Electric Co-op Today

High winds, frigid temperatures and blowing snow have made their job more difficult, but they haven’t stopped utility crews and contractors working to restore electric power in the High Plains.

Snow and freezing rain that pelted the upper Midwest created a lot of work for residents like Kris Johnston of Carroll, Iowa. (Photo By: Associated Press)

“The South Dakota National Guard has done a great job helping us reach damaged distribution lines in isolated rights-of-way,” said Ed Anderson, the South Dakota Rural Electric Association’s general manager.

In some cases, bulldozers and tracked vehicles are the only way to reach poles snapped by days of freezing rain, heavy snow and gale force winds. But outages in South Dakota have been trimmed to about 2,500, down from a high of 12,500 last week, said Anderson. “We’ve got over 600 people on the ground working to restore power to co-op consumer-members across South Dakota.”

Contractors and mutual aid co-op crews have been flowing into the region, along with tons of replacement poles and huge rolls of conductor as some areas deal with their worst bout of sustained winter weather in at least a dozen years.

Tags: Ice Storm, Power Outages, Recovery, Weather