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Storms batter aging power grid as climate disasters spread

FILE - Smoke from a wildfire called the Saddle Ridge Fire hangs above power lines as the sun rises in Newhall, Calif., Oct. 11, 2019. Weather disasters fueled by climate change now roll across the U.S. year-round, battering the nation's aging electric grid. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File) FILE - Pacific Gas & Electric employees work in the PG&E Emergency Operations Center in San Francisco on Oct. 10, 2019. Weather disasters fueled by climate change now roll across the U.S. year-round, battering the nation's aging electric grid. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) Richard Skaff, a paraplegic who is an advocate for the disabled, talks about his backup generator at home in Guerneville, Calif., on March 9, 2022. He was fortunate to have a generator to keep his electric wheelchair powered and his house heated, but said many others with disabilities live on minimal incomes and struggle to get by during outages. (AP Photo/Terry Chea) FILE - Shannon Beebe, an electrical worker for Sparks Energy, arrives in a marsh buggy to restore power lines running through a marsh in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Houma, La., Sept. 17, 2021. Weather disasters fueled by climate change now roll across the U.S. year-round, battering the nation's aging electric grid. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File) FILE - Starlin Billiot Sr. washes himself off beside a home where he has been living without power or running water in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Sept. 4, 2021, in Dulac, La. "I've been through four or five hurricanes and this was the worst," said Billiot about riding out the storm in the home. "I'm not gonna lie to you, I cried." (AP Photo/John Locher, File) FILE - Utility crews prepare to work on power lines at dusk on in Litchfield, Maine, Dec. 26, 2013, where many had been without electricity since a storm earlier in the week. Weather disasters fueled by climate change now roll across the U.S. year-round, battering the nation's aging electric grid. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) FILE - A car leaves a trail of light as it passes under power lines weighed down by toppled trees in Freeport, Maine, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. Weather disasters fueled by climate change now roll across the U.S. year-round, battering the nation's aging electric grid. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) Lynn Mason Courtney, a blind cancer survivor living in a retirement community, speaks to a reporter about the difficulties she has faced from power outages that have hit the retirement community for people with disabilities where she lives, Wednesday, March 9, 2022, in Bethel, Maine. "I developed hypothermia. I was dehydrated," Courtney said. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) FILE - Canadian lineman Noah Clowater holds a bilingual stop sign while directing traffic while his coworkers restore power, Nov. 1, 2017, in Yarmouth, Maine. Weather disasters fueled by climate change now roll across the U.S. year-round, battering the nation's aging electric grid. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) FILE - Downed power lines slump over a road in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021, in Reserve, La. Weather disasters fueled by climate change now roll across the U.S. year-round, battering the nation's aging electric grid. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)