Electrical problems could still beset area

By James Beaty
Senior Editor

January 27, 2009 10:35 am

— As of this morning, most customers of AEP/Public Service Company of Oklahoma still had their electrical power — perhaps because of a heavy rain which intermittently fell on the McAlester area.
While freezing rain fell on much of the area overnight, coating trees, fences and cars, some unfrozen precipitation fell as well.
“Fortunately, some of the rain was hard enough to break the ice off our wires,” said Frank Phillips, of AEP/PSO’s McAlester district.
“I see fences and cars with ice on them this morning, but I’m not seeing the impact on our electrical wires.”
Around 8 this morning, Phillips said no customers in McAlester were without power as far as he knew. He planned to monitor the situation throughout the day to see if it got any worse.
Some AEP/PSO customers to the west of McAlester did not fare as well.
“We had 131 customers in the Calvin and Allen area who were out at 6:54 this morning,” Phillips said. Crews were dispatched to the scene to restore power.
Phillips said he had a conference call around 7 this morning and planned more throughout the day to see where the heaviest damage is occurring.
“We’ve got some crews ready and mobilized” to help with repairs if needed, Phillips said.
“We’ll have to make a decision later if we’ll have them come down” or release to assist in other areas which have been harder hit by the ice storm, he said.
“If there’s not a need for them here, we’ll release them so they can go to some other areas,” he said.
Phillips said 8,000 customers of another electrical company in Fort Smith and Van Buren, Ark., were without power and they may need some assistance.
Kiamichi Electric in Wilburton serves customers in parts of rural Pittsburg County, as well as Latimer and LeFlore counties.
“Right now, we’re doing just fine,” Kiamichi Electric spokesman Todd Minshall said around 8 this morning from the electrical cooperative’s office in Wilburton.
Minshall said there were only a few minor outages.
Kiamichi Electric has contingency plans ready in case they are needed.
“Our crews are out there and ready,” Minshall said.
“The next four or five hours will tell us a lot.”