(Jackson, Mn.)– A massive power outage plunged most of Jackson county into darkness today (Tues.), and isolated areas were still without power as of mid-afternoon.
The outage resulted in Jackson County Central Schools sending students home for the day at 9:30 a.m., and several major businesses and industries in Jackson had to shut down early.
Rick Burud of Federated Rural Electric Association of Jackson says a two-to-three inch coating of ice played havoc on major transmission lines. He says the problems started shortly before 7:00 a.m. when power coming into the system from substations to the east was interrupted. He says crews attempted to get power from the west, when that system also failed due to ice on lines.
Burud says crews had to go out and manually knock ice off lines and repair broken insulators, lines and cross arms. He says power was restored to most areas by 1:30 p.m., but as of mid-afternoon about a thousand people were still in the dark.
Burud, who’s been with Federated REA many years, says while this is certainly not the worst outage he’s seen, that it’s one of the more unique in that they lost power from two sources at the same time.
Burud is concerned for the potential of more outages, saying a thick coating of ice remains on Federated’s system which stretches from Highway Four in Martin County to the east to the Nobles County line to the west. He says 35 to 40 degree temperatures are needed to take care of the problem.
Burud adds the conditions are taking a toll on line crews, who have been working constantly since last Thursday when outages first started occuring on Federated’s system.
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