carwreck.com: around Boston harbor...

What do you expect when you start digging up the street with no regard for what might be in the ground?

A Keyspan Energy crew dug a hole in a street near my house this morning and nicked an NStar electric line. Large electric lines like the kind which supply entire neighborhoods have three separate cables (sometimes a fourth, for a ground), each carrying a different "phase" of electricity. This "three phase" electricity is what is used to make 220 volts since only two phases are needed for regular, 120 volt household electricity.

In any case, the Keyspan gas crew severed one cable, causing a "dead leg" as I overheard the NStar crew calling it. This reduced amount of electricity has caused very strange things to happen. Most of our house has no power, but parts do have power. The parts which do have power don't make sense since it is not related to what circuit or where in the house. The only things we initially could get to work were the coffee maker and the exhaust fans in both bathrooms. Very Strange.

The NStar crew thinks they might have to dig the street up to fix the broken cable. I have no idea how long that could take. For the time being, and since I had to go to work, we ran an extension cable from one of the few working outlets and plugged in the refrigerator.

More news as it comes in...