BY MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
GLASGOW NEWS 1
Local utility personnel continued overnight to whittle the numbers of their members and customers without electricity to their homes, businesses and elsewhere.
Farmers Rural Electric Cooperative Corp. continues to make progress with its service restoration efforts, as seen by the decreased numbers in this screenshot of a portion of its online outage viewer Sunday morning.
According to its online outage viewer, Farmers Rural Electric Cooperative Corp. was down to about 7,500 members without power in its multicounty service area just before 9 a.m. Sunday.
A Sunday morning update from Farmers RECC states: “Farmers RECC crews expect to make good progress today on power restoration. In total, we have approximately 60 operations personnel in the field restoring outages, plus support staff and other employees working behind the scenes. Everyone is committed to restoring service to as many members as possible today.
“First, we want to say that we understand this has been a difficult few days for our members. We understand the inconvenience and disruption power outages cause. We continue to urge members to have an alternate plan if you have electricity-dependent medical or other equipment. While we expect to see more progress today, full restoration could take until later this week. ”
The notice continues with safety reminders and other comments stated earlier and posted below.
A new number was not immediately available for the Glasgow Electric Plant Board, which was down to around 150 customers without electrical power Saturday evening with plans for them to continue through the night and to bring on some contracted help from Georgia.
A Glasgow social media post at approximately 9:45 a.m. Sunday, however, did offer this alert:
“Customers in the areas of Simmental, Hereford, Longhorn, Shorthorn, Glenview, and Scottie Drive will experience a power outage for the next 4-8 hours while crews make repairs.
“GEPB line crews continue to work around the clock to restore electric and broadband services to EPB customers throughout our service territory. Thank you for your continued patience.”
Glasgow News 1 witnessed an EPB crew working in one neighborhood in particular to install new lines and other equipment through the late evening hours.
Aaron Russell, marketing and communications manager for Glasgow EPB, had said Saturday that the jobs left at that point were those requiring more time and/or equipment rather than relatively simple fixes. He said the hope was to have all restored by midday Sunday but complications could create delays.
Both utilities continue to post updates on their social media accounts periodically to keep those they serve informed.
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SATURDAY EVENING UPDATE
BY MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
GLASGOW NEWS 1
Heading into the second night after powerful winds and storms took down numerous trees and, in at least a few cases, roofs and signage, many are still without power and other services, though significant progress has been made during daylight hours Saturday.
In its 12:30 p.m. social media post, Glasgow Electric Plant Board was down to approximately 250 customers without power. The post mentions a few areas where service had been recently restored — Adams Place, Meadow Drive, Longhunters Trail, Green Valley Road, Wedgewood Drive and the odd side of Circle Springs Drive – and asked that any customers in those areas still without power contact the utility at 270-651-8341.
Aaron Russell, marketing and communications director for Glasgow EPB, said that more than 5,000 customers were without power at the peak of the outages. By around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, they were down to just more than 150 customers without power.
Just more than 1,000 without cable or Internet service, he added.
“Actually, we called in a crew from Marietta, Georgia, that is supposed to be here tonight to help us finish out the restoration efforts on the power side, and once we finish those efforts, a lot of those cable and Internet customers should see restored service as well,” he said.
He said they are hoping – emphasizing “hoping” – to have all power service restored by midday Sunday, but complications could arise that prevent that and there remains the possibility that some outages could extend into Monday.
“We’re experiencing … such an unprecedented type of outage situation because you have all these isolated incidents of damage to the grid. They’ve been very scattered,” Russell said.
The EPB had well over 100 separate incidents such as limbs or trees falling down and hitting lines or other equipment, poles getting blown over and such, he said.
“We have been working all day today with tree trimmers to get things – to that debris off of the lines, off of the poles and out of the area,” he said. “We aren’t completely done with tree debris and things like that being removed, but we made great headway over the past several hours. Most of the restoration effort now is going to be reconstructing lines, setting new poles, placing new equipment.”
Most of the fixes that could be done relatively simply have been completed, and what’s left are repairs or pole or equipment replacements that will take a little longer. The utility has tried, in those situations, to isolate the outage to the fewest number of customers possible through routing options, though. For example, one building within multiple units or one street block with half a dozen customers could be out while the entire subdivision around them has power.
“We’ve struggled for almost two years now keeping these types of equipment in stock because of supply-chain issues, so we are very limited on the amount of equipment we have, but we have enough to get everybody back up and working. It’s just a matter of getting all the puzzle pieces to fall in the right place,” Russell said.
As with Farmers Rural Electric Cooperative Corp., the sheer number without power was not due to any issue with the transmission lines feeding into the local power distributor’s infrastructure – the Tennessee Valley Authority in the EPB’s case – but rather specifically due to those scattered damages, he said.
The City of Glasgow has set up dumpsters in two of its parks so far, with another coming Monday, where residents can take tree debris only – because it will be composted – until 6 p.m. each day until further notice.
A 4 p.m. update from Farmers RECC stated the following:
The numbers of those without power in the Farmers Rural Electric Cooperative Corp. service area, which includes the geographic majority of Barren County, continue to be reduced. This screenshot image from the FRECC outage map is from Saturday evening.
We currently have approximately 8,700 members without power, down from 16,000 at the height of the outage event.
At this point, Farmers RECC is encouraging members to be prepared for power restoration to take at least until Monday due to the severity and widespread nature of this event. Crews are dealing with 20 broken poles and countless downed lines and trees. Members who have electricity-dependent medical or other equipment will need to make alternate plans.
Farmers RECC currently has construction and right-of-way contracted crews on site working on restoration. In addition, crews from Florida and South Carolina will arrive tomorrow to further assist with restoration efforts.
Farmers RECC reminds its members to stay away from downed power lines. Always assume that any line is conducting electricity. In addition, if you are using a power generator, make sure you are doing so safely. For more safety and outage information, visit our website at farmersrecc.com/outageupdate.
In addition, some may wonder why their neighbor has power and they don’t. This could be due neighbors being served from a different substation, line or transformer. There could also be damage at the service connection point, meter pole or other location, in addition to numerous other issues.
Please report outages on our mobile app, through our member center or by calling 270-651-2191. For current outage information, check the Farmers RECC’s Outage Viewer at www.farmersrecc.com and follow us on social media for updates.
Our employees are working nonstop for our members and members’ patience, kind words, donations of food and prayers for safety are very much appreciated.
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SATURDAY MORNING PRESS RELEASE, POST
A press release from Farmers Rural Electric Cooperative Corp. and a social media post from the Glasgow Electric Plant Board indicate their personnel plus others continued working through the night to restore service to their members and customers.
Farmers RECC’s notice also states it currently has approximately 12,000 members without power, down from 16,000 at the height of the outage event and continues from there.
“We have made some headway since the storm began and are expecting to see more progress as daylight hours reveal the extent of the damage. Work has been complicated by the saturated ground, flying debris and the copious amounts of trees, tree limbs and other debris blocking their paths.
“Be prepared for power restoration to take at least until Monday due to the severity and widespread nature of this event. Members who have electricity-dependent medical or other equipment will need to make alternate plans.
“We understand that this isn’t the news anyone wants to hear, but our crews will continue to work diligently until each and every one of our members is restored.
“Farmers RECC currently has two contracted crews on site assisting with restoration with additional crews set to arrive from Florida tomorrow.
“Farmers RECC reminds its members to stay away from fallen power lines. Always assume that any line is conducting electricity. In addition, if you are using a power generator, make sure you are doing so safely. For more safety information, visit our website at farmersrecc.com/outageupdate.
“Please report outages to on our mobile app, through our member center or by calling 270-651-2191. For current outage information, check the Farmers RECC’s Outage Viewer at www.farmersrecc.com and follow us on social media for updates.
“We appreciate our members’ thoughts and prayers during this time as our employees work to restore service.”
Glasgow Electric Plant Board’s social media post continues that if you are still without power, it could be later in the day today before service is restored.
“If you are in need of assistance or shelter, local support organizations are here to help. Call the Barren County Family YMCA at 270-651-9622 for shelter or medical assistance. We apologize to our community for this prolonged service crisis, and we appreciate your patience.”
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ORIGINAL POST
BY MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
GLASGOW NEWS 1
More than seven hours after power outages related to high winds were beginning to occur in the multicounty service area of Farmers Rural Electric Cooperative Corp., nearly 7,000 member addresses were still without power in Barren County alone, said Caralyne Pennington, director of member and public communications for the power-distribution organization.
“We are expecting this to be a multiday event for us, unfortunately, so if there are members that need electrically backed up medical equipment, that type of thing, they may need to go ahead and make other arrangements,” she said.
Pennington said they had about 20 broken poles and 30 spans down at that point that they knew of for the entire service area, and it was likely more than that. A total of approximately 14,000 addresses were without power in that area.
Though safety is always the first priority, and crews are certainly not required to work in a situation where they feel unsafe, the high winds did not cause significant delays getting started with the process, Pennington said.
“We were on service restoration fairly quickly,” she said, having noted that their outages began about 1:30 p.m., “so we did not wait until winds had completely died down before we started, no.”
Pennington said FRECC had experienced no issues with the transmission lines that feed the local cooperative’s distribution system.
A late-afternoon FRECC press release had stated the following:
All available crews and contracting personnel have been assigned and are working to restore power as safely and quickly as possible.
Farmers RECC crews are dealing with extremely adverse conditions this afternoon, including multiple broken poles, downed power lines and damaged equipment.
Farmers RECC asks for members to be patient as crews work to restore service. Due to the large number of broken poles, debris and continued sustained wind, restoration could be lengthy in some areas.
Farmers RECC reminds its members to stay away from fallen power lines. Always assume that any line is conducting electricity. Members are encouraged to report power outages to Farmers RECC via our mobile app, our member center or by calling us at 270-651-2191. For current outage information, check the Farmers RECC’s Outage Viewer at www.farmersrecc.com and follow on social media for updates.
In an 8:05 p.m. update, Glasgow Electric Plant Board posted on social media that it’s crews were continuing to make repairs to damaged power lines and poles. “Restoration efforts are still being made, and around half of our service area has restored services. Crews will continue to work through the night to restore service to all affected. We apologize for the continued inconvenience and appreciate your patience.”
A slightly earlier update had said that no estimate for when the restoration could be completed could be provided at that time.
Customers seeing a downed power line, broken pole or damage to electrical equipment were instructed to report it in comments on the post or by calling (270) 651-8341.
Work to clear the way for electrical work after one large, downed tree took power lines with it has been known to take nearly two hours — in an easily accessible location.
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