Mississippi co-ops were hit especially hard by Winter Storm Fern. More than 138,000 co-op members across the state were without power as of Tuesday morning, down from about 160,000 on Monday, said Lydia Walters, vice president of communication for the Electric Cooperatives of Mississippi.
“For three of the electric cooperatives in north Mississippi, power restoration continues to be a challenge due to impassable roads and lack of electric energy flowing to eight substations in that part of the state,” the statewide association said in a news release.
“Five of the substations provide electric power to the members of Tippah Electric Power Association in Ripley. Two substations serve ACE Power’s (Alcorn County EPA) members in Corinth, and one serves the members of Tishomingo County Electric in Iuka.”
The Tennessee Valley Authority, which provides power to the three co-ops, was working diligently to repair damage caused by the ice storm, ECM officials said.
“To be clear, electric energy provided to the substations does not mean that members will receive power immediately,” ECM said. “Substations receiving electric energy is critical to the restoration process and is really the first step.”
Tippah Electric General Manager Tim Smith said conditions in north Mississippi continue to be difficult for residents.
“Our members currently lack basic needs, like water, heat, and fuel,” he said Tuesday. “When we get these substations in service and the roads are passable, our restoration efforts will really move forward.”
Kentucky Electric Cooperatives reported more than 26,000 co-op members without power as of late morning Tuesday, down dramatically from more than 60,000 outages on Sunday night.
South Kentucky RECC had the most outages, with more than 10,000 of its nearly 71,000 members without power Tuesday morning—less than half of the 21,000 outages reported on Sunday. The Somerset-based co-op has been through its share of natural disasters, having lost its headquarters to a tornado last year.
“Freezing rain/ice accumulation does not stop causing damage when the precipitation stops,” said Joe Arnold, vice president of strategic communications at KEC. “The weight on power lines and trees continues, so outages can still be triggered days after the weather event. Factor in wind gusts, and the cumulative effect is a slow-motion disaster.”
In hard-hit Tennessee, about 69,000 co-op members remained without power early Tuesday afternoon amid devastating ice accumulation, down from more than 85,000 on Sunday, according to the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association. Tennessee had the most outages in the country among all types of electric utilities on Tuesday, according to poweroutage.us.
To speed restoration in the worst areas, about 1,000 additional lineworkers, including crews from co-ops in Florida, Arkansas and Georgia, are providing mutual assistance. Tennessee co-ops that weren’t hit as badly as some of the others are also helping, the statewide association said.
“Bringing in this level of mutual aid makes a real difference,” said TECA CEO Mike Knotts said Tuesday. “These lineworkers have traveled a long way to help, and they’re joining local crews who have already been working in extremely difficult conditions. We’re grateful for every crew and every support team member who is helping move restoration forward, and we appreciate the patience and understanding of the communities we serve.”
Tri-County Electric Membership Corp. in Lafayette had about 20,000 outages as of early Tuesday afternoon, down from more than 34,000 Sunday evening. The co-op serves about 56,000 meters in both Tennessee and Kentucky.
“For our members who are waking up to another morning without power: we know how difficult this is, especially in these extremely cold conditions,” the co-op wrote Tuesday on Facebook. “Many of our Tri-County employees—including leadership—are without power at home as well. We understand the hardship this is causing and restoring service safely and as quickly as possible remains our top priority.”
Cumberland Electric Membership Corp. in Clarksville reported just under 11,000 of its 114,000 members without power Tuesday, down from a peak of more than 35,000.
“CEMC crews are responding to widespread damage across our service area following this severe ice storm,” the co-op said on its website Tuesday. “Due to the extent of tree damage and broken electrical equipment, we are still expecting this to be a multi-day restoration event.
Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corp. reported about 2,000 outages Tuesday afternoon, plummeting from about 15,500 on Sunday. The Murfreesboro-based co-op serves more than 350,000 members.
“Lord protect and bless our linemen and public service crews. So grateful for how they serve our community,” consumer Bella Savage wrote on the co-op’s Facebook page. Others chimed in with a chorus of “amens.”
In Georgia, there were nearly 11,000 outages affecting co-op members as of Tuesday morning, according to Georgia EMC. That’s a dramatic drop from more than 38,000 outages on Sunday evening.
Habersham EMC in Clarksville reported less than 8,000 of its 38,000 members without power Tuesday morning, down from more than 20,000 outages Sunday evening.
“Thanks to the extra support from our sister cooperatives across the Southeast, we now have over 520 people working on restoration efforts,” the co-op wrote on Facebook Tuesday.
“Roads that were once impassable are finally becoming open, which means our trucks can get through and we can reach more members faster. We’re grateful for the sunshine, the patience of our members, and our incredible crew—they’re the real heroes in all of this.”
Co-ops in Texas, one of the first states in the storm’s path, had more than 23,000 outages as of early Tuesday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us. That was less than half of the outages the state’s co-ops had at the peak of the damage.
Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative reported about 11,000 outages early Tuesday afternoon, down from more than 23,000 over the weekend. The San Augustine-based co-op, which serves about 45,000 meters, was being helped by West Texas co-op crews providing mutual aid.
“With today’s warmer weather and over 300 boots on the ground, we anticipate much progress today and the coming days,” the co-op wrote on Facebook. “Additional crews have been secured today and are in route. The restoration goal date remains as Sunday, February 1st.
“It is estimated that crews have replaced approximately 30 poles and 200 cross arms thus far and we assess that we have up to 150 poles and 400 cross arms that will need replacement. This damage is all due to heavy ice accumulation pulling lines down or the weight of trees falling on the lines. The majority of trees have fallen from outside of the right-of-ways.”
Rusk County Electric Cooperative in Henderson reported that more than 5,000 of its nearly 24,000 members were without power early Tuesday afternoon, down from more than 8,000 on Sunday.
“This historic winter weather event has left a real mark on our community, and our hearts are with everyone experiencing damage, outages, or hardship right now,” the co-op said on Facebook.
“Please know our crews are working as quickly and safely as possible, alongside tree crews and first responders, to restore power and help our area recover. Our community is tough, and we’ll get through this together—one step, one repair, one neighbor helping neighbor at a time.”
In South Carolina, power was out to nearly 8,700 co-op meters on Tuesday morning, down from a peak of nearly 30,000 early Monday, according to the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina.
“On Monday, a surge of more than 700 linemen restored power to 15,000 Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative members, cutting those initially without power in half,” the statewide association wrote on its website. “Favorable weather conditions and additional crews from other co-ops in the state have helped the restoration process.”
In North Carolina, about 1,000 electric co-op members were without power Tuesday morning, a 75% decrease in outages from Monday, according to North Carolina Electric Cooperatives.
In Louisiana, just one co-op still had outages as of Tuesday morning, said Conley Bourgeois, communications coordinator for the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives.
Northeast Louisiana Power Cooperative in Winnsboro had about 5,000 outages as of about noon, she said. The co-op serves about 18,000 members.
The Louisiana statewide association was sending crews to Mississippi to help Twin County Electric Power Association in Hollandale, Bourgeois said.
Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.
Original story: https://www.electric.coop/electric-co-ops-restore-power-winter-storm-fern
