Sunday evening, right on schedule, the rain hit at 9pm. It was a deluge. About 10pm (just as I was settling in to watch the news) the power went out. No lightning strikes that evening.
The power system was trying to clear the line. Power would come back on for a short time, then go off with a "thunk" I could hear in the house. I grabbed the flashlight from the night stand. Saw a orange glow when the power was off.
The glow was emanating from the area of the transformer supplying my house. When the power finally went out, I ventured out on the porch. All power was out in the area.
I called the power company emergency number. All I had the call with was my cell phone. I hate their automated call answering system. It does not allow you to leave any details of what you saw - just report the power is out.
Watched for the line crew - looking for the problem. Missed them as they drove past me. When they cam back down the road, I was out with my flashlight flagging him down. Told him that I believe the problem is right here at my transformer pole. He did a cursory inspection (from the ground) of the pole. Looked like a failed insulater.
While he was back down toward the highway, the power tried to come back on 2-3 times. This was about midnight. That brought the lineman and a neighbor to the driveway. The lineman said he saw the arc 2 miles south on Hwy 92!
A larger line crew truck with 2 more linemen joined the lineman in my driveway. They isolated the stub line to my transformer. Parked in my field road at the transformer and made repairs. Power was restored about 1:20am Monday morning. Of course, I could not then get to sleep.
Photo accompanying this posting (apologies for the quality) was taken with my new GoPro. I wanted to check out what the camera would do in low light, and did not to startle the workmen with any flash on a D-SLR.
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