Electric Co-op Today

Hurricane Irene continues a push toward the East Coast and despite uncertainty about the storm’s targeted landfall destination, co-ops in several states are preparing for the worst.

Kiel Murphy (left) helps his father, Bill Brightbill, board up windows at a Nags Head, N.C., store Aug. 25 in preparation for Hurricane Irene. (Photo By: Associated Press/Gary Broome)

“We’re discussing communications, personnel availability and restoration inventories,” said Bill Sherrod, vice president of communications and public relations for the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives.

The last time the Mid-Atlantic region suffered major damage from a tropical weather system was in the aftermath of Hurricane Isabel, which made landfall near the North Carolina-Virginia state line Sept. 18, 2003 as a Category 2 tropical cyclone.

From North Carolina to New Jersey, co-ops serving coastal areas are encouraging consumer-members to prepare for the possibility of extended power outages. Hurricane Irene is expected to be at least a Category 3 storm with sustained winds topping 100 mph when it makes landfall, Aug. 27-28. Hurricane force winds exceeding 74 mph extend 70 miles from the center, or eye, of the storm.

“Now is the time to prepare an emergency kit that includes non-perishable food and bottled water, a flashlight, radio and batteries,” said Jane Pritchard, director of corporate communications for the North Carolina Electric Membership Corp.

Many co-ops in the region have already placed crews on standby to help restore power once the storm has moved through their service territories, but restoration timetables could be fluid.

“SMECO’s outage restoration policy is to make repairs that will restore service to the most people in the least amount of time,” said Tom Dennison, government and public affairs manager for Hughesville-based Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative.

“We’re tracking Irene, just like everyone else in the region,” said Layton Wheeler, vice president of member services for Delaware Electric Cooperative, Aug. 25. “We desperately need the rain, but don’t need the wind.”

Managers of the Greenwood-based co-op were reviewing their restoration plan and making plans to coordinate their activities within the co-op’s two-county service territory, said Wheeler. “The storm could affect our area late Saturday night into Sunday.”

Forecasters have warned that Irene could affect weather in the upper Mid-Atlantic and New England over the next several days.

“We’ve spent about 90 minutes making sure that everything is ready,” said Tom Tate, manager of marketing and member services for Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative, based in Sussex, N.J.

“We’ve told the Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association that we may need crews to help with restoration,” said Tate. “We’re also checking with local hotels to make sure we have rooms available for crews brought in to do that work.”

Tags: Lineworkers, Power Outages, Preparedness