Wind socks power, water
BY ERIC OLSON, The Herald-Sun
March 8, 2004 11:26 pm DURHAM -- A brief but fierce windstorm Sunday night plunged 15,000 Duke Power customers into darkness in Durham and Orange counties and temporarily disrupted water supplies Monday afternoon in Durham, officials said.
On Monday morning, business at area tree services was as brisk as the storm, which may have packed less punch in the Triangle than in other areas of the state, but still sent tree limbs and debris flying with gusts of up to 47 mph.
The storm knocked out power to the Brown Water Treatment Plant in Durham, resulting in less water pressure in areas of the city Monday afternoon, including the Duke University Hospital.
A hospital spokesman said water pressure was down for about 20 minutes, starting around 2:30 p.m.
No surgeries were delayed, but hospital officials did implement their emergency response plan -- delivering bottled water for washing and drinking and extra alcohol foam to all units and departments, spokesman Richard Puff said.
On Duke's campus, water demand and use already were significantly lower because students are on spring break.
"On the university side, that was fortunate," said Keith Lawrence, associate director of Duke's office of news and communications.
And adding to the quickly changing weather, the National Weather Service said Monday night that snow accumulation of up to an inch would be possible tonight through Wednesday morning.
Mike Moneypenny, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said a new storm system from the Great Lakes was expected to hit the state today.
"We expect snow to begin in the mountains [this] morning and spread east throughout the day," he said. "It's expected to hit here early to midafternoon."
Moneypenny also noted that today's high temperature should be in the low to mid-40s, which may keep the accumulation to a minimum of about an inch or less on grassy surfaces.
"Of course, our ground will be warm, so we're not expecting anything to stick to road surfaces," he said.
Temperatures could drop to around freezing tonight, with a high Wednesday of about 45, he added.
Since the storm struck Sunday, Duke Power crews have been working 16-hour shifts throughout the Carolinas, spokesman Tom Williams said. About 2,000 crew members were working to restore power to 230,000 customers systemwide. In Durham, 9,700 people were in the dark Sunday night, and 5,300 lost power in Orange County.
"It's a major storm," Williams said. "We have them from time to time. It's something that we prepare for, and we're doing our very best to get folks back on."
The storm downed trees and power lines, but gardeners at Duke Gardens said they saw no serious damage.
However, Jeff Bracken, owner of JB Tree Service, said he had about twice as many people call for help as is usual at this time of the year.
"One tree hit a deck; one tree hit a well pump," Bracken said. Another tree had fallen and blocked the caller's driveway, and "We tried to make that a priority," he said.
At Anne Terry's house on Muirfield Court, a 20-foot pine tree fell from her front yard onto her roof.
"It shook the whole house," she said. She called a tree service to remove the tree Sunday night, and a crew cut the treetop into pieces and hoisted it off the house early Monday. That afternoon, roofers repaired the shingles on her one-story home.
Terry said she had never worried about the tree falling.
"It was really out in the wooded area, not that close to the house," she said.
The city's water problems began after the storm knocked out power at the Brown Water Treatment Plant, said Vicki Westbrook, conservation coordinator with Durham's environmental resources department.
Officials were still investigating what happened, Westbrook said, but once the plant lost power, its diesel-powered backup pump kicked in.
Then, just as the crew was restoring power at about 1 p.m., that pump also failed. And almost at the same time, a large pump at the Williams Water Treatment Plant shut down, a news release said. Staffers are investigating that shutdown as well.
Durham's elevated water storage tanks were supposed to be refilled Monday night, according to the release, and the lapse was not expected to have an effect on water quality, although some water customers might see a slight discoloration.
If that happens, customers are advised to run their water briefly until it turns clear. If the discoloration persists, contact the city at 560-4344. Customers also should check the water before washing any white clothing.
Staff writers Ben Evans, Meredith Buse and Hunter Lewis contributed to this report.
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