Co-op hopes to have all power on by dark after worst outages in a decade

Ozark Border Electric Cooperative this week experienced its worst round of severe weather-caused outages in more than a decade.

Officials hoped to have the lights back on to the final 270 homes by dark Thursday, after more than one-third of the cooperative experienced outages since Sunday.

That was barring another potential round of severe weather Friday morning, said David Schremp, Ozark Border’s general manager.

Downed power polls are pictured in the Ozark Border Electric Cooperative.Photo provided

“This has been the roughest event we have had since the 2009 ice storm,” said Schremp. “We had outages in all 11 counties (we serve). I can’t remember in my 29 years a time when we had such a widespread impact.”

The system was battered by two high wind weather fronts, first on Sunday and again on Monday.

Many isolated and difficult-to-access areas were hit, said Schremp.

Many of the 13,000+ power outages experienced this week were in rural areas.Photo provided

“We were actually the only co-op in Missouri that took the full brunt of both of these storms, but there were other cooperatives that needed assistance,” he said.

Service was lost by 13,000-15,000 customers following Sunday’s severe weather, Schremp said. This storm hit the northern part of the cooperative, including Carter, Wayne and northern Butler counties.

All but 1,400 customers were returned to service by 3 p.m. Monday, when high winds and thunderstorms moved through the area again.

Within an hour, Ozark Border was back up to 8,000 outages. This storm hit the cooperative’s entire system.

Crews had worked for 31 hours straight by dark Monday, and were brought in from the field for safety reasons, Schremp said.

They started again on Tuesday, with assistance requested from the state cooperative organization, other area cooperatives and contractors.

More than 100 people have been in the field at any given time making repairs, in addition to other technicians at the office and warehouse helping coordinate repairs and answer questions by members.

The final repairs have been some of the most challenging, said Schremp.

These include a downed line that crosses the Current River at Doniphan. It required crews on both sides of the river working quickly because of fast rising water.

In another area near York Village, winds brought down four poles and broke 11 cross arms. The area was difficult to access and crews had to hand carry in all of their tools and supplies.

The final outages being addressed Thursday afternoon were spread out across the cooperative, and some of the most time consuming and difficult, Schremp said.

There were 1,000 outages at dark Wednesday, and about 350 left by the time the sun came up Thursday morning.

By 3 p.m. Thursday, another 80 repairs had been made.

“The difficult ones that are harder to access and more remote are taking much more time to get turned back on,” Schremp said Thursday afternoon, after crews were nearing the end of another 30-plus-hour shift. “Our goal has been that by the time the sun goes down tonight, we will have all the lights turned on. That doesn’t mean all the repairs have been made.

“If they’re not (all back on), then by the end of the day (Friday), barring the weather and storms.”

The membership has been wonderful during this week, he stressed, sending messages of encouragement, cards and gifts. Schremp also thanked the cooperatives and others who have come in to assist.