Agralite service area is on the mend

Agralite Electric Cooperative believes all members who had outages as a result of the Friday storms had their power restored by Monday afternoon, according to Agralite General Manager Kory Johnson. Agralite still had a few small outages due to other reasons at 5 p.m. Monday.
Agralite had all personnel devoted to restoration of power to all members. Crews from two other cooperatives and a contractor assisted with the restoration efforts, he said. Restoration was slowed by the number of trees and branches on the lines.
Restoration was also difficult because damage was across Agralite’s entire service territory from Ortonville to Brooten and Donnelly to Appleton, he said. The main concentrations of outages Monday morning were in the Odessa and Sunburg areas.
Damage happened in many small places rather than one concentration where crews could focus their attention. Outages were widespread across the four counties Agralite serves – Swift, Stevens, Big Stone and Pope, Johnson said.
The first outages were reported at about 1:30 Friday morning as the storm moved from west to east across Agralite’s territory.  A second storm Friday evening added to the storm damage. The last members to be restored were in the Sedan area.
Crews have been working 16-hour days from Friday morning through Monday, he said.
Every Agralite member experienced power interruptions from these storms, Johnson said.
Submitted by LeRoy Cluever, Member Services at Agralite Rural Electric Cooperative