For immediate release

Jan. 30, 2009 — 11 a.m.

Transmission woes hinder restoration of electrical service in southern Missouri

View the latest information about Missouri co-op systems affected by winter storms.

Four days following winter storms that blanketed extreme southern Missouri with ice, Missouri’s rural electric cooperatives continue the struggle to restore power to homes and businesses. Approximately 48,000 electric co-op members are without electricity after accumulations of ice downed power lines and toppled utility poles. The hardest hit area is Missouri’s Bootheel region.

Ozark Border Electric Cooperative, based in Poplar Bluff, has 24,000 outages. SEMO Electric Cooperative of Sikeston has 10,000 members without power. Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative of West Plains and Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric Cooperative, Hayti, each have about 6,000 outages, while Branson-based White River Valley Electric Cooperative has about 2,500 members waiting for restoration of power.

More telling are the percentages of members without power. Nearly every consumer of Pemiscot-Dunklin is without power. Both Ozark Border and SEMO electric cooperatives have just one-third of their systems operational, while Howell-Oregon is working to restore power to 25 percent of its membership. White River Valley Electric Cooperative has less than 10 percent of its members in the dark.

One reason for the large percentage of outages in Missouri’s Bootheel region is the destruction of the transmission system, which moves wholesale electricty from power plants to substations. Electric cooperatives cannot deliver power to homes, farms and business unless electricity is flowing to substations.

Jim McCarty, director of communications for the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, has been on the scene and witnessed the devastation to a high-voltage transmission line near Malden.

“It looks like a crop duster flew down the line,” McCarty says. “Vertical poles remain, but tops are broken and cross-arms are snarled, metal hardware  is twisted beyond repair.”’

Although the Jan. 26-27 ice storms did not affect as large an area as previous storms, the present emergency is as devastating as any that has struck the state, says Rob Land, director of Risk Management and Training for the statewide association.

M&A Electric Power Cooperative, which transmits wholesale electricity to distribution cooperatives, lost nearly 2,000 power poles – including large transmission tower structures – in the storm. Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric Cooperative reports between 3,000 and 5,000 poles broken or toppled within its system that normally has 1,400 miles of energized line.     

The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives initiated its emergency assistance program, and more than 285 additional utility workers and nearly 100 contract lineman have joined approximately 375 regular employees in recovery efforts at the five most damaged Missouri co-ops. Crews from nearly every one of Missouri’s 47 electric cooperatives are involved. Additional crews are being sought from neighboring states, including as far away as Iowa. Many of these states, including Arkansas, Illinois, and Kentucky are also struggling to restore damage they experienced in the storm.

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Editor's Note: For media inquiries, contact Jim McCarty at 573-680-2451