10:00 P.M. UPDATE 1/2/20—Approximately 3,500 Cloverland Electric Cooperative members remained without power for a fourth night as a result of extensive storm damage from freezing rain and ice across the Eastern Upper Peninsula Monday. The highest concentration of outages remains in Chippewa County with more than 2,600 members in the dark and another 900 services affected in Mackinac and Luce Counties.
In addition to the 10 mutual aid crews working with Cloverland this week, the co-op received 10 additional mutual aid crews Thursday. The co-op requested mutual aid Monday morning and received an increasing number of crews as they became available through the holiday week. Crews will continue 16-hour shifts with mandatory 8-hour safety rest until all members are restored.
Outage counts peaked to historic levels Monday with more than half of the co-op’s 33,000 members in the dark. Although crews have restored thousands of outages since Sunday, additional outages have occurred and made it challenging to make an impact on the overall number which continues to fluctuate.
Cloverland Electric reminds the public to stay safe and stay clear of downed power lines and report them by calling 1-800-562-4953 or local law enforcement agencies. Members with access to www.cloverland.com and Cloverland Electric’s Facebook page can stay current on restoration efforts and planned updates at 8 a.m./ 2 p.m./ 6 p.m./ 10 p.m. However, the co-op reminds its members not use Facebook or other social media platforms to report outages, post service addresses or other account information.
4:00 UPDATE 1/2/2020—Cloverland Electric Cooperative reports approximately 4,500 members remain without power on Thursday afternoon. Monday’s freezing rain and ice resulted in what has been described as an unprecedent extended multi-day outage event in Cloverland’s history. A total of 20 mutual aid crews from other Michigan-based utilities are now assisting with restoration efforts. Progress has been slow going due to the extensive storm damage to power lines and equipment.
“This is the worst widespread winter storm damage I have seen in my 28 years at the co-op,” says Cloverland Electric’s Director of Operations Paul Warner. “We have enlisted the help of mutual aid which will impact the pace of our restoration process.”
The co-op received good news this morning as ten additional mutual aid teams became available to assist Cloverland crews. The co-op requested mutual aid on Monday morning and received an increasing number of crews as they became available over the holiday. Crews will continue 16-hour shifts with mandatory 8-hour safety rest until all members are restored. Meanwhile, there are numerous employees working tirelessly behind-the-scenes through intense circumstances.
“We understand our members are very frustrated just as we are,” says Cloverland Electric’s President and CEO Mike Heise. “We want our members to know how hard our entire team is working both in the field and behind-the-scenes to the get lights back on.”
Outage counts peaked to historic levels Monday with more than half of the co-op’s 33,000 members in the dark, predominantly in Chippewa County. Although crews have restored thousands of outages since Sunday, additional outages have occurred and made it challenging to make an impact on the overall number which has continued to fluctuate.
Cloverland Electric reminds the public to stay safe and stay clear of downed power lines and report them by calling 1-800-562-4953 or local law enforcement agencies. Members with access to www.cloverland.com and Cloverland Electric’s Facebook page can stay current on restoration efforts and planned updates at 8 a.m./ 2 p.m./ 6 p.m./ 10 p.m. However, the co-op reminds its members not use Facebook or other social media platforms to report outages, post service addresses or other account information.
2:00 UPDATE 1/2/2020—We are so thankful to have additional mutual aid teams on site so we can expand the number of crews restoring outages (current total: 5,500). According to our director of operations, crews are still encountering issues of energizing lines, then experiencing another outage. Each outage circumstance is complex and may have multiple issues to resolve, which is why progress is slow. In addition to trees on lines, crews are repairing equipment, clearing and replacing downed lines and replacing broken poles.
With additional crews this afternoon, we still expect to make strong headway. Currently, the highest concentration of outages are currently as follows: Sugar Island, Kinross, Soo and Bruce townships and Raber, plus hundreds more in townships throughout Chippewa (4,423), Mackinac (750) and Luce (290) counties.
***Dear members – we have a favor to ask: we greatly appreciate your help with reports about downed lines, trees on lines and broken poles – but please report these issues by calling 1-800-562-4953 and speaking to our amazing member services representative team. Please do not report these issues on Facebook as it creates more work by spreading our resources thinner, particularly if the matter has already been logged. Calling our 800 number ensures that reports are logged as needed and routed through the proper process. Thank you so much for your cooperation! ***
9:30 a.m. BONUS UPDATE: Great news – we have secured TEN (10) additional mutual aid crews to assist us today! These crews will greatly expand our restoration efforts and we are so thankful to the support from Michigan Electric Cooperative Association (MECA) mutual aid.
8:00 a.m. UPDATE—Cloverland and mutual aid crews have already fueled up and re-stocked equipment on their trucks and they’re back out in the field. Our outage count is approximately 5,800 due to some additional outages occurring overnight. A Cherryland Electric Cooperative mutual aid crew has joined our efforts after assisting Alger Delta Cooperative all week. We expect to make good progress today with warmer temperatures and favorable weather conditions. To our dear members who are still awaiting power – we sincerely thank you for your continued patience during this unprecedented outage event
