Lightning strike spurs response
by Robert Yang | March 31, 2021
It started as an ordinary night on March 10, 2021. As I exited the local supermarket there was a light drizzle. Then a flash flood warning came through as I was on the freeway heading home. It wasn’t long until streaks of lightning lit up the sky and a sudden downpour followed.
The roads started to flood, but I managed to get home. I could hear the thunder and see the flashes of light across the sky from my balcony. At the time, I started having flashbacks of an early morning lightning storm in October 2019 that caused outages in the Liliha and Kalihi area. The proverbial floodgates had opened.
This time, lightning struck an insulator on Hunter Street in Kaimuki. The heat and intensity of the lightning bolt destroyed the top of the utility pole and brought down power lines and equipment. Thousands of customers across Kapahulu, Palolo, Waikiki, Manoa, Moiliili and Kahala simultaneously experienced a power outage. You may have seen the video on the news of the flash of light in the night sky and all the buildings in the background going dark. Our feed on Twitter was bombarded with comments and messages saying “we just lost power.” It was time to get to work.
Our system operators carefully orchestrated the restoration of power with our troubleshooters in the field. Hawaiian Electric crews hurried to Hunter Street to start repairs. When major outages occur, system operators managing the electric grid provide our social media team important updates — and that helps us keep customers informed. I replied to my first customer comment on Twitter at around 7 p.m. Power was restored to the first set of customers at 7:40 p.m. in Kaimuki.
But restoring power is not as simple as pushing a button to get everyone back online. In this case, crews were faced with challenges related to safety and weather conditions. It was pitch black. Crews used mobile lighting units while still being mindful of the usual risks associated with the job. Those risks are heightened with severe weather and limited visibility.
During these situations, I do my best to communicate information to our customers on social media . As updates are received, the information is pushed out on our social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.
Power was restored to the last remaining customers at around 10:50 p.m. I responded to at least 150 comments or messages from customers across our social media channels over a period of four hours. I was grateful that many customers showed their gratitude and appreciation as most understood the circumstances.
I made sure our crews knew how the community felt about their hard work and forwarded all the positive messages their way. It’s these little messages that remind all of us here why we love our job.
Robert Yang is a digital communications and social media specialist at Hawaiian Electric Company.
