EMP denial

[Gerard Zwaan]

On December 8–9, 2025, the Sun unleashed multiple X-class and M-class solar flares, the most intense categories of eruptions.

[M. Difato]

 Mysterious power surges return to BART; agency thinks it has identified the problem

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/17/mysterious-power-surges-retur...

Concord, CA. — BART officials now believe metallic dust is to blame for the mysterious power surges that knocked out nearly two dozen train cars in the East Bay Friday (Apr 14), and two similar incidents last year.

BART workers first started noticing problems with the cars at around 10:30 a.m. Friday between the North Concord/Martinez and Pittsburg/Bay Point stations, said spokesman Jim Allison. The agency ultimately switched to shuttle trains at 1:30 p.m., after the power surges had disabled 22 train cars. They used the shuttle train until about 9:30 that night when normal service resumed, he said.
Allison didn’t have an exact figure Monday for the number of disabled trains that have since been repaired, but he said the car shortage is putting the agency in a bit of a bind. BART had 546 train cars in service Monday afternoon, but Allison said it typically aims to have about 595 cars running at any given time.

“It means that some trains are going to be a car short,” he said. “It doesn’t equate to 49 trains (595 minus 546) because built into the 595 standard is a number that can be swapped out for bad cars during the day.”

It’s not the first time that voltage spikes disabled BART cars. The agency dealt with similar problems last year — first in late February near the West Oakland station, and again in mid-March between the North Concord and Pittsburg stations. The mysterious power surges befuddled BART engineers, who spent weeks trying to identify a solution to the issue that appeared and then disappeared with little warning.

As of June last year, BART had spent approximately $2.24 million to diagnose the problem, including nearly $201,000 in consultant fees and more than $771,000 on new testing equipment. Allison said he could not immediately provide an update on the total cost spent diagnosing the problem since then. He also said he would not be able to provide a copy on Monday of the consultants’ final report to BART, but he said BART workers were able to figure out problem and solution on their own.

The power issues afflicting the 22 cars on Friday and last year appear to the be the result of a combination of factors, Allison said. One issue is the buildup of metallic dust on the underside of cars impacted by the electrical surging, he said.

BART generates metallic dust from grinding the rails, a practice the agency uses to reduce the screeching noise of wheels grating against the tracks, Allison said. The dust can conduct electricity, which becomes susceptible to flashes as the cars draw power from the track’s third rail.

BART engineers noticed the dust was thickest near tunnels and inside the Transbay Tube, where rain and wind cannot naturally wash it away. So, in response to the surging issues near the West Oakland station last year, crews started vacuuming the tracks after grinding the rails to remove some of that dust, Allison said.
The agency hadn’t been as concerned with the dust at its above-ground stations, he said, because the dust is removed naturally by rain and wind. But over the course of the last month, BART workers had been diligently grinding the rails four nights a week between the North Concord and Pittsburg stations.

That stretch of tracks is a little different than the rest of the BART system because it’s on a hill, meaning the trains need a little extra juice to make it up and over, Allison said.

“This particular section of track was designed to provide more power to trains than anywhere else on the BART system,” Allison said. “It is now thought that this rail grinding led to a buildup of metallic dust on rail cars.”

To address the issue, Allison said BART is in the process of purchasing magnets, which will sit on train cars that aren’t carrying passengers to pick up the metallic dust left in the rail grinders’ wake, a solution that Allison would be implemented as soon as next month.

~

[M. Difato]

A flare off of gas at the Oaonui Production Station after an emergency shutdown caused by electrical issues during a thunderstorm caused a panic in Coastal Taranaki on Easter Sunday (Apr 16).

 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/91664044/Lessons-learnt-from-sudden...

 The company operating the Taranaki gas production station said it would learn from the incident which sent a large fireball into the sky on Sunday night alarming nearby residents.

A huge flare was seen by residents after a lightning strike during a thunder storm caused the plant to be shut down and the gas flows de-pressurised as emergency procedures were put into practice.

One person said they were forced to leave their house.

A Shell Todd Oil Services (Stos) spokeswoman said there was no damage to the plant after the strike at 7pm on Sunday night.

The gas production facility was shut down until the following morning when the station was re-started, she said.
Nearby residents were notified by text alert messaging of the flare up, she said.

For the past four years the text alert system goes to neighbours and key community members and had worked effectively as a communications tool, she said.

"(On Sunday) the text took a little longer than normal to send as our staff were focussed on making sure the site was safe.

"We have systems in place which enable immediate communication with our close neighbours and other community groups. "These systems were used on Sunday evening.'

Stos would always look to improving the way we can alert residents more effectively, she said. "We learn from every incident."

All safety systems, including the depressurisation system, are tested annually, and incidents were rare, she said.

"It is very rare to have an event which would result an unplanned emergency depressurisation of the plant.

"However, we are pleased the system worked as it is intended to."

The system closed off any sources of natural gas to the plant and made the site safe by lowering the pressure at the production station through venting and then flaring, or burning the gas at a safe location at the flare, she said.

Opunake Community Board chairman Craig Dingle said he was not sure if regular community meetings between STOS and residents would help to improve information channels.

"The flare goes all the time and I don't know how you could inform the community any better," he said.

"This was a one-off and nothing to be concerned over."

~

[M. Difato]

Second dramatic emergency landing at Manchester Airport as flight to Las Palmas is aborted (Apr 15)

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news...
The Boeing 757-200 had aborted a flight to Las Palmas and was met by airport fire engines at the end of the runway
A holiday jet carried out an emergency landing at Manchester Airport becoming the second plane to do so in just five hours.

An eyewitness claimed to have seen the Thomson Airways flight coming in ‘way too fast’ and using the entire length of runway two to come to a halt.
The Boeing 757-200 had aborted a flight to Las Palmas and was met by airport fire engines at the end of the runway.

Officials checked over the aircraft before it returned to a terminal building safely.
Plane-spotter Jordan Harris, 16, from Mossley, said: “We heard there was a priority landing coming in. We could see it coming in and it was wobbling all over the place.

It was coming in way too fast. We could see the flaps were up and it was really unstable. It touched down and there was a big plume of smoke and you could smell the burning rubber. The next thing the fire engines were chasing it down the runway.

It stopped right at the end and the fire crews checked it over and inspected the aircraft for maybe five or ten minutes. There may have been a problem with the hydraulics.”

The captain of the Thomson Airways flight TOM6606 had aborted a planned trip to Las Palmas moments after taking off from Bristol Airport and then headed north to Manchester - where the airline has a significant operation and carried out an emergency landing.
The landing just after 4pm came just five hours after another emergency landing at Manchester when a Thomas Cook Airlines jet aborted a trip to Las Vegas when it reached the Irish Sea due to a ‘suspected technical fault’. It also returned safely.

Following the later incident, a spokeswoman for Manchester Airport confirmed the Thomson Airways jet had landed safely but was unable to give further details.
The jet had been due to depart from Bristol Airport at 12.55pm but was delayed and eventually left at 2.50pm.

It then circled briefly before heading north to Manchester.
A Thomson Airways spokesperson said: "We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to customers travelling on flight TOM6606 to Gran Canaria.

Due to a technical issue and as a precautionary measure, the pilot diverted to the nearest airport. Customers are currently receiving assistance at Manchester airport and are due to depart on an alternative flight at 19:00

We would like to reassure customers that incidences such as this are rare."

[Nancy Lieder]

Checking my weather today, I found this ad top of the page! EMP disaster preparedness!

http://www.blackoutusa.net/b/?tid=variation_med_adw_blackoutusa&... 

Apparently Weather Underground is not in Denial!

https://www.wunderground.com

[jorge namour]

Bus Explodes Near Grand Central Station, Blowing Out Windows

13 abr. 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L8xHMyZTIM&feature=share

WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Terminal

[M. Difato]

An aircraft had to make an emergency landing at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Tuesday

(Apr 11) afternoon due to smoke in the cockpit.

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/aircraft-makes-emergency-landing-at-...

United Flight 118 landed at ABIA at 3:14 p.m. The flight was going from International Airport Houston to Los

Angeles International Airport with 180 people on board.

The source of the smoke has not been determined.  

~

 

[Scott]

'Catastrophic' half-hour power outage blocks 911 calls in Multnomah County (April 5, 2017)

Multnomah County emergency dispatchers couldn't accept 911 calls for about a half-hour Wednesday after a power outage took out their phone and radio systems, marking what authorities believe is the longest ever service disruption for the state's largest emergency dispatcher.

...in one of the bureau's two uninterruptible power supply units...the malfunction caused an electrical surge that shut down the second unit and took out the power. 

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/04/catastrophic_h...

[M. Difato]

Several areas of Zurich were plunged into darkness around 9pm last night (Apr 9) as a fire in an electrical sub-station disrupted supply.
 https://worldradio.ch/news/2017/04/10/parts-of-zurich-suffers-weeke...

The power company, EWZ, says the fire was triggered by a short circuit.

The power cut affected home, street lighting and traffic lights in the north of the city around Oerlikon.

The power was resumed after around half an hour. The power company tweeted its apology and wished everyone a happy Sunday evening. 

~

[M. Difato]

Train crashes into railway quarters in Vavuniya (Apr 10)

http://dailynews.lk/2017/04/10/local/112976/train-crashes-railway-q...

A train carrying fuel has derailed and crashed in to the Railway Official’s quarters today in Vavuniya.

The train was derailed due to the uncontrollable speed it has traveled while changing lines.

Railway tracks and the building were damaged by the incident.

No injuries were reported.

~

[M. Difato]

False Alarm Forces Emergency Landing of San Diego-Bound Flight (Apr 9)

http://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2017/04/09/false-alarm-prompts-fli...

A SkyWest airliner bound for San Diego was diverted to Modesto with an emergency landing Sunday morning.

It happened when an indicator light in the cockpit notified the crew there was a fire in the cargo hold, according to airline officials.

Fortunately, no one was injured and there was no actual fire on board SkyWest Flight 3391, operating as Alaska Airlines. The notification proved to be a false alarm. It was not clear why the indicator light for cargo fires was activated.

“The flight landed safely at 6:48 a.m. and after a brief delay passengers deplaned normally at the gate,” airline spokeswoman McKall Morris said. “Safety is always our top priority.”

The Embraer E175 with two flight crew members and two flight attendants was carrying 55 passengers from Sacramento to San Diego International Airport at Lindbergh Field when it diverted.

“Our maintenance team and the fire department inspected the aircraft and found no issues,” Morris said. “We worked with our partner Alaska Airlines to help passengers resume their travels to San Diego and apologize for any inconvenience to our passengers.”

— City News Service