For immediate release
Contact: Jim McCarty
(573) 659-3402
(573) 680-2451
 
 
Co-ops turn corner in power restoration efforts
 
Missouri electric cooperatives in the path of last week’s ice storm turned the corner on power restoration today as an all-out assistance effort sent 236 linemen and more than 100 trucks to aid the thousands of co-op employees already working to restore power.
         As outages began to occur in the southwest corner on Friday, Jan. 12, electric cooperatives placed calls to the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives in Jefferson City. The association coordinates bringing in crews and equipment from unaffected parts of the state to lend assistance.
         Hundreds of linemen from systems out of harm’s way volunteered to lend a hand. Electric cooperatives in Illinois, Arkansas and Kansas also sent crews.
         By all accounts, this is the worst ice storm ever to strike Missouri’s electric cooperatives. “From what the locals, older people, are telling me, this is the worst,” says John Greenlee, manager of Gascosage Electric Cooperative based in Dixon.
         Clear skies let Gascosage employees survey the damage from an airplane. The aerial survey let the cooperative redirect its efforts so that the most members could be reconnected in the shortest possible time. Still, Greenlee says nearly 60 percent of the system remains in the dark.
         Crews across the state have been working around the clock to restore power. In many cases, restoration efforts made between Friday and Saturday were completely undone by ice and wind that swept through the area on Sunday.
         “We worked 36 hours from Friday to Saturday evening,” Greenlee says. “Then we got a fresh start Sunday morning and were down to 10 percent out. Between 4 and 4:20 p.m. on Sunday we lost everything we fixed.”
         Hard-hit Ozark Electric, based in Mount Vernon, also reported progress. With more than 20,000 of its 30,000 members without power, Ozark’s crews were seeing lines crash to the ground behind them as they repaired damage.
More than 2,000 of Ozark’s poles were snapped like matchsticks from the weight of ice collecting on lines. Linemen are reporting that the ice load collected on lines with a diameter larger than a soda can.
         Ozark’s crews are being assisted by linemen from the South who remember the assistance Ozark gave to them in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. “They are telling us they would rather work 15 Hurricane Katrinas than one day of this ice storm,” says Linda Stander, communications specialist with Ozark Electric. “They say this is just horrible.”
         Another hard-hit system was Laclede Electric in Lebanon. Initially, more than 20,000 members were without power. By Tuesday, Jan. 16, Laclede had made significant progress getting its three-phase feeder lines repaired. This resulted in restoring power to 50 percent of those who were without.
         While no one can predict when power will be restored to all members, co-op employees are saying it will take days and not hours to recover. Gascosage’s Greenlee put things into perspective:
         “A construction crew can set four poles in a day if everything goes well. On a stretch of line from Crocker to Swedeborg, we have 20 poles down. That’s a week’s work right there.”
         Crews at New-Mac Electric, Neosho, reported restoring 4,000 of the 14,000 services that were out. The arrival of fresh crews on Monday aided the effort significantly.
         Elsewhere in the state, Cuivre River Electric Cooperative based in Troy reports it should have power restored today. Nearly 3,000 members were without power at the height of the problem.
         SeMaNo Electric, Mansfield, also reported being close to having power on to all members. And if the day goes well Three Rivers Electric, Linn, expected to have power restored by the end of the day. About 4,000 Three Rivers members were without power, while SeMaNo had 1,000 out.
         Those involved in the restoration process caution that additional outages will continue to occur as trees fall and equipment gives way to the heavy ice load.
         Anyone seeing downed power lines should assume they are energized and treat them with extreme caution.
 
For additional updates on the storm log on to www.amec.coop.
 
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