On Sunday, the Washington, DC metro region got slammed by 60-70mph winds and heavy rains over a brief period of about 20 minutes. The storms were caused by a cold front moving through the region and bumping up against the record setting heat we’ve had here due to the Bermuda High. The cold and hot air masses clashed, producing fierce winds that toppled trees and downed numerous power lines. Two days after the storm, there were still 100,000 people without power. Even today, four days later, there remain people without power in Montgomery County, MD. The Capital Weather Gang is a great weather site that has updates on outages and lots of resources. Here is the latest power outage update from Pepco.

The U.S. may have some of the cheapest electricity prices in the world but the system is utterly slow at responding to downed power lines and quickly restoring power. Talking with Japanese colleagues of mine, they can’t believe the power actually goes out FOR DAYS in America. These outages are not confined to the summer heat. While living in St. Louis, Eric was once out of power for six days in the middle of winter due to an ice storm. That is unheard of in Japan, where electricity rates are high but responses to outages are quick and efficient and the power is ever only out for a few hours at most.

Perhaps solar panels and Bloom Boxes will one day allow Americans to have a green option for backing up their grid connected electricity supplies or allow for completely independent power generation. Until then, urban camping will be the norm until the power comes back on after violent storms.

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