Update on MiEnergy Cooperative power outages

Cresco, IA | Rushford, MN (4:30 p.m. April 12, 2019)— As of 4 p.m. today, MiEnergy Cooperative has about 500 members in Minnesota still without power due to a late winter storm that hit Wednesday night and Thursday morning bringing a combination of rain, sleet, ice and snow. The co-op estimates a total of 5,000 members were affected by the storm. Damage was caused by ice building up on power lines combined with high winds that caused lines to gallop and break poles and sag power line. Approximately 100 power line poles have been broken or damaged. 

Outage calls first started at 7 p.m. Wednesday.  Crews continued to work Wednesday night and all day Thursday until 8 p.m. and then regrouped again at 5 a.m. this morning. They have been working to replace broken poles and restring wire. Crews will continue to work until 8 p.m. tonight. It is likely not all outages will be restored, but crews will work to get as many people online and then regroup again tomorrow at 5 a.m. 
It will take weeks to permanently fix and cleanup the damage caused by the storm.