Power Outages During Storms? (Raleigh: houses, buy, live)

[Petunia16]

I can't find any data on this online... maybe someone knows were to look?

I read that Fran caused a 9-day power outage in Raleigh. On average, how many days do you think the triangle loses per year due to storms etc?

We'll be working from home and calling in "powerless" should be something we talk about before the move

Thanks!

[jfre81]

Don't sweat it. Whether it's hurricanes in the Carolinas or blackouts in NYC it doesn't matter. You are not going to have electricity 100 percent of the time.

Get a wi-fi laptop. If your power fails locally go somewhere that isn't in the dark.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

In the 2 + years I have lived in Raleigh I have never experienced a power outage. I am sure it has happened in the past due to major climatic events and could happen in the future, but I do not believe it is a common occurrence.

[jfre81]

You'll more than likely have one if a hurricane goes right over you. It's just that it doesn't happen all that often.

I wonder about possible future power/energy crises in the South much like there have been in California....lots more demand these days and some infrastructure that's been around long before it was a hip place to be....

[lamishra]

I'm a triangle native and there are only 2 major power losses I remember in recent history: one was Fran (and yes, that was really awful) and the other was a major ice storm about 5 years ago.
Overall, It's nothing to worry about. Lights flicker sometimes during major storms and occassionally go out for a few hours, but that's it. And the storm has to be pretty bad to do that. It's not a common event at all.

[saturnfan]

We get power flutters quite often.

Be sure EVERYTHING is on surge protectors.

[J_Lurk]

We've been in our current house just over 3.5 years and I'd say we've had at least one minor power outage a year. The longest was about 9 hours but that was only for about 3000 houses. You could easily have driven to a location with power. I don't think any of them have been storm related. The long one was some kind of fluke at the substation, and a couple have been heat-related. Most have been under an hour or two.

Fran was a very unusual hurricane hit. The last hurricane to hit central NC that hard was Hazel in 1954.

[Dire Wolf]

The only thing I lost during Fran was cable, and only for about 4 hours. I did have to endure 2 days or so with no power during the ice storm. It really just all depends on where you live.

A lot of people have bought generators to cope with stuff like this. My neighbors even had one installed when their house was built. Their house will automatically fail over to it if needed.

[gb27]

You can always buy a generator and have cell phones. UPS's for computers do help.

[Dire Wolf]

The cell network tends to get very clogged during these type things. POTS is at least designed to have battery backup at the CO. (although I gave up my POTS land line ages ago).

If you want a generator, get it early before the hint of storm is in the air. You think milk and bread can disappear fast.

I was thankful during the ice storm that I had natural gas. Was able to make myself a meal on the stove despite no electricity.