I was monitoring the police scanner at exactly 6:00 pm central time as London rolled over on Greenwich time. Within two minutes reports of alarms started coming in across the scanner, shortly followed by the dispatcher repoting that there was a power outage in the area that was causing the alarms. Now about thirty minutes later the power here is flickering, and bulbs dimming down perceptibly.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 31, 1999

Answers

Where you located, Nikoli?

-- Faith Weaver (suzsolutions@yahoo.com), December 31, 1999.

Are you serious? Where in East Texas? I have kids there.

-- Scat (sgcatique@webtv.net), December 31, 1999.

Thanks for that info Nik, this thing isn't over yet. Thought you were going off the grid at 2:00. Are you running on your own power yet, just in case?

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), December 31, 1999.

I would guess East Texas in the USA Faith.

-- Michael (michaelteever@buffalo.com), December 31, 1999.

I am 14 miles north of Henderson, Tx. off of Highway 43. I have several police agencies loaded onto my scanner and am not sure if it was Rusk or Panola county which initially reported the alrms and outage. Weather is clear and cool here, with no wind.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 31, 1999.

Where is this? I am North of Dallas, and we have had nothing unusual. As I type I hear sirens, but this could just be a drunks. Power is fine.

-- MegaMe (CWHale67@aol.com), December 31, 1999.

Where are you Nick? I am at Lake Buchanan

-- Earl (eshuholm@tstar.net), December 31, 1999.

Yes I had planned to go off the grid this aftenoon, but the lack of any power failures as the dateline moved this way changed my mind. I am contemplating going to generator power now, will wait a little while though because I can't run my computer safely on my setup.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 31, 1999.

I'm having all sorts of problems with freqency on local power in Western WY ... my ham radio equipment will not maintain frequency ... bouncing all over the place. A very small change in power line frequency makes a big difference in operating frequency of the ham radio equipment.

-- hiding in plain (sight@edge of.nowhere), December 31, 1999.

Your correct...there are problems out there...... for sure...this is legit

-- Moore dinty Moore (dac@ccrtc.com), December 31, 1999.

BTW - voltage has remained constant ... no flicker, no dimming, no brightening of lights. If it were not for the fact that I have a very accurate means of gauging line frequency, through the means of the VFO (frequency 'tuner') of my ham radio equipment, I would not have had any indication of this problem.

-- hiding in plain (sight@edge of.nowhere), December 31, 1999.

The voltage now seems to have stabilized, but at lower than normal levels. The 100 watt light bulbs are burning at about the brightness of 60 watt bulbs. Our Electricity is provided by Rusk county rural coop, which purchases all it's power off the grid. It has no generating capacity at all. No further info has come through on the exact location of the outage. Martin Lake Steam Electric Station sits directly across the road from my house, and is a triple 750 megawatt lignite fired plant. If that thing goes offline tonight I'll be one of the first to know it, as the popoff valves sound roughly like a 747 landing in the living room.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 31, 1999.

Vero Beach--boringly normal, although I did hear that a water guy said they don't know if the water will stay up...

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), December 31, 1999.

Nik: Keep us posted; your area sounds a lot like mine (no power generation, etc.). We're off of Show-Me Power. So far (7:50 pm Central), no visible variance in power.

-- Anita Evangelista (ale@townsqr.com), December 31, 1999.

Nik, Do keep us posted as long as you can - I have family in Rusk county; they have no phone. Thanks.

-- Scat (sgcatique@webtv.net), December 31, 1999.

I'll be here till the wee hours sipping on Captain Morgan and celebrating having lived long enough to see the millenium. I'll keep yall posted of any further developments down this way even if I have to fire up the genny to do it. Going outside to watch my nephews and niece pop fireworks right now, be back later. Happy New Year.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 31, 1999.