Power Lines

On the limb of a barren tree in the tornado-devastated north Texas community of Rancho Brazos, an American flag flaps in the wind - placed there by a firefighter. "It's symbolic of, 'We're here, we're going to rebuild,'" said Sgt. Nathan Stringer, a Hood County sheriff's spokesman. The tornado has "broken homes, but it hasn't broken our will," he said. A fierce series of twisters tore through the northern part of the state Wednesday, killing six people, injuring 53, leaving scores of damaged and destroyed houses and many people homeless.

On the limb of a barren tree in the tornado-devastated north Texas community of Rancho Brazos, an American flag flaps in the wind - placed there by a firefighter. "It's symbolic of, 'We're here, we're going to rebuild,'" said Sgt. Nathan Stringer, a Hood County sheriff's spokesman. The tornado has "broken homes, but it hasn't broken our will," he said. A fierce series of twisters tore through the northern part of the state Wednesday, killing six people, injuring 53, leaving scores of damaged and destroyed houses and many people homeless.

A tornado touched down Tuesday in the center of the city, injuring at least 26 people as it smashed windows at office towers and damaged an apartment complex and a restaurant, officials said. The headquarters building of Enron Corp, a natural gas company, was evacuated after three employees were hurt by flying glass from about 50 smashed windows on the 31st to 34th floors of the glass-fronted building, police said.

An estimated 200 people were ordered to evacuate their homes Monday night as a fire whipped by powerful winds scorched brush in mountainside neighborhoods near Fillmore in Ventura County and burned at least two structures. The fire had burned about 170 acres but there were no reports of injuries. The blaze was sparked by a downed power line as winds gusting to nearly 50 mph battered Southern California. The fierce winds toppled trees, swirled clouds of dust across area highways and left thousands of people without electricity from Elsinore to Lancaster, officials said.

An electrical discharge from poorly maintained power lines caused a fire in November in Brea that destroyed three homes and a school, police said Friday. Sgt. Bill Smyser said that the investigation showed the fire was not intentionally set but that a criminal negligence charge was possible. The power lines blamed for the fire are owned by Los Angeles-based BreitBurn Management Co.

A Christmas Day tornado touched down west of downtown Mobile, Ala., on Tuesday afternoon, knocking down trees and power lines and damaging property. No injuries were immediately reported. Amateur video of the twister showed a funnel churning through the city, occasionally illuminated by exploding electrical transformers. The Mobile Fire Department said it had received reports of downed limbs, power lines, gas leaks and damage at Murphy High School inside the city . The department tweeted that it had not been "overwhelmed" by calls.

In the gusty predawn hours of Oct. 21, 2007, portions of three wooden utility poles in Malibu Canyon snapped and fell to the ground. Sparks from live electrical wires ignited dry brush, creating an inferno that raced down the canyon into the Civic Center area, destroying 14 structures and 36 vehicles.

Thieves in northeast China have stolen miles of power lines and equipment from power stations, seriously disrupting electricity supplies to the region, the China Daily said Friday.

High-voltage power lines that spark above backyards and flash outside the windows of hundreds of beach-area homes will be dismantled, representatives of Rockwell International Corp. announced Monday. "We were willing to make some investment here in our facilities in order to accommodate the community's request," Rockwell spokeswoman Michelle Bandoian said. "We are currently testing our new generating system, and we expect to turn the lines over to Edison the first week in April."

A $1-million state grant will study how to prevent bird death by electrocution. Nobody knows how many birds are killed by power lines each year, but people who study it put the toll in the thousands. Researchers led by the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group will study the deaths and seek ways to prevent them. "It's not a population problem; it's an individual bird-mortality problem," said Brian Walton of the research group at UC Santa Cruz.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Daylight Monday revealed damage done by a tornado that ripped through this southern Mississippi city the day before, sparing residents from major injury but destroying some homes and damaging scores more. At least 63 people were treated for storm-related injuries, and more than 200 structures were damaged by the storm, according to Kyle Hopkins, emergency operations manager of surrounding Forrest County. He told The Los Angeles Times that emergency managers were still tallying how many structures were destroyed.

A massive storm system upended post-Christmas travel plans Wednesday as it marched toward the Northeast after dumping snow and sleet on the middle of the country and producing tornadoes through the South on Christmas Day. The storm stretched from Michigan to Florida and had been blamed for seven deaths so far. The nation's airlines had canceled more than 1,800 flights and delayed more than 9,000 by at least 15 minutes, mostly into and out...

A Christmas Day tornado touched down west of downtown Mobile, Ala., on Tuesday afternoon, knocking down trees and power lines and damaging property. No injuries were immediately reported. Amateur video of the twister showed a funnel churning through the city, occasionally illuminated by exploding electrical transformers. The Mobile Fire Department said it had received reports of downed limbs, power lines, gas leaks and damage at Murphy High School inside the city . The department tweeted that it had not been "overwhelmed" by calls.

Tired of reading about all the terrible things in the world? Then this is your lucky day. Because I have a good-news story for you.  It's about wood. OK, I'll grant you, that's not on the order of “Cure discovered for cancer” or “World peace at hand” or even “Stores offer free Christmas stuff.” But hey, these days, you take your good news where you find it. So, let me take you back -- one year ago.  It was a week many Southern Californians won't forget, as a severe windstorm ripped through the area, tearing up roofs, toppling power lines -- as many as 350,000 people lost power for up to a week -- and downing trees.

With criticism mounting and thousands of Long Island residents still waiting for power to be restored, the head of the Long Island Power Authority has resigned, the utility announced Tuesday night. The announcement came hours after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo created a 10-member commission to investigate utilities' response to Superstorm Sandy , and Long Island residents filed a class-action lawsuit against the authority for its handling of the storm. Residents there have also launched online petitions to have the state take away the utility's license to operate, protested outside its headquarters and called for an investigation.

Residents in New York and New Jersey on Wednesday braced for the arrival of a nor'easter expected to pelt the region with more rain, high winds and coastal flooding even as the Superstorm Sandy recovery is underway. The storm, carrying gusts of 60 mph, was moving north and east over the mid-Atlantic,  according to the National Weather Service. Coastal flooding advisories were posted for parts of New Jersey along with high-wind warnings for parts of New York and Long Island. “A low-pressure system off the mid-Atlantic coast will continue to strengthen as it moves north on Wednesday, bringing rain, snow, and/or a mixture of precipitation to areas across the northern mid-Atlantic and Northeast, as well as wind gusts as high as 60 mph along the coast,” the Weather Service warned . “Snowfall across interior sections of New England could approach 6-12 inches.

Authorities closed a short stretch of the Garden Grove Freeway on Wednesday to check overhead power lines that reportedly produced sparks when a truck passed underneath. Officials said an inspection found no problems with the wires, and the freeway was reopened 40 minutes later. A spokesman for Southern California Edison said two overhead wires may have touched and sparked when a power pole near the freeway was accidentally jostled by a heavy truck.

The 13,600-acre Ventura County fire that destroyed five homes earlier this week was caused by downed power lines, but a number of questions remain, investigators said Thursday. Southern California Edison is investigating the source of the fire that erupted early Sunday near Moorpark, said spokesman Steven Conroy. In addition to Edison equipment, however, privately owned power lines were in the area of the fire's origin, and so it is unclear which was the source, he said.

WANTAGH, N.Y. -- Ever since the power came on at the gas station early Wednesday, Billy O'Mahoney has been taking calls from neighbors, customers, cousins and distant relatives all asking the same question: "You got gas?" The tanks went dry in four hours on Wednesday, two days after Hurricane Sandy swept through. The station's supply normally lasts two or three days. "It's like gold right now," said O'Mahoney, the service manager at the Wantagh Car Care Center in Wantagh, N.Y., about nine miles inland from communities on the south shore of Long Island that were hammered by Sandy.

Maplewood, N.J., was one of the communities hit by Hurricane Sandy. Located about six miles west of Newark, Maplewood saw massive trees fall and lost much of its electricity. Downed power lines forced the community to cancel its Halloween parade. However, parts of its downtown did not lose power; that's where [words] bookstore is located. Co-owner Jonah Zimiles emailed to let us know the store is powered up and open. He wrote that the lights are on, neighbors are stopping by to charge up their phones, and readers are browsing.