Updated: Jan. 7, 1 p.m. ET
More than 110,000 electric cooperative consumer-members lost power this week as the first major storm of the winter season brought heavy snow, fierce winds and treacherous ice from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic on Sunday and Monday.
Co-ops in Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia, Illinois and Indiana were making steady progress in restoring power Tuesday after Winter Storm Blair felled trees and power poles and coated power lines with ice. But even as they repaired the damage, co-op crews were bracing for more winter weather later this week.
With the help of mutual aid crews, Kentucky co-ops slashed the number of outages by more than 50%—from about 51,000 Monday morning to about 22,500 by noon Tuesday. Co-ops in Missouri reported that outages had dropped from 23,400 on Monday to less than 14,000 on Tuesday. Virginia co-ops cut their outages from about 17,500 to less than 8,000 with help from co-ops in North Carolina and South Carolina. Illinois co-ops slashed their outages from about 15,000 to about 1,700.
Monday’s co-op outages followed about 3,500 that occurred Sunday night in the South when severe thunderstorms and tornadoes struck parts of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Mutual aid crews from Georgia and Tennessee rushed to Kentucky to help restore power in the communities that sustained the most winter storm damage, statewide association leaders said. They were joined by lineworkers from Kentucky co-ops that were not heavily impacted and came to assist their neighbors.
“Here is a sampling of what crews are experiencing: Downed or snapped lines, fallen trees, blocked roads and broken poles,” Kentucky Electric Cooperatives said on its Facebook page Tuesday. “Even as power is restored to some consumer-members, new outages are happening.”
The hardest-hit Kentucky co-ops were Kenergy Corp. in Henderson, Clark Energy Cooperative in Winchester, Licking Valley Rural Electric Cooperative Corp. in West Liberty and Salt River Electric in Bardstown. Those co-ops had made major progress in restoring power Tuesday.
In Missouri, Black River Electric Cooperative in Fredericktown said most counties in its service territory saw a half-inch of ice accumulation that coated trees and power lines.
“Outages began Sunday morning and by the afternoon there were 12,000 members without power across the BREC service territory,” the co-op said on its website. “Crews made progress and restored power to a few thousand members before additional outages occurred as conditions worsened overnight.”
The co-op restored power to more than 4,000 members Monday, leaving about 8,200 without power as of Tuesday morning.
Citizens Electric Corp. in Perryville, Missouri, reported about 5,000 members without power Tuesday morning, down nearly 60% from the peak of 12,000.
“The damage from the storm has been devastating to our system and is widespread,” Citizens Electric said on its Facebook page. “We are incredibly grateful for the patience, love, and support from our community during this challenging time.”
As the co-op explained to its members, high winds cause galloping lines.
“When ice freezes on power lines and equipment, it causes the lines to gallop with the wind. The lines then slap into each other, which damages equipment and causes blinking lights and power outages.”
SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative in Carrier Mills reported that it had reduced its outages from about 16,000 at the peak of the storm Sunday night to about 8,100 by early Tuesday afternoon and was expecting to have all outages restored by the weekend..
“We expect to make great strides through the afternoon and evening. Our crews and the additional crews from across the state are working hard to restore your service,” the co-op told its members Tuesday on Facebook.
Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.