HOEC worked through Memorial Day Weekend

As of 5:00 p.m. Tuesday night, May 28, power was restored to all Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative (HOEC) members after the storms from the weekend, the co-op said in a release. Early Sunday morning, May 26, storms moved north to south through the eastern part of the area knocking out power to more than 1,100 members.

 

Later that day, tornadoes struck Mountain View and moved east along Highway 60, bringing the outage numbers back up to 1,471. HOEC worked Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, identifying the damage and repairing and replacing poles, cross arms, insulators, and transformers. There were 46 broken poles across the service area to be replaced.

 

Monday, Memorial Day, HOEC crews were joined by crews from Gascosage Electric Cooperative, Se-Ma-No Electric Cooperative and White River Valley Electric Cooperative. Contract crews from Kiowa and Arkansas Electric also assisted with the restoration. HOEC crew and support staff worked throughout the three days to restore power for members.

 

“Thank you to everyone for your patience during the outage,” said General Manager Dan Singeltary. “The city and county emergency crews helped clear roads so our lineman could get through. Mountain View Police Department assisted with traffic control during repairs on Y Highway just north of town and many individuals were out clearing roadways as well.”

 

Now that all power has been restored, the crews will be working in the areas doing clean-up. The broken poles and pieces still need to be removed and overall, the areas will be cleared of any electrical debris, the release said.