Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Gov. Pillen Declared State Of Emergency After $5.4 Million In Damages
A crew from Ward Electric in Colorado replaces poles along Road 83 about 12 miles north of Potter following this month's damaging high winds and blizzard conditions.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen declared a disaster declaration for Kimball, Banner, Cheyenne, Garden, Morrill and Scotts Bluff counties after the April 6-7 high winds and blizzard conditions. The damage to the affected counties is expected to exceed $5.4 million.
Region 22 Emergency Management Director Tim Newman said that Scotts Bluff and Banner counties experienced "some minor cosmetic damages like roofing materials." According to Newman, "This declaration will only be for public agencies such as public power districts, cities, counties, and villages."
Suffering the largest amount of damage from the extreme weather were the many electric cooperatives in the area.
On Thursday, April 11, High West Energy CEO Jared Routh said High West Energy had 603 downed poles, most were broken and they continue to find more.
According to CEO Routh, the ice was so heavy on the lines and blowing so hard that once one pole went, then others followed.
"They just can't bear the weight," he said.
High West Energy serves parts of Colorado, Wyoming and the Nebraska Panhandle. Parts of Wyoming by Cheyenne had normal storm outages but not the devastation experienced in the Panhandle.
Routh said the worst thing is that you can't plan for such an extreme event – but you can prepare. Their preparedness plan is in order and very useful at times like this.
High West has about 6,600 members and households and almost 12,000 meters. Many meters are for pivots and stock tanks.
High West is being aided by area coop crews from Grant, Riverton, Carbon Electric and Wheatland and Ward Electric from Colorado.
Routh said that five days after the storm things were "going well." On Thursday, crews were working on Road 83 north of Potter repairing a string of downed poles. Crews have been working 16 hours days although this past weekend they knocked off, giving everyone some much needed rest.
With 400 poles in stock – called the "storm stock" – High West had to order more poles. They received 300 last week from vendors in Montana and Colorado. The poles are 35 feet tall with 10% of that height plus 2 feet going into the ground for each broken pole.
By Thursday, most customers had their electricity restored and the crews continued to work on stock well and pivots.
High West Energy continues to work on transformers and clean up of downed wires and poles.