[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by rdefayette

Underground lines are great so long as the system is watertight. Florida, for example, just had Hurricane Irma go through with a LOT of flooding from the storm surge. 2 problems arise with Florida in particular when it comes to "the grid"/power distribution of any kind. 1) over head lines can be brought down by high winds and trees falling during a hurricane. 2) The storm surge and subsequent flooding will cause just as much if not more damage than the winds themselves due to improved construction techniques/building codes and hurricane "resistant" building products. The problem with the underground lines in coastal regions, such as Florida, that see any type of frequent flooding is the underground electric distribution system does NOT fare too well when saltwater is introduced into the equation. Buried/underground transformers (even those placed on ground level pads) electric lines/cables, etc and saltwater are a combination that that leads to power outages if not during the storm but "short"ly (pun intended) thereafter.

Of course underground power lines and systems need to be sealed properly.
At high voltage any water leak, salt or not would cause havoc.
Holland has 100% porous underground and power lines are typically below groundwater level. Believe me, it is possible to properly protect them.
I probably would not be able to type this right now if it weren't: storm and rain right now. But no worries at all.

As for flooding, half of our country is below sea level so we do have more experience than we'd like to have had, but we have got it under control quite well since half a century ago just like the power system.

Along the rivers we have low-lying sections designed to flood over to buffer exceptional rainfall and river surges while the mainland gets protected behind high dikes.
Cities like Houston, Miami and New Orleans could benefit greatly from having a system like that. It could be a recreational lake of a few square miles, say 30 feet below seal level, no fixed objects on its shores. City flood water should be able to wash in, and the city and basin need to be protected by a dike above hurricane surge sea level.