Microburst Levels KEC Poles

This photo, provided by Kootenai Electric Cooperative, shows damage to KEC poles, looking west from Setters Road to the Setters substation, south of Coeur d’Alene. (KEC photo: Melissa Newcomer)

On Sunday night at approximately 10 P.M. Kootenai Electric Cooperative (KEC) was hit by a localized microburst or tornado between the Setter’s Substation and US Hwy 95. Every pole in a double circuit overhead line for approximately 1.3 miles was shattered and on the ground. Crews were already in the area working in preparation of a planned outage scheduled for 1 A.M. on August 29th. No crews were injured during the microburst and the crews were quickly able to assess the damage and create a work plan to rebuild the approximately 20 poles affected. More below.

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At the height of the storm approximately 600 KEC members were impacted by outages.

As of 7:30 A.M. Monday morning 325 KEC members were still without electricity. KEC members have been contacted by automatic phone message to alert them to the situation. Outage restoration is in progress and will continue until all KEC members have electricity restored.

It is anticipated the temporary outage restoration measures will take until Monday late afternoon. Permanent repairs will take place over the next several weeks. H/T: KHQ