Last Week's High Winds Caused Outages, LIVINGSTON, May 3, 2011 – High winds and destructive weather have been plaguing large parts of the country in recent days. A batch of blustery weather visited East Texas earlier last week causing a series of outages for Sam Houston Electric Cooperative members.
Storms, particularly high winds and lightning, as early as Monday evening started a chain of what would be more than 16,000 power outages by Wednesday afternoon—primarily in Polk and San Jacinto Counties. Strong winds dropped a number of large trees on Sam Houston EC lines, causing extensive damage.
Sam Houston Electric Cooperative crews complete the final phase of restoration after a logging skidder took out a large distribution power line Wednesday off Highway 190, east of Livingston.
“Our extensive right-of-way maintenance program prevents many weather related outages,” said Larry Horn, Sam Houston Electric Cooperative operations supervisor. “The high winds of this past week, however, were intense and sustained over a period of several days. Power outages resulted when limbs were blown into power lines. Several poles were broken as a result of trees falling onto lines as well.”
On Wednesday, Sam Houston EC members off Highway 190, east of Livingston, experienced outages after a logging skidder tore down a large distribution power line. Sam Houston EC crews worked up until late Wednesday afternoon to safely restore power to all affected members from this week’s outages.
Sam Houston EC received its charter May 16, 1939, and has been providing electricity to East Texas ever since. The Cooperative was founded by a handful of farmers and rural residents who dreamed of bringing “power to the people.” In the early 1940s, there were just over 600 Co-op members. Today, Sam Houston EC serves 51,000 members and 67,000 meters across parts of 10 counties.
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