system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What's happening if, during a storm, my power goes out for a few seconds?

If my power at home goes out during a storm, it's usually for a short period of time (almost always under 15 seconds). This seems like it can't be due to a downed power line, since that would take longer to fix. Maybe this is a long shot, but if there *is* a really short outage like this, is there a common cause for that?
gpt
Power grids have breakers and fuses to protect the system (and your stuff) from being destroyed by surges and other problems. Some breakers are self-resetting and will  allow the power to flow again after being tripped. However, they have a limited number of trips before they fail in the open position (no power flow). You may notice this if the power goes out and then comes back on for a few seconds then goes out again only to stay off until a crew can get out to fix it. Typically you have 2-3 resets before it fails.

Also, power grids have redundancy built in and power can be rerouted if a transformer or other part fails. In fact there are special transformers termed "normally open" that are installed to reroute power around a damaged or failed section of the grid. A brief interruption of power could be one of these transformers switching the route of power to keep the grid energized.