Surviving the Solar Storm in Mexico

It doesn't take much for the fragile infrastructure here in Mexico to crumble. On a calm mild Sunday afternoon, the electricity will go out. A week after you pay your cell phone bill, you'll get the message that they can't connect your call because there is not enough credit on your account (we'll wait ten minutes, and then miraculously, the call will go through). And at least a couple of times a week, the Internet will just stop working for a few minutes. It's just part of living here. So, when we saw Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News last night (Wednesday) warning that a big solar flare had just occurred and communications and electrical distribution on earth could be impacted, I told Kurt "Well, now they really have an excuse for failures." They did not disappoint. But, perhaps what has happened in the 12 hours since the news broadcast is more of a comedy of errors than a curse of the solar Gods.

A couple of hours after watching the report of the pending solar doom, while sitting on the patio, I saw a flash and heard a boom. Fireworks? No, just a transformer down the hill exploding. While the lights in our condo stayed on, some neighbors lost theirs. There was no power for the elevators nor for the pumps that provide water to the homes here on the hillside. The faucets ran dry within 20 minutes. But since that is not all that unusual, we know the routine ... fill up a couple of jugs of water before we run out. No problem. On with life in Mexico. Well, this time, not quite.

An hour or so later, around 9:30, while I was in the den watching TV, Kurt came in from his office and said the Internet had just gone out. Again, this is a fairly regular occurrence from Telmex. Wait five minutes, and it comes back on. But this time, it didn't. So, that means unplugging the modem, waiting a minute, then plug it back in and it will reset. But again, this time, it didn't. Must be those solar flares, right? But just to make sure, that meant calling Telmex in Mexico City (which is open 24 hours, presumably because somewhere in Mexico the system is failing 24 hours a day), and reporting the problem. That's when I learned the solar flares had claimed another victim last night ... phone service. No dial tone.

I knew I had paid my bill on time, but there was always the chance that Telmex didn't post it. Here, if your bill is due March 7 and it's not paid by midnight, it is turned off on March 8, no warning, no past due notice. So, I went downstairs to our neighbor’s home that we keep an eye on when they are not here, went inside (only to find their power was out), and picked up their phone to call Telmex. But the solar flares had zapped their lines, too. We were isolated. Returning to our home, I picked up the intercom and called security in the lobby. The guard said the phone and Internet were out in the lobby as well. On top of that, the satellite signal for the TV in the gym had been lost. The world was coming to an end. OK, maybe it wasn't that bad, but you get the point.

This morning (Thursday), waking up about 8:00, I pick up the phone. No dial tone. I look at the router. No Internet. I turn on the faucet. YES, WATER! Progress. Then I turned on the TV. The lead story on CNN ... at that moment, the major solar storm was disrupting radio communications. Electric grids and GPS systems could be the next to go. If only I could communicate with them and let them know it is ALREADY happening in Mexico.

My plan for the morning was to talk down the hill into town to get a haircut, but now I would also have to find a payphone that was working to call Telmex. Then the call came from the lobby. It was security telling me that Telmex had stopped by to say they are aware of the problem, there are hundreds of lines that were out, and they were working feverishly to fix it. However, it would take at least 12 hours (that means 24 hours if we're lucky) to restore service. I walked down the hill to not only find two thick cables ripped apart. Hundreds of brightly colored little wires were sticking out of each cable. And no one was working feverishly on it. In fact, there was not a Telmex crew in sight. On my walk back up the hill two hours later, still no one.

And yes, I believe solar flares were likely to blame. Here's my theory, it may have been a solar flare induced power surge that caused the transformer to blow, thus knocking out electricity and water. And, when the electricity company (CFE) sent out one of those big trucks last night to repair the transformer in the dark, it plowed into a telephone pole while backing up. The telephone pole snapped, wires were severed, phone and Internet cut. Just another day of infrastructure failure in Mexico. But at least this time, there was a good reason for it. Those pesky solar flares. Inconvenient? Yes, but I wouldn't trade it for a minute (though some times, heading back to Palm Springs does sound appealing).

Update: 8:45AM Friday. Last night about 9:45, a neighbor called my cell to say that he did not have Internet but did have phone service again, but had the wrong phone number. I checked and we had both Internet and phone, but someone else's number. I walked down the hill and talked with the four guys working on top of two poles (with flashlights). They said they knew the connected some lines incorrectly, but they would rewire them later. This morning, fingers crossed, everything seems to be working. Thanks, Telmess (er, I mean Telmex).