The original item was published from 12/17/2021 12:23:00 PM to 12/19/2021 12:00:04 AM.

News Flash

Area News

Posted on: December 15, 2021

[ARCHIVED] City Crews work to repair outages caused by high winds

UPDATE 12/17/2021 at 12:20 pm
Southeast corner of our rural service area to see temporary interruption.
Crews will interrupt power to some residential customers in the southeast corner of the rural service area to make repairs.  The outage is expected to last thirty minutes.  We will update when the repairs are complete and power restored.
UPDATE 12/17/2021 at 12:00 pm
Progress Continues.  
Electric crews have begun to restore power to some residential customers in the Big Creek circuit south of the city.   They continue to make temporary repairs to restore all rural customers.  At the same time, other crews are working to rebuild the two one-mile spans of down power lines as permanent repairs.  The goal is to get all rural residential customers back on today. 

UPDATE 12/17/2021 at 9:00 am
Electric Crews make significant progress overnight
Electric crews with the additional linemen helping from Garden City, Colby, McPherson, and KMEA worked late into the night, replacing spans of broken poles serving the Big Creek circuit.  We anticipate having most residential customers in the Big Creek circuit south of the city restored today.  
Electric crews are replacing poles along S. Fossil Street between Luray Street and Dorrance Street.  We ask anyone traveling North on S. Fossil to slow down as crews work close to the street.  The safety of our crews and those crews from other communities is the top priority for worker safety.  
This storm caused enormous damage throughout the entire area.  Once we have power restored to all customers, our focus will turn to make permanent repairs to the system. 
Once again, we thank our customers for their patience and understanding.  We understand this has been difficult for many, including our employees whose families were impacted by this storm and fires.  
A big thank you to all the volunteers helping your family, friends, neighbors, and community. Russell County and the communities within are resilient.  We will continue to be a community dedicated to family, friends, and neighbors, where generations care for each other. 
We will continue to update the power restoration status on the city Facebook page, website, and KRSL. 

UPDATE 12/16/2021 at 5:30 pm
Most Power Restored – One or two days for complete restoration.  
With mutual aid assistance from three cities and the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency (KMEA), crews made tremendous progress over the past 30 hours, replacing dozens of broken power poles to restore Power from yesterday's storm with wind gusts that peaked at 100 mph.  
The damage is significant even with the additional linemen helping from Garden City, Colby, McPherson, and KMEA.  It will take one or two more days to restore power to our rural customers on the Big Creek circuit south of the city and approximately two dozen customers on 1st and 2nd Street between Front Street and Seitz. 
This storm caused enormous damage throughout the entire area.  We thank our customers for their patience and understanding as our electric crews and electric crews from other communities work to complete repairs safely.  
A big thank you to all the emergency services working the numerous grass fires throughout the county.    
  
UPDATE 12/16/2021 at 4:00 pm
Crews have completed replacing the span of eight broken poles that feed the residential and commercial customers South of Dorrance Street to I-70 and power is restored to that area.  
Crews continue to work on the broken poles affecting:
N. Kilian Street (two broken poles)
Two blocks of E. 1st and E. 2nd Street (Broken poles and metal debris in the power lines)
Our rural customers on the Big Creek circuit south of the city. (Dozens of broken poles)
When we have an estimated time for restoration on these areas, we will update the city's Facebook page, website, and KRSL. 
A big thank you to all the crews who continue to work tirelessly and safely to make repairs and restore power.  
 
UPDATE 12/16/2021 at 1:40 pm
City crews, with the assistance from teams from Garden City, McPherson BPU, KMEA, and Colby, are making progress in rebuilding the sections of broken power poles to restore power to customers:
South of Witt Avenue to I-70 
Our rural customers on the Big Creek circuit (south of the city)
And small sections on N. Kilian, E. 1st, and E. 2nd.  
We anticipate restoration around 3 pm today for those commercial and residential customers south of Witt Avenue.   Crews are still working to rebuild two long sections of down power poles south of I-70 to restore power to those on the Big Creek circuit (south of the city).  One section is a mile long and will take some time. Work is also in the process for N. Kilian, E. 1st, and E. 2nd.   When we have an estimated time for restoration on these areas, we will update the city's Facebook page, website, and KRSL. 
A big thank you to the McPherson Board of Utilities, City of Colby, City of Garden City, and the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency for sending crews and equipment to assist in making necessary repairs.    
 
UPDATE 12/16/2021 at 9:23 am:
City crews worked through the night to restore power and get most of our customer's power back on. Unfortunately, the damage was so extensive in some areas that more time for repairs is needed.  Areas still without power include the southern part of the city's commercial customers, rural customers on the Big Creek circuit, and small sections on N. Kilian, E. 1st, and E. 2nd.  At this time, we do not have an ETA on complete restoration. Crews are working as quickly and safely as they can.  
The city has requested mutual aid through Kansas Municipal Utilities. The arrival of additional crews from McPherson BPU, the City of Garden City, the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency, and the City of Colby, will significantly assist in restoring those areas without power. We anticipate those crews arriving around noon today.
Please avoid the areas where crews are repairing or rebuilding power lines.  Thank you.   
We thank all of our customers for your patience and support of our crews as they work tirelessly to repair damage and restore your power.  

POWER UPDATE: City crews are planning to work through the night to restore power. Unfortunately, damage was so extensive in some areas that more time for repairs will be needed. Anticipated restoration time is not expected to be until sometime tomorrow. Those needing shelter are encouraged to utilize the 4-H building which has been opened as the designated shelter area. 
Specifically: The southern part of the city's residential and commercial customers will see restoration at the soonest tomorrow morning. Repairs will include rebuilding a span of 8 poles. 
Those customers south of interstate on the Big Creek Circuit will also not see power until sometime tomorrow. Repairs will include replacing 12 poles and rebuilding line. 
The last major area affected is located on 1st and 2nd between Front and Franklin Streets. This area will require repair to lines which currently have debris wrapped in them. This area will also not see restoration until tomorrow. 
There are customers who remain out due to damage that will require an electrician making repairs prior to the City being able to restore power. 
We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and thank you all for your patience and support of our crews as they have been working tirelessly to restore your power.

***IMPORTANT***  Please stay home if you able to do so. Emergency crews are assessing damages and City crews are working to restore power as quickly as possible. Extra traffic is hindering operations. 
Update9: Power to the West residential area of town has been restored. Please be patient as as crews continue to work to restore power to the remainder of the community. 
Update8: Crews have been able to restore power to the East Residential Circuit and are now heading to work on the west side of town. Crews will work to repair poles and remove debris from lines, they are hopeful power will be restored within 45 minutes for this area. We do not have an ETA for the South portion of town as crews will need to work to repair an entire span of poles that were damaged.
Update7: Power to the East Commercial circuit (downtown) has been restored. We are anticipating repairs made to the East Residential circuit will allow for restoration of power within the next 30 minutes. We appreciate your patience as we continue to work safely to restore power. 

Update6: Crews have made temporary repairs and the areas served by substations 2 and 4 are now back on. The East residential circuit and East Commercial circuit (downtown) are still without power due to broken power poles and wrapped power lines. More than 20 poles are broken in the city service area. Crews are working as quickly and safely to repair and restore power. Thank you for your patience. 
Update5: South Fossil has been closed from Luray to Dorrance Streets due to downed power poles. 7th Street from Kansas to Main Street is also closed due to roof damage that has blown into the roadway. Please avoid these areas as crews work to make repairs. 

Update4: Two additional circuits are down impacting roughly 450 customers located on the west side of the community south of the railroad tracks. Crews are aware and working as quickly as they can. We have had multiple reports of damage. Please be cautious if you must be out in current weather conditions. 

Update3: Power is currently being restored to the east commercial circuit, intermittent outages may continue to occur in this area due to the damage to poles and lines. 

Update2: Center Residential Power has been restored. Another outage identified - East Residential impacting 257 customers due to broken power poles. Crews continue to work as quickly and safely as possible in current conditions. 

Update: A secondary outage - center residential - impacting 216 customers has been identified. Crews are battling wrapped lines and damaged poles. They are working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. 

An east commercial circuit located downtown (Between Lincoln and Elm Streets, East 5th and East 9th) is currently experiencing an outage impacting 150 customers. Crews are working to restore power. Thank you for your patience.