BLUEBONNET ADDS ADDITIONAL CREWS

  

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative crews and contractors continued to work around the clock more than 48 hours into one of the most challenging storm-related outage events in the co-op’s history. By Saturday afternoon, outages that were once widespread throughout Bluebonnet’s 3,800-square-mile territory were concentrated enough that additional crews could be deployed to Lee, Burleson and Washington counties, which were hardest hit by record rainfall and unprecedented flooding.

“We know this has been an incredibly frustrating and difficult time for our members who are without power,” said Mark Rose, Bluebonnet’s general manager. “We have reached the point with outages where we can shift crews and put a lot of additional resources into counties and communities on the eastern side of our territory.

“We will continue to focus restoration work on the members who have been out of power the longest. With the additional workers we’re deploying to our eastern counties, we will make great progress overnight Saturday and Sunday. We expect to have power restored by late Sunday night or early Monday morning to every member whose home or business we can reach.”

There are some areas in those counties that Bluebonnet crews cannot get to because of high water, Rose said.

“We are contacting our members in areas we can’t reach to tell them we simply don’t know when we will be able to begin to restore their power. It all depends on how quickly the water recedes and we can assess the damage to our electric grid,” Rose said.

The first storm-related outages were reported about 3 p.m. Thursday, May 26. At 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Bluebonnet reported 413 outages, affecting 1,959 members.

In many areas where the water has receded, Bluebonnet crews are not able to use heavy equipment because of mud. Crews are manually repairing and replacing insulators, fuses and transformers. “Linemen are climbing poles and using manpower instead of machines to haul and lift some pretty heavy equipment. That means longer outages,” Rose said. 

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative is one of the largest electric cooperatives in Texas and has been serving its members since 1939. Bluebonnet serves more than 89,000 meters and owns and maintains 11,000 miles of power lines, located across more than 3,800 square miles within 14 Central Texas counties. Bluebonnet’s service area stretches from Travis County to Washington County, and from Milam County to Gonzales County. For more information about Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, go to bluebonnet.coop and follow the co-op on Facebook and Twitter.

Story courtesy of: Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative