FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jim McCarty
(573) 659-3402
(573) 680-2451
 
January 22, 2007
 
Power back on for 7 electric co-ops
 
Seven of the 13 electric cooperatives that suffered extensive outages from the Jan. 12 ice storm have power restored to all members capable of receiving service. “It feels really good to kick that breaker in and have it stay that way,” says Barry Electric Manager Bill Shiveley, who worked the graveyard shift at the co-op office during the storm.
About 16,000 cooperative members remained without power Jan. 22 after a new storm dumped more snow and ice on parts of the state over the weekend.
         Those co-ops reporting outage repair complete included Barry Electric, Cassville, Crawford Electric, Bourbon, Cuivre River Electric, Troy, Intercounty Electric, Licking, Sac Osage Electric, El Dorado Springs, SeMaNo Electric, Mansfield and Three Rivers Electric, Linn.
         The worst damage remains in the area served by Ozark Electric, Mount Vernon, where 7,000 members were still without power, down from 20,000 at the height of the problem. Southwest Electric, Bolivar, has 3,000 outages while 2,250 remain out at Laclede Electric, Lebanon, 1,500 at New Mac Electric, Neosho, 1,500 at Gascosage Electric, Dixon and 1,000 at Webster Electric, Marshfield.
         Barry Electric’s Shiveley said his system was back to working normal hours on Monday morning. “We had everyone back on Saturday but then we lost a few Saturday and Sunday. Trees continued to fall over the weekend and on Sunday when it melted off the lines we had some go down.”
         An additional 20 linemen from Boone, Barton County, Callaway and Platte-Clay electric cooperatives helped Barry Electric’s crews restore power. “We had some good help, some of the best we’ve ever had” Shiveley said. “We brought them in at 5 in the morning and fed them breakfast. Then they worked from 5:30 to 10 or 10:30 at night. If they thought they could get something back on, some of them kept working until 2:30 a.m. Then they were back at it at 5:30. That’s not much sleep.”
         Linemen from just about every unaffected system in Missouri, plus crews from Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Mississippi joined in the all-out effort to restore power. A total of 1,500 linemen are working the storm, which is being called the worst in anyone’s memory.
         Shiveley said good right of way prevented the outages from being worse. “Our right of way was in really good shape. Where we saw 10 poles down in a row, there wasn’t a tree one.” It was thick ice that caused most of the outages, he said.
         Ice load as much as 3 inches thick caused chain reactions, downing rows of poles like dominoes. Thousands of poles, many of them just installed, were broken by the ice.
 
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