Kenner, Louisiana Is Having Some Electrical Issues
The weather-related videos from across the south are pouring in, and one of the more electrifying pieces of content is from Kenner, Louisiana where power lines are starting to look like they're straight out of Back to the Future. Reporter Christina Watkins of WDSU in New Orleans shared the video of what Twitter power line experts are calling a "line contact flashover."
"The plasma breaks down the air which then becomes a conductor rather than an insulator," Twitter expert Calgary Schmooze explained. "The feeder hasn't tripped so the fault keeps being fed with energy."
Another Twitter expert, Fraud Wave, chimed in with further explanation: "Recloser downstream sees fault current as load and keeps stepping up or it’s seeing a temporary fault and is trying to reneergize the line. Either way there’s a fault somewhere wether it’s overcurrent on the O.R. or a branch laid across the phases somewhere etc."
Kenner has been seeing a mix of ice and rain as Winter Storm Uri rockets up the Mississippi River to Memphis, Louisville and into Indiana and Ohio later this afternoon. Jefferson Parish, which includes Kenner, reports that 10,900 people have lost power during today's storm.
In Baton Rouge, drivers are ignoring road closures across the Mississippi River where ice is coating bridges. An eighth of an inch of ice has brought down trees, and there are even reports of thunder sleet from meteorologist Steve Caparotta of WAFB.