Nobody told me a pool noodle was required equipment ...

[Pixelated]

I intended to buy some groceries after my shift tonight.

That, however, was before the store ... flooded.

We had a massive downpour, and I have seen water coming into this store once before.

But never like this.

There was water running down most of the aisles in the Produce area. It was cutting off access to the pharmacy desk. It was running down the front aisle past SEVEN cash registers, and down the aisles between each register.

Staffers were scrambling frantically at the front doors with ginormous squeegees trying to push the water back out the doors.

It was a losing battle.

Oh, and did I mention that in one spot, at the end of register #7, there was some greenish swampy-looking liquid bubbling UP through the floor?

Then things got even more interesting ... I was working Register #3 and suddenly ...

Me: "Guys? Guys? There's a funny smell here ..."

CW#1: "Oh, it's just the water."

Me: "No, I don't think so ... it smells like overheating electrical wires."



Male CW comes over to look at it. "There's no smoke. It's fine."



I refused to keep working on #3 and offered instead to go to Register #7 (as far away from #3 as I could get) to check out any remaining customers, although as far as we could tell there were no customers left by then.

And then ... the same smell starts coming from #7 ...

Shortly afterwards this same CW said she saw sparks and smoke coming out near the base of the #3.

Manager on Duty comes around telling us to try not to walk in the water and make damn sure we're not standing in the water.

I left at 9:30 and the store was technically supposed to stay open until 11 p.m., so I don't know what happened next. I'd hope the MoD was calling up the food chain to see if he could close the store ... it was dangerous enough for staff, with all the water all over the floor; to let customers in would've just been begging for a lawsuit .

Oh, and I ended up stopping off for a burger on the way home.

[Buzzard]

There's a few things that smell like electrical things overheating. One of those things just happens to be freaking electrical thing overheating. Water + electricity = BAD THINGS. Something isn't sealed, and there's water where there shouldn't be.
I'm wondering just what the breaker box looks like at this rate. At some point, things should start tripping in there. By all rights, things should have started tripping already, even with the high wattage runs that snake all over the place.

[Pixelated]

Yeah, I was surprised that nothing seemed to be tripping ...

The MoD went back to the electrical room to turn the registers off, but for some bizarre reason, #3 and #7 refused to turn off ... All the others had black monitors, but those two appeared to be still on.

I've got another shift tonight; will be interesting to see if those same registers are working today.

[csquared]

Maybe #3 & #7 are on a UPS? Probably not. It would make too much sense.

[Buzzard]

I'm thinking that the breaker box needs an electrician to figure out who did what. If the breakers somehow stuck/corroded/fused closed... not good. A stuck closed breaker is worse than a breaker that won't close. After all, if it won't close, you got no power and will replace the breaker. A stuck shut...

[dalesys]

I am not surprised the circuit breakers didn't trip, if they weren't ground fault breakers.
If they were 20 Amp breakers, a common type is rated:
Won't trip within an hour at 22A
Will trip within an hour at 29A
Will trip within 1 minute at 51A
Won't trip within 1 second at 51A.

The lethal current level level is considered to be about 0.1 to 0.2 A for 1-2 seconds or so. This would probably kill > 90% of the subjects. From a 120V source that's 12-24 watts.

So a 20A breaker could fry 200-500 people at once before it tripped! (If the current *was* equally distributed)

I doubt the leakage current through the water was anywhere near great enough to trip the breakers. Over time, the current will electrolytically corrode the wiring and eventually build a bridge of corrosion products sufficient to trip the breaker.

--- Mister Sparky bloviates ---

[Pixelated]

*snip*

I doubt the leakage current through the water was anywhere near great enough to trip the breakers. Over time, the current will electrolytically corrode the wiring and eventually build a bridge of corrosion products sufficient to trip the breaker.

--- Mister Sparky bloviates ---

Well, I feel MUCH better now ...

[Mental_Mouse]

Their failure to close the store early and switch to straight defense will probably cost them at least 5 figures, and more likely 6. Might even hit 7, given the store was big enough to have 7 registers.