As I write this column — on Feb. 8 — we are beginning day 14 of storm restoration from Winter Storm Fern.
As of this morning, 92% of outages have been restored. For the 8% of our members who were still without power, I know that’s not much comfort, but we are working as hard and as quickly as we can.
Fern left a corridor of ice — 25 miles wide and 1 ½ inches thick — starting just north of Vicksburg and running to the northeast corner of the state. The damage within this corridor was unlike anything we have seen before. I’ve heard lineman refer to it as a “frozen hurricane” because the trees were bent in a swirling motion but covered in a coating of ice.
The storm lasted an entire weekend with two rounds, the worst beginning on a Saturday night and lasting until Sunday afternoon. In the aftermath, Mother Nature did not let up. The temperature didn’t get above freezing in most places until Wednesday, and the next weekend another severe cold front moved into the state dropping the lows to single digits. This made for brutal working conditions for our line crews. I’ve been at the Electric Cooperatives of Mississippi (ECM) for 20 years, and this is the most injuries affecting our personnel I can recall us ever having during power restoration.
The storm damage to our electrical systems was catastrophic.
I’d like to thank our cooperative employees across the state for their hard work. Many have worked for 20 plus days straight (they worked the week before the storm hit) and these have been long, 16-hour days, and they, like the members they serve, came home to dark, cold homes.
I’d also like to thank our members for your patience and understanding. Someone must be first to get their lights on, and unfortunately, someone must be last. Trust me, your co-op’s employees are working as hard and as fast as they can to restore your power. And thank you to the members who stepped up to aid in restoration efforts. Many churches and local restaurants helped feed the linemen, and many volunteers, including cooperative employees’ families, helped with laundry and other tasks. In some places, restoration truly became a community effort, and that is what makes the cooperative family special.
By the time you read this, every one of our members should (barring some other emergency) have power.
Fern was different folks. Unfortunately, that made power restoration tricky and difficult. (Check out our story about the storm here.)
Thanks again for your support and patience.
