美国国家公共电台 NPR--Power crews in Florida work to restore electricity to flooded areas

Power crews in Florida work to restore electricity to flooded areas

Transcript¹

Restoring power after a hurricane is a massive job, but crews are running ahead of schedule, even as some residents demand they work faster.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Nearly 3 million Floridians lost power from Hurricane Ian. Getting the power back falls in part to Florida Power & Light, one of the state's biggest electricity providers.

ERIC SILAGY: We're making great progress. But for those folks that are still out, it's tough. And we are doing everything we can to be quick without being unsafe.

MARTINEZ: That's Eric Silagy, CEO of the utility company. And he says they're ahead of schedule.

SILAGY: We are now expecting to have everybody who can take power back up by end of Friday.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Although, that comes with its own challenges.

SILAGY: We had one of our technicians go into a substation right after the storm via kayak, which is not in our normal fleet of equipment - to airboats through high-water vehicles.

INSKEEP: Via kayak - and though every storm is different, every hour counts.

SILAGY: This is moving an army, right? I have 21,000 people in the field right now. So we're religious about, how do we stay efficient and productive?

MARTINEZ: And that army he's talking about is seen all over the hurricane-battered portions of southwest Florida. To get a better sense of what their work is like, NPR's Martin Kaste spent some time with crews in Cape² Coral and sends this report.

MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE³: After a storm like this, they bring in linemen from across the country. The Lee County Electric Cooperative, which serves suburban⁴ and rural areas around Fort Myers, normally has about 200 people available for line work. Right now, they have 2,000. James Cordella (ph) is just in from Long Island. He and his buddies⁵ are still getting their bearings here.

JAMES CORDELLA: They're keeping us in trailers. It's, like, 36 men to a trailer, three bunks⁶ high, snoring and farting all night.

KASTE: Cordella is in a jokey mood, but it's still early. He may feel differently at the end of this 16-hour shift. They'll work at that pace seven days a week until the job's done. And as jobs go, this one has its share of risks.

CORDELLA: High voltage - you're getting electrocuted, falling out of the sky. A car could come by and hit your truck and tip your truck over, send you flying out of it, you know? There's a lot of risks involved.

KASTE: Cordella is sitting in the middle of a double line of about 100 utility trucks staged in a field out behind the box stores in Cape Coral. Today's marching orders are coming from Rusty⁷ Snider. He comes from a family with four generations of linemen. And he used to play in a band called Killa-Watts. He explains how the storm repairs will work. They start at each substation and fan out.

RUSTY SNIDER: We start going out the backbone⁹, our major feeder circuits. We strip everything off of it, all the taps going to the side to residential¹⁰ areas. We'll strip it off. We'll go down through and make all repairs on the major feeder backbone. We'll get that heated back up.

KASTE: As he's explaining this, a passing motorist sees all the parked utility trucks, slows down and starts yelling, why aren't they working yet?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: There's a lot of people there without power.

SNIDER: Yes, sir. We got it under control. Thank you very much for your input¹¹. We deal with that nonstop.

KASTE: Snider says this kind of thing can distract crews in the field, increasing the chances of an accident. That aside, he says, the worst part of the job is when you first get there and you have to untangle the chaos¹² left by the storm.

SNIDER: You have to go down through there. You have to untie¹³ all the wire, get it off of it - get that big chunk¹⁴ of pole and crossarms and picked-up transformers. And we have oil containment¹⁵, people that come out and try to bag that stuff up. That's the fight first. Putting the pole in the ground and putting the wires back up, that's the easier end of it.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHAINSAW REVVING)

KASTE: And that's the fight here at the corner of Chiquita and West 19th Lane, where the storm snapped a couple of utility poles like pencils, draping wires across yards. The top of one pole dangles¹⁶ from a hydraulic¹⁷ arm with a winch, while a man up in a bucket cuts the bottom half loose with a chainsaw. A resident sits in a lawn chair in his open garage, watching the show above his house. Neighbors Cassandra Bishop¹⁸ (ph) and Tim Edge (ph) stay a little farther back.

CASSANDRA BISHOP: We know they're doing what they have to do and take their time to do it. So...

TIM EDGE: We actually saw an LCEC rep come by yesterday. And he's like, you know, you guys are the nicest I've talked to today.

KASTE: Despite some people's impatience¹⁹ to get their power back on, this process is going faster than expected given the size of the storm. The co-op's spokesperson, Karen Ryan, says the damage was more limited because more lines are now underground. And electrical equipment is getting tougher. Still, it's recently become harder to get the tougher equipment, such as climate-adapted transformers, because of supply chain problems.

KAREN RYAN: It's like, it used to be a 12-week lead time. It's 123-week lead time now for a transformer. So we were rationing²⁰ them in case we had a hurricane. And thank goodness we did that or we would not - we would be in dire²¹ straits right now, not having equipment.

KASTE: But, she says, now, after the hurricane, this region has jumped to the head of the line for storm-hardened transformers. Other places will now have to ration⁸. And linemen here will be able to rebuild the local grid²² stronger for the next storm.

Martin Kaste, NPR News, Cape Coral.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

5 buddies   

n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人

参考例句：

• We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
• The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句

6 bunks   

n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话

参考例句：

• These bunks can tip up and fold back into the wall. 这些铺位可以翻起来并折叠收入墙内。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At last they turned into their little bunks in the cart. 最后他们都钻进车内的小卧铺里。 来自辞典例句

7 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

8 ration   

n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应

参考例句：

• The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
• We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。

9 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

10 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

11 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

12 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

13 untie   

vt.解开，松开；解放

参考例句：

• It's just impossible to untie the knot.It's too tight.这个结根本解不开。太紧了。
• Will you please untie the knot for me?请你替我解开这个结头，好吗？

14 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

15 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

16 dangles   

悬吊着( dangle的第三人称单数 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• A kite dangles from a telephone wire. 一只风筝悬挂在电话线上晃来晃去。
• Her hand, which dangles over the side, sparkles cold with jewels. 她一只手耷拉在一边，闪耀着珠宝的寒光。

17 hydraulic   

adj.水力的；水压的，液压的；水力学的

参考例句：

• The boat has no fewer than five hydraulic pumps.这艘船配有不少于5个液压泵。
• A group of apprentics were operating the hydraulic press.一群学徒正在开动水压机。

18 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

19 impatience   

n.不耐烦，急躁

参考例句：

• He expressed impatience at the slow rate of progress.进展缓慢，他显得不耐烦。
• He gave a stamp of impatience.他不耐烦地跺脚。

20 rationing   

n.定量供应

参考例句：

• Wartime austerities included food rationing and shortage of fuel. 战时的艰苦包括食物配给和燃料短缺。
• Food rationing was abolished in that country long ago. 那个国家早就取消了粮食配给制。

21 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

22 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。