(Estherville)– Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative announced today (Tues.) it’s sending seven linemen and four trucks to storm-ravaged east-central South Dakota, where thousands remain without power following a fierce winter storm.
Rick Olesen, Operations Director for ILEC, tells KUOO news crews left at 10:00 a.m. this (Tues.) morning and have arrived in Clear Lake, South Dakota where they’ve already started work.
Olesen says damage in that area is extensive. He says early estimates indicate about 200 transmission structures are on the ground, and hundreds of poles are broken off. Atleast 13,700 of the state’s 90,000 rural electric cooperative members were still without power today (Tues.). More than two thousand poles are down between Gregory and Tabor, South Dakota up through Miller to Aberdeen.
About 65 linemen from 21 rural electric cooperatives in Iowa have been dispatched to South Dakota. In total, about 120 linemen will assist in restoration efforts.
Iowa Lakes’ linemen have been dispatched from Storm Lake, Cherokee, Emmetsburg and Swea City.
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