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

Dec. 11, 2007 — 4:05 p.m.

Outages continue across north Missouri

View the latest information about Missouri co-op systems affected by the ice storm.

Electric cooperatives in northwest Missouri added to the outage total as winter weather continues north of the Missouri River. Previously untouched
cooperatives, including Atchison-Holt Electric, Rockport; Farmers’ Electric, Chillicothe; Grundy Electric Cooperative, Trenton; Macon Electric
Cooperative, Macon; Platte-Clay Electric, Kearney; North-Central Missouri Electric, Milan, and United Electric, Maryville; reported outages numbers that continued to climb throughout the day.

Estimates put the number of cooperative members without power at 45,000. This comes after Ozark Electric, Mt. Vernon, assisted by warming weather that melted ice off lines, managed to restore power to all members. Ozark then sent linemen to assist neighboring Barton County Electric, Lamar, and Sac-Osage Electric, El Dorado Springs.

Meanwhile assistance from Missouri electric cooperatives out of harm’s way is pouring in to hard hit areas as the Emergency Assistance Program coordinated by the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives kicks into high gear.

Approximately 163 linemen and 81 trucks from 24 electric cooperatives are assisting the hundreds of local line crews in the all-out restoration effort. This includes crews from Arkansas and Nebraska.

With the second wave of storms, lines previously repaired as well as additional untouched lines began falling under the weight of the ice. Estimates on when power will be fully restored are not yet available as electric co-ops assess today’s damage and brace for the possibility of even more bad weather tonight. Warmer temperatures and melting ice in the southern parts of the state are helping the situation, although mud is also becoming a problem.

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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