(Estherville)– You may want to get some flashlights ready and if you have one, make sure your generator is in operating condition. Officials with local electric utilities say Thursday’s ice storm left power lines in a two-inch coating of ice across most of Dickinson and Emmet counties and northern Clay and Palo Alto counties.
Rick Olesen, Operations Manager at Iowa Lakes Electric Coop in Estherville, says so far they’ve only had a few widely scattered outages. But he says the situation could change if the wind comes up.
Olesen says crews from ILEC’s southern service territory were brought in today (Fri.) to manually remove ice from some primary transmission lines. But with temperatures only getting to 32 degrees, a heavy coating remains in most areas.
Olesen urges anyone who sees extremely low-hanging or downed lines to leave them alone and report them as soon as possible.
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