Outages from Hurricane Matthew restored
A four-day push finally came to an end on Tuesday as the cooperative restored the final outages from Hurricane Matthew. Central Electric crews, along with crews from co-ops across the southeast, Piedmont EMC from Hillsborough, N.C., Halifax EMC from Enfield, N.C., Meade County RECC from Bradenburg, KY, and Jackson Purchase Energy Corporation from Paducah, KY, and local contract crews, Lee Electrical Construction and Lewis Tree Service, restored power to over 13,500 members.
Crews faced slow working conditions due to the amount of damage from the storm. Heavy rain and wind caused trees to overturn, bringing down poles and lines with them. The cooperative estimates that at least 18 broken poles were replaced in the field and several main lines serving large numbers of consumers had to be built back up after being brought to the ground by falling trees.
The cooperative appreciates the patience of its members during the aftermath of the storm, as crews worked tireless and diligently to restore service as quickly and safely as possible. The resiliency of the cooperative network was displayed this week, evident by the quick response from crews across the state and country to respond to the storm. Even though the storm response is complete for Central Electric, our thoughts remain with areas across the state that were hit much harder and are still rebuilding from the storm.