THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 3, 1996 TAG: 9602030325
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
The thousands of Chesapeake residents and businesses without power on Friday probably weren't giving much thought to their local sewers.
But if they were to talk with Marvin M. Lewis as he furiously dealt with an army of sewer pumps that didn't work, they'd be concerned.
Lewis, the city's pump station superintendent, spent much of Friday glued to a computer screen, monitoring the city's vast array of sewage pumping stations, many of which were failing without power.
Even without power, sewage keeps flowing. Which is why Lewis was getting bleary-eyed in front of the computer screen as it beeped with more and more pump failures.
Without the pumps, the sewer levels rise. When they reach a certain level, the water trips a switch that notifies Lewis. If not taken care of promptly, the city's waste can literally hit the streets.
From 12:45 to about 2:30 p.m., Lewis had at least 500 alarms indicating high water, pump failures or power outages.
``It could be catastrophic,'' Lewis said. ``But we're keeping up. So far today, we're OK.''
At 2:16 p.m., much of Battlefield Boulevard north of the Great Bridge Bypass was without power, and public utility employees were placed on 12-hour shifts as they headed across the city from failed pump station to failed pump station.
Some pump stations received help from portable generators. If they weren't available, huge city trucks pumped out the sewers and moved the effluent to a working system.
Chesapeake's streets, yards and highways were some of the worst hit in the region by Friday's freezing rain.
Power outages blanketed the city, forcing police to direct traffic by hand at many main intersections.
Downed limbs and trees also kept city crews busy throughout the day. About 3 p.m., police had received at least 15 calls about downed power lines or trees. In the 1500 block of Willow Ave., a tree hit a power line and then a home. No one was injured.
About 4 p.m., firefighters were battling a house fire near Mount Pleasant Road and Scarborough Drive that was related to the weather, police said. Late in the afternoon, other officers handled at least 20 calls for downed power lines.
``It's a mess,'' said police spokeswoman Elizabeth Jones, adding that fire personnel were working with police dispatchers to help prioritize calls.
After driving from Greenbrier to Bowers Hill to pick up a portable pump for yet another failed sewer pump in the Dunedin neighborhood, city employee Chris Mercer was contemplating coming back to work at 11 p.m. Friday to work a 12-hour shift. All this after working from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
``Did the groundhog see his shadow today?'' he asked.
When he was told that he had, Mercer laughed.
``Well, he's not always right,'' he said as a cold rain began to fall again. ``He's almost as bad as the weatherman.''
KEYWORDS: WINTER STORM by CNB