Storm results in scattered outages for ECE members
June 18, 2010

Last night's storm tracked its way across Minnesota leaving over 1,300 East Central Energy (ECE) members without power.  Outages were scattered across the cooperatives service territory with the majority of damage near Highway 70 three miles west of the Wisconsin border.

ECE crews worked through the night to repair poles, power lines, and other electric facilities restoring power to nearly all affected members early this morning.  In the next few days, crews will focus on further repairs needed for the more severely damaged areas and assisting neighboring utilities that sustained greater damage.

"We are thankful that storm damage to our electrical system was minimal and that quick service restoration to most locations was possible.  We thank members for their patience during outages and encourage all to stay clear of damaged power lines or electrical equipment that may remain as work continues by ECE and others. Safety is always a concern during the aftermath of a storm.  We send our sincere sympathy to families in other communities who lost loved ones and our neighboring cooperatives that sustained significant property damage," said Gwen Thomas, ECE Senior Vice President.