IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2014 - 64

This was a severe ice storm that struck the central
and eastern portions of Canada and the northeastern United States
from 20 to 23 December 2013.
✔ there is a need for intensive debriefing sessions to iden-

tify lessons learned, ideas and opportunities to improve
emergency preparedness, communications, and restoration activities so as to provide greater resiliency to the
next extreme event.

Other Extreme Events

Preparations

Moore (Oklahoma) Tornado, 20 May 2013

the oklahoma department of emergency Management
reported 24 deaths and 377 injuries as a result of this tornado,
with an estimated 1,150 homes destroyed and Us$2 billion in
damages. entire subdivisions were obliterated, including utility infrastructure, and houses were flattened in a large swath
of the city. Most of a neighborhood just west of the Moore
Medical center was destroyed. witnesses said the tornado
more closely resembled "a giant black wall of destruction"
than a typical twister.
Alberta (Canada) Flooding, June 2013

government officials called these floods the worst in alberta's
history. four people were confirmed dead as a direct result of
the flooding, and more than 100,000 people were displaced
throughout the region. total damage to infrastructure, homes,
and businesses was estimated to exceed c$5 billion, and in
terms of insurable damages, it was the costliest disaster in
canadian history, at c$1.7 billion.

International Events: Impacts,
Aftermath, and Lessons Learned
Supercyclone Phailin, India,
12 and 13 October 2013
on 12 and 13 october 2013 the devastating supercyclone Phailin, named on 9 october 2013 by the indian
Monday
Sunday

Philippines
Saturday

Friday
(8 November 2013)

Vietnam

figure 2. The track of Supertyphoon Yolanda.
64

ieee power & energy magazine

Meteorological department (iMd) of the government of
india, struck the east coast of peninsular india-mainly the
state of odisha and then to some extent andhra Pradesh, on
the western shore of the Bay of Bengal. the storm's track
over time is shown in figure 1.

due to progress in various technologies in areas such as
weather forecasting, communication, and other information
support systems, it was possible to a large extent to predict
the level of disturbance due to Phailin ahead of time. accordingly, preventive measures were able to reduce the impact as
a whole on power system operation, from generation to utilization of electricity through transmission and distribution.
Impacts

in this case, although the severity of Phailin on the saffir-simpson hurricane scale (sshs) rose as high as 5, the loss of life
and property was much less over a wide area than that due to
a similar earlier event, the odisha supercyclone of 29 october
1999. with online data about the status of traditional equipment
monitored and transmitted to control centers at various levels,
good overall observation of the grid was possible. in addition,
due to large-scale deployment of phasor measurement units, it
was possible this time to make use of accurate and quick widearea monitoring as realized using the concept of the smart grid.
Lessons Learned

Before, during, and after the cyclone, rich experience was
gained about dealing with such calamities. the value of a
strategic plan that anticipated potential events, of taking correct and rapid decisive actions in the wake of the disturbance,
and of arranging for early restorative action so as to minimize
the disruption of electric supply became evident. this was
achieved through:
✔ shutdown and/or backing down of critical generating
units and transmission lines
✔ maintenance of communication links
✔ deployment of an emergency restoration system and
additional equipment as an alternative means of
transmission
✔ utilization of large-scale portable diesel generating
sets for decentralized generation
✔ engaging emergency response teams from power utilities at all critical substations and control centers
✔ curtailment of market trades during extreme contingencies, with system operation as the highest priority.
september/october 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2014