In a flooding event (i.e. hurricane, etc.), do officials preemptively shut off electricity to prevent electrocution from downed power lines? If not, how don’t people get injured?

Question

In a flooding event (i.e. hurricane, etc.), do officials preemptively shut off electricity to prevent electrocution from downed power lines? If not, how don’t people get injured?

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

No, they don’t. In lots of areas power lines are buried cables. We never lost power at my house during Ike. My house was surrounded by water for 5 days.

On the other hand if a line falls and it shorts out there are massive breakers that disable that line. It’s called a recloser and they keep the current from flowing through ponded water.