While the snowstorm that hit Perry County on Jan. 10 caused a lot of problems on highways and roads, there was still time for two young men to build a friendly snowman ready to greet anyone who might happen by.
Winter storms Blair and Cora give region a one-two punchWe’ve been hit by a Double Whammy!
Perry County has spent the past couple of weeks recovering from a Double Whammy of Winter Storms — first, Blair’s thick coating of ice, followed on its heels by a snowstorm courtesy of Winter Storm Cora that brought 3 to 6 inches of snow to the area.
As Winter Storm Blair moved through the Citizens Electric service area on Sunday, Jan. 5, power and cable lines fell victim to ice-laden tree limbs, highways and roads became impossible to travel on, and even stepping outdoors on foot was extremely dangerous.
Southeast Missouri public and parochial schools closed for most, if not all, of last week. Schools in the Perry County School District 32 remained closed through Monday, but St. Vincent and Saxony Lutheran reopened at the end of last week.
The unexpected snowstorm even forced the cancelation of the Perry County Joint Justice Center open house and tours set for Friday, Jan. 10 and Saturday, Jan. 11.
Electrical outages
By the following Wednesday, Citizens Electric Corporation had restored power to more than 9,600 members through the hard work of 140 linemen, 30 tree trimmers, and 40 support staff, as they were already preparing for another snow event later in the week.
Despite frigid temperatures, difficult terrain, impeded access, and vegetation entanglements, workers overcame Infrastructure damage that included 90 broken poles requiring repair, two fully restored transmission line sections, and six substations that had to be brought back online and operational. Even with the almost super-human effort put out by teams of workers, by 3 p.m. Wednesday, around 2,500 members were still without power.
Citizens Electric personnel — in addition to mutual aid crews, tree trimming crews, aerial patrol and support staff — remained on the job throughout the weekend, prioritizing outages from the two winter storms.
By the morning of Friday, Jan. 10, around 600 members were without power, but the number of outages jumped quickly to more than 6,000 as additional snow from Winter Storm Cora added weight to trees and powerlines. Despite the challenges of a broken transmission line conductor impacting distribution substations, crews were able to make significant progress on restoration.
By Monday of this week, Citizens Electric released the following statement:
“Citizens Electric Corporation is pleased to announce that power has been restored to nearly all members impacted by the recent winter storms. Crews have worked tirelessly around the clock to ensure every member of our community has their electricity restored as quickly and safely as possible.
“The severe winter storms, which swept through the region on Jan. 5 and again Jan. 10, brought significant challenges, including heavy snow, ice accumulation, and winds that led to downed power lines and damaged equipment. At the peak of the storm, 12,154 members were without power. We are incredibly grateful for the patience and understanding shown by our members during this challenging time,” said Jason Cates, Chief Executive Officer of Citizens Electric Corporation. “Our crews faced dangerous conditions, but their commitment to restoring power safely and efficiently never wavered. We are proud of their dedication and hard work.”
Public Works
Feeling relieved after a week of tireless effort by his crews to remove the accumulated ice and snow off of city streets, Public Works Director Jeff Layton, who was contacted on Monday afternoon, said his department had just converted their fleet from salting roads and plowing snow to set them up with equipment for the cleaning of debris left behind after the storms.
“It takes a while to get all that taken off, and the plows taken off,” Layton said, “and then you got to spray it all down and clean it and get it ready for the limbs. So, we've been doing debris clearing. I guess our focus on that is going to expand tomorrow and Wednesday. We hope to have as many as 12 guys out working on the debris cleanup. They've got chippers and other equipment that we've got to get ready for it.
At one time, we had over 50 partial blockages or full blockages of roads. We're down to three now, so we hope to get those resolved within the next few days. We've got a limb drop-off spot for the public down at Public Works. We've had several people use it already today, so I imagine that will continue to be successful. I think that as the snow and ice are melting off the stuff, we'll be able to start getting it all cleaned up. Our main focus now is trying to help people get their yards cleaned up and get this debris away. It doesn't look like we're going to get anything this week, so that's good.”