Officials at Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative, Inc. (HOEC), report that approximately 6,000 members across our system were without power as a result of storms that moved through the service area on Monday. Linemen and cooperative personnel began working immediately to safely restore power.
At this time, we have 4,022 members who remain without power. Crews continue to work to safely restore power to all members. Pike Electric and Arkansas Electric right-of-way crews have been assisting with outage restoration and additional crews from Missouri and Arkansas will be assisting as well. Straight line winds were the main cause of outages.
High-winds coupled with saturated grounds can cause trees from outside the right of way to fall onto lines causing the lines to fall. At this time, we have identified at least 100 poles that have been broken. Based on the extent of the damage, members should be prepared for a prolonged outage.
HOEC would like to remind members if they see a downed power line, please stay away from it and report it to the cooperative immediately at 417-256-2131 or 1-888-HOE-POWER. If you need to report an outage, please do so by calling our 24 hour dispatch at 417-256-2131 or 1-888-HOE-POWER.
Please note, during outages our call volume is typically high. Rest assured, if you have to leave a voicemail it will be checked. Nonetheless, you can also report an outage on our new SmartHub Mobile app on your iPhone or Android device, or on the cooperative website at www.hoecoop.org.
Myles Smith, Manager of Member Services said, “Cooperative personnel have been working diligently to safely restore power to all members. As always we greatly appreciate the patience of our members during outages.”
