Downed 14.4kV line (October 29, 2011 Storm in MA)

By Andrew Mercer; posted November 19, 2011

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My town is served by a small municipality that operates on 14.4/24.9kV Wye. I took this picture 2 days after my state was hit by a very unexpected snowstorm in late October. It dumped about 8" of snow throughout the heaviest parts of the state, and there were also very high winds associated with it. That being said, my town lost a lot of its three phase primary feeders and single phase taps. This is a picture of one of those 14.4 taps. This line is 2/0 AL and doesn't run very far. The line is on a dirt road with about 4 poles and 3 residential homes. During the storm, a large tree had fallen and snapped this 14.4 primary like a twig. The cutout that you see is the main protection for this tap, and obviously blew when the line snapped. The following picture will show you the next pole down from the blown fuse.

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