explain what a "critical function" is at WDW the response was that they would always have enough power to get guests to a place where they can be safely unloaded from any attraction and that things like refrigerators would have power pretty much indefinitely. The only other detail they gave is that safely unloading guests from attractions does not necessarily mean that the ride vehicle would go back to the load/unload zone.

[GrumpyFan]

Regarding WDW's power supply - I was under the impression the big Mickey ears by the interstate was Disney's power plant. Can someone specifically explain that to me?


I believe that's what is referred to as a sub-station. It's where power from the high voltage main lines comes in and is stepped down and re-distributed to different locations, possibly even other sub-stations.

[Jeff G]

I don't think this is entirely true. I think WDW has their own service/maintenance company, but they don't generate power, they only service the lines on-property. I think I read somewhere that Disney buys most of their power from Progress Energy and the rest from Tampa Electric.

I believe they also have a couple of large generators used for backup purposes, but not large enough to support the whole property. I'm guessing though, they have local (park & hotel level) emergency power for special situations. Also, they have documented emergency procedures and routines for evacing a ride that fails due to power outage.

This is from the Reedy Creek Improvement District web site:

Electric
The District operates and maintains an electrical generation, transmission and distribution system which provides service throughout the District. The system includes a state-of-the-art cogeneration facility currently aggregating 40,300 kw of net capability. RCID purchases the remainder of its needs from other utilities. The transmission system includes eight 69 kv substations and distributes all power via a 12.47 kv underground distribution system. The peak demand of the electrical system during 2003 was approximately 190 megawatts.

It looks like they make part of their own and purchase a major majority.Doing the math they produce about 40 megawatts at a maximum but use a whole lot more. While staying during a hurricane a few years ago a CM told me they made all of their electricity, I guess they were wrong.

[Ed]

You hit it right on that big ol' Grumpy nose!

That is a substation that functions exactly as you described. WDW does have a generating plant that handles part of their overall load, but they also have enough self-contained emergency generators scattered around the property to power a medium-sized city. DW tells me that the generators kicked in immediately today, keeping things humming along until the main power was quickly restored.

[GrumpyFan]

Sounds like it was a "fun" day for RCES and the maintenance guys. A good opportunity to dust off the emergency procedures manuals and put it into practice to see if it actually works. Good preparation for hurricane season.

[WDWizard]

Here in Miami, the power went out around 1ish and came back about an hour later. I was in school, and at first I thought it was just a minor power outage in the building I was in, then I realized that it was the entire school and immediate area that was out of power, and we were later informed that most of Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida was out!

The outage didnt seem to last very long and I heard reports of people being stuck in elevators and a few car accidents, but everyone is safe now and Homeland Security has confirmed that this was a technical issue, not related to terrorism or anything like that. FPL (Florida Power & Light) has stated that all power should be back by 5:30 PM ET.

[jillluvsdisney]

I was driving home and heard this on news radio today at 4pm. My first thought was I wondered if it had any effect on WDW.

I knew I'd find something here on Intercot.:mickey:

[Red Randal]

I call shenanigans! Doesn't anyone watch Law & Order? I'm thinking something fishy is going on. ;)

[GrumpyFan]

I call shenanigans! Doesn't anyone watch Law & Order? I'm thinking something fishy is going on. ;)

That's funny, I thought the same thing!

[baby minnie's mommy]

Thanks for the clarification on the "Ears"! :mickey: When DH came home he said the same thing - that it's a substation.

[Ed]

I call shenanigans! Doesn't anyone watch Law & Order? I'm thinking something fishy is going on. ;)


That's funny, I thought the same thing!

That's IT !! Why didn't any of us pick up on it ?? :confused:

This whole thing was undoubtedly the doings of the Evil IASW Dolls ! :thedolls::thedolls:

[garymacd]

That's IT !! Why didn't any of us pick up on it ?? :confused:

This whole thing was undoubtedly the doings of the Evil IASW Dolls ! :thedolls::thedolls:

That sounds more plausible than my explanation. I thought the alien from Alien Encounters had finally figured out how to steal enough power to escape back home. Either that, or meet up with the Aliens and Predators down in South America! :rotfl:

Shenanigans, in deed!

Way back in December 1999, we noticed that there were all kinds of generator and light trailers stationed everywhere throughout the World. This was just in case the whole world crashed because of the Y2K bug and we couldn't flush the toilets. I think they still have them lying around somewhere. I have seen some in marshalling yards around WDW.

[GrumpyFan]

That's IT !! Why didn't any of us pick up on it ?? :confused:

This whole thing was undoubtedly the doings of the Evil IASW Dolls ! :thedolls::thedolls:

NO NO!!! NOT THE DOLLS!!!

[DisneyDudet]

That's IT !! Why didn't any of us pick up on it ?? :confused:

This whole thing was undoubtedly the doings of the Evil IASW Dolls ! :thedolls::thedolls:

Oh no, not the dolls! They seemed to have been laying low until now. Wonder what they have in store next!?

[Ed]

Oh no, not the dolls! They seemed to have been laying low until now. Wonder what they have in store next!?

You really don't want to know. :nono:

I strongly recommend everyone stock up on Silly String and Bourbon Beanie Weenies.

:cool:

[#1donaldfan]

my fear is I would get stuck on TOT......I'm sure it has some sort of break system, but WOW what a scarey thing that would be....:mickey:

[LauraleeH]

We lost power and we are on the complete opposite side of Orlando.

Does anyone know if Disney was affected by the storms last night? They were really bad here. To me, that would be a lot scarier than being stuck on a ride for a while.

[Patricia]

Evil Dolls!?! Don't make me get out the rocket launcher!!

Thanks for the WDW power lesson. Who knew?

I always take my Disney vacation for granted. Even when hurricanes are looming around me, I never though to consider what I'd be doing in a power outage. :search: