Goliath was a giant, Philistine warrior written about in
the Old Testament. Most recently, the Christmas weekend ice storm was also appropriately named Goliath. This storm wreaked havoc of Biblical proportions in
north Texas through Oklahoma. There was flooding in southeast Oklahoma, blizzard conditions in northwest Oklahoma, freezing rain in north Texas and southwest Oklahoma all the way through the central part of the state.
In its wake was massive destruction caused by more than 24 hours of sustained
winds of 45 to 60 mph. This along with the ice caused numerous broken poles along with downed high voltage wires across the state which caused most of southwest Oklahoma and north Texas to go in the dark. Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC), our power provider, lost around 450 transmission structures around the state. This left a huge number of their substations without power. Harmon Electric was fortunate in that, all of our substations were reenergized in around 24 hours. By Sunday all of our crews were in the field chasing outages. The longer the day went on the more broke poles and downed wires were discovered. By Sunday afternoon we were calling contractors to assist in the restoration efforts. In just a few days, 17 contractor crews with over 100 men from 5 different states were mobilized to repair the damage left from Goliath. When the dust settled, around 300 poles in Oklahoma and 100 poles in Texas were replaced along with numerous cross arms and broken wires were repaired to restore power. The preliminary cost of the damage to Harmon Electric from Goliath is around $2 million. We were able to restore power to some of our residential customers within 24 hours. The last two houses came back on in a weeks’ time. The length of time off depended on the damage in the area and distance from the substation. In the Bible, David slayed Goliath and was the hero of the story. In our story there were many heroes. All of the lineman were heroes facing down enormous challenges in extremely harsh conditions, working long hours to restore power. Our members were heroes in our story as well. Each of you had your own personal struggles to overcome during some difficult circumstances. In the midst of the battle, your words of appreciation, acts of kindness, offers of help, and gifts of food, snacks, water, and Gatorade, were very encouraging. Although the damage was terrible, Harmon Electric’s saving grace was all of the
new line that has been rebuilt since the 2010 ice storm. Close to 1,000 miles have been rebuilt over the last 6 years and to my knowledge, we only lost one new pole. As I’ve discussed in past issues, the FEMA rebuild has been difficult and expensive but the system held up beautifully. If we hadn’t made the decision to do the rebuild, Goliath would have caused enormous damage to the entire system. In the future I’m sure we will face other weather related challenges. When the challenges come, we will do everything we can to keep the lights on. Our goal, as always is to provide the best possible service at the lowest possible cost.
HARMON ELECTRIC ASSOCIATION, INC 114 North First Hollis, OK 73550
Operating in
Beckham, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa and Greer Counties in Oklahoma and Hardeman and Childress Counties in Texas
Member of Western Farmers Electric Cooperative Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives National Rural Electric Cooperative Association National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Texas Electric Cooperative, Inc. Oklahoma Rural Water Association, Inc.
HARMON ELECTRIC HI-LITES - Lisa Richard, Editor The Harmon Electric Hi-Lites is the publication of your local owned and operated rural electric cooperative, organized and incorporated under the laws of Oklahoma to serve you with low-cost electric power.
Charles Paxton ......................................................................................... Manager
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Pete Lassiter ..................................................................................................District 1 Jim Reeves ....................................................................................................District 2 Lee Sparkman ...............................................................................................District 3 Braden Cunningham ......................................................................................District 4 Burk Bullington ..............................................................................................District 5 Jean Pence ....................................................................................................District 6 J. R. Conley ...................................................................................................District 7 Charles Horton .............................................................................................. Attorney
Monthly Board of Directors meetings Held Fourth Thursday of Each Month Happy Valentine’s Day!
IF YOUR ELECTRICITY GOES OFF, REPORT THE OUTAGE
We have a 24-hour answering service to take outage reports and dispatch service- men. Any time you have an outage to report in the Hollis or Gould exchange area, call our office at 688-3342. Any other exchange
area call toll free, 1-800-643-7769.
TO REPORT AN OUTAGE, CALL 688-3342 or 1-800-643-7769 ANYTIME
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