Response
Co-ops in Mid-South Battle Outages
High winds and numerous tornadoes caused scattered power outages across the mid-South early this week, but electric cooperative line crews were able to handle most of them and restore service to consumer-members quickly.
Corey Dixon clears debris to salvage belongings from his home in Clay, Ala., after a Jan. 23 tornado. (Photo By: Associated Press/The Birmingham News, Hal Yeager)
The storms produced golf ball-sized hail and wind gusts exceeding 60 mph in parts of four states, Jan. 22-23. National Weather Service meteorologists reported at least 21 tornadoes from the system.
Tornadoes were reported in six Arkansas counties, Jan. 22. Areas served by several of the state’s electric cooperatives reported damage.
“We lost about six poles and had about 1,000 members out for a short time,” said Tonya Everhart, vice president of marketing and communications for First Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Jacksonville.
As the weather system pushed through Mississippi, at least two more twisters were reported. Other areas of the state were buffeted by high winds.
“Fortunately for us, we had no major problems,” said Ron Stewart, senior vice president of the Electric Power Associations of Mississippi. “We suffered outages and damage across the northern and central portion of the state, but local crews were able to restore service.”
Tornadoes caused at least four deaths and dozens of injuries in Alabama, where cleanup from last April’s string of 178 tornadoes, which killed 243 people, is continuing.
Cullman Electric Cooperative lost service to about one-third of its 42,000 consumer-members when a problem occurred at the main substation connecting the Cullman, Ala.-based co-op to a Tennessee Valley Authority transmission line.
“A relay switch failed. When it went down, substations throughout our system lost power,” said Brian Lacy, communications manager for the co-op, adding that engineers were able to correct the problem within one hour.
Alabama co-ops reported about 5,000 consumer-members without power early Jan. 23.
That number was down to about 2,700 within hours, said Darryl Gates, vice president of communications for the Alabama Rural Electric Association. “We have reported a few broken poles, but no extensive damage, and outages were sporadic.”
In Tennessee, a tornado was reported in Dickson, but high winds caused problems in other areas.
“We had scattered outages across our five-county service area,” said Vanessa Clayborn, member services supervisor for Centerville-based Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative. “There were basic problems with trees in our lines, but we were able to get service restored to 1,000 of our affected members by early morning, Jan. 23.”
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Tags: Lineworkers, Power Outages, Response, Substation