system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is it during storms that the lights flicker and then the power goes off? Wouldn’t the power either stay on or get cut off? (Hope what I said makes sense)?
gpt
The lights flicker because there is a fault, either a short or a surge.  They stop flickering because a protection device has cut in to protect your electrical equipment from harm.  Alas, it does this by disconnecting you from the power plant.  Most protective devices are auto-resetting, they turn themselves back on after 10-15 seconds.  If they trip again, or 3 times in 5 minutes, (or other rules) then they stay off until a human lineman resets them (hopefully after removing the tree that's causing the short).