We are used to seeing coverage of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean every summer, but rarely in the Pacific, and this is because there are many factors that need to play out in order for a hurricane to form:

Wind Direction and Water Temperature are the main two culprits. 

Water temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean average about 80 degrees with the wind guiding them directly toward the US, while the average temperature in the Pacific Ocean averages 20 degrees cooler and the wind takes them away from the US coast. 

Hilary started as a Tropical Storm in the warm waters of Central America and quickly gained strength as it moved North West. Many storms form in the Eastern Pacific there, but most move harmlessly into the West Pacific Ocean as they weaken over cold waters and dry winds steer it away from land. In Hilary’s case, the water was about 3.5 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than normal at the surface and that warmth went deep, so Hilary rapidly intensified, while the hot air mass from the east pushed it up into California instead of the normal paths for eastern Pacific storms.

This resulted in the first tropical storm warning ever issued for Southern California. Before Sunday, a tropical storm had not made landfall in California since 1939. 

Crews from the various Public Works in Southern California were on standby this past weekend to address any potential impacts from anticipated heavy rain and strong winds. As all cities regularly work to mitigate flooding, constantly repairing and cleaning storm drains, trimming trees and do their due diligence with maintenance, a big storm can overwhelm the existing flood control system and cause flooding on city streets.  

Nick Gallagher, one of our engineers, had a scheduled appointment with Leonel, the main station engineer at the Haster Basin station in Orange County a couple of days after the storm hit to do a start-up for their new s800 controllers, but on the morning of the storm he called and stated he couldn’t wait for Tuesday, he needed to get the station running and automated during the storm before it got any worse.

Leonel had the central controller set up and one engine controller ready, but he wasn't seeing the engine running on the central controller.

In consultation with Nick, our expert, the station’s engineer looked at the wiring of the controllers and everything was good, but the cradlepoint modem wasn't on. This modem allows us to see directly into the operation of the S800 control panel.

Once he powered up the modem, and made sure the engine selector switch was set to auto, he was able to see the engine on the central controller, and the engine could see the level transducer reading from the well.

After he had those both communicating he proceeded with the second and third engine set up. 

Once all three engine controllers had been set up and they were running in auto, he noticed engine #2 was starting and stopping off of pressure and not level, and it was not doing an idleback shutdown like the other two engines. Troubleshooting with our engineer, he changed the main gauge to show level instead of PSI, and then compared and matched the settings for engine rpm and throttle to the working engine controllers. 

After that the station’s engineer was able to leave his station while it operated fully automated during a hurricane. 

“It really shows us how important flood control is, and what a great product the s800 is.” gushes our engineer Nick Gallagher. He added: “Two guys, a few big engines, and some computers were able to keep nature at bay.” 

According to Shannon Widor of the Orange County Public Works Department, there were no significant issues along flood control channels and roads which was amazing considering they had some of the worst flooding we have seen in modern history.

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Is your Flood Station in need of an upgrade?

Schedule A Call With Us To Discuss Your Needs!

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Click Here to see our selection of S800 panels. Many Municipalities use these S800 Panels for their pump/flood/lift Stations. The 800 Series is a Full Featured Municipal Pump Control Panel, designed to work with a multi-engine system. The Series 800 is an all-purpose, highly configurable engine controller, designed to meet the needs of nearly every municipality. The controller is designed to be a municipal-specific control platform and incorporates the necessary hardware to efficiently execute these projects.

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