Today (Monday) I read on CNN a short blurb about people many miles away, who woke up in the entire country to this.
220 million |
That's about how many people in Pakistan were left without power this morning after a countrywide outage. Pakistan's national grid went down at around 7:30 a.m. local time, the country's Ministry of Energy said, adding "system maintenance work is progressing rapidly." Power in some cities has since been restored, but many others remain impacted. |
Watch the infrastructures of the world, a friendly voice told me many years ago. They are having a hard time keeping up with population growth and spread.
So I keep an eye on things like this. Check how many bridges have been repaired, as well as the usual pot-holes. See about the number of water-line breaks around you. How often is internet interrupted? And black-outs where electricity goes out, how long do repairs take? Generally speaking my area has been spared winter's woes up to now, so highways are unsullied from plows and salt.
Today's weather was forecast to have rain and snow before dawn, a few hours of it. I needed to drive 15 miles to a medical test, leaving just at dawn from my home on a hill. I was very cautious considering the slopes from the steep hill as passable...though just sliding downhill might happen, I would like to end where the stop sign is, not in a ditch.
So I canceled the test. I explained that I would have been driving on unsafe roads, when I rescheduled it.
In reality, no rain nor snow came in the night. I knew when I looked out the window at the same time my appointment had been...and the sun was shining, with a few fluffy clouds against the blue sky.
So that's another bit of wonderment, why do I make my plans based on weather forecasts anyway? I usually will be able to discern what's actually happening...but not at night. The snow is still forecast within the hour, but after being over freezing for a few hours, with sunshine, I dare say it will just get things wet. Will I drive after that? It depends on how I feel. A woman's intuition is as good as any weather forecast, I figure!
And I could post later whether there was snow or not, but I won't.
Puts things in perspective when a major outage here consists of a few tens of thousands of homes.
ReplyDeleteI was floored by that number!
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteIt seems infrastructure around the world needs to be updated. Weather forecast are not always correct, sometimes is better just to look outside and see for yourself. Take care, have a wonderful day!
Look outside works in daytime, and road safety is everyone's guess these days. The broken waterline down my hill at an intersection was supposed to be repaired yesterday, after running all weekend. It's still wet and when below freezing happened last night, there's a black ice patch. I only knew about it from facebook friend who drove, rather, slid through the intersection.
DeleteMaking travel plans in January is problematic here. Daughter has to go to the train station on Thursday morning in the middle of a snowstorm. We were to drive her, but she may just get there and park her car. We shall see.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, you have lots more snow to deal with. Good luck!
Delete...perhaps the Amish have the solution to this problem.
ReplyDeleteI know many people who are also "living off the grid" in order to sustain their lives without relying on these infrastructures. The Amish already have it organized.
DeleteThat is a shocking number. Stay safe!
ReplyDeleteIt brings home my sense of brotherhood between all people.
DeleteYes, the number of people affected by the outages in Pakistan were amazing to read about and this occurrence seems to happen often there. Like yourself, I also cancelled an early morning appointment this week based on inclement weather forecasts, which were accurate. It was snowing when I called and rescheduled my auto inspection. I suspect there had been similar calls as the service department graciously accommodated my request. Better safe than sorry.
ReplyDelete