Restoration Update: May 8, 2017

Crews reached a huge milestone as they were able to get all residential meters back on. At this time, we have 726 meters still off. A majority of these meters are in remote areas and are tied to gas or irrigation wells. We’ve sent support crews from our fellow Kansas cooperatives home this morning for some much needed rest. Support crews from Missouri will continue to aid our linemen on restoration projects.

Thank you to all of the crews and communities that supported us during this restoration process. The power of a cooperative is the network of members, employees and communities that come together to get the job done. In working together, we power more than just our homes and businesses. We empower the lives of our friends, neighbors and families.

Warm weather and sunshine has helped improve conditions for crews. They worked long into Friday evening restoring as many meters as the day would allow.  Before settling down for the evening, crews were able to restore power to 496 meters reducing the number of meters down to 1305.

“Each day we see conditions improve a bit more for our crews,” said Operations Manager, Mike Haney. “This is allowing us to reach areas that were previously inaccessible and push us towards restoring power to our members. If conditions continue to improve we hope to see residential meters restored within the next three days”

Outage lines will remain open throughout the weekend. Members needing to report downed lines or outages may do so by calling 888-551-4140 or 620-424-4612. Thank for your continued patience!

 

*RESTORATION UPDATE: Morning of May 4, 2017*

In southwest Kansas, it is a sin to curse the rain. However, yesterday’s moisture took its toll on our restoration process. Muddy roads and ditches are causing restoration efforts to take two to three times longer than expected. In some places, we have bulldozers pulling bucket trucks through a foot of mud. As crews battle the elements, we have uncovered more damage caused by the storm. We estimate the number of downed poles to still be approximately 2,000. This has caused us to seek the help of additional crews from Missouri.