The manager of Lincoln Electric System’s control room operations says Wednesday’s powerful thunderstorm was one of the fastest moving storms they’ve seen in a long time. The storm downed several trees and power lines and a few power polls. But Laurie Gregg says it could have been much worse.
“I’m amazed that we didn’t have more damage than what we did,” Gregg says. “Not that we didn’t have damage, but it amazed me that we didn’t have more than what we did and I think partly that it was because it moved so quickly.”
Gregg says at one point they had as many as 6,300 customers without power. Even after the storm moved on strong winds continued to blow well into Wednesday evening, creating challenges for the crews working to restore power. She tells KLIN News safety is their top priority so they made sure no one worked alone.
“They may be up in the buckets or they might be climbing polls, they are always working with someone else. They have help and extra eyes,” Gregg says. She says crews were doing some cleanup work on Thursday and restoring power to the few remaining customers who were still in the dark.