Electricity Restored to Most of Parkersburg

By Dave DeWitte, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

May 29–MidAmerican Energy was able to get electricity restored to most customers in tornadostricken Parkersburg by last night.

Some 120 customers in Parkersburg, 35 in New Hartford and three in Waterloo remained powerless Wednesday night. That was an improvement over the previous day, however, when 1,134 customers in Parkersburg, 38 customers in New Hartford, and eight customers in Waterloo were without power, according to MidAmerican Energy.

The area had been mostly without power since being hit by an EF5 tornado shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday.

A generator was brought into New Hartford about noon Monday, enabling MidAmerican to restore power to most of the 448 customers who had lost it Sunday, said utility spokeswoman Ann Thelan.

Dollar estimates of the damage to MidAmerican’s system could take weeks, in part because of limits on access to the area. MidAmerican has used aircraft to get a preliminary view of the damage to its system.

Thelan said the destruction included the loss of support structures for a major transmission line crossing northern Butler County to Cedar Falls, broken poles, leaning poles and lines that have separated from poles and fallen down.

“The infrastructure did sustain severe damage,” Thelan said.

The challenges were most severe in Parkersburg, where about 10 outage locations affected 1,134 customers. Even when power can be restored to the city, Thelan said, the company will not be able to hook up some customers because their homes or businesses were destroyed.

MidAmerican dispatched 242 workers to the area, where repairs were being carried out around the clock. Some of the line crews were brought in from Minnesota and Nebraska, including contract crews and mutual aid crews.

Heavy equipment needed to install the new transmission line structures began arriving late Monday, Thelan said.

MidAmerican recommends that customers who have emergency electrical needs because of health problems contact local emergency management officials for help in getting portable generators.

Contact the writer: (319) 398-8317 or david.dewitte@gazcomm.com

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