Shock and Awe as Tornado Blows Electric Transformers in Moore Oklahoma

March 26, 2015

Pretty incredible display. Really looks like an artillery barrage.

Posted by greenman3610
Filed in Crock of the Week

6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Shock and Awe as Tornado Blows Electric Transformers in Moore Oklahoma”

redskylite Says:

March 27, 2015 at 3:47 am
Indeed the awesome power of mother nature is unleashed, and it does shockingly remind me of scenes from Baghdad a few decades ago, especially with the surrealistic dim lighting and eerie drone on the sound track.

Unsurprisingly more than 15,000 buildings are left without power. I hope that modern design using micro-grids and innovation can address and protect some of these mighty weather and climate issues, that have been with us in the past and may well be amplified in the future.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/26/us-usa-torando-idUSKBN0MM1RL20150326

Reply
- redskylite Says:
  
  March 27, 2015 at 4:58 am
  A very recent and relevant example of a mini grid that survived cyclonic devastation around it ………………..
  
  http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/solar-mini-grid-powers-through-cyclone-as-wa-grids-black-out-65468
  
  Reply
Andy Lee Robinson Says:

March 27, 2015 at 6:30 am
Impressive, but this just doesn’t happen in Europe because the vast majority of residential electricity is delivered by underground cable.

Also, 117V is a greater fire risk because it carries twice the current and requires double the amount of copper to transmit the same amount of power as here in Europe which uses 220V.

OK, it might be a little more dangerous to lick open contacts, but I’ve had more than my fair share of nasty shocks, and fortunately survived.

Reply
anotheralionel Says:

March 27, 2015 at 7:29 am
“OK, it might be a little more dangerous to lick open contacts, but I’ve had more than my fair share of nasty shocks, and fortunately survived.”

Incredible, what collateral damage and injuries can one expect from such events? I noted one which projected visible flaming debris into the air and some explosions were huge and of long duration.

Here in UK I once took 440V from an overhead hanging socket (a ‘spider’ as we called it) in a hangar ashore when an electric drill I was using on recalcitrant screws in a side fuselage panel of a Phantom F4K shorted. My worst injury was my back as it shot me across the mainplane and into the folded outer wing. At sea we used pneumatic tools for such work.

Reply
- dumboldguy Says:
  
  March 27, 2015 at 9:02 am
  I suspect the many small flashes are the smaller trash can sized transformers that are typically mounted on high on poles at every two or three houses. You wouldn’t want to be standing under one or have your car parked there, but they’re not all that big.
  
  The huge and sustained explosions were likely at “yards”, where there are arrays of larger transformers lined up in rows (each one can be up to car-sized and bigger), and they exploded in serial fashion like firecrackers. They’re filled with cooling oil that is flammable and explosive if vaporized. I have a yard about 100 yards from my house, and the one in the clip that spewed debris would have gotten some of my neighbors’ houses if not mine.
  
  Our neighborhood lines are all buried. but I DO have a transformer in a 4 x 5 x 4 green box at the corner of my front yard (35 feet from where I’m sitting). Don’t think it’s likely to blow under any circumstances, and I’m more worried about EMF, but I wish it wasn’t there.
  
  Reply
Vopros Kvartirniy Says:

May 20, 2015 at 5:59 am
nice blog

Reply