WaKEENEY — Western Cooperative Electric, WaKeeney, is working to restore member outages following the May 16 storm that caused damage in central Kansas.
There were downed trees, power lines and transmission poles in the co-op’s service territory stretching from Schoen-chen, south to LaCrosse and east along K-4 to Hoisington. Western and its crew have already repaired a majority of the damage and remain optimistic restoration will be complete soon, Western’s line superintendent Darryl Steckline said Thursday.
“We don’t have any residential customers without power at this time,” Steckline said. “We are planning on everything going back to normal by (Friday) afternoon.”
The co-op, along with Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, has worked tirelessly to repair more than 24 structures and approximately 900 meters of damaged line in muddy conditions. Line crews restored power to homes and businesses and expect all power to be flowing normally by Friday afternoon.
“These are extremely muddy conditions in which these guys are working,” Steckline said. “Our focus is not only to get the line back on in an expeditious manner, but more importantly, to make sure the crews go home safe.”
A statement from the co-op noted that in late April staff had to repair more than 2,000 services in the aftermath of Winter Storm Ursa. Western thanked its member-owners for their continued patience as they work to restore power. Co-op members can “like” them on Facebook to receive restoration and outage updates posted as they become available.