Electric cooperatives in parts of the Midwest and South were rapidly restoring power early this week after violent tornadoes, fierce winds and torrential rainstorms tore through the regions over the weekend, causing more than 120,000 outages in co-op territory.
Missouri co-ops were among those hardest hit by tornadoes, with about 35,000 outages reported at the peak of the destructive storm system, said Mike Sutherland, vice president of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives.
Seven co-ops in southern Missouri were the most severely affected, with scores of broken poles and major damage at least seven substations. The statewide association activated its mutual aid program, bringing in line crews to shore up battered co-ops.
As of Monday night, lineworkers had slashed the number of outages to about 3,800.
“What Mother Nature tore down in a hurry will take us time to put back up,” said Dan Singletary, general manager of Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative in West Plains, Missouri, in an update to the co-op’s members.
In Arkansas, tornadoes caused more than 25,000 outages at their peak on Saturday, said Rob Roedel, senior director of corporate communications at the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas.
The AECI Utility Solutions and mutual aid crews from distribution co-ops rushed in to help the hardest-hit co-ops, and the number of outages had plummeted to about 3,500 as of Monday night. The bulk of the remaining outages were at North Arkansas Electric Cooperative in Salem.
“We still anticipate the restoration to continue through Friday in some areas,” the co-op said on its website.
Alabama’s co-ops also reported about 25,000 outages at the peak of the storm, said Lenore Vickrey, vice president of communications for Alabama Rural Electric Association.
In Mississippi, peak outages reached nearly 23,000 meters, said Lydia Walters, vice president of communications at Electric Cooperatives of Mississippi. That number had dropped to less than 9,000 by Sunday morning, she said.
In Kansas, strong winds stoked wildfires and caused nearly 12,000 power outages across co-op service territories, said Vicki Estes, communications director at Kansas Electric Cooperatives.
Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.