Just in the time I've been living in this neighborhood, they've restrung the overhead wires, with new poles, more than 10 times.

The street I live on has underground cables (the overhead lines go underground for my street) has never had a cable failure, though fallen trees have blocked the road. That latter gets straightened out by the neighbors, as many have chainsaws and always look for an opportunity to use them :-)

(Seattle neighborhoods have lots of trees!)