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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Lake Country Power making progress in wake of massive storm

Posted

REGIONAL— Lineworkers untangled power lines from downed trees, spliced line, set new poles and trekked cross country in 90-degree heat and nearly 100-percent humidity to restore electricity for Lake Country Power members the past two days.

Line crews expect more of the same this weekend as they work to restore service for thousands of consumers still waiting for electricity after a severe storm rocked the region early Thursday morning.

More than 100 linemen and field personnel are working in the heat and humidity to get power back on for co-op members in rural areas. But it will be early next week before all consumers will have power fully restored.

“Everyone deserves a pat on the back,” said Todd Johnson, Lake Country Power’s Director of Operations. “We appreciate members’ patience. And crews have made amazing progress.”

Line crews have restored power for more than 15,000 members so far, after 27,000 power outages were initially reported early Thursday morning.

The 42,000-member co-op saw outages from as far south as Sturgeon Lake to Crane Lake in the north along the Canadian border and from Leech Lake near Walker to Fish Lake north of Duluth.

Most of the co-op’s 10,800 square-mile system was impacted.

The public is urged to stay clear of debris because power lines could be tangled in brush and limbs. Any downed power lines should be considered “live” and left for lineworkers to handle with their specialized safety equipment.

More information is available on the co-op’s outage viewer at http://mi.lcp.coop:82. Members may call the cooperative at 1-800-421-9959 for more information, or visit the Outage Center online at www.lakecountrypower.coop for a real-time outage status. Updates are also available at: www.facebook.com/lakecountrypower or twitter.com/LCPCoop .