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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Sat Sep 23, 2017, 08:42 AM Sep 2017

Facing Months in the Dark, Ordinary Life in Puerto Rico is 'Beyond Reach'

By FRANCES ROBLES, LIZETTE ALVAREZ and MARY WILLIAMS WALSHSEPT. 22, 2017


Mickey Garcia, far left, tended to food with neighbors in Ingenio Toa Baja, P.R., on Friday. Credit Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

SAN JUAN, P.R. — Two days after Hurricane Maria flattened this island of 3.5 million people, knocking out all its power and much of its water, the rebuilding of the services and structures needed for people to resume some semblance of ordinary life was looking more complicated by the day.

All or part of three towns in the northwestern part of the island — Isabela, San Sebastián and Quebradillas — were being evacuated Friday because of fears about structural damage to the nearby Guajataca Dam. Close to 70,000 people could be affected if the 90-year-old dam, which is 120-feet high and can hold about 11 billion gallons of water, collapsed, said Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló.

And with everyone from the governor of Puerto Rico to the mayor of San Juan predicting that it could take four to six months to resume electrical service, people were contemplating empty refrigerators, campfire cooking, bathing in their own sweat and perhaps wrangling for fresh water on an island accustomed to hard times but nothing like what the future may bring.

“It’s been hard to see infrastructure deteriorate in Puerto Rico, but it has been harder to meet citizens who have lost it all,” Governor Rosselló said.

The most immediate danger was from the dam, which suffered structural damage. And finding gasoline was already a big problem. Lines for ice and gas stretched for blocks. Generators needed diesel or regular gas to work, and supplies at gas stations were quickly dwindling.

more
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/us/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-power.html

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Facing Months in the Dark, Ordinary Life in Puerto Rico is 'Beyond Reach' (Original Post) DonViejo Sep 2017 OP
K&R for visibility. nt tblue37 Sep 2017 #1
Goodness. Madam45for2923 Sep 2017 #2
The devastation, so absolutely horrible. Survival for many is going to be extraordinarily difficult. RKP5637 Sep 2017 #3
We could mount a massive recovery effort and make it a showcase of American generosity and resolve. Girard442 Sep 2017 #4
+1 It's the sort of thing that the US used to do.. lostnfound Sep 2017 #5
not when we have more important things to do onethatcares Sep 2017 #8
After Winning A War The U.S. Rebuilds The Countries Of It's Former Enemy.... global1 Sep 2017 #6
K&R greatauntoftriplets Sep 2017 #7
How soon until people can get a flight out? NickB79 Sep 2017 #9
I expect many will move here. roamer65 Sep 2017 #10
It's time to implement the ship-to-shore power concept: eppur_se_muova Sep 2017 #11
DURec leftstreet Sep 2017 #12

Girard442

(6,059 posts)
4. We could mount a massive recovery effort and make it a showcase of American generosity and resolve.
Sat Sep 23, 2017, 08:57 AM
Sep 2017

Yeah. We could, but we won't.

lostnfound

(16,139 posts)
5. +1 It's the sort of thing that the US used to do..
Sat Sep 23, 2017, 09:30 AM
Sep 2017

But now we are always told there's no money for generosity.

Wouldn't it be nice to put solar roof tiles throughout the VI and PR? All that island sun. Roof panels not so smart because of strong winds but the tiles that Elon musk is starting to produce are like roof tiles and could be more resilient than centralized distribution systems.

global1

(25,169 posts)
6. After Winning A War The U.S. Rebuilds The Countries Of It's Former Enemy....
Sat Sep 23, 2017, 09:41 AM
Sep 2017

It's time we start spending our monies - not on wars - not on adding to our military - but to rebuild the infrastructure of our own country and those that have sustained damage by the effects of climate change that is denied by Trump and the Repugs.

NickB79

(19,114 posts)
9. How soon until people can get a flight out?
Sat Sep 23, 2017, 02:12 PM
Sep 2017

I have relatives in San Juan, including an 83 yr old grandma, and space in my house. They may not enjoy a Minnesota winter, but at least they'll have running water and hot meals here.

eppur_se_muova

(36,227 posts)
11. It's time to implement the ship-to-shore power concept:
Sat Sep 23, 2017, 03:38 PM
Sep 2017
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-691-seminar-in-electric-power-systems-spring-2006/projects/ship_to_shore.pdf

History
During World War II, there were seven destroyer escorts converted into Turbo-Electric Generators (TEG) specifically for the purpose of providing electrical power to shore facilities. They were the Donnell (DE-56), Foss (DE-59), Whitehurst (DE-634), Wiseman (DE-667), Marsh (DE-699), and two British lend-lease ships; Spragge (K-572, ex-DE-563) and Hotham (K-583 ex-DE-574)(1). Data for these ships are sparse in general.
Consider the Wiseman, for which more data is available. This ship had oil fired boilers producing steam to turn turbine generators which in turn powered electric propulsion motors. This electric ship configuration is optimal for providing electric power ashore since all the power in the ship is already being converted to electric. The Wiseman had transformers and cable reels topside to deliver power at high voltages over relatively long distances. Wiseman powered the city of Manila during WWII and the port of Mason during the Korean War. Wiseman delivered 5,806,000 kWh to Manila over five and a half months(2), giving an average generation capability greater than 1.4 MW. The US Army also used ship to shore power to power remote stations. One notable case is that of the Sturgis/MH-1A, A WWII era Liberty ship equipped with a nuclear power plant used to provide power to the Panama Canal Zone from 1968 to 1975(3). The MH-1A power plant on the Sturgis generated 10MW electrical power which allowed the canal locks to be operated more frequently.

1 http://www.de220.com/Conversions/TEG.htm
2 http://www.desausa.org/de_photo_library/uss_wiseman_1.htm
3 http://www.atomicinsights.com/aug96/MH-1A.html

Thus history shows that ships can provide power to the shore, if only in limited amounts, and using specialized ships.


IIRC, the Navy has sold its superannuated ships to foreign governments. Why not convert two or three to permanent power-stations-on-standby ?

Also worth mentioning: USN already have permanent hospital ships, the Comfort and the Mercy, converted supertankers with huge capacities.
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