(Jackson, Mn.)– Some Jackson county residents were still without power this (Wed.) morning, one day after a massive ice-related power outage put most of the county in the dark.
Officials with Federated Rural Electric Association say that as of mid-morning they still had about 200 or so outages in their Jackson county service territory. Additional crews from Brown County Rural Electric Association of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota have been brought in to help with restoration efforts.
Joe Wieskus, Operations Manager for Federated REA, said they hope to have power restored to remaining members early this (Wed.) afternoon.
Some customers of Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative also spent a part of the day Tuesday without power. Terry Bruns, the co-op’s General Manager, says they were forced to temporarily shut power off to substations near Superior, Terril and Estherville when ice started falling off lines. He says they may be forced to do that again today (Wed.). Bruns says it’s necessary to keep the system from self-destructing. He says the lines slap together when ice starts falling off, resulting in them arcing and burning out.
Additional line crews have been brought in from Cherokee, Emmetsburg, Storm Lake and Pocahontas to help manually remove ice from lines.
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