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
We have been out since Thursday..Heinecke rd. Washington Still no power told we are not a priority with little kids and newborn baby..but they made sure the homes up the road with no one living there has power…Great Job
My electric was restored by late Friday morning however I have not had running water since Thursday afternoon. As much of a pain and inconvenience as this is with a family of five, in the grand scheme of things this is nothing. People lost their lives. Homes have been destroyed. The electric company I am sure is doing the best they can. Losing meat in your freezer is frustrating but pales in significance to the real tragedies that have occured. Have some perspective.
I still don’t have power. But it’s not a big deal because I can take care of my family and I without it. I understand some people can’t physically take care of themselves and need assistance. But if you can get on the internet to post comments then I bet you are plenty capable of taking care of yourself or contact somebody to help. Posting negative comments towards the people working 24/7, risking their lives, over Memorial Day Weekend is definitely not the way to get help.
Keep up the good work Bluebonnet. You could have fixed all 10k customers overnight, but that wouldn’t have been fast enough for some folks.
We have been out of electricity since Thursday. It is Sunday still no electricity. Due to no electricity we have no water or electricity. Our neighbors have electricity but not us. We gave write away for a pole in our pasture been a member longer then our neighbors Saw the trucks driving our road pass our house. Called bluebonnet they wanted my date of birth. “Crazy”. Just gave electricity so I have water. My freezer and meat. Omgosh. They tell me we are a single family home. We think they missed us. Just plain dirty how bluebonnet had treated us!!!
Same here still no power water nothing
We have power as of 9 pm Saturday! Thank you!!! 52 hours with no power sure makes you think about, what if….
Great word..we had power this morning finally after 3 days outage… for 2 hrs. Again have no power.
Old plantation Rd in Chappell Hill, most of the houses have power but we do not. Do we have an ETA?
Cr 411 been out of power since thurs 2:30 am. First crew shows up today at 1:30pm we need a transformer. Community water well is also affected no water pressure. Can you please give me some idea when we expect the repair. No high water or pole issues. Rhans