Published for members of Choctaw Electric Cooperative
inside•your •co•op July 2015 A supplement to Oklahoma Living
ComeHECK or HigH Water.
It’s true that water and electricity don’t mix, but for electric cooperative linemen duty comes first.
That means they’re doing their job regardless of working conditions. Rain, sleet, snow, hail, dust, mud or high water, Choctaw Electric Cooperative (CEC) linemen find a way to “get’er done. “
When monsoons settled over Oklahoma in May, CEC linemen found themselves paddling john boats in order to reach poles and power lines submerged in the muddy floodwaters.
Jim Malone, director of CEC engineering and operations, said the most problematic storm hit on May 26, unleashing torrential rains and damaging winds that downed over 100 poles. At one point, as many as 7,000 CEC members were without power as crews struggled to reach areas made inaccessible due to flooding.
“The west end of our system was nearly shut off from the east end,” Malone said. Parts of Highway 70 and Highway 109 closed completely due to
flooding, while a bridge along Highway 3 between Antlers and Rattan also became impassable.
The limited access forced crews to drive miles out of the way in order to reach heavily affected areas. “What normally would’ve been a 15-mile trip for our crews became 60 to 75 miles,” Malone said.
A CEC request for mutual aid brought in six additional crews from other Oklahoma co-ops. A very special thanks to East Central Electric, People’s Electric, Cookson Hills and Canadian Valley Electric for their help.
It will be some time before CEC will know the full impact of the May 26 storm. Malone said as late as mid-June, calls were still coming in from members unable to reach their property until recently. “One member was finally able to get in on a four-wheeler and found four poles down in the mud.”
More photos of the storm damage are found on CEC’s Facebook page.
How Will Proposed Bylaw Changes Affect You?
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
• OFFICIAL MEETING MINUTES • FREE BOOTH SPACE FOR VENDORS • FIVE WAYS TO BEAT THE HEAT
CEC
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