SRE outage update

**********************************2 p.m. UPDATE from Erin Cook:We have 1929 members without power now and an additional 6 crews from fellow co-ops in Alabama will be here this afternoon for a total of 25 extra crew members to assist with restoration efforts. Wind gusts are snapping limbs and trees and taking down power lines. We’re dealing with broken poles and downed lines throughout our system. This is shaping up to be a multi-day event and we are asking for patience and cooperation as we work toward safely restoring power for all our members. Please continue to use the outage hotline for outage reporting: 1-866-244-4890.***********************************As of 10:22 a.m. we have 1508 members without power across parts of Meriwether, Pike, Lamar and Monroe counties. We already have two broken poles which are time consuming to replace. The ground is so heavily saturated from all the rain we had leading up to the ice that the trees have become top heavy with all the ice that has accumulated and the wind is literally uprooting trees that are then tearing down our lines. It is typical in ice storms like this for crews to spend hours replacing a broken pole and repairing a line only to have it torn down again from another tree or limb just minutes after they get it restored. We have additional help on the way and urge our members to call the new outage hotline: 1-866-244-4890 to make sure their outage is reported. Posting an outage on Facebook is not a guarantee that it will be reported in a timely manner because Facebook is not manned 24-7. We encourage members to be prepared for extended outages, meaning it could take several days to completely restore power depending on the extent of the damage to our system. Current outages can be viewed live on our website at: http://68.208.12.169:82 and updates will also be posted on Facebook and Twitter throughout the day.-Erin Cook, SRE