Winter storm brings widespread power outages

REGIONAL— The first major winter storm of the season proved to be an over-performer in northern St. Louis County, where snow totals substantially exceeded predictions, leaving many areas with 14-16 inches of snow, with more still falliong. The latest forecasts had predicted snowfall of seven to 11 inches across the area through Thursday evening.

The heavy snow, which stuck to trees and powerlines, left more than 11,200 Lake Country Power customers without power as of Thursday. Minnesota Power was reporting more than 14,000 customers without service in their coverage territory.

Lake Country Power spokesperson Tami Zaun had no prediction on the time frame for restoring power but noted that work crews were dealing with more than 420 separate outage points that need repair. An outage point can affect many customers, but the time involved in fixing so many individual outages is likely to be considerable.

“Road access is the biggest issue today as Lake Country Power line crews work to restore service throughout eight counties,” said Zaun. “Some county roads have not been plowed in two days making driving nearly impossible. The main roads are difficult enough to drive but the rural roads are worse. Right-of-way corridors are deep with snow.”

The outages were caused mostly by broken tree branches falling across powerlines, according to Zaun. “Also, the wet snow is putting additional weight on the lines. When the snow quickly drops off the lines, the power lines slap together, which causes more outages.”

Zaun said Lake Country is bringing in additional workers from Lake States Construction and has requested mutual aid from the Minnesota Rural Electric Association. But given the wide path of the storm, it’s not clear how many line workers might be available.

Zaun noted that Lake Country Power members may need to seek alternative ways to stay warm if they’re reliant on electricity for heating. Members who want to report outages can do so at 1-800-421-9959. You can visit Lake Country Power’s outage map at http://outage.lcp.coop to check on the status of repairs.