Another night of storm slow progress on repairs to power lines & poles

PIERRE, S.D.(DRGNews)- Third night in a row of severe weather sets back progress on repairs for West Central Electric Coop.

West Central Electric Cooperative crews continue to try to repair lines and poles damaged after severe storms ripped through its service area the past three nights.

Manager of Member Services Jessie Tucker says repair crews made significant progress Monday only to get set back again by the storm that hit overnight.

The Philip area had the brunt of the damage from over the weekend, but Tucker says this round hit hardest in the Kadoka area.

Tucker says as of mid-day today, they had 2200 accounts offline again.

Tucker says other companies and contractors have come in to help.

One bright spot, Tucker says, is they are able to get the materials they need to make the repairs.

Tucker says in its 72 years of existence, West Central Electric has never had this much transmission line damage– and that was before the new damage overnight. He also reminds people to stay away from downed power lines.