Cooperative completes Ian outage restorations

A&N Electric Cooperative completed local outage restorations associated with the remnants of Hurricane Ian early Saturday morning. Cooperative personnel worked through the afternoon and night, quickly responding to outages associated with storm damage.

Hurricane Ian made landfall earlier this week in Florida as a category 4 hurricane. The storm weakened as it passed through the state, but strengthened as it headed up the East Coast.

The local area was impacted by some of the storm’s outer bands as they passed through the region, bringing heavy rain and wind. The Eastern Shore experienced sustained winds in the 20s with wind gusts reaching the upper 40s in Melfa, according to the National Weather Service. The majority of the outages were caused by fallen tree limbs and others by lightning.

The cooperative began receiving outage reports at about 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30. Crews responded immediately and worked well into the early morning hours on Saturday restoring power to co-op members affected by the storm.

Just under 3,800 members experienced an outage during the storm’s duration. With a peak of about 2,000 outages occurring at 1 a.m. on Saturday.

Cooperative personnel were able to complete their restoration efforts by 5 a.m.

“Our team jumped on the outages early and didn’t let up until power was restored to every member affected,” said Joe Cataldo, the cooperative’s vice president of operations and construction. “I’m extremely proud of our quick response and appreciate our co-op members’ patience while we worked to repair storm damage.”

The cooperative urges members to report any remaining storm damage or hazardous situations that did not create an outage but could lead to one or serious injury. These issues include broken limbs on or over power lines, downed or low-hanging lines, and any damaged equipment. Please keep a safe distance from any of these hazards and report them immediately by using the cooperative’s SmartHub app or by calling 757-787-9750.

Cooperative members are also urged to contact the cooperative if their home or business is still experiencing a power outage.

The cooperative will continue to monitor the weather throughout the rest of the weekend. The remaining remnants of Hurricane Ian are expected to pass through the region on Sunday, bringing slightly weaker winds into the area.