Big Sandy RECC, Kentucky Power crews continue working to restore power outages

JOHNSON COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - As heavy wind whipped through the region on Friday night, electric companies began seeing heavy damages.

“Around 4:00, we started getting some rain and a little bit of wind and it died down and we thought, man, maybe we dodged a bullet,” said Big Sandy RECC President and General Manager Bruce Davis, “but here comes 7:00, 8:00, we got some monstrous, devastating winds.”

For Big Sandy Rural Electric Cooperative (Big Sandy RECC), trees fell on lines, and some poles were snapped in half.

However, crews worked throughout the night to restore the more than 5,000 reported outages, dropping the total remaining outages by nearly half as of 1 p.m. on Saturday.

“We’ve already confirmed over 12 broken poles and that number is continuing to grow and it will grow within the next few days as we find more and more,” said Davis. “Our guys worked all night and this morning, we started afresh and, as of now, we’re down to 2,600 people without power.”

Davis and folks throughout the community praised the work of Big Sandy RECC’s crews.

“They’re my heroes,” said Davis. “They leave their children, they leave their spouses, and they come out to restore people’s power, and leave their family to restore families’ power.”

Davis added Big Sandy RECC members are encouraged to report any remaining outages by calling 1-888-789-7322 or by texting 55050. You can also check Big Sandy RECC’s website for up-to-date information about outages, and you can click here for a local list of outages across Eastern Kentucky.

Officials with Kentucky Power are also working to restore electricity to homes across the region. They said Friday’s severe weather knocked out power to around 18,000 customers.

Communications Manager Sarah Nusbaum said outages will continue to decrease, but some people may be waiting until next week for the lights to come back on.

“Every situation is different in regards to what the issues are with the outages that we are looking at. I can say that our crews have been out since early this morning, and will continue working on getting everyone restored as soon as possible,” Nusbaum added.

Kentucky Power officials recommended reporting a power outage on their website or Facebook page.

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