Outage aftermath
A storm carrying very high winds Thursday evening caused numerous power outages affecting 3973 Mohave Electric Cooperative members.
The effects of the storm were felt starting at 6:30 pm. The most visible damage was a line of 15 broken poles along Bullhead Parkway from Landon Drive to Laughlin View Drive.
In the Sunridge Estates area of Bullhead City, power to a portion of the area was restored by 7:40 pm and to all of Sunridge Estates by 10:00 pm, after power was able to be rerouted by using circuit switching equipment.
Tree limbs and debris flying into power lines were responsible for the outages in Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley by activating MEC’s system self-protection devices which help prevent more extensive equipment damage and longer outages. Power in Fort Mohave was restored by 8:00 pm and in the lower valley by 9:10 pm.
The longest outage affected members in the Talon Point area of Bullhead City, where Mohave Electric crews worked throughout the night until restoring power at 6:30 am Friday morning.
This is the second storm with high winds in less than a month causing major pole damage. On July 17, 23 poles were felled when a microburst hit along Vanderslice Road in Mohave Valley.
MEC’s Call Center was staffed around the clock Thursday and Friday to handle calls from members and provide information to the crews working in the field.
Even after power was restored, crews continued to work all day Friday on Bullhead Parkway to replace the broken poles and re-attach the wire that was pulled down.
“We will start again Saturday morning at 4:30 am, and then again on Sunday, and should have all the repairs done by Monday,” said Tom Longtin, Manager of Operations and Engineering.
“The intense heat makes it tough, but we have a job to do,” said Longtin. “While we have been out there working, many people stopped by and said ‘thank you’ for staying on the job through the night. Those words make all the difference in the world. And we get support from the entire organization. MEC office staff is helping by bringing food and water to the crews over the weekend.”
