Sudden strong wind gusts in northwest Arizona resulted in scattered outages throughout the Mohave Electric Cooperative (MEC) service area.
MEC crews were battling the elements to restore power to affected areas. According to the National Weather Service website, storms that form may produce locally strong wind gusts and brief heavy rainfall continuing through the day.
MEC received many reported outages totaling 4,051 affected members and 22 outages scattered throughout our east and west service areas. The first report of a power outage took place at 5:54 p.m. and all outages were restored at 5:18 a.m. today. Two of the 22 outages alone totaled 3,255 members. Crews reported downed trees and high wind being the largest cause of power interruptions.
“With winds this strong, outages can occur,” said Rick Campos, Chief Operating Officer. Trees, fallen branches, lightning, and winds reaching 50mph are common problems that may cause interference and service disruptions to members. When prepping for storms, please have trees trimmed and personal equipment stored in a safe location so that wind does not displace the items and lead to line obstruction. If you observe trees or other items currently encroaching power lines, please call (928) 763-1100 to report the issue.
MEC encourages members to report outages. Call the toll-free number (844) 632-2667. Members can also text in an outage, by texting “outage” to 55050 from a phone number that is linked to their account. The automated outage-reporting system makes reporting easy and improves response and restoration time. To take advantage of the benefits of this system, be sure MEC has a current phone number. Outage restoration is very important to Mohave Electric Cooperative, and every effort is made to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.