For immediate release
Contact: Jim McCarty
(573) 659-3402
(573) 680-2451

Jan. 20, 2007

Katrina-affected co-ops return aid to Missouri

Alliances formed with other co-ops around the nation have paid dividends as Missouri Electric Cooperatives continue their struggle to restore power to southwest Missouri, an area hard hit by winter ice storms. In the last 24 hours additional line crews from Mississippi and Kentucky arrived to help with recovery efforts. Some of these crews were from co-ops who received help from Missouri following Hurricane Katrina.

         At Ozark Electric Cooperative, based in Mount Vernon, 75 lineman from Mississippi have joined the effort. That brings the total of linemen and right-of-way workers at that co-op to 405. The added help, plus reduced weight on lines following ice melting on Friday, allowed the co-op to make significant progress returning power to its members. The latest estimates are that Ozark has 8,000 members without power, down from 13,000 just two days ago.

         More help to Missouri’s electric cooperatives came in the form of 37 linemen from Kentucky, who are assisting recovery efforts at Gascosage and Laclede electric cooperatives.

         Electric cooperatives both gained ground and saw temporary set-backs due to melting ice on Friday. As ice came off the lines, tension was released, causing the lines to sway and snap. As power line phases came into contact with each other shorts occurred and power was lost to some areas that had been repaired. Those set-backs were temporary, however, and the outage situation generally improved statewide.

         Current estimates are that approximately 27,000 Missouri electric cooperative members are without power. The hardest hit co-ops are Ozark, Mt. Vernon; Laclede, Lebanon; New-Mac, Neosho; Gascosage, Dixon; and Southwest, Bolivar.

For more information, contact Jim McCarty at the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives — (573) 635-6857, ext. 3402, jmccarty@amec.org.

 
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