Storm-based Power Outages

Storms are a fact of life and power outages due to them are no fun. But everyone understands that these outages are due to forces beyond anyone’s control. When the storm (tornado?) hit on August 7th, 2023, AEC Line crews were immediately called to action and deployed. About 13,000 of 50,000 customers (26%) of AEC were without power immediately after the storm, and the number still without power just 24 hours later was only about 900 or 1.8%. That is a reduction of 93% within one day, which is an amazing accomplishment.

By the way, our house in Dandridge was a part of the 900 customers still without power after one day, as we were without power for about 28 hours. Yes, we threw away most of the food in our house, as it is not worth getting sick from spoiled food. But that is a relatively minor inconvenience, and other people had way more significant concerns and discomfort. One of our neighborhood families is a husband and wife in their 80s, dependent upon CPAP machines and oxygen. They elected to spend the night in a hotel. But the point is, they only had to stay one night, and we can thank AEC personnel for minimizing their discomfort of being away from home.

In our neighborhood alone, we had at least two telephone poles snapped in two and a transformer on the ground. AEC personnel did an incredible job of restoring power to our neighborhood quickly and we are very grateful for their efforts!