Sioux Center, Iowa — With an underground electric system that sustained only minor impact from the recent storm, Sioux Center Municipal Utilities was able to send linemen to help restore power in two neighboring communities.
The July 28 storm uprooted trees, damaged buildings, and snapped electric poles as it swept through the region, but only a portion of Sioux Center Municipal Utilities customers had about a four-minute interruption of power. The feed to a Sioux Center substation from a Northwest Iowa Power Cooperative transmission line was briefly down due to a broken pole near town. However, NIPCO was able to reroute power through its transmission system, and Sioux Center has multiple links to NIPCO for reliability, so power was quickly restored.
Sioux Center’s underground electric lines also made clearing debris after the storm safer and swifter.
With minimal impact to the Sioux Center Municipal Utilities’ electric system, Sioux Center linemen were available to assist fellow municipal utilities Alton and Paullina with storm recovery.
The night of the storm, Alton requested mutual aid to help repair a transmission line. The Sioux Center crew was joined by Orange City linemen and provided technical assistance in repairing the affected pole and line to restore power within several hours.
After returning to Sioux Center for a short night, the electric department received a second request for mutual aid. The Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities was requesting crews with a bucket truck and digger truck to restore power in Paullina. Three Sioux Center linemen traveled there with two trucks to help restore power.
(Courtesy fellow Community First Broadcasting station KSOU in Sioux Center)
Community First Broadcasting Staff Photo
