Storm Center

WINTER STORM BLAIR OUTAGE UPDATE: SUNDAY, JANUARY 12, 2025 8:00 am

Black River Electric Cooperative and crews from visiting cooperatives had restored power to all members by Saturday evening, after Winter Storm Blair covered the region with half an inch of ice Sunday, January 5th, leaving 12,000 members without power.

Across the system crews found ice laden trees, damage to power lines and 80 broken poles.  Restorations efforts hit a snag on Friday as a 2nd Winter Storm, Cora, left a 6-inch blanket of snow on top of the ice, causing additional outages.

BREC General Manager Paul Montgomery is grateful for the outpouring of support, “It encourages me to think of one of the seven cooperative principles in trying moments like these. Through the spirit of 'cooperation among cooperatives,' we were able to overcome challenges together. We deeply appreciate the invaluable support we've received from our fellow cooperatives for sending their resources, as well as our partnering line and right of way contractors in our time of need. I am thankful for our membership which has been openly supportive, whether it be a lending hand, cup of warm coffee, or an encouraging word to our lineworkers and support staff.”

207 lineworkers and support staff worked tirelessly, nearly 25,000 hours of labor, to restore power to BREC members. 132 of them were mutual aid lineworkers, contractors and tree crews from outside the area. Lineworkers from Ozark Border Electric Cooperative, Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative, White River Valley Electric Cooperative, SEMO Electric Cooperative, Pemiscot Dunklin Electric Cooperative, Three Rivers Electric Cooperative, Southwest Electric Cooperative, Ozark Electric Cooperative, Gascosage Electric Cooperative, Webster Electric Cooperative and SE-MA-NO Electric Cooperative came to our aid, and we can’t thank them enough.

Thank you, BREC members, for your patience and support as we experienced a historic winter outage event.

Photo submitted by Crew in field.