Kentucky co-ops send relief to neighbors
THE LARGEST OUT-OF-STATE mutual aid response in the 87-year history of Kentucky’s electric cooperatives saw hundreds of co-op lineworkers and contractors work for weeks to restore power at sister co-ops in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The deployment came after co-op crews restored power to the more than 100,000 consumer-members in Kentucky affected by the remnants of Hurricane Helene. The September 27 storm brought winds of 40-60 mph and 3-5 inches of rain into central and eastern Kentucky, snapping tree limbs, toppling whole trees into power lines and breaking hundreds of poles across the commonwealth.
Helene knocked out electric service to an estimated 1.25 million co-op members as it passed from the Florida coast to southwest Virginia. It destroyed high-voltage transmission structures and turned highways into impassable mounds of uprooted trees and tangled messes of downed wires and poles.
Nolin RECC crews assist in the Blue Grass Energy area. Flanking Blue Grass Energy Line Tech Noah Newell are Nolin RECC Apprentice Line Tech Tyler Hornback, left, and Senior Service Tech Shaun Scherer. Photo: Josh Hess
Amid the calls for help, Kentucky Electric Cooperatives canceled the 2024 Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo, scheduled for October 3-4 at East Kentucky Power Cooperative.
Kentucky-based United Utility Supply Cooperative immediately sent 12,000 bottles of water to French Broad EMC in North Carolina where landslides and flooding swept away roads and limited access to infrastructure and isolated communities. The Kentucky Rural Electric Disaster Fund sent two $10,000 checks to electric cooperative relief efforts.
Licking Valley RECC’s Trenton Reed stretches to make repairs in the Blue Ridge Energy service area in North Carolina. Photo: Licking Valley RECC
“Cooperation among cooperatives is one of our guiding principles,” says Safety and Training Director Randy Meredith. “It’s long hours in challenging conditions, but this is what we do.
