A dozen electric cooperatives across southern Missouri are once again restoring power in the wake of a winter storm that dumped heavy ice on their lines and caused about 29,000 members to lose power. The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives again enacted its Emergency Assistance Program to send assistance to the three electric cooperatives hit the hardest.
Through the program that finds help from systems out of harm’s way, 16 linemen and eight trucks were sent to Ozark Border Electric, Poplar Bluff, and Webster Electric, Marshfield. Eight linemen and four additional trucks were dispatched to Se-Ma-No Electric in Mansfield.
The fresh crews were sent by Co-Mo Electric, Tipton; Three Rivers Electric, Linn; Crawford Electric, Bourbon; Laclede Electric, Lebanon; Gascosage Electric, Dixon; Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric, Hayti; Sac-Osage Electric, El Dorado Springs; and Central Missouri Electric, Sedalia.
All other systems reporting trouble have been able to keep up with the restoration efforts with their own crews and outside contractors.
“It’s mostly trees in the wires and lines coming down from the weight of the ice,” says Rob Land, who coordinates the relief effort for the Jefferson City-based association. “The good news is we haven’t lost many poles.”
Systems in the storm’s path reported 1/2 inch to 1 inch of ice, with more on the way as weather conditions deteriorated throughout the day on Monday, Feb. 11. Systems affected and their outage numbers are as follows:
* Ozark Border, Poplar Bluff: 2,500
* Webster, Marshfield: 3,000
* Se-Ma-No, Mansfield: 550
* White River Valley, Branson: 1,100
* Ozark Electric, Mount Vernon: 800
* Laclede Electric, Lebanon: : Restoration complete
* Intercounty Electric, Licking: 700
* Howell-Oregon Electric, West Plains: 1,550
* Southwest Electric, Bolivar: Restoration complete
* Black River, Fredericktown: 8,500
* Citizens, Ste. Genevieve: 3,200 * SEMO, Sikeston: 4,500
At Webster Electric, about 4,500 members were without power at the height of the problem. Webster’s crews just completed mopping up from tornado damage in January. They again worked through the night and restored service to 1,500. Contractors are also assisting the restoration effort.
In southeast Missouri, Jerry Dockins at SEMO Electric, Sikeston, reported trees were “dropping like flies.” As the trees fall, they are taking power lines with them causing outage numbers to increase in the northern Bootheel.
Transmission problems caused extensive outages at Black River Electric, which had 11,000 members without power at one point. Two transmission line outages at Ozark Border in Poplar Bluff also caused extensive outages. With the transmission situation taken care of, Ozark Border’s problems stemmed from thousands of widely spaced individual outages that will take time to repair. “Some we get back on go right back off,” says Stanley Estes, Ozark Border manager. “We need a break in the weather. It’s 28 degrees. For us to make progress the ice needs to melt and it looks like it’s not going to.” Still, Estes and other cooperative managers expected to have most of the outages restored by afternoon or evening on Wednesday, Feb. 13.
Elsewhere, the storm caused damage to electric cooperative lines from Branson all the way to the Fredericktown and Ste. Genevieve areas. It spared the Bootheel, allowing crews from Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric to assist their neighbors.
Some co-ops, including Southwest Electric in Bolivar where outages numbered in the hundreds, were able to complete restoration efforts by Tuesday morning. Intercounty Electric in Licking expected to be finished later Tuesday. “We may not see everyone back on today but the vast majority will be back on,” Land says.
Those electric cooperatives affected by the storm ask their members for patience as they work to safely restore power.