Electric Co-op Today

A powerful winter storm that skirted coastal communities in the lower Mid-Atlantic region dumped heavy snow over densely populated coastal communities from New Jersey to New England and knocked out power to thousands.

Lance Marion works to restore power in a remote area of Peterborough, N.H., Feb. 24, after a winter storm dropped several inches of heavy wet snow in New England. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

The huge weather system moved slowly north with an almost hurricane-like circulation pattern that brought high winds to parts of New England Feb. 24 and blizzard conditions to portions of the area over a period of more than 48 hours.

“We got about two feet of snow,” said Jim Siglin, president and CEO of Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative. The Sussex, N.J.-based co-op reported scattered outages early Feb. 26, but was able to restore service to all of its consumer-members by midday Friday.

But as the weather system churned northward, many communities were hit with wind gusts topping 60 mph that brought down trees, snarling power lines and causing widespread outages affecting more than 700,000 homes and businesses.

From Philadelphia to Long Island, N.Y., and inland, schools closed and road crews worked to move more than two feet of snow. Meanwhile, co-ops and other utilities mobilized line crews to restore power.

“Co-ops in Pennsylvania reported a few scattered outages, but most were able to restore service quickly,” said Pete Fitzgerald, director of communications for the Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association.

In Vermont, where communities were buffeted by high winds Wednesday and Thursday, peak outages topped more than 10,000 consumer-members, said David Hallquist, CEO of Johnson-based Vermont Electric Cooperative. “Most of the outages were caused by fuses blown by lines slapping together in the winds.”

Four electric co-ops in New York reported hundreds without power early Friday, many because of power lines that were brought down by falling tree limbs weighted down by snow.

“It was heavy, wet snow, said Stephen Rinell, general manager and CEO of Otsego Electric Cooperative, in Hartwick, N.Y.

But most co-op consumer-members in New York had their service restored by midday Feb. 26, and co-ops from New York and Vermont were preparing to send crews into neighboring New Hampshire to help restore power to more than 20,000 consumer-members of New Hampshire Electric Cooperative, based in Plymouth.

“Howling winds knocked out power to more than 37,000 members early Friday morning,” said Seth Wheeler, communications cooperative for the state’s only electric cooperative. “We’ll be working to restore service throughout the weekend.”

Tags: Power Outages, Response, Weather