The catastrophic weather that swept across Fayette Electric Cooperative’s service territory early Saturday morning as a result of Hurricane Harvey’s arrival resulted in widespread power outages for members of the cooperative. At noon on Tuesday, Fayette EC’s five crews and four contractor crews had worked 117 outages that affected 6,246 meters throughout the co-op’s service territory during the storm. 

Excessive rain and high winds caused weakened trees and tree limbs to be blown onto distribution lines, resulting in downed power lines and service interruptions. Fayette EC’s restoration efforts were hindered by rising flood waters from rivers and tributaries, limiting travel and adding uncertainty to the logistics of power restoration.  Instead of a number of peak outages, crews were faced with continuous rollouts of outages over the three-day event. 

“Fayette EC’s high maintenance standards on lines and equipment helped prevent even more outages.  Our employees – from the support staff in the office taking outage calls to the line crews out in the field – rallied to the challenge and worked day and night until power was restored to all members.  Thanks to their expertise, the majority of the outages were restored by noon on Tuesday,” said Gary Don Nietsche, general manager of Fayette Electric Cooperative. “We appreciate our members’ patience and the many kind words expressed during the power restoration.  With the ground still saturated from the heavy rainfall, trees could uproot fairly easily.  This could take down even more trees, so we may continue to have outages if these trees fall into our power lines,” he added. 

Organized in 1937, Fayette EC owns 2,878 miles of line and serves over 9,600 member-owners and 14,465 meters in all or parts of seven counties. 

              

Linemen resorted to climbing poles to bring back power to thousands of Fayette EC members in flooded areas.  Pictured is FEC Lineman Justin Whited (left) and Lineman Mike Proske (right).