Electric Co-op Today

Microbursts, a weather phenomenon that bring tornado-strength winds, don’t happen often, but when they do, they can pack a punch. Just ask one Idaho electric cooperative.

A brief, intense wind storm near an Idaho co-op took out 34 poles and caused $300,000 in damage. (Photo By: Melissa Newcomer)

Lineworkers at Kootenai Electric Cooperative, Hayden, recently finished repairing extensive damage caused by a microburst that knocked out every power pole in a 1.3-mile stretch.

More than 600 members lost power when winds as high as 90 mph, according to some reports, toppled 34 double-circuit poles, causing $300,000 in damage.

Microbursts are brief, concentrated downdrafts that cause horizontal or vertical wind shears with speeds that can top 168 mph, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“These storms are rare in our area,” said Greg Hansen, the co-op’s operations manager. “We get high winds but usually they’re system-wide and not so localized. A farmer lost a grain elevator, and he reported winds of 90 miles per hour for two minutes. And then it was over.”

Although it’s taken the co-op several months to repair damage from the Aug. 28 storm, the system will emerge for the better. Originally, the destroyed poles were attached to double-circuit overhead lines.

But the co-op decided to replace the lines with single circuits and put the second circuit underground, said Hansen. “We thought it would be better that way, to fight wind shears and storms,” he said.

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Tags: Power Outages, Recovery