Crews to help with ice storms

Published 9:58 am Thursday, January 29, 2009

Alabama Power and the Central Alabama Electric Cooperative are both sending workers to respond to the winter storm that left a dangerous mix of ice and snow on roads across the Southern Plains states, hitting Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kentucky hard.

Alabama Power is sending 150 linemen, plus engineers and other management crew to Kentucky.

CAEC dispatched nine line workers in three bucket trucks and three pickup trucks to help restore power associated with the destructive ice storm that moved through the Midwest.

The winter storm cut through Tuesday leaving a dangerous mix of ice and snow on roads across the Southern Plains states, hitting Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kentucky particularly hard. Outages stretched through Kentucky where more than 470,000 (over 600,000 across the Midwest) customers were left without power.

CAEC’s crew is en route to Owensboro, Ky. and will be assisting in restoration efforts at Kenergy, a 51,000-member electric cooperative that serves more than 6,700 miles of line in all or portions of 14 western Kentucky counties.

CAEC is part of the nationwide network of nearly 1,000 electric cooperatives that help in recovery efforts as part of emergency assistance procedures.