Hays Post
Area utilities continues to work to restore power to northwest and north-central Kansans after this week's blizzard caused widespread outages.
As of late Thursday afternoon, Midwest Energy reported 606 customers still without power, after starting the day with 1,450 outages. Of those, about 210 are residences, which are the utility's priority, said Midwest spokesman Mike Morley.
Morley said good progress was made with outages in Pawnee, Barton and Ellis counties on Thursday.
WaKeeney-based Western Cooperative Electric reported 900 meters still without power.
Broken poles — Western reported 250 in its coverage area alone — and poor road conditions in rural areas have slowed power restoration.
Western reported five mutual aid crews from other utilities have joined in the effort to restore power, in addition to Prairie Land Electric from Concordia.
Morley thanked crews from DSO Electric Co-op in Butler, Wheatland, Prairie Land, Free State and Pioneer.
"They've helped us cover a lot of ground these last three days," he said.
Read the full press release from Western:
Freezing rain and snow mixed with severe wind caused power outages across Western Cooperative’s service area early Tuesday morning. Western’s goal is to safely restore electrical service to every home and business as quickly as possible. However, some members may continue to experience an extended delay in service.
Since Tuesday, Western Cooperative linemen and mutual aid crews from across the state have restored power to more than 1600 meters. Unfortunately, approximately 900 meters still remain without electricity. While the number of members without power has dropped, the number of broken poles and damage has grown. As roads improved Wednesday, linemen discovered more damage sustained by the storm.
The total number of broken poles is now over 250. Many sections of power lines that were patrolled during the storm sustained damage from the 50-60 mph winds later in the day. Crews have had to re-inspect miles of power lines before electricity can safely be restored.
Ellis, Rooks, and Trego counties still account for 90% of the remaining outages. Some of the heaviest damage occurred at the Redline and Palco substations and between Ellis and Schoenchen. Several rural members in those areas could experience longer delays in service.
Western Cooperative will not be satisfied until all members have had power restored. Unfortunately, several meters scattered through our service area will be without power until Friday and possibly into Saturday.
In addition to five mutual aid crews already helping Western, Prairie Land Electric has sent crews from the Concordia area to assist in repairs. Western would like to thank our members for their patience as we strive to restore and re-build our system as safely and quickly as possible.