Co-ops answer call for mutual aid

Minnesota electric cooperatives send lineworkers to restore power in communities ravaged by hurricanes

Unprecedented times call for an unprecedented response.

After evaluating the mass devastation caused to their communities by Hurricane Helene, several electric cooperatives in South Carolina put out a call for mutual aid to help restore power after the storm caused outages to more than 1.25 million cooperative members in the southeastern United States.

Coordinated efforts between the Minnesota Rural Electric Cooperative Association (MREA) and South Carolina’s statewide association resulted in 80 lineworkers representing 18 Minnesota cooperatives hitting the road within a day of the initial call for help.

“As electric cooperatives, we follow seven principles, one of which is ‘cooperation,’” said MREA Chief Executive Officer Darrick Moe. “Co-ops support one another. Combine that with the principle of ‘concern for community,’ our co-ops and lineworkers are quick to help others and the communities they serve.”

Minnesota crews worked to restore power for three electric cooperatives: Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, Broad River Electric Cooperative and Laurens Electric Cooperative. These lineworkers joined others from at least 18 states who have converged on the region to rebuild systems after the catastrophic event.

Some cooperatives in the south reported 80%, 90% and even 100% of their systems out of power. Laurens Electric Cooperative reported 98% of its system down, hundreds of broken poles and only three of 34 substations with power after the storm passed.

“We have 40-year co-op veterans who say this is the worst and most widespread destruction they’ve seen in their careers,” said Jim Donahoo, spokesperson for Laurens Electric Cooperative. “We hate to keep using the word ‘unprecedented,’ but it is. We have never experienced this combination of tropical storm-force winds, rainfall and flooding in the Upstate of South Carolina.”

The Minnesota lineworkers who volunteered to aid in the disaster relief were away from home for two weeks or longer, but it comes as no surprise to Moe that so many co-op employees would step up to the opportunity.

“We can be very proud of how our member co-ops jumped at the chance to help their co-op family in other states,” Moe said. “We know other co-ops would do the same for us.”

Great River Energy also provided aid through a $25,000 donation to a fundraising campaign set up by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association through the Cooperative Development Foundation’s Disaster Recovery Fund. The funds will be used by electric cooperatives and their employees who were directly affected by the hurricane.

When disaster strikes twice
When the Minnesota linemen who left for South Carolina to aid in the restoration efforts there, they didn’t know several of them would be called upon again — but in a different location.

While recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene were ongoing, another storm was brewing. What would eventually be deemed Hurricane Milton brought catastrophic rainfall flooding, wind gusts up to 100 miles per hour, a tornado outbreak and storm surge to Florida. The storm made landfall as a Category 3 on Oct. 9 and rapidly accelerated across the state’s peninsula, leaving 3 million people without power.

Linemen from multiple Great River Energy member-owner cooperatives — including Dakota Electric Association, Kandiyohi Power Cooperative, Runestone Electric Association, Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative and Stearns Electric Association — continued their work in providing assistance to Florida electric cooperatives who needed to get the lights back on for their members.