For immediate release

Feb. 7, 2009 — 11:30 a.m.

Ice storm restoration work continues

Restoration efforts continue in southeast Missouri as electric cooperatives rebuild a network of power lines and poles destroyed under the weight of ice.

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

Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative, West Plains, reports just 100 members remain without power as restoration efforts there near completion. Sikeston-based SEMO Electric Cooperative restored power to an addition 400 members in the past 24 hours while Ozark Border Electric Cooperative of Poplar Bluff reconnected approximately 500 members. About 2,250 members of Ozark Border are without power, while SEMO Electric Cooperative has about 3,300 members out.

Although the numbers at Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric Cooperative, Hayti, show little change from yesterday — about 100 members received power in the past 24 hours — significant progress has been made in rebuilding lines. The 8,500 member electric cooperative saw nearly 6,000 poles destroyed along a system that covers more than 1,400 miles. Approximately 6,800 Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric Cooperative members are still without power, though co-op manager Charles Crawford expects several hundred members to be back on today as another substation is energized.

Statewide, about 12,500 Missouri electric cooperative members are still without electricity, down from nearly 70,000 following the storms of Jan. 26-27.

At each of the affected cooperatives, normal workforces have swelled as relief workers have been dispatched from electric cooperatives in Missouri, Iowa, Louisiana and Mississippi. In addition, hundreds of contract line workers — including many who have completed work for St. Louis-based utility AmerenUE — have joined the effort. With the addition of 90 additional contractors in the next 24 hours, the workforce at Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric Cooperative will swell to 800. Ozark Border Electric Cooperative currently has about 360 workers assisting its normal workforce of 86. At SEMO Electric Cooperative 141 outside lineman bring the total workforce to 185.

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